Stay-at-home mandates have had people filling their extra time with hobbies, interests and learning. With music being a popular go-to, across all age groups, Indians seemed to rekindle their love for learning and playing music, especially musical instruments.
As consumers stayed indoors maintaining social distancing and focused on meeting their essential needs, e-commerce site Flipkart witnessed an uptick in categories within the entertainment and learning space – musical instruments being one of them, they told IANSlife in an email.
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"In the last quarter, we have seen the category of musical instruments grow by 40 percent in comparison to the pre-Covid period," said the online marketplace, which currently hosts a wide variety of instruments including guitar, musical keyboard, violin, harmonica, ukulele, tabla, flute, Dholak, and recording equipment such as amplifiers, microphones, sound mixers, and controllers, among others.
Piano has over 12,000 parts, 10,000 of which are moving. Unsplash
One of the most trending instruments on the site during the past few months has been the Ukulele, which is a small four-string guitar. Flipkart said that more than half of the demand for these instruments came from Tier 3 and other markets.
On heightened interest for music classes online, especially for instruments, Tanuja Gomes, the Co-Founder and Co- CEO of Furtados School of Music told IANSlife, "As mental wellness is taking a preceding especially in the current times, yes, we have witnessed surge in demands for entry level instruments."
"We have also seen a mammoth shift for online music education. Across all age categories we are witnessing demand; some are exploring music education for recreational purpose, some are enrolling for accredited certificate plans, millennials want to add new skills in their portfolios and many want to just pick up as it has been part of their bucket list for long. After our recent research internally, 83 percent of our customers want to continue learning online as it offers them ease and convenience."
The music school has taught over 20,000 students in last five months, covering music education at large, denoting the keen interest in learning and playing music during these difficult times. (IANS)