Abstract:

Nowadays, adapting to current Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) represents a principal concern within every professional domain. Whether one discusses innovations in medical procedures, military strategies or public education, technology is always part of the conversation. In the field of music education, teachers have to adapt their modus operandi, inside and outside the classroom, according to the current trends by using social media, educational apps and mobile devices to enhance student learning experiences.

Concerning music education, there are two types of public education in Portugal: Music Education (ME) and Specialized Artistic Education in Music (SAEM). The pedagogy used in SAEM is unique, being an individualized and personalized teaching approach when compared to the generalist approach used in ME, which differentiates it from the more technical and interpretative teaching. This pedagogical uniqueness, and the need to adapt to the digital era, have contributed to a wider range of possibilities to explore in terms of the teaching and learning processes and the use of complementary technological contents.

Each day that passes, numerous applications for mobile devices (apps) appear on the market providing accessibility adapted to the needs of each one in the field of education and, in this case, the music education. And several studies show the benefits of using new technologies employed in teaching and the various types of learning that this type of applications enable. Regarding to music education, there is a wide range of applications for music education, ear training, performer, composition and so on. However, after an analysis done through a literature review, one can conclude it is still sparse its use for SAEM, since it is a very specific education area.

This work mainly aimed to study the availability and the usage of apps for SAEM. On a first phase, a literature review is done to identify the apps most commonly used for music education and how they have been applied for the specific field of SAEM. On a second phase, an exhaustive analysis of Apple’s App Store and Google Play is done to search for the availability of apps which could be used for music education. Based on ISO standards (ISO/IEC 25010:2011), a selection methodology is proposed and used to select the group of apps chosen for this study. Finally, using a universe of 10 students of a semiprivate arts school (Águeda Conservatory of Music) in 2015/2016, an evaluation of the selected apps is presented.

The evaluation was made qualitatively and quantitatively using questionnaires, surveys, interviews and performative observation of the participants. The observational study ran during 12 lessons taught using the selected apps. The results suggest that most applications developed for musical pedagogies helped students to have better results on the evaluation tests carried out in Águeda Conservatory of Music. In fact, the results reveal that all the involved participants have shown more commitment and motivation in class with the complementary use of those pedagogical support tools.

Keywords:

Specialized Artistic Education in Music, mobile apps for music education, ICT for music education, pedagogy.