The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many schools temporarily moving to online learning. For some general music teachers, this involves prerecording lessons. This column discusses how general music teachers can create prerecorded lessons using Microsoft PowerPoint.

Music education is aimed at the development of musical abilities, emotionality during the performance of musical compositions, and all-round development. The aim of the article is to determine the possibilities of schoolchildren obtaining musical knowledge with the help of modernized online technologies, as well as to determine the importance of a teacher in modern music education. The indicators were determined by a questionnaire, the data collection for which was done using a Likert scale. Initially, the paper identified approaches to teaching students prior to the study. The results showed that more emphasis was placed on the use of book-based theoretical materials (46%), which allowed only 21% of students to achieve a high level of knowledge. The use of information technology was common among 9% of students, which allowed 76% of students to achieve high results, which is based on acquiring knowledge in a shorter time. The authors concluded that it is necessary to provide improved stages of learning, which will expand the use of modernized technology. Work on the theoretical basics of piano playing can be implemented with the Vivace app; Flow app helps one to work on sound features; Functional Ear Trainer app is about developing rhythm and hearing; and Chordana Play app helps one to work on a piece of music. After training, by calculating the coefficient of effectiveness, it was found that students in group #1 (0.791), who mastered the skills of playing the piano according to the developed training stages and without a teacher, showed the quality of acquired knowledge lower than students in group #2 (0.853), who were trained under the direct influence of a teacher. The data obtained confirm the high quality of learning in the groups, as the educational process was built with the correct distribution of workload and providing opportunities for the development of musical skills. It is established that the students of group 1 to a greater extent developed independence (29%), and group 2 was good at the accuracy of musical tasks’ sequence (28%). The practical significance of the work is based on the possibility of transforming the music learning system with the help of modern technology. Prospects for the study can be based on a comparison of the quality of teaching the piano and vocal training, excluding the participation of a teacher in the learning process.

As teaching and learning experiences broaden to include more technological innovations, methods of instruction and resource flexibility are becoming increasingly important for educators and students. Open educational resources (OER) have gained international appeal for such flexibility, and post-secondary institutions are at the forefront of creating access to them. Although research related to OER has increased, few researchers have focused on OER in music instruction. In my cross-sectional survey of music faculty in the United States (N = 409), I found that music faculty were generally unaware of OER although most participants would consider adopting an open textbook for a course. Motivating factors for adoption included ease of use and decreased costs for students, whereas time and financial support would be necessary for adoption to be feasible.