Journal of Music, Technology & Education - Current Issue

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many changes in music education, including an increased use of Soundtrap, a digital audio workstation (DAW), in classrooms around the world. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on music teacher engagement with Soundtrap. We invited members of a Facebook community of teachers who use Soundtrap to participate in a survey. Of the survey participants (N = 43), most taught grades 6–12 (n = 33). Few participants had previously used Soundtrap in their classrooms before the pandemic (n = 15), but most stated that they would continue using it after (n = 37). Notable emergent themes were a lack of previous experience using DAWs and the need to learn this technology at the onset of the pandemic quickly. Participants also expressed that students’ creativity, collaboration and autonomy were integral to a positive student experience. We suggest that teacher preparation programmes may want to include more coursework on teaching DAW skills and pedagogy.

A deep understanding of learning goals in technology-mediated learning is necessary for improving lesson design and student performance. Learning goals form the foundation of classes in all content areas including technology-based music. The purpose of this study was to examine the musical learning goals of several technology-based music classes in the United States and how perceptions of those goals might vary between teachers and students. Data were collected through observations of technology-based music classes and interviews with a teacher and three to four students from each of four varied and geographically disparate secondary schools in the United States. Findings suggest that students and most teachers in this study perceived the learning goals of technology-based music classes to emphasize technological learning rather than musical achievement. Teachers with deeper music technology experience focused the goals of their classes more on musical content than those with less experience. Additional emergent themes included the importance of analytical listening, development of students’ self-confidence and improvement in improvising. Suggestions for further research are provided regarding analysis of students’ project work and further development of educational standards.

Beliefs of self-efficacy are an important factor in musical learning, especially in instrumental learning with the help of specific software. As part of a far-reaching study that has sought to design, implement and evaluate a real-time instrumental intonation software (Plectrus), this research project aims to analyse the perceptions of four novice students (10–11 years old; three girls learning the viola and one boy learning the violin) about their self-efficacy during and after practising with such software and to find out whether there is any relationship between these perceptions and musical performance with Plectrus. For this purpose, a multiple case study was developed. The instruments and techniques used were three semi-structured interviews (two with each participant and one with a family member), the observation of recordings of practice sessions with the principal researcher and practice reports on the Plectrus. The results indicate that the participants’ self-efficacy beliefs are positive. The analysis of the two interviews shows changes in experience with the software, vicarious experiences (visualization and self-competition) and social influence (other people’s possible opinions of a student’s performance). Also, positive perceptions coincide with good marks in the software, which supports the theory that positive self-efficacy influences instrumental learning.

The purpose of this study was to examine the opinions of teachers (n = 589) employed in music schools in the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Serbia on the coping of students in distance learning. The results show that students from both countries, despite facing numerous problems, have successfully coped with the realization of distance music instruction. Teachers also mentioned that students may not achieve the same level of progress in online learning as they do in traditional face-to-face instruction. Teachers from Croatia more often point out that students have all the necessary conditions for successful participation in distance learning and that they regularly perform their tasks. Opinions of teachers from Croatia and Serbia do not differ significantly in terms of time that students invest in performing tasks in distance learning and student satisfaction with conducting distance learning. In order to ensure a better transition of teachers and students in a stimulating virtual environment and to enable the successful achievement of educational goals, it is necessary to achieve changes in both countries that will enable more extensive integration of information and communication technologies in the teaching process. It is also necessary to ensure professional development of teachers regarding the application of new technologies in the educational process.

In the past decade, there has been a significant effort to incorporate maker culture principles and techniques into education. By following the STEAM education perspective, integrating maker movement educational scenarios presents an opportunity to establish a cutting-edge musical-technological learning atmosphere in music classes. This article delves into the results of an educational intervention conducted in a Greek conservatoire centred on a theory of music course. The aim of the research was to design and implement teaching scenarios built on the maker movement within a group of four students aged between 6 and 7 years, using the music educational software Synth4kids and the Makey-Makey interface as the main methodological tools. The primary objectives were to explore the students’ experiences and perceptions of the learning process within this new educational environment and to examine the perceived development of their knowledge and skills. The findings of the pilot study indicate that the students actively and enthusiastically engaged in constructing musical artefacts and immersed themselves in music-making as active participants, leading to the acquisition and transformation of musical and technological skills through meaningful experiences. In short, it is revealed that findings converge with the research activity in the field.

The synthesizer, initially conceived as a hardware analogue instrument, has undergone profound transformations in recent decades. Today, it exists in various forms including digital hardware synthesizers, software synthesizers, VST plugins and programming languages dedicated to audio. This article presents a comprehensive review of academic publications exploring synthesizers in music education. To identify relevant publications in this study, a systematic search was conducted across three databases: Web of Science, Scopus and ERIC. A snowball review technique was employed to identify pertinent publications, resulting in a final set of articles of 27 works. Thematic analysis was utilized for data analysis, leading to the identification of three general themes: (1) the synthesizer’s broad spectrum of affordances; (2) there are two main approaches to teaching the synthesizer – interval-based and sound-based – and (3) the synthesizer is a highly valuable medium for creative expression. The article concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for music education and emphasizing the significance of synthesizers within the contemporary musical landscape.

This article explores the uncanny valley in music and how it relates to music technology and music education today. The uncanny valley arises when human observers perceive something as close to human but not quite human. As human observers, our potentially positive perception of something shifts into the negative as it gets very close to being realistically human without hitting the mark. In this article, we cite recent technological advances that enable musical output that may fall into the uncanny valley. We explore how technology today allows for music creation that eliminates human nuance from a composition when parameters like rhythm, tempo and pitch have been heavily processed by computers. As educators and music creators, it is important to acknowledge this fact so that we can better educate ourselves on how to avoid or utilize this musical uncanny valley as desired. This article not only explores the musical uncanny valley as one reason why educators must dig into music technology past the surface level, but it also explores our responsibility to music students. Music teachers today have a responsibility to learn and teach the finer details of using music tech tools in the classroom, so that future music creators have the ability to preserve human nuance in their musical creations.