In the next interview, I will try to find the answer to whether it is possible to learn to write and play music completely via the Internet. Bálint Bakonyi, who has been working as a leading music teacher for years, helped me with this.
Tell us a little about yourself!
At the age of five, I started learning guitar, self-taught, and then keyboarding. I’ve learned to play a lot of instruments, but none really well.
What does this mean on a scale of 1-10?
Let's say five, I can play anything with anything. I had my first rock and metal band, and most recently world music with an electronic fusion. Production began 19 years ago. I’ve been on pop music for the last 3-4 years, I confess because there’s money in it. Currently, this is my main source of income.
How did the teaching and the school come about?
It started in about 2008, the first private students came, I started teaching one or two people, and then there were more and more of them. The first venture didn’t come together, but then the 1G School was born.
How did you find out the tricks, treatment?
Around the turn of the millennium, when I threw myself into it, there was hardly any internet. I had to find someone to deal with this, which was very difficult. Then there was a CD with an accompanying newspaper, in which they gave samples, DAWs (e.g. FastTracker), but you really had to figure everything out for yourself. There were no tutorials, no descriptions. What I learned in 5-6 years anno is now using the internet for a maximum of 1-2 years.
Did you have a course or school then, any education?
I didn't meet him. The first was Impro School, before that there were no opportunities. It was possible to watch the work in the studio through acquaintances, but there were also few studios. There were other times.
How hard was the hardware barrier?
It was a difficulty, but I wouldn’t call it a barrier. If I could, I would eliminate the whole world of the internet and digital and tape it again. By the way, they were borrowers at the time.
How much easier do you think a beginner is today?
It is easier up to a certain level, but harder from there. Software can be learned quickly, and standards that are specific to a particular style of music can be overlooked, but can easily go wrong.
How do you see how much wrong information you come across, even based on bad tutorials?
There are a lot of these, but luckily there are fewer and fewer.
Here comes the picture that tutorials vs. education? Many ask why education?
There are basically two types of people: some who are able to learn from videos, some who are not. Let’s not forget the important fact that you can’t ask for tutorials! We can speak of true knowledge if one not only remembers how you do it, but also understands why. This often requires questions that can be asked of an instructor, especially if you are in a small group or in private education.
How much does a manual qualify as a tutorial?
It qualifies, but no one used to read it because it’s dry. The tutorial also flashed something, showing a thing or two, but you don’t understand the underlying things from it. If you learn from someone, you understand what you are doing, and if you understand, you will be fixed.
The person of the instructor is very important. What do you think is a good music teacher?
If someone is a teacher, they need to have teacher skills like patience, empathy, and an understanding of what they are doing. Many teachers understand what they teach, but they may not be able to pass it on. It’s important to have fun in your person, make sure students look up, ask questions, and give feedback.
How does it matter if you have a bad teacher? We know that a good or bad teacher can love or hate a given subject. When we talk about music education, everyone thinks of the classical conservatory and music school. How well do these methods work in electronic music? A life path, a career, a lot can depend on a teacher, so we have an extremely big responsibility in educating the new generation, setting an example and direction. Traditional methods are not worth much in electronic music education. It is best if the student already has a background in music theory and instrumentation, otherwise we have a rather difficult task. For solfeggio education, for example, we had to develop a completely new methodology that is specifically related to software composition, is practice-oriented, and can be mastered in a short time. So far, this has been our most difficult task.
