Empowering Children with a Digital Musical Instrument Mobile App: Perspectives of Early Childhood Educators

Audience’s Perceived Expectancy and Authenticity of Classical Music Performance by Digital Musical Instrument Mobile Apps

“…Contextualized in a student concert, audiences' positive feedback would encourage the further use of DMI mobile apps in school music teaching and learning. This can help remove the ''elite code'' of music subject in schools (Lamont & Maton, 2008) and promote a more equal and accessible music learning environment (Cheng & Lam, 2023), alongside the creativity development unleashed by music technology (Burnard, 2007). The proximity of mobile devices to young people's life can stimulate their interest, which helps develop a younger audience base in order to tackle the general decline in classical music.…”

“…Additionally, DMI instruments offer the flexibility to program different sound presets, enabling performers to swiftly switch between sounds or entire arrangements during live shows. Recent advancements in mobile technology have further made DMI accessible through mobile apps, allowing individuals with smartphones or tablets to engage in musical activities in various contexts, such as education (Cheng & Lam, 2023), therapeutic practices (Choi et al, 2019), and social engagement (Wu, 2020).…”

“…While the use DMI and mobile music app for musicmaking purposes were not common outside of various schooling context (e.g., Chen, 2023;Cheng & Lam, 2023;Ng et al, 2022), the concert series was the culmination of a university-school partnership project that aimed to promote the use of DMI mobile apps. The project sought to make musical engagement more accessible by bypassing the extensive years of training typically required for instrumentalists to participate in performances and ensemble practices.…”