Technology and group teaching

Music making in groups - choirs, orchestras, chamber music, bands, drum circles - brings together individuals to collaborate, communicate, and critically listen in order to produce a musical performance. Rehearsals of such groups could be viewed as group teaching by the conductor, facilitator, or by members of the group (e.g. piano trio) with the shared goal of a group performance. Although music making itself often takes place in groups, group learning of instrument or voice with the goal of an individual performance has typically relied heavily on the one-to-one (or master/apprentice) structure found firmly situated in pre-tertiary through conservatoire and university tuition. There have been appearances of master classes (teaching one student while others observe) to teach music performance skills in instrumental and vocal studios over the past two centuries, though these are not exclusively utilized by teachers. This chapter examines the relatively recent flourish of group instrumental instruction of individual performance skills, with a focus on keyboard teaching, and the role technology has played on promoting the efficacy and effectiveness of the group teaching context. Through this investigation of the research in and practice of group teaching and technology, it is proposed that group teaching and the role of technology facilitated an expansion of teaching techniques and pedagogy in and beyond the group setting.