It’s been seven long months since the rumors first surfaced, but Duolingo has finally released music courses on its education platform.
Duolingo Music, as it is called, teaches you the basics of playing music using a digital keyboard on your iPhone. You don’t have to own an instrument. The lessons teach the name of each individual note and where they are located “on a piano”. From there, Duolingo shows you how to read music and then “translate what you hear” into songs. Eventually it will all come together in learning to play a full song. The courses even take the time to ‘train your ear’ so you can distinguish specific notes and tell whether they are high or low.
As you can see, these classes get quite involved. The primary goal of Duolingo Music is to provide students with a good foundation from which they can grow into more experienced musicians.
Back to school
We asked Karen Chow, the education/curriculum expert at Duolingo who created the courses, what the thought process was behind everything. She told us that the company “wanted to focus on teaching music literacy in a fun and engaging way.” Chow points out that other “foundations” teach music in a really “boring, dry way,” so they tried to do the opposite.
At the beginning of development, Duolingo identified the key principles for their lessons, from the obvious, such as playing instruments, to ear training. Once the company narrowed things down, it created classes based on those tents
Duolingo states that there are “hundreds of bite-sized lessons” available with many “interactive exercises.” These are intended to teach music step by step and not overload students with a flood of information. Some of the exercises include completing a music sequence and linking notes to audio played on a piano. Duolingo states it believes that interactivity is essential for learning because it keeps people focused and engaged. All of this content is displayed in the platform’s signature brightly colored, sparkling user interface.
In addition to the music lessons, Duolingo Math is getting an update that allows users to “learn real-world math skills, from calculating tips to identifying patterns.” The latter, according to a company representative, is about helping people understand the logic behind math. Additionally, there will be courses to “sharpen (your) mental arithmetic skills” so you can do math in your head without having to use the calculator app.
Availability
Duolingo Music will be available exclusively for “iOS devices in English and Spanish” later this fall. Users will receive in-app notifications letting them know the update is ready for download. There are plans to expand Duolingo Music to Android users and other languages as well. However, the rep couldn’t give us an exact date when this second patch will be released. Hopefully it’s very soon.
Be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best online teaching sites for 2023 if you’re interested in gaining new skills.