I did check and if you are in france it’s 19.95 euros which is around $25 but if you live in the US, it’s $19.95. So I’m curious why they charge 30% more to those living in Europe. I’ll call them to find out. Tax would account for 19.6% difference.
The other issue I have is the videos just won’t play real time. I have to click pause and go do something else for a while and come back. I hope they can increase bandwidth.
I agree it’s a good deal and I am going to profit by taking the piano, whistle, flute, & bodhran courses. I just have to find time first so I can commit to it.
Thanks, Ted, that’s just the sort of motivational anecdote to help me keep up my momentum with the sight singing.
I’m also happy to see that OAIM is going to be adding a more preliminary Piano course. But they they do specify that this one is also for Intermediate pianists, while I have been stalled on the “late elementary” plateau for quite some time now, yet steadily expanding my late elementary chops (plink plonk) to an ever-growing variety of musical genres
Did you do the other (first) piano lesson? I just started doing the free lesson last night. I told myself if I can learn it then I’ll join in order to do the other lessons. I’m really interested in the lesson with the air.
The piano sample posted was kind of hard for me, but from I read (?on the blog?) the upcoming piano course was supposed to be a little easier. I’m hoping it will be enough easier to be a better fit with my (lack of) skills.
the first (free) lesson is definitely too hard for me. I’ve spend over 2 hours on it and I can play the A part with either hand separately but not up to speed together. I like the tune so it’s been fun.
How did you like the lesson on the air? Was that easier??
I looked at the first lesson of the ‘new’ course and it does look easier so I plan to do that next and when I join, I’ll start with the new/easier set.
I can finally play the first piano lesson from the older piano class, I forget the names, Tunes & Accompaniment I think it is. The tune is “Swerving for Bunnies”. I spent about 4 hours on it I think, which is a very long time for a single tune. I guess that means it’s way above my level. I still can’t play it up to speed.
So now I’m doing the foundations class. I’m on part A of the first lesson. This is a bit easier but less interesting. I hope to build up skills along the way.
I know this is the whistle forum, so if anyone else is doing the piano classes and would like to compare notes and/or discuss, let me know and we can find a way. If it’s just one person it can be via PM but if others are interested we could create a thread in the appropriate forum.
I also play to do the whistle & flute classes too, but for now my time is mainly limited to evenings after the kids are in bed so I play the digital piano with headphones.
Has anybody learnt to play the tin whistle with the Kirsten Allstaff’s Whistle Basics? I was happy with the first free lessons and ready to sign up - but then I found lesson six, Shoe the Donkey, to be rather disappointing. Because when the tune became difficult and hard to retain, the lesson speed suddenly increased - no more repeating each phrase individually a few times (and my tablet doesn’t work well with the OAIM website and doesn’t quickly stop the video, grrr…)
So now I wonder, was that just the team having a bad day and going faster for once, or do they expect students to be quicker on the uptake than I am? How fast does the rest of the course progress?
It has been a few months since I’ve done the lessons. I think I completed 1-12 of the Whistle course but mostly focused on the flute course where I did most of the introductory flute course (taught by Steph Geremia) and the several of the Flute Fundaments course (taught by Kirsten Alstaff).
I myself don’t have much ability to play by ear at this time and the courses greatly encourage playing by ear. As a result, I think they do speed up a bit as you noticed (and I think that is a common complaint that I’ve heard). That being said, I did manage to learn Shoe the Donkey and a few other tunes in the whistle course even though I am not good at playing by ear. It is unfortunate that your tablet does not work well with the website, because as I recall, I did need to go back a lot while working on tunes.
(My perspective may be skewed as my main barrier in doing the OAIM lessons is that I’d get distracted by the flutes and daydream about the flute I had on order… as a result I couldn’t get anything done. Having received my flute recently, I am just now starting back into it again.)
Download problems are likely your computers or connections. I have a fast xfinity connection and I have had no problems with playback or downloading. I enjoy Oaim and recommend their step by step approach and the fact that you are exposed to a number of different instructors. You can also listen to tunes taught and played on different instruments. Lots of us can only access commercial recording that are mostly ensembles or other learners via YouTube. Having an expert fiddle player play a tune can give you a different perspective on how you want to play it. You can sign up for a month to month payment and drop any time and start up again. Another thing they offer that is fun is a virtual session of a number of sets played on three or four instruments, and a harder to find slowed down version of this session. (took me a while to figure out where it was, but it is there). I think they also offer a feedback option for an additional price.
But nothing beats face to face or personal online interaction, someone to point out things you may not notice in your playing.
I am not sure how I would feel if I were starting from scratch and I’ve had no experience with Blayne’s online teaching. I’d vote for a bit of everything over time.
Pacing is always an issue with canned lessons, and OAIM is no different. You either go too slow and bore the more advanced players or too fast and alienate the beginners.
And it isnt just a speed thing. They seem to skim quickly over more difficult technical bits when they should be doing exactly the opposite. IMO, they need to focus on one technique for several tunes and that just doesn’t happen.
Even with personalized lessons, pacing can be a problem. It takes time for a teacher to learn a student’s absorption rate and learning style. Video is incapable of learning and adapting to students.
Have you tried contacting OAIM admin and asking them to add support for your tablet? With the prevalence of mobile devices, they would be wise to cater to such platforms
But nothing beats face to face or personal online interaction
Call me old fashioned, I have never had personal online interaction to learn music, but surely just being in the company of good players beats all that by a country mile?
I don’t think there’s much point in asking OAIM to add support for my tablet, because it’s entirely my fault that I set Chrome back to factory settings of 2013 - the newer version I had didn’t work with YouTube any more (and updating to the most recent version didn’t work either - neither does the new YouTube App… I suppose they want me to buy a new tablet to keep the economy turning. But I’d rather spend the money on whistle lessons…). As for the speed - the Whistle Basics course is expressly for beginners, it starts with how to hold the flute, so there should be no way to bore anybody by going too slow. The problem might rather be that Kirsten Allstaff is so good that she can’t quite put herself into the position of a beginner with no experience of learning by ear. Or that she thinks it’s easy enough to back up (the 10 s button is really handy - if it works…) Or of course it could be all my fault for being too slow on the uptake.
Busterbill, where is there a possibility to download the lessons? As far as I can see it’s streaming only?
AaronFW, good to hear that the speed increase is not just in my imagination.
Maybe I should take a closer look at Blayne Chastain’s lessons…
The problem as I see it, is they’re always in too short supply
Mileages may vary there.
At this stage there’s such an overwhelming amount of easily accessible information and music I wonder sometimes why the dependency on teachers seems to be on the increase.
The company of good players, the interaction, listening, listening and more listening, to immerse yourself and have a hunger to learn should go a long way. It’s important to get some pointers every now and again, to keep the right track, and have people to bounce ideas off.
I am not sure the hand-holding pupil-teacher approach is the best way to go at this. I have had pupils who had the consumer approach: I come to you, you teach me how to play well. That’s not really the way it works, you have to be hungry for it, do the work, form your own ideas. But you said it: old-fashioned.
Getting lost in the complexities of ‘Shoe the donkey’, that’s probably a whole different issue. My son, ten at the time, used to call it ‘Shoot the Donkey’. We’ll leave it at that.
I’ve used OAIM as a record of tunes played simply, and as lessons that are of varying effectiveness. They break the tunes down, which is not although it’s just much easier live with a person. I appreciate what the site does–you get a chance to hear the tunes in a session setting, which is nice, and then there are tracks you can slow down, which is useful. It’snot as good as a live teacher.
In my experience, which involves competence in other forms of music but not ITM, half an hour of playing live with people is worth weeks of solo practice. At home alone I tend to keep practicing the same mistakes, over and over, but when you are carried along by the necessity of a gig, or even just of keeping up with, you have to muddle through, and the muddling though is what gets you past your stalls and hesitancies. i would guess that the best practice by far would be playing in a dance band: having to get it done, not just for fellow musicians but for dancers. My experience playing in lots of swing bands was exactly that–committing to the tune live. That’s the only thing that gets you over the hump.
It’s not like it’s easy to find people to play with, at least not around here. There are some sessions, but they are less than welcoming to beginners, and there are teachers but they involve substantial traffic expense and time away from family responsibilities for this father of a 13 year old. It’s doable, but not easy.
The company of good players, the interaction, listening, listening and more listening, to immerse yourself and have a hunger to learn should go a long way. It’s important to get some pointers every now and again, to keep the right track, and have people to bounce ideas off.
YES
i would guess that the best practice by far would be playing in a dance band: having to get it done, not just for fellow musicians but for dancers.
Certainly a positive for ‘grinding in’ a tune, and giving you an opportunity to explore small variations while strictly observing time as you pass through the nth iteration of a tune. . .
I have had pupils who had the consumer approach: I come to you, you teach me to play well. That’s not really the way it works, you have to be hungry for it
. I’ve observed a strong ‘consumer’ bias in the ‘States’ The hunger is a more important element. . .
