The medium is the message: cyberspace, community, and music learning in the Irish traditional music virtual community

This article examines the music teaching and learning in the Irish traditional virtual music community or IrTrad in cyberspace, noting the multiple, fluid and overlapping ways in which the IrTrad community defines itself. For example, YouTube videos give rise to heated discussions in other platforms on all aspects of the videos: quality, performance practices, issues of authenticity, usefulness in learning, repertoire and other areas related to learning the music and the instrument. We frame this discussion with inspiration from Marshall McLuhan's notions about hot and cold media, applying them to survey Internet learning.