Paradigm Shift“Every person everywhere joyfully engaged in music”

According to the most recent Census, more than 25 million Americans have played a musical instrument in the last 12 months.1 While this statistic may sound impressive, it represents less than 8% of the population. Within the remaining 92% who have not played an instrument, there are undoubtedly a significant number of people who are interested, but unable, because of a lack of access to affordable lessons.

Approximately 7 million of those 25 million instrument-playing Americans are students in K-12 music programs.2 However, funding for K-12 music programs is limited.  Limited funding means K-12 educators must work with extremely limited resources to provide this important educational asset, and students are often unable to participate because they cannot afford their own equipment. What’s more, over 2.1 million students have no access to any type of in-school music program at all.3

Both lack of funding for K-12 music programs and the high cost of private lessons are barriers to millions of people interested in learning to play an instrument—both students and non-students. Practicing Musician breaks down the barriers by bringing world-class music education to everyone, everywhere.

Our service provides both the private lesson experience and easier access to musical equipment (such as instruments and sheet music) to anyone with a desire to learn to play.

Using learning technology best practices, Practicing Musician’s service can be used as an extended learning opportunity for K-12 band and orchestral students or as a standalone private teaching resource for everyone, everywhere.

Envision, as a K-12 music educator, being able to provide effective, targeted, extended learning opportunities for all of your students. Imagine how this would narrow the achievement gap between students who can and cannot afford private lessons. Now envision, as a 70 year old lover of music previously unable to afford to learn how to play an instrument, receiving step by step instructions, practice tools, and feedback for only $9.99 per month.  Imagine how that 70 year old would discover a dedication to the arts and reconnect to their past with newfound joy in their retirement.

By combining data from research that studied how humans acquire and integrate knowledge, Practicing Musician’s service is designed with utmost simplicity so that everyone can successfully learn how to play an instrument.

I’m Jake Douglass, CEO and founder of Practicing Musician, and I am initiating this series of blog posts to introduce music educators and self-taught learners to this simple to use, but effective service and its sophisticated underpinnings.

By reading this entire series of posts, you will come to understand why Practicing Musician is a more comprehensive and effective self-regulated learning tool than any other form of supplemental music education, including method books, instructional DVD’s, YouTube channels, e-learning tools, and subscription services.

I am often met with opposition by music educators who fear Practicing Musician is an attempt to replace in-person music education. This series of blog posts will assure you that our service will not replace in-person music education. Rather, Practicing Musician serves as an effective and completely free resource for K-12 educators who desire to provide the private lesson experience to all students and as the only private lesson experience that many learners at-home are able to afford.

Furthermore, Practicing Musician will donate 100% of our profits from the subscription revenue we generate from private individuals. Crowdsourcing funding in this way will generate significant and sustainable funding for K-12 music programs in need, assistance so desperately needed for decades.

In this series of posts, it is my hope to introduce you to this wonderful asset and to open your hearts and minds to the revolutionary potential it represents. Practicing Musician can truly bring music education to everyone, everywhere. Once this becomes clear, I request that you join me in advocating for the adoption of this simple, effective, and affordable resource to everyone, everywhere.

Until my next post, I invite you to tour our website at www.practicingmusician.com to meet some of our world-class musicians and teachers. Our fee to use the self-regulated learning modules is waived until September 2020, so feel free to explore and encourage others to do so as well.

Thanks for allowing me to introduce you to Practicing Musician, a service that will revolutionize music education.

Works Cited

1 – “Section 26 – Arts, Recreation, and Travel.”  United States Census, https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/.  Accessed April 13, 2020.

2 – “Among public secondary schools that offered instruction in various arts subjects, number and standard error for total course enrollments in various arts subjects, and of those enrollments, percent and standard error accounted for by the various arts subject areas, by school characteristics: School year 2008–09.”  National Center for Education Statistics, https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012014/tables/table_72.asp.  Accessed April 13, 2020.

3 – “Music Education In Public Schools Gets A Passing Grade.”  NPR, https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2012/04/06/150133858/music-education-in-public-schools-gets-a-passing-grade.  Accessed April 13, 2020.