Teaching strategies in the music classroom: the impact of information and communication technologies

The impact of new technologies within music education has been enormous and there is an urgent need for research that investigates the far reaching implications of this technological revolution. This qualitative study reports the results from two focus groups with music educators involved in teaching music in the West of Scotland, UK. The two focus groups contained a total of ten participants who were asked to discuss how Information and Communication Technologies (I&CT) had impacted upon their work as teachers. The results are grouped into three categorises: subject knowledge; musical communication in the classroom; and classroom organisation and management. The results are discussed with reference to specific issues such as; a need for educators to receive specialist I&CT training, an increased accessibility to creative music making for students and implications for student assessment. The implications for teachers in terms of training and classroom activities are also discussed.