Hello!

I was wondering what kind of feedback the guitar and bass courses give to the students. From what I could gather, the assignments are audio only, and therefore teachers cannot see how their pupils are playing what they are playing...

My questions are:

Is there any video interaction during the courses? Or only chats?

And how teachers comment on the technique development of the students? Is it through listening only?

Thanks!

Daniel Gohn

Hi Daniel,

Thank you for your post! This is Liam McCormack, I am an online advisor here at Berkleemusic.

Here are the answers to your questions:

Is there any video interaction during the courses? Or only chats?

Our courses are structured so you do not have to be at a specific location at a specific time to do your work. Online learning can take place anytime of the day or night, anywhere you happen to be. While our courses are rigorous and require you to keep up with your coursework and assignments, you get to choose where and when. That's one of the great advantages of Web-based education. You can incorporate learning into your schedule without compromising your other professional and personal commitments.

Each week, your instructor will post a new lesson. You can log on and work on the material anytime within that week. It should take approximately five to eight hours per week to complete the work, more or less time may be required based on a student's level of experience.

Our courses use video content, audio examples, chat rooms, email communication, interactive exercises, discussion boards, and more for communication, interaction, and instruction.

There are not specific course times each week, you can work on the course work complete based around your schedule. A lesson and assignment is posted each week and the assignment is due at the end of the week.

***You can view video instruction excerpts from our Guitar Courses here: youtube.com/berkleemusic


And how teachers comment on the technique development of the students? Is it through listening only?

Each week you submit a recording of your playing that reflects what the assignment that week calls for. You have email access to your instructor throughout the course (if you have questions) and you also receive weekly feedback on the assignments you submit.

Our instructors are experts and have the ability to give excellent feedback based off of recordings alone.

Here is some helpful student feedback from another forum post:

www.berkleemusic.com/discuss/message?mes...4&forum_id=13328

*Also, our Guitar Chords 101 won Best Online College Course Award in 2007 seen here:
www.berkleemusic.com/awards/

I hope this information is helpful!

*If you are interested in our April Term (or locking in our current rates for future terms) it is important to consider our upcoming annual Price Increase:

All courses will be effected by the annual price increase, w/ the except of the Production courses.

The Songwriting courses will be going up $200 each (for-credit and non-credit)

The Production courses will not be going up.

All other courses will be going up $100 each (for-credit and non-credit)

All Master Certificate electives will be going up $100 each from $995 to $1095.

The annual price increase is going into effect on March 24th so I encourage you to pay/enroll before that date to lock in the lower rates!

Please feel free to contact your assigned advisor, Kevin Carr, at 617 747 2166 or advisors@berkleemusic.com with any questions!

Best,

Liam McCormack
Student Advisor
617-747-2928
advisors@berkleemusic.com

There are videos of the teacher.

The teacher comments are based on two things: listening to student-submitted assignments and answering student questions. There is little feedback on hand position, etc., but teachers will respond to questions on this issue, and you can watch how the teacher plays in videos. The feedback on assignments is often quite good and sometimes just a pat on the back (which helps too sometimes). So you will get feedback on rhythm, note choice, vibrato, intonation on bends, etc., etc. If you already have the basics down, that should be incredibly valuable feedback.

There is great opportunity for interaction and learning during weekly chats; however, you have to be a little proactive in asking questions. Sometimes the chats do degrade into small talk -- who's the greatest guitarist in the world, etc. But you can get great information during the chat time from the instructor.

The quality of instructors is very good, and they generally have excellent ears. I have been impressed how much feedback they can give by listening to your MP3's.