Technology and the transmission of tradition: An exploration of the virtual pedagogies in the Online Academy of Irish Music

The Internet is now a central resource in the transmission of Irish traditional music (ITM), with over 80 per cent of Irish traditional musicians citing that they use online resources. The Online Academy of Irish Music (OAIM) is a website that offers online tuition, and employs innovative virtual pedagogies including Virtual Classrooms, Virtual Sessions, Jam Sessions and Virtual Reality Sessions. Through ethnographic means and focusing on the OAIM as a case study, this article highlights the connection between music and social learning in the ITM tradition. Informed by the work of ethnomusicologists Turino, Rice and Merriam, it documents how the virtual world is attempting to mimic social experiences for the learner of ITM. Documenting this process of mimicking reveals the challenges of holistic online learning, which could prove informative for all stakeholders in the pedagogic process as OAIM endeavours to address the shortcomings and inform the broader investigations into online music education.