Music Education: Balance between Tradition and Digital Technologies

Amid rapid digitalization, the system of musical education faces new challenges. On one side is the introduction of state digital services (Online University Admission, the Pushkin Card, the Student Showcase) and more stringent information security requirements (Order No. 117 of the Federal Service for Technical and Export Control). On the other is the practical experience institutions have accumulated in confronting systemic difficulties. It is important to stress that digital technology is an aid and a means of meeting state requirements for transparency in education, not a substitute for the live creative process. The online format has objective limits: under the relevant regulations, fully remote study is not permitted for a number of musical disciplines, above all in secondary vocational education. Music cannot be taught entirely online; live performance, contact with a teacher, and experience of the stage remain fundamental. How can the living nature of musical education be preserved amid digitalization? Where does the line run between technological efficiency and the loss of human contact? How can digital services work for the benefit of art and people, rather than the other way around? These questions lie at the heart of our agenda. This year’s Forum theme is “United Cultures, Common Values”. Participants in the session will discuss how to find the right balance between the traditional values of musical education – the spiritual nature of art, direct contact between mentor and pupil, the cultivation of artistic taste, and the development of creative individuality – and the inevitable digitalization that should serve art and people rather than replace human interaction. Significantly, the Association brings together Russian institutions and institutions from other countries: the Belarusian State Academy of Music, the Republican Music College at the Belarusian State Academy of Music, and the Mongolian State Conservatory. Questions of the digital transformation of education matter to all the participating countries. Including representatives of these institutions in the discussion will make it possible to consider both Russian practice and international experience. The participants will identify shared challenges and common ground in approaches to digitalization, as well as information security.