My Music Journey

Meet Erja Askolin

A professional music teacher reveals to us how Musopia’s app has revolutionized K-12 music lessons for good.

When we ask Erja Askolin how she feels about Musopia’s FourChords app, it isn’t hard to notice how excited she gets. “It’s a brilliant invention!” she exclaims.?

Erja Askolin has worked as a K-12 music teacher at the Albert Edelfelt School, which is an equivalent to junior high school in the US, in Porvoo in southern Finland for 15 years. Before that, she worked in a private music school.?

Music has always been her passion, and it wasn’t hard for her to transform her passion into a profession. “Music has always been my favorite subject at school, and as I started to plan my career, it was easy for me to see that I wanted to combine children, music and even dance in my profession.”

When asking Erja what the best part of her job is, she doesn’t hesitate in her answer: “The best job satisfaction comes from seeing students excited, practising, succeeding and enjoying what they are learning.”

Students are more restless, classes are big, and restlessness has generally increased. Musopia's app helps students focus, and Erja can concentrate more on individual students.

And that is indeed something that Erja has succeeded in. “Parents of both primary and secondary school students have told me that their children talk at home about how much they enjoyed the music lessons and what they have learned.”

At this point, one must ask: what is Erja’s secret??

“The FourChords app by Musopia”, she answers promptly. “I've been using FourChords since 2015. The app is like a second adult in the classroom. It frees me up to go around and help students.”

And with a classroom full of 24 kids, that makes a huge difference. The teaching groups are big, and that’s definitely a challenge. “No band has 24 students”, she points out.?

What was teaching music like before you started using Musopia apps? “Even busier”, she says. Now I'm free to go around the classroom and help out.”

I want to highlight that learning is fun and easy, and you get to play real songs straight from the beginning.

But what is FourChords exactly??

Musopia’s “el classico” guitar karaoke app offers solutions for many different needs. It offers simplified chords for every song, adjustable backing tracks, tempo control and transposition, lyrics display so you can sing along as you play and jam with your friends, chord tutorials and sound recognition. FourChords is mainly used by individuals that want to learn how to play, but Erja has proved that the app works phenomenally in classroom music education as well.?

And in the classroom, the app has an even wider sense of purpose. Erja points out the change that has happened in schools in recent years that has been widely discussed in the media. “High school students are more restless, classes are big, and restlessness has generally increased. Musopia's app helps students focus, and Erja can concentrate more on individual students; the app is indeed like a second adult in the classroom.”

Next to FourChrods, Erja has also been using another one of Musopia’s apps. “I have been using the Ukeoke Ukulele Karaoke app since 2018. I have used both apps to sing with the school choir.” They work well for singing, too; you don't always have to play an instrument.

The FourChords app is not just versatile when it comes to different skill levels, but it also has a very versatile selection of over 2000 hit songs in various music genres. You’ll find something for every taste, which is a huge bonus when it comes to kids with different tastes in music as well as very different skill levels.

The students all have their own favorite songs in the app. Among the most popular ones are well-known hits like The Lions Sleep Tonight, Shape of You, Boyfriend, Hallelujah and Eye of the Tiger. The songs for music lessons are chosen together as a group, Erja's students tell us.

But it’s not all about songs; it’s also about favorite instruments and the different levels of the students when it comes to musical skills. How can music lessons be adapted to a group of learners with very different levels? “We teach the basics of instruments so that everyone tries out all instruments in both primary and secondary school. We also practice a teaching method called band rotation, where we play the same song several times and as a band, we rotate from instrument to instrument in six groups, each with an acoustic guitarist, bassist, drummer, vocalist, percussionist, and pianist. During the lesson, the students each get to play with four or five instruments”, Erja explains.?

The app is like a second adult in the classroom. It frees me up to go around and help students.

What about getting someone excited to learn an instrument for the very first time? How does Erja motivate her students??

“The fact that you get to make music and play instantly as well as experience success does make you interested to learn more. I have also noticed that an adult role model is important. If you have a musically inclined adult at home that encourages you to play, it lowers the threshold for taking up the hobby of playing an instrument.” In fact, some of Erja’s students have been so excited about the app that they have purchased the FourChords app themselves so that they can continue practising at home.

“I want to encourage my students to try out instruments and experiment with them. I tell them what kind of possibilities there are to play an instrument, I tell them where they can practice, and I inform them about the possibilities of different music apps. I want to highlight that learning is fun and easy, and you get to play real songs straight from the beginning.”

Some of Erja’s students have been so excited about the app that they have purchased the FourChords app themselves so that they can continue practising at home.

She also wants to share a story with us. “It’s very rewarding to get the students excited about making music. One of the most rewarding experiences was when I received a letter from a student after 9th grade, thanking me for the music lessons and saying that the music lessons made him able to cope with other school lessons.”

To other music teachers, Erja has a message. “I strongly recommend using Musopia’s apps in the classroom. It makes all the difference both to the teacher and the students. It really has transformed the way I teach music and how much more the kids get out of it.”

P.S. from the editor:

For classroom use, it is good to make a comparison between FourChords App and JustinGuitar Lessons & Songs App, as they both have classroom-friendly play-along features but a different soundtrack sound and other differences in the feature set.

The same comparison is recommended between Ukeoke Guitar Karaoke App and Kala Ukulele App.