Anyone who has ever attempted to play a musical instrument knows that a lot of practice is involved. Practice makes perfect, the old adage says, and musical instrument practice holds myriad benefits beyond just the creation of pleasing sounds. Research has shown that practicing a musical instrument is beneficial for many facets of childhood development.
A 2008 study conducted by professors at the Department of Psychology at Boston College and the Schools of Medicine and Education at Harvard University found that practicing a musical instrument increases a child’s verbal ability and nonverbal reasoning skills. Studies have additionally linked music practice to improved math skills, enhanced IQ scores, and academic achievement. That doesn’t even begin to cover generations of parents’ beliefs that practicing a musical instrument instills discipline and tenacity for a lifetime of good habits.
However, the traditional model of practice involves a student working daily or several times per week while only receiving feedback during lessons or school music classes. A Louisville-based startup hopes to revolutionize the efficacy of musical instrument practice.
New Kind of Practice
Collabra Music is a cloud-based music recording tool that allows music teachers and students to virtually collaborate in the time between lessons. Students can stream their practice sessions in real-time to Collabra’s server, allowing both the student and the instructor to review the performances, provide feedback, and track progress using any internet-connected device that has a built-in microphone.
Music instructors say that feedback like that provided by Collabra plays a crucial role in the cycle of learning to play a musical instrument. Ceci Prater, a music teacher at Duff Elementary School, notes that, all too frequently, it isn’t the lack of practice that makes her students at the small Eastern Kentucky-based school give up, but rather the lack of effective feedback. “Many times I have had students who have gotten discouraged and wanted to quit because they did not have someone at home that could help them when they got stuck,” Prater notes.
Up and Running
This Louisville-based startup began developing the online music collaboration platform back in 2011. Collabra was one of the first companies to participate in Velocity Indiana’s business accelerator program in 2013 (Velocity closed in November 2015.). It was also named a “Hot Dozen” company, by EnterpriseCorp, the entrepreneurial sector of Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce.
Collabra’s Chief Marketing Officer, Zack Pennington, recently told the Louisville Open Coffee Club that one of Collabra’s main objectives is to eliminate any potential for students to make excuses. Elementary, middle and high school aged students are more likely to record from a mobile device or tablet, so Collabra is available as an app download for IOS or Android platforms.
“We want students to upload videos, and the research shows that younger students don’t use laptops,” Pennington says.
This no-excuses approach to music practice is also evident in Collabra’s streamlined portal. “If you use YouTube to upload your videos to a shared space, you’re going to get sidetracked by cat videos. We all click on the cat videos.” Pennington joked to the Open Coffee crowd. With no advertisements, and no extraneous videos like YouTube’s famous cat videos, Collabra provides a platform that is both distraction-free and easy to use.
Collabra strives to provide affordable subscription pricing models, with K-12 schools paying per-student fees. College students and individuals pay monthly subscription fees directly to Collabra. Five or so Jefferson County Public School instructors are testing the program; nearly 400 local students use Collabra through JCPS, including JCPS’ All County Choir and Mom’s Music.
