Designing contemporary music courses for the 21st century musician: virtual worlds as a live music performance space

The landscape has already changed for the music industry in the way that music is created, performed and distributed. Higher education courses in music, including contemporary music, are abundant but in many cases are not preparing students for the 21st century music industry. Innovative technology is pushing the boundaries of what live performance in music actually entails. Technology such as virtual worlds is opening up avenues for greater control by the musician in relation to design of performance spaces and ability to attract global audiences. The potential for the exploration of virtual worlds by musicians to promote appropriate career development skills is discussed. Technical, organisational and motivational issues are also raised. Problems and possibilities associated with the initial running of performances in a virtual world reveal the capacity of higher education to implement live music performance in virtual worlds as part of their music courses.