Music Teacher Vs Self Taught in the Internet Age...

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There are basically two choices in learning to play instruments. Self taught and having a teacher. Both have the same goal in mind; playing and/ or composing music. It's basically what musical instruments are for, so that's a good thing. Self Taught used to be a lot harder than it is now. The resources available to the self taught are amazing. Youtube tutorials, "tab" websites, concert videos, and even games that require almost perfect precision to score points. Back before the internet, self taught meant spending countless hours "noodling" around on the instrument, becoming familiar with each pitch and tone as the student progressed from noises to coherent notes. As the student played, we recognized bits and pieces of songs we recognized. From them we could build around them until we could piece together the entire song. Those who could read Standard Notation had a bit of an easier time of it. They could learn songs from the notes and chords on the paper. Pushing their boundaries by learning songs that are harder than their current abilities. Self Taught admittedly takes an almost super human level of passion, focus and dedication. With no one to be accountable to, the only person pushing us forward is ourselves. All our goals, bench marks and advancements are set by ourselves, which can be (at the same time) motivating and debilitating. It is also pretty easy to just stagnate (sometimes for years), enjoying playing what we already know, but not really learning anything new. There is also the limitation of only being exposed to things we already know about. If you don't know something exists, you're not going to explore it. So where does that leave us music teachers? Well, the fact is, the same people who need teachers back then, still need teachers now. The people who could pull off being self taught then are still able to now. Having a teacher means an accountability partner. Someone you know you'll have to show your progress to, so you make sure you are ready at the appointed time. No matter what you are learning, a great teacher pulls more out of you than you ever thought was there. So you aren't limited by your own expectations. Mostly though, a teacher can introduce you to resources and opportunities that you wouldn't have on your own. No pouring through a universe of tutorials and websites to differentiate the great ones from the wastes of time. No dead ends as you thought you had a great resource, but then learn that it's pretty limited. To me the thing that makes having a teacher great is, we take you out of your comfort zones. No real learning happens if we are always comfortable. Nothing real comes from sticking with what's convenient. Both are caustic to real learning, and hold people back more than any opposition or frustration. The end goal is the same, so the path is really up to you. Nether is "better" or "worse", because it's all based on what the student needs in order to thrive. There is no "right' and "wrong" way because we all can name great musicians and mediocre ones from both paths.