Instrument Master Review
Rating:
Summary:
An integrated online music education course, we give Instrument Master only two stars because it doesn’t match up to the quality of other online programs such as Rocket Piano. Instrument Master gives you access to online lessons in both written (PDF) and streaming video format which provide a comprehensive approach to learning, although the production quality is not high. While the site does offer a good value with lifetime access at an affordable price, other courses are recommended for those who want a professional learning experience.
Package:
Included in the course you get access to streaming video files, along with a series of PDF written lessons. The lessons range in basic topics such as music theory, learning piano scales and mastering some of the more intricate aspects of piano playing. With unlimited access to the members’ area, you can also return to review updated and new materials, although site updates are not frequent. The course also comes with customer support, but you cannot get the same type of music lesson feedback provided by other courses.
One major concern with the course is a lack of production quality in the videos and its relatively isolated approach to learning: while other courses contain a broad set of materials to foster independent learning, the lessons from Instrument Master seem to exist only in isolation from one another. Therefore, it is challenging for students to genuinely study and master the materials on their own, which is a core goal of the course.
Best For:
For those on a limited budget who want access to a basic set of lessons, Instrument Master provides a decent approach. Overall the lessons are designed for beginners, but lack the polish necessary to make them an effective educational tool for either students or adult novice players.
Pricing and Assurances:
The course comes with a 60-day money back guarantee, which allows you to try out the lessons and member area to determine if it’s a good fit. You can call a toll-free number to request a refund, although the customer service was not as efficient as one would hope.
Our Review:
While one can approach Instrument Master as a good value, given its onetime payment which allows lifetime access, Instrument Master is much more about promotion than actual delivery of a quality product. With a one-time access fee you are able to view a full set of educational materials which focus on both piano and stringed instruments (the violin in particular.) While the program shows promise it strongly under-delivers in terms of the quality and organization of the lessons.
The course promises a broad array of lessons, but there are only 13 complete video lessons on the site in Quick Time format. While the lessons are decent, they are quite short and amount to only just over ½ hour of total material when you add it up. Unlike other courses which feature a progressive approach to learning, Instrument Master introduces brief concepts and does not follow up with further results on any of its subsequent lessons.
The Instrument Master Approach Analyzed
The core lessons are targeted at beginners and only teach basic music theory which is supplemented by PDF documents that outline intervals, basic piano chords, and rhythm and pitch concepts. While the supplemental materials are useful for learning, they aren’t comprehensive enough to foster an independent learning environment. Therefore, it’s necessary to have a comprehensive source of educational materials in addition to Instrument Master, negating the core value benefits of the course.
One of the most effective ways to master the instrument is by learning to improvise tracks. The included jam music tracks don’t easily allow for musical learning since they come from the R&B genre with electronic music. As a result, one has to wonder how useful the entire set of materials is in helping to foster the right type of learning. Proper audio files would include piano pieces from a variety of genres ranging from classical to modern jazz – as currently designed, the files are difficult to reproduce on the piano.
While the concept of a membership based learning environment is informative, the course under-delivers when it comes to actual results. With improvements to the quality and content of the materials, the course may improve in value but we cannot recommend it as currently designed. We give the course 2 stars based upon its current design and hold out hope the creators of the course will take steps to improve the quality of the lessons.
