Algorithms and the Future of Music Education: A Response to Shuler

Abstract

This article is a response to Shuler's 2001 article predicting the future of music education. The respondent assesses Shuler's predictions, finding that many have come true but critiquing Shuler's overall positive assessment. The respondent then goes on to make one prediction about the future of music education: that algorithms will increasingly be understood as deeply involved in music education. The article discusses three main points regarding algorithms: one, that music is increasingly involved in algorithmic processes; two, that while algorithms are hidden, they nevertheless have political consequences; and three, that users and algorithms are mutually entangled, with users often orienting their behavior toward algorithms and algorithms increasingly being customized based on a model of the user. From these three premises, the author goes on to discuss five implications music educators should consider in developing a balanced view of twenty-first-century music education: first, the shift from the authority of the teacher toward the algorithmic wisdom of the crowd; second, the rise of music as content; third, the opportunity to engage with the governing of algorithms; fourth, the need to understand the aesthetics of algorithms; and fifth, the need for resistance to algorithms. In concluding, the author calls for maintaining a balanced approach when employing technology—moving beyond approaches that mythologize cyberculture.