AI Meets Music: Tools & Teaching Strategies

Presented by Scott Jeppesen, Montana State University Billings
MMEA 2025 Conference

Why AI Matters in Music Education

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how students learn, listen, and create. As educators, we must model ethical, transparent, and creative use of these tools—so that technology enhances musicianship, not replaces it.

“AI expands what’s possible—but it’s up to us to shape what’s meaningful.”

Guiding Frameworks

Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI)

Artificial Intelligence in K–12 Education Guidelines (2025)

  • Human Oversight
  • Transparency and Integrity
  • Data Privacy
  • Bias Awareness
  • Equity and Access

NAfME

Guiding Principles for AI in Music Education (2025)

  • Ethics and Fairness
  • Teacher Agency
  • Intellectual Property and Authorship
  • Accessibility and Inclusion
  • Support for Creativity and Musicianship
“AI should support, not supplant, music learning and creativity.” — NAfME 2025

From Principles to Practice

Building AI Literacy in the Music Classroom

  • Model ethical use and credit AI contributions.
  • Reinforce originality and critical thinking.
  • Use AI as a partner in composition, research, and reflection.
  • Ensure privacy, accessibility, and inclusion for all students.
“Inclusion is intentional — AI just gives us new ways to achieve it.”

Classroom Applications

Sample Prompts

Create

  • Tools: ChatGPT, AIVA, Soundful, Noteflight
  • Example prompt: “Compose a 16-bar jazz melody in B-flat major.”
  • Students arrange, perform, and reflect — AI sparks ideas; humans make music.

Perform

  • Tools: SmartMusic, Tonara, Yousician
  • Use adaptive feedback to help students improve tone, rhythm, and intonation.
  • Teachers maintain oversight and guide interpretation.

Respond

  • Tools: BandLab for Education, Soundtrap, ChatGPT
  • Students critique AI-generated music for bias, style, and emotional authenticity.
  • Encourage reflection: “What did AI get right about your intent?”

Assess

  • Use AI to summarize reflections, scaffold practice logs, or generate leveled theory drills.
  • Keep teacher judgment central — AI supports formative feedback, not grading.

Productivity

“Efficiency matters—but wisdom comes from the teacher, not the algorithm.”

Authorship and Ownership

  • Works created entirely by AI cannot be copyrighted.
  • Students retain authorship over the creative choices they make — arrangement, revision, performance, and interpretation.
  • Always disclose AI’s role in your creative process:
    “Chord progression generated with ChatGPT; melody composed and arranged by the student.”
“AI can imitate creativity, but only humans can mean it.”

Tools Mentioned in This Session

Category Tools AI Role Educational Notes
Composition ChatGPT, AIVA, Soundful, Noteflight Generative Create melody/harmony ideas for development
Lesson Planning ChatGPT, Diffit, MagicSchool.ai Assistive Drafts rubrics and outlines (teacher reviews)
Performance Feedback SmartMusic, Tonara, Yousician Adaptive Real-time performance data and feedback
Collaboration Soundtrap, BandLab for Education Mixed Cloud-based DAW; BandLab includes AI features
Reflection ChatGPT Prompting Generates reflection prompts, not evaluations

Safe and Inclusive Use Checklist

  • Use FERPA-compliant tools for any student data.
  • Offer device-friendly, free options to ensure equity.
  • Include underrepresented composers and global styles in AI prompts.
  • Model transparency — show how you use AI ethically.
  • Build accessibility: captions, translations, adaptive exercises.
“Technology doesn’t make learning equitable — teachers do.”

Where OPI and NAfME Overlap

  • Ethical and Transparent Use
  • Teacher-Led Implementation
  • Accessibility and Equity
  • Human Creativity at the Center
“Different frameworks, same vision: ethical, creative, human teaching.”

Additional Resources

Contact

Dr. Scott Jeppesen
Associate Professor of Music · Montana State University Billings
Email: scott.jeppesen@msubillings.edu
Website: scottjeppesen.com

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