Challenges for Musical Education in the Age of AI and Digital Transformation

Abstract:Music education has never been a static discipline. Each major technological shift has forced educators and institutions to reconsider what they teach, how they teach it, and why. We now stand at what may be the most consequential of such turning points. Three deeply intertwined transformations have been converging simultaneously: 1. The very nature of music has changed: how it is made, distributed, consumed, and valued; 2. The public for music has changed: listening habits are now shaped by streaming algorithms and the boundary between consumer and creator has blurred; 3. Music-making itself has changed: digital audio workstations (DAWs) have for two decades been reshaping compositional practice. In addition, generative AI has now irrupted, capable of producing complete, stylistically coherent musical pieces from a short text prompt. These changes are not independent of one another, and they all bear directly on musical education - both the content that must be taught, and the pedagogical tools and methods available to teach it. This paper attempts to map these challenges and to consider how education might adapt. Section 2 surveys the changes in various aspects of music (nature, production, public, economics). Section 3 examines the implications for education before Section 4 concludes.

Computers and Society (cs.CY); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Machine Learning (cs.LG)

arXiv:2608.05176 [cs.CY]

(or arXiv:2608.05176v1 [cs.CY] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.05176 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.

Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.

Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.