Using desktop video to enhance music instruction

Abstract

In the last few years, many of the early technical limitations of desktop digital video technology have been overcome thus paving the way for its application in various fields of education and training. Fields in which manual skills are passed on by physical demonstration probably stand to gain the most. In the visual and performing arts, for example, there is reliance upon master instructors and their ability to demonstrate refined manual techniques at close quarters. Such action is fluid and audiovisual in nature, therefore attempts to capture it in still images, such as found in conventional music method books, are often of limited success. In contrast, digital video can capture actions in full motion and in a format that can be replayed, edited, and delivered online using a desktop computer. This paper examines how the current generation of desktop video technologies can improve the delivery of music instruction in the short term and in due course may facilitate a paradigm shift in music education.