Journal of Music, Technology & Education - Volume 8, Issue 2, 2015

This article presents detailed descriptions of a series of distance collaborations between two institutions of music education; the State University of New York, Oneonta, in the United States, and the Musrara Naggar School of Art in Jerusalem, Israel. The collaborations between Oneonta and Musrara encompass multiple modes of collaborative interaction, including asynchronous, interstitial and synchronized collaboration. As such the collaborations between the two institutions provide a rich case for understanding practical considerations for and implications of technologically mediated and distributed distance collaborations in music. The authors analyse the collaborations between the two institutions to demonstrate how the increasingly deterritorialized, multilocated nature of technologically mediated distance collaborations generates and encompasses multiple levels of poietic space. Those poietic spaces include micro poietic spaces representative of the individual participants, larger poetic spaces representative of co-located collaborators and contributors, and still larger macro poietic spaces that do not exist in anyone single locale but, instead, encompass the entire poietic sphere of such collaborations. To further understand the dynamics of technologically mediated distance collaboration, the authors introduce an emerging model for understanding such collaborations. That model draws on the philosophical concept of poiesis and on distributed cognition theory, framework drawn from the field of human–computer interaction (HCI).

In theory anyone with a computer, tablet, or smartphone can ‘play the studio’, but is this reality or rhetoric? The putative democratization of recording technology is tethered to a basic economic argument – affordability equals access – while analyses of the sociocultural conditions of this mode of music making have been largely overlooked. Considering that playing the studio is an elemental practice in the making of many popular musics, the implications of this inquiry are relevant to all dwellers on the delta of where music, technology and education meet. First, I provide a concise history of the concept of playing the studio to frame the subsequent discussion on diversity in this practice, particularly as it relates to gender. Second, I report findings from a survey I conducted in New York City on playing the studio, which confirm this practice is predominantly the preserve of white, male guitarists. The dearth of women in the sample (11%) serves to elucidate the reality that the supposed ‘democratization’ of music making ushered in by the DAW has not actually occurred. Third, I contextualize these findings with a discussion on related research to affirm that the underrepresentation of women in playing the studio is consistent with the history of recording studio culture, and more broadly with Bourdieu’s notion of ‘masculine domination’ (2001). In conclusion, I suggest that in order to de-gender the masculine/feminine binary implicit in software and hardware for music production, educators and students alike need to infiltrate the design process and be active agents in the development of the technologies they will use to make music.

This article reports on a qualitative study of four undergraduate students specializing in popular music composition, and examines links and overlaps between three related areas: participants’ interpretations and definitions of the term ‘composition’; their use of music technology; and how they describe their professional identities and roles in the creation of popular music. Findings suggest that the concept and practice of popular music composition are intrinsically tied to music production and the creation of a sonic product or artefact. Participants describe their roles in the creation of their music as multifarious, and report that usage of music technology involves them simultaneously engaging in activities associated with music composition, engineering, production and, especially, performance. Consequently, the authors (both lecturers in popular music composition) suggest that teaching, learning and assessment in this area of popular music education should be based on understanding popular music composition as performance-centred practice.

The application of technologies to the popular singing voice has enabled it to be conveyed in a myriad of contexts. In many ways, it is the use of technology (e.g. reinforced sound, broadcasting) that has allowed the development of contemporary singing to be more aligned to modes of speech than to the vociferous tone of vaudeville performers or to the resonant classical singing voice. The contemporary singing voice became more intimate. Technology has also enabled extended audibility of the singing voice. It allows for the singing voice to be placed within a spatial context and resultant aesthetic. This article discusses further advances in technologies (specifically looping) that allow contemporary singers to record, playback and layer in real time. Whereas a range of technologies extend the contemporary singing voice (e.g. amplification), looping technologies transform vocal capabilities so that a multiplicity of creativities and colours are simultaneously evident. The discussion distinguishes between technologized and autonomized singing. It does so on the basis that the use of looping technologies for contemporary singers facilitates a high level of autonomy (vocal and musical) in performance. The discussion outlines implemented strategies for the inclusion of looping in vocal studies at tertiary level and concludes with teacher perceptions that provide insight into the ways in which reflection, vocal development and looping foster understanding and development of the singing voice and musicality more broadly.

In this article the author explores what making guitars (luthiering), designing and assembling pedal boards, and performing as a guitarist has meant for his perspective on curricular expansion in music teacher education in the United States. He provides examples of the creative process of selecting materials, exploring novel components, and establishing finishing procedures in guitar making as a means of illustrating a theory of change in music education (Randles, 2013a). Adaptive and innovative change is viewed through the practical work of both the luthier and music education curriculum reformer. Implications for the future of music education curriculum development are provided.

Although formal educational institutions in the UK, and particularly in Higher Education (HE), have begun to include aspects of dance music and hip-hop styles of music in their curricula, there is still a notable lack of research into the relationship between popular electronic music-making practices, such as performance, and formal education. This study explores some of the experiences, perceptions and reflections of popular electronic musicians in formal educational institutions in the UK with a specific focus on the performance of popular electronic music. Our findings show that formal education has had some impact on the development of popular electronic musicians’ practice and, in some cases, acted as an introduction to popular electronic styles of music. However, the study’s findings also highlight the need to develop more comprehensive musical curricula that include popular electronic styles of music as well as the more established popular musical styles such as rock.