Tobias, E. S. (2017) Augmenting music teaching and learning with technology and digital media. In Mantie, R., & Ruthmann, S.A. (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education (431-438). Oxford University Press.
The Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education [affiliate link] is an excellent resource to learn about the most current thinking on technology and music learning and teaching. The book benefits from diverse perspectives including those that address the possibilities of technology as well as those that provide critical perspectives. It is comprehensive and, as a whole will help music educators deepen and broaden the ways we think about and approach technology in varied learning settings.
I have two chapters in the Handbook. My chapter Augmenting Music Teaching and Learning with Technology and Digital Media is one of the book’s “further perspectives.” Here’s the abstract:
In this chapter, I address how technology enables people to augment aspects of, blur boundaries between, and connect across musical experiences in ways that might expand conceptions of musicality, musicianship, and who might be considered a musician. I propose three such approaches to leveraging technology: augmenting music and musical engagement, augmenting musical sharing and concert experiences, and augmenting performing and ensembles. These three approaches to augmenting music teaching and learning through technology and digital media have potential to expand how music educators and their students conceptualize and enact musicianship. The chapter forwards a perspective that leveraging technology and digital media to augment music and musical engagement situates the act of connecting and identifying musical relationships as a form of musicianship and way of being a musician.
Each section includes a vignette to explore ways that people might augment their music programs through digital media along with a brief discussion of possibilities and next steps.
In the augmenting music and musical engagement section, I describe ways that music educators might add layers of experiences, content, and information to music. I highlight the importance of learners and educators being able to envision an identify connections and relationships as an aspect of contemporary musicianship and way of being musically creative. For those interested in the music core arts standards, this section can be helpful for addressing “connecting.”
In the augmenting musical sharing and concert experiences section, I encourage music educators to consider ways to expand from the traditional linear trajectory of preparing music to present at a physical concert by engaging diverse audiences in varied ways as well as experimenting with diverse approaches to sharing music (and music learning) with others. I highlight an aspect of participatory culture that acknowledges how any content, once in digital format, can be shared, networked, and circulated (see Jenkins et al. in Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century). This section also invites music educators to consider how we might think more expansively about the time and location in which learners and communities experience, learn, and engage with music. In relation to the music core arts standards, this section can help music educators address and expand upon “presenting.”
In the augmenting performing and ensembles section, I invite music educators to explore how they can “maintain acoustic paradigms of performance in contexts that are technology-specific or explore expanded approaches to performing in hybrid contexts that support a convergence of acoustic, electric, and digital instruments” (p. 436). I mention technologies such as Cycling 74’s Max and some of the forms of musical engagement addressed in Andrew Hugill’s The Digital Musician [affiliate link] to consider expanding on acoustic or Western classical performance paradigms that are most typical in K-12 settings.
As a whole, Augmenting Music Teaching and Learning with Technology and Digital Media offers music educators some pathways for expanding their music classes or ensembles in ways that can support learners’ creative engagement in varied ways. You can access a copy of the chapter here, and I highly recommend getting a copy of the book The Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education if you have any interest in the role that technology can play in music learning and teaching!
How are you augmenting your music classes or ensembles with technology or digital media?