Research & Reflections / Between Lessons

Has music education simply learned to tolerate digital environments never designed for it?

Over the past few years, music educators have adapted with remarkable speed. Lessons continued. Studios reorganized themselves. Institutions stabilized. Entire teaching cultures moved online almost overnight.

And yet, even now, many educators still describe a persistent feeling that something remains unresolved.

Not necessarily broken.

Not impossible.

But incomplete.

Is this simply the natural adjustment period of a changing profession? Or have musicians gradually become accustomed to working inside digital environments originally designed for entirely different forms of interaction — meetings, productivity, conversation, and screen-based communication?

What happens to musical attention, artistic presence, nuance, continuity, and pedagogical relationships when teaching takes place inside systems that were never truly built for music in the first place?

Some educators believe the solution is simply continued adaptation. Others wonder whether adaptation itself may already be quietly reshaping music pedagogy in ways we do not yet fully understand.

We are interested in reflections from both perspectives.

Selected reflections

At some point, many music educators stopped asking whether the environment itself was pedagogically appropriate — and focused instead on becoming better at tolerating it.

Professor, University Canada

Online teaching did not simply reproduce music pedagogy digitally. It quietly reshaped students’ expectations of attention, patience, continuity, and even musical presence itself.

RCM instructor, USA

The uncomfortable possibility is that many online systems work perfectly well for education — just not necessarily for the kind of artistic formation musicians once considered essential.

Dan, Music researcher

Blaming the platform has become an excuse. Some educators are still waiting for technology to imitate the studio instead of rethinking pedagogy for a different medium entirely.

Amanda, Digital learning specialist

What many describe as ‘loss’ may actually be resistance to changing long-established teaching identities.

Faculty administrator, Montreal, QC

Not every aspect of musical interaction needs to survive digitization. Some forms of teaching may simply belong to physical space.

Conservatory faculty, London, UK

Share a reflection on this question

What have you noticed about the interval between lessons — as a teacher, a student, or both?

Reflections may be shared anonymously. That said, we are always grateful when musicians and educators choose to attach their names to their thoughts.

Reflections are reviewed before they appear on this page. Submission does not guarantee publication. Attribution is always optional and confirmed with you before your name appears.