Learning has to be fun.
And the way to make it fun is to make learning achievable.
While it's rewarding to learn a very challenging solo or song, most casual students prefer small wins that create a sense of momentum vs sweating over a difficult piece of music.
Where this approach to pedagogy and product design goes wrong is through gamified music-learning apps. While helpful to get you hooked initially, these apps give you the sense that you are progressing. But when you rely on visual feedback and gamification you're getting the feeling of improving without meaningfully getting better at your instrument.
When I design curriculum, I focus on:
- Small steps.
- Giving challenges but also setting expectations that it doesn't have to be perfect before moving on.
- Get the student to not look at the sheet music and app as soon as possible.