MIR in School? Lessons from Ethnographic Observation of Secondary School Music Classes

To help maximise the usefulness of MIR technologies in the wider community, we conducted an ethnographic study of music lessons in secondary schools in London, UK. The purpose is to understand better how musical concepts are negotiated with and without technology, so we can understand when and how MIR tools might be useful. We report on some of the themes uncovered, both about the range of technologies deployed in schools and about the ways different musical concepts are discussed. Importantly, this rich observation elicits some of the nuances between various highand low-technologies. In particular, we discuss issues of multimodality and the role of technologies such as Youtube, as well as specific issues around musical concepts such as genre and rhythm.