Music technology (electronic and digital)

Music technology is a term that refers to all forms of technology involved with the musical arts, particularly the use of electronic devices and computer software to facilitate playback, recording, composition, storage, and performance. This subject is taught in many educational levels including k-12 through college and university. Furthermore, music technology encompasses the technical and scientific aspects of the music such as acoustic science, programming, music psychology & sociology, and music industry business practices. In many contemporary experimental musical instruments new music technology inventions are being used to create new sound possibilities.

The concept of music technology is intimately connected to both musical and technological creativity. People are constantly striving to devise new forms of expression through music, and physically creating new devices to enable them to do so. Because of this, our definition of what music technology encompasses must continually expand. Although the term is now most commonly used in reference to modern electronic devices, such as a monome, the piano and guitar are also examples of music technology. In the computer age the ontological range of music technology has greatly increased. It may now be mechanical, electronic, software or indeed even purely conceptual.

Sequencer software is perhaps the most widely-used form of software music technology. Such programs allow the user to record audio or MIDI musical sequences, which then may be organized along a time line. Musical segments can be copied and duplicated ad infinitum, edited and processed using a variety of audio effects. Music Technology includes many forms of music reproduction. Music technology and sound technology both refer to the use of sound engineering in a commercial or leisurely manner. The two may sometimes be classed as the same but actually refer to different fields of work, the names of which are self explanatory but where sound engineering may refer primarily to the use of sound technology for media logical purposes.

External links

• Music Technology in Education
• Music Technology Resources