What is the Best Method for Learning Music?
To learn anything is a process, and everybody has a particular way of learning that works best for them. Unfortunately, schools are often times not able to explore multiple teaching styles due to time constraints. That, compounded with people having the tendency to teach the way in which they themselves learned can lead to a dry and typical schooling environment. But music is just as much an art as it is a science, so you may encounter a variety of teaching methods that you would hard press to find used with other subjects.
It is good to both understand music theory as well as practice music. Most people understand practicing music, but there are different ways to learn music theory. Many of us are familiar with the three-common learning types. Visual, auditory, and kinetic, however, did you know that there are actually seven learning styles? Including verbal (which includes using spoken words as well as writing), logical (using reasoning) Social (working in groups or with others), and Solitary (which simply means you prefer to study alone).
It’s important to know which learning style (or combination of styles) works best for you and to also recognize that one method may work great for certain subjects and an entirely different method may work better for something else, so experiment and try different study tactics. Another thing that will aid in memorizing that which you have learned is to teach someone else. If you are able to teach it, not only are you reinforcing the material, but you are also demonstrating how well you comprehend it. Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.”
At first glance, learning seems simple, but knowing yourself, could be one of the most important steps in the entire process.