Why students in Dubai are choosing online lessons with KP Music Mentors
Dubai is a city that seems to have the best of just about everything - food, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, cars, you name it…
But when it comes to getting the highest quality and well-rounded music lessons, there is a big missing piece.
Most often, local experienced professional musicians or music teachers are at work - gigging, recording and working on music in their home country during the evening hours, hardly available for consistent evening lessons.
This is where online music lessons from KP Music Mentors come in!
Imagine this: it’s 7 pm in Dubai, you just had dinner, and you sit down in your living room. You grab your instrument (or not if you’re taking voice lessons :))
You open up your laptop computer. You click a link to your lesson meeting room and get access to a world-class musician giving you a bespoke online music lesson in the comfort of your home.
Within the next hour to 24 hours - you will have all your lesson materials sent with supporting video over email, Google Drive, etc
Then you practice, practice, practice till the next lesson!
You see - there is an industry secret about music lessons that no studio looking to sign up students will ever tell you. And that is:
High-quality musicians with years of real-world performance experience and teaching experience are RARELY available during the evening hours. In fact, if a local music teacher is always available at 7 pm in the evening, you have to question why they are not out gigging!
Because Dubai and other cities in the UAE are 8-10 hours ahead of the United States local time and 3 hours ahead of London/UK, our US and UK-based teachers are always available and motivated to teach in the morning and afternoon hours in their timezone.
Now, as you are selecting a music instructor for yourself or your child, you can go down the traditional route of classical music and such… But our teachers have real-world experience playing and teaching rock, pop, jazz, hip hop, theatre, acoustic music, and so much more. Let’s face it - just about anyone can teach you how to sight-read “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.
In other words - if you or your child are more interested in learning anything from Taylor Swift to John Mayer, from Muddy Waters to Miles Davis - we will have individualized lessons to get you to your goal and will not force you to play “Mary had a little lamb” if that doesn’t help you reach your goals!
Just imagine - while other students in Dubai are stuck playing music they don’t love, you’ll be playing the music you always dreamed of playing, with a teacher right there to help you along the way!
And what could possibly be better than learning American and British music from a team of seasoned professionals working in the US and UK music industry?!
Our students love that they can reach out to their teacher anytime via WhatsApp to ask questions throughout the week. Our company is about quality, not quantity, which is why we call our KP Music Mentors a “boutique” online lesson company. A mentor is more than just a teacher; a music mentor is your TEACHER, COACH, GUIDE, and FRIEND
Do yourself a favuor and reach out to Keith or a staff member to connect you with your perfect teacher and let's spread those musical wings!
KP Music Mentors offer live Zoom-based and affordable online music lessons for students at all levels based anywhere in the world. Whether you want to play along with some simple songs or are looking to attend a conservatory and enter advanced music curriculums, we can help.
Online music lessons vs in-person teaching
Let me tell a story of two music lessons…
Your in-person music lesson
You are at a lesson studio paying a lot of money to get lessons with a teacher who is supposed to be a well-qualified instructor. It’s ten minutes past the start of lesson time, the student before you leaves the small lesson room, and as you enter, the room smells like a mixture of everything bagels and wet dog.
The instructor won’t stop talking about their experiences as a touring musician, yet it’s 7 pm on a Friday and you’re wondering why they aren’t out playing a gig if they’re so qualified?!
Your online music lesson
You just finished warming up for your lesson, and you go right over to your computer to meet your instructor, who is more than happy to see you. No one can hear you from another lesson room and the instructor has all their materials ready to go on their computer and is ready with the perfect lesson plan.
You feel relaxed in the comfort of your home, you haven’t been rushed into a room and you won’t be rushed out either. You sit and enjoy a lesson with a professional musician/teacher and you have your lesson materials sent to you shortly after.
Of course, this is a bit of an exaggeration! Many music lesson studios are absolutely fantastic and some students really need that person-to-person connection to learn effectively. In fact, most of our teachers got their initial teaching experience at lesson studios and school programs.
But what many people don’t know is that doing private lessons over Google Meet or Zoom is more than just about convenience. It opens up a new world of flexibility for both the student and the teacher.
Let’s look at some benefits of online music lessons:
The time difference actually helps!
Firstly, by using TIMEZONES wisely, online students have access to lessons with real music industry professionals and world-class instructors who previously would never have been available. Say you are in NYC, London, or Dubai - many of the best musicians will be away performing or recording in the evening hours.
Now because of the time zone differences (which are handled by staff and our appointment software), these students can take lessons with their teacher, who is available and absolutely thrilled to be teaching in the morning, afternoon, and sometimes early evening.
Just today, a new adult student in Boston finished her 4th lesson with Jaime, who is based in Seattle. We are now getting weekly audio messages about how much she enjoys lessons! So before we even get into lesson logistics, you’re getting a professional music teacher who is happy to see you from the start, which makes for a happier and more successful student.
Quality teachers available worldwide
Another thing rarely mentioned is that the highest caliber teachers in the world tend to live in and around major cities. Our teachers are in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago etc. Imagine commuting into cities like this for private lessons - going up elevators, trying to beat traffic etc. It’s an absolute nightmare and at times fruitless in the case of a last-minute cancellation.
Scheduling flexibility
Flexibility with the schedule plays a massive role. Because students and teachers are teaching/learning from home, this means we have more flexibility if a student's schedule changes. Many kids learning a musical instrument also have sports and ever-changing extracurricular activities, while adults taking music lessons often have to change business schedules, family plans, or vacations.
While it’s best to stick to a planned weekly time as much as possible, with online lessons, such changes are never a big deal.
Smooth operating
When it comes to the actual class, the video and audio technology of video call software is more than adequate. Sometimes it takes a few tweaks here and there over the course of the first few lessons, but when things get rolling, it really is straightforward and smooth. Students absolutely love logging on and getting right to business
Calm and safe environment
For very shy students, taking lessons from home provides a very safe feeling. We have so many instances where parents thought their children would be too fearful or timid about private instruction, but by taking lessons from their computers or even mobile phones, they were able to relax and open up.
Organization
Files and materials don’t get lost! Nothing can be more dreaded than having all your music notes written on paper and then they get lost, which is an absolute nightmare. We like to tailor sharing documents based on the student’s preference - this can mean dropbox, google drive, email etc.
Constant support
Part of our premium rate for lessons allows students to stay in contact with teachers if they are running into issues with the week's materials. Often in very formal lesson studios, teachers and students are forbidden from communicating outside of class.
Students can take lessons when on business trips and vacations. While some students like vacations to be free of anything, others are eager to continue lessons while travelling so they keep up the momentum in their learning. Obviously, you can’t bring a grand piano with you - but students do bring travel guitars, singing lessons, use a piano at a hotel etc.
KP Music Mentors offer live Zoom-based and affordable online music lessons for students at all levels.
Whether you want to play along with some simple songs or looking to attend a conservatory and enter advanced music curriculums, we can help.
5 Reasons why homeschool and hybrid school families choose online music lesson for their kids
Many kids that are homeschooled or have a day off at hybrid schools will fit music lessons in as their own way of getting a music education. Sometimes a student will log on right after a math or science class, then head back to the school day.
This is a great way for children to view music lessons as not just a hobby, but also an important and structured part of their learning in general. Learning a musical instrument presents a specialized set of problem solving skills as well as the need to use abstract and creative thinking on a weekly basis.
This will greatly enrich a student’s mind and help them across the board in their education.
Access to the best teachers
One thing that might not occur to most people looking for music lessons is that quite often, the best musicians and teachers aren’t available in the evening hours. This is because high caliber musicians are often playing live or involved in recording projects in the evening hours.
This presents a perfect opportunity for students with flexible morning and afternoon availability because now they have access to teachers who normally would not be free.
The combination of performance, recording, and educational experience is what makes us not just teachers, but passionate and dedicated music mentors.
No travel required
The best teachers and musicians in the world tend to live in or near major cities. Unfortunately for the student, this may mean sitting in traffic on the way there, finding a space, rushing to a lesson, and sitting in traffic on the way back.
By the time you’re done, several hours have gone by and suddenly your child is behind in schoolwork and you just lost time for things that need to be done at home.
The online music lesson experience solves all these problems! Parents love having their kids go to their favorite spot for lessons and have a quality lesson without any rushing or hassle.
Flexibility not bound by a school curriculum
In looking for online music lessons for your child, you may often see the phrase “individualized lessons”. Then you take a trial lesson, and sure enough the teacher whips out method book 1 and you’re playing the same thing everyone else does in their first lesson.
At KP Music Mentors, we offer a varied music programme to your child - from focusing on learning their favorite music, to very exhaustive technical and harmonic analysis. Within this there is a lot of overlap.
For example, a student may focus most of the lesson devoted to strumming simple pop songs while devoting a little time to sight reading. Over time this balance may change if the student decides to get very serious about music.
Teacher availability
Often times in school settings or music lesson studios, students are forbidden from asking their teachers questions outside of class. This can create issues since a student may really need help with a difficult thing they’ve learned midway before the next lesson.
At KP Music Mentors, we allow students to freely contact their teachers (within reason) by text if they are running into any issues. This is of course done with a parent’s knowledge, and we often link student’s parents to their child’s online lesson folders (google drive etc) and create group chats if need be.
Meeting training for kids
Many parents allow their kids to handle everything with the lessons except the billing of course. This means kids get experience attending a meeting, managing their own schedule and generally working like an adult professional - skills which help develop confidence and self-reliance.
“Keith delivered such a great first guitar lesson and experience for my 10-year-old son. After a year of begging for a guitar and lessons, we finally gifted him both for his birthday. I was concerned with finding the right instructor for him, primarily because I didn’t want this to be a novel experience, quickly vacated as soon as he realized it will take real effort. Keith got him interested and started a fire in him right out of the gate. My son didn’t know how to hold the guitar before his first lesson. Within the first half-hour, he was holding it, tuning it and strumming the first few notes of a real song. He hasn’t stopped since! Success!”
KP Music Mentors offer live Zoom-based and affordable online music lessons for kids at all levels.
Whether your child wants to play along with some simple songs or is a very serious student looking to attend a conservatory and enter advanced music curriculums, we can help.