NEVER A BETTER TIME
As for formal lessons, Andrew Geant, co-founder
of Chicago-based Wyzant, an online marketplace
for private tutors, said music has become one of
the company’s fastest growing areas. Cello tutors
in April experienced a 450 percent increase in
students and a 400 percent rise in lessons from
last year, he said. By October, the number had
grown to a 4,500 percent increase in students
and a 4,730 percent increase in lessons.
The cost of online lessons is lower than in-
person instruction, Geant noted. And if the
student and teacher don’t match well, it’s easy to
find a new instructor.
“Online, you can find the right instructor
because you’re no longer bound by geography,”
he said.
Rashida Bryant, 44, is an Atlanta-based voice
instructor through Wyzant who saw her client
roster double from April to June, when she had
30 students.
Her students range in age from early teenagers
to people in their late 60s.
“Everybody has different reasons for doing it,
but if you’re going to be at home, then this is a
better time than any,” she said.
A SENSE OF CONTROL
Turning to music during bleak times has a long
history, said Joy Allen, chair of Music Therapy at
Berklee College of Music in Boston.
“It gives us choice and control, and we don’t
have a lot of that right now,” she said.
Music also provides social connection, Allen said,
and a link to the familiar.