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Volume 16, Issue 1-2
  • ISSN: 1752-7066
  • E-ISSN: 1752-7074

Abstract

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.

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/content/journals/10.1386/jmte_00064_1
2024-12-31
2025-03-15
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/content/journals/10.1386/jmte_00064_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): artificial intelligence; digital musicianship; music education; music production; music technology; music technology education; signal processing

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