Common Mistakes when Taking an Online Music Course
1 - trying to go too fast
It's tempting to blow through the material trying to gather it all into one day, and be done! But no! That is certainly not the best way to absorb information. It's about consistency over time. Take your time and work through the course material in the sequence intended by the instructor.
2 - thinking once through is enough
There's no way you will get ALL of the value from a course by just going through it once. Again, it's consistency over TIME. Meaning, it's going to take several iterations and weeks of time to really absorb all of the information. Take advantage of the fact that you've invested in yourself, and go through the course to find the few nuggets that you may have missed the first time around.
3 - not actually doing the assignments as instructed by the course
So, yea, guilty right here! Sometimes you think, oh yea, I know that - skip ahead to the next thing! But it is ALWAYS good to hear an old concept explained in a new way. It will either reinforce what you already do indeed know, or it will connect in a new way and create a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the topic. Really, you should do all the assignments, I mean, really! 😃 They're in there to help you grow to you fullest potential!
4 - Not taking advantage of the fact that the instructor does indeed want to hear from you!
Not every course does this, but my course "Get Ahead", even includes 5 video coaching sessions to help you get better super fast! And regardless, EVERYONE loves to hear from their students. We want to know how it's going, we want to know how we can help, we want to know if something was confusing or unclear! Chances are if you have a question about something, you aren't the only one! There are probably others thinking the same thing.... So PLEASE take a moment and reach out to the instructors of your course. Not only will you start a great relationship with them, but you'll get your questions answered and help out others in the community 😃
5 - Not learning how to practice
This is a big problem that I've encountered. Sometimes we don't exactly realize how practice. We might know what we need to know, but it is in the execution phase where things go wrong. You can check out the chapter in "Get Ahead" about practicing, and working with a practice journal to get some more concrete ideas about what has worked for me in the past. But the general ideas is this: you need a system. Just like any skill you must break it down into it's component parts, and build it back up again. If you haven't learned how to practice - it doesn't matter what you're practicing - you won't get the true value from it! So get to it!
6 - Not being open minded / thinking you've already done this thing and skipping ahead.
Maybe this course was required for you by an instructor, or suggested by a friend, or maybe you're just curious. I think some of my biggest breakthroughs have come from situations where I had to consciously decide to be open minded to what a certain musician might have to say. And again, I'm guilty of assuming I know something, or can do something (and you know what they say about assuming...) and trying to skip ahead to get done as fast as possible! But music is not a game of speed. Improving in music is about consistency over time, it's not a sprint - it's a marathon! So take your time, and go through diligently as if you spent WAY more money than you did on the course. If you were spending $40,000 on a degree you'd probably be paying attention, so why not apply that on a micro scale?
The launch period for my new course "Get Ahead" is almost closed - if you want to take advantage of some of these great bonuses I hope you'll jump on board before it's too late!
- 5 video feedback sessions (a $100 value)
- Premium Pricing (save $30 off the normal price)
- The first 10 people to sign up will receive a hard copy of the practice journal in the mail!
Preview some of the course material here.
Hope to see you soon!
Nick