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Getting Started:
Opening Minds, Expanding Markets
Reaching Music Educators With Roland
From fast-action video gaming to Net surfing, today's youth are tech savvy in all walks of life - including music. Digital instruments in the music classroom? Bring 'em on. Students thrive on technology! Why is it, then, that a significant number of music educators are lagging behind the tech curve?
For music retailers who have yet to penetrate the music-technology education market, there has never been a better time to get onboard. Whether a synth/digital piano mini-lab or an academic mega-network that encompasses dozens of keyboard workstations, retailers have a great opportunity to empower their clientele and ultimately move product through their stores.
Entering its 33rd year of leadership in the music industry, the Roland Corporation is deeply devoted to the modern music-education movement. Offering a world-class range of tools to fill and connect the classroom, from small to super-sized, Roland has built a team of experts to grow and support this essential industry segment.
"We have major lab installations throughout the States," says Lynda Garcia, Roland's Director of Education/CK Division. And she isn't exaggerating. Hundreds of major academic institutions - high schools and colleges alike - are equipped with Roland technology, including Notre Dame, Columbia, USC, Brigham Young, Berklee, and the University of North Texas to name a few.
Lynda brings a decades-rich music education background to Roland, and has witnessed the interactive-tech transition firsthand. "Moving into the 21st Century, the trend has been to integrate the computer and the piano lab as one entity, which was not the case before. Many traditional educators were accustomed to what we called 'broadcast learning,' which didn't rely on the type of interactivity that's now being used in schools. Kids today desire feedback and interaction. They want to know how they're doing, what score they got, how they can get to the next level."
Debra Barbre, Roland's Market Development Manager says that one of the biggest challenges/opportunities she observes is "navigating the path between teachers and retailer dealers. The problem I hear from my teachers is that they are lost when it comes time to buy electronic musical instruments. The band dealer they work with doesn't understand electronics, and the electronics dealer doesn't understand teachers. The combo dealer who is willing to put the work into the bid process can do really well with school sales - especially now, when the grant money is not in the arts but in technology. I've seen schools start with a simple synthesizer and an old computer and build music departments that have year-long waiting lists! That takes a teacher who is willing to learn and music stores, and manufacturers who are willing to teach. Roland is willing to teach."
"Although there are still teachers who continue to resist technology," adds Roland's Lynda Smith, General Manager of Roland's Contemporary Keyboard Division, "we've clearly entered a time of transition. At Roland have a foot in the past for students who want and expect traditional piano lessons, but we also have a foot firmly planted in the future for the digital generation."
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