Playing a musical instrument is a highly complex activity. It requires a sophisticated combination of cognitive and sensorimotor skills, which are acquired during a long learning trajectory. Traditional music pedagogy is mostly based on a master-apprentice model in which the student observes and imitates the teacher, the teacher provides verbal feedback on the performance of the student, and the student engages in long periods of self-study without teacher supervision. However, learning under the master-apprentice model is difficult because the time lag between the student‘s performance and the teacher‘s feedback makes the feedback to be dissociated from the online proprioceptive and auditory sensations accompanying the performance – this is especially relevant since most of student‘s performance practice takes place long after the teacher‘s feedback. The resulting long periods of private-study by the student frequently make the learning of musical instruments a rather harsh and solitary experience, resulting in high abandonment rates. In addition, approaches to teaching the biomechanics of musical performance may be based on subjective and vague perception, rather than on accurate understanding of the principles of human movement. The student requires to mirror the teacher‘s body language, according to verbal feedback which is often susceptible to ambiguous interpretation. For the student, consequences of such an uninformed pedagogy can range from a frustrating lack of progress, and consequent abandonment, to health problems. In such a learning model, modern technologies are rarely employed and almost never go beyond audio and video recording.
This Research Topic targets contributions which address the above problems from a pedagogical and technological perspective. It attempts to address questions such as “How will the musical instrument learning and performance environments be in 5-10 years time?” and “What impact will these new musical environments have in instrument learning and practice as a whole?”
We welcome contributions describing technology-enhanced, interactive, assistive, self-learning, augmented-feedback, and/or social-aware music learning systems, complementary to traditional teaching.
Playing a musical instrument is a highly complex activity. It requires a sophisticated combination of cognitive and sensorimotor skills, which are acquired during a long learning trajectory. Traditional music pedagogy is mostly based on a master-apprentice model in which the student observes and imitates the teacher, the teacher provides verbal feedback on the performance of the student, and the student engages in long periods of self-study without teacher supervision. However, learning under the master-apprentice model is difficult because the time lag between the student‘s performance and the teacher‘s feedback makes the feedback to be dissociated from the online proprioceptive and auditory sensations accompanying the performance – this is especially relevant since most of student‘s performance practice takes place long after the teacher‘s feedback. The resulting long periods of private-study by the student frequently make the learning of musical instruments a rather harsh and solitary experience, resulting in high abandonment rates. In addition, approaches to teaching the biomechanics of musical performance may be based on subjective and vague perception, rather than on accurate understanding of the principles of human movement. The student requires to mirror the teacher‘s body language, according to verbal feedback which is often susceptible to ambiguous interpretation. For the student, consequences of such an uninformed pedagogy can range from a frustrating lack of progress, and consequent abandonment, to health problems. In such a learning model, modern technologies are rarely employed and almost never go beyond audio and video recording.
This Research Topic targets contributions which address the above problems from a pedagogical and technological perspective. It attempts to address questions such as “How will the musical instrument learning and performance environments be in 5-10 years time?” and “What impact will these new musical environments have in instrument learning and practice as a whole?”
We welcome contributions describing technology-enhanced, interactive, assistive, self-learning, augmented-feedback, and/or social-aware music learning systems, complementary to traditional teaching.
