Here’s a novel concept:

• Provide video tutorials that teach you how to play an instrument and walk you specifically through the technique of a song
• Make them available as downloads
• Charge US$4.99 each
• Get the artists (and producers) involved in the original song
• Let people hear the original track
• Break down the song piece by piece so you can learn it
• Get the artists talking about the inspiration for the song, and what it means

Apple pitched these as a new concept in music education in its Macworld keynote. The company calls the videos “a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar” and said they “also give you something you won’t find anywhere else: the story behind the song.”

The only problem is, every one of these features – every single feature – has been available for months on ivideosongs.com. (Thanks for the comment, Anders!) Updated: one correction. As Tracy notes in comments, the celebrity ivideosongs entries are $9.99, though the rest of the content is $4.99. So, either Apple quietly partnered with that site and didn’t mention it (very possible), or they blatantly ripped off the site. Either way, the feature isn’t really new, which I missed. And either way, this is a great way to learn about music without buying any new software for five bucks a pop or even free. (The only real catch is, as with Apple, if you’re not a pianist or guitarist, you’re likely to feel left out.)

I had heard of the site but unfortunately didn’t spend the time I should have with it. Other bloggers wisely paid more attention:

Apple has posted the details of GarageBand ‘09. Most of the new improvements are in the form of the new Lessons feature, both built-in “Basic Lessons” and a la carte, $5 “Artist Lessons.” The basic specs:

• Basic lessons: Included with the program, these teach you the fundamentals of piano and guitar, with side-by-side notation, frets, and graphical representations of where to put your fingers if you’re an absolute beginner. The lessons include video and play-along music with adjustable tempo.
• Artist lessons (US$4.99): Available separately, the Artist Lessons include one song each, taught to you by the celebrity artist that created it. Sting teaches you “Roxanne,” and so on. There’s a step-by-step video with side-by-side visual representation, finger positioning, and chord notation, as in the Basics section. There’s also an interview with the artists talking about what the song meant to the artist (a nice addition), plus exclusive individual tracks so you can, for instance, listen in on just the guitar solo. (These sound as though they come from the original recordings.)
• Additional amp, stompbox models, plus 3D view. There’s a gimmicky new visualization of amps and stompboxes, and it’s a good value if you use the rest of iLife, though Apple doesn’t quite stack up (pardon the pun) to modeled offerings in dedicated guitar amp software.
• Improved GarageBand Jam. This visualization of 3D instruments playing along pretty much puzzled people in the last version of GarageBand – pretty, but what was it for? Now, this view navigates arrangements, shuffles instruments (not sure why that’s useful), and applies styles. It’s basically a dumbed-down way of taking loops and applying musical styles, but it is slightly improved in ‘09 and may be at least fun for casual users who are intimidated by the full program.

It’s a huge win for Apple in really focusing on what people need to get into music. Seeing a friendly artist face and getting no assumptions about what they know could motivate people in a way no music software has in the past.

Of course, I always find thing to complain about. I find it a little odd that the artist lineup is all white. I mean, not that we just elected our first African-American President and African-Americans had some impact on American rock, folk, pop, and jazz, or anything like that. (For that matter, there’s no Latin-American representation. Or Classical Music. Or quite a lot of other things.) I assume this complaint will be addressed as Apple beefs up its library, but I’ll say it again – this is an opportunity; Apple alone can’t teach everyone to make music, and that’s fine!

My main complaint is that you do need to buy the $79 (or even $99) upgrade even if you recently bought a new Mac, just to buy the $5 videos. But even that’s not a complaint: it’s a hint to everyone else who could be shooting interesting videos like this. You hear me, I hope?

And despite my gripes, I really do think this is very nicely done, and I hope it does attract new people to music. For existing GarageBand users, whether you upgrade or not really depends on whether you want the videos and if the rest of the suite is useful to you.

GarageBand ‘09 Product Page

More analysis (and why some competitors do have an opportunity, if they will take it): GarageBand ‘09 Celebrity Lessons, US$4.99; But How to Really Learn to Play Music?

Funniest response to this announcement: kaden_harris on Twitter replies:

“Gawd, think of the hipster name droppin at rehearsals…" Here’s a riff Sting showed me the other day…”

I can see the TV ad already.

Celebrity musicians say the darndest things. We’re still reflecting on the layers of meaning in Bob Dylan’s “New records have sound all over them.” And along comes Elton John, to say:

Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet…

I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span.

There’s too much technology available.

Why we must close the net [The Sun Online, bastion of journalism that it is]

Darnit, I knew something was screwing up modern music. It’s … CDM! I mean, come on, it’s not like people like me are just sitting around blogging instead of actually making som– Oh. Ahem. See your point.

Okay, in fairness, we’re once again taking something zany out of context. Sir Elton was mainly pointing out that actually being together with people is more fun than just hanging around your computer, and then makes the radical statement that maybe the world would be a better place if people actually did something rather than blogging about it. And, naturally, I kind of tend to agree.

While we’re at it, Bob Dylan turned out to be right, too — modern records do have sound all over them.

Of course, it wasn’t the Internet that was the big culprit — if anything, the Internet is galvanizing online audiences, encouraging collaboration and creative music making, and helping artists resurrect live music. (Just use it in moderation, folks. If you’re looking at those stupid cats enough that you’ve actually lost the ability to play your instrument, you’ve probably gone too far.)

Only one invention had the power to transform a society that made music in their living rooms into one that became largely passive consumers of a few superstar artists. That’d be … the phonograph. It did give us some awesome music, though, so I don’t think we did all bad.

I’m more curious about how we’re tearing down the Internet. I know how we can tear down this tiny little corner of the Internet — digg/slashdot a story enough and even our mighty, new server will come crashing to the ground. Not sure about the rest, though. Ideas?

We continue our look at studios we wish we had by going to . . . Branson, Missouri?! Yes, Branson is now home of the elegant Citywalk Studios. Here’s the good news: you can find out just about everything you need to learn about acoustic treatment from the Auralex website; Citywalk’s builders made use of the acoustic products company’s friendly instructions. You might not use quite the amount of Auralex kit these guys did, but you’ll find a little high-quality acoustic treatment can go a long way. And, of course, it looks great, and I’m guessing is substantially cheaper than the cardboard wall sculpture on Gizmodo earlier.

No . . . not Wings, Wing,
one of the hotest vocal artists on the planet. If you haven't heard
this Hong Kong native yet (she was recently featured on South Park, a
TV show that has launched . . . or re-launched . . . many a pop
superstar), you're missing out on incredibly smooth, sultry tones.
Velvet fog, indeed. And now M-Audio (a part of Avid) has earned a major endorsement. Sure, M-Audio has scored endorsements from the likes of everyone from Grammy-Winning Black-Eyed Peas to Straight Male Apartment Conversion Theme Song wonders Widelife, but clearly the addition of Wing is proof positive that digital music-making is here. (Don't believe me? Check out Wing's site, have a listen, and be converted.)