1.For Educators

This text presents a comprehensive survey of the tools humans have used to create and share music, from the earliest musical artifacts to the present day, as well as the social, religious, and philosophical factors that inevitably guide our use of these tools.

2.Text Description

Often when we hear the phrase music and technology, we automatically think of newer technologies: computers, streaming, DAWs, artificial intelligence, the Internet... We forget that humans have been using technology at least since the time we first turned rocks into tools to better accomplish a task. This text begins with an overview that defines what technology is and follows with a long journey from the earliest musical artifacts found to the technologies students may be more familiar with today. The goal is to explore how the various factors of history and society have guided the development of music technology from its earliest iterations to the present day.

This text is written in such a way that students of any major and any level of experience with music will be able to understand the concepts within; from learning basic terminology in both the fields of music and technology, to then applying these terms in the context of real-world examples from history. Students will encounter both familiar historical events (such as the advent of the European printing press) and perhaps less familiar events (such as Pythagoras' theories on music, measurement, and the universe), all with a focus on how these and other events have built upon each other to bring us to where we are today in our relationship with music and the tools we use to create and distribute it.

3.How to Use this Text

This text is designed to be a complete stand-alone text for both face-to-face and asynchronous courses. Each unit presents a specific period of history or aspect of music technology and outlines the historical development of that concept. The units should be studied in the order in which they are presented, as each builds on the concepts presented in the previous unit.

Generously sprinkled throughout each unit are several Knowledge Checkpoints that help students grasp the key points of the unit sections as they read. Each unit concludes with a short unit quiz and an opportunity to complete a metacognitive reading reflection, all designed to reinforce and personalize the information presented in that unit.

4.Student Learning Outcomes

• Students will develop an understanding of the role of physics, acoustics, and technology in music throughout history
• Students will understand the cultural and philosophical forces that underlie technological innovation
• Students will become familiar with ways in which technologies influence society in both expected and unexpected ways
• Students will become familiar with a broad range of music through the ages, from several traditions
• Students will become familiar with important historical debates about the role of technology – debates that continue to this day