Musical education and new technologies in times of pandemic

The case of Jamulus at the Faculty of Music, UNAM

Abstract

In the recent events of mandatory confinement, derived from the global pandemic triggered by the highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 virus, the Faculty of Music at UNAM was forced to respond to the pedagogical obligation; which serves as its foundation. To do this, they called on specialists in technology and music education to find strategies that would allow it to be met. This group of pedagogues and specialists took on the task of designing introductory courses to audio technology and digital distance education. Within these new strategies, it was proposed to implement a remote digital audio transmission system. This system is enabled by the Jamulus software (Fischer, 2015), produced in North America but distributed freely and openly, and tested internationally by leading musical institutions to solve some of the pedagogical activities.

In this text, we present the background that led to the nomination of Jamulus as an alternative, its implementation problems, the experience of the teachers who used it, a short discussion and the pertinent conclusions.