Technology, Digital Tools, and Artificial Intelligence
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Digital Tools
| Area | Examples of tools |
| Drawing and painting | Procreate, Krita, Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator |
| 3D and animation | Blender and similar software |
| Music notation | MuseScore and similar notation programs |
| Music production | Audacity, GarageBand, and other digital audio workstations |
| Video editing | DaVinci Resolve, Kdenlive, and others |
| Photography | Editing tools such as Lightroom and open alternatives |
| Documentation | Smartphone video, cloud storage, and a personal website or portfolio |
Free and open-source options are available for most tasks. Learn the basics, but remember that tools serve ideas.
Learning Online
Recorded lessons, tutorials, and archives allow access to teachers and performances anywhere. Use them as supplements to, not replacements for, live instruction, since feedback from a teacher on your body, voice, or hand is hard to replace.
Recording and Sharing Your Work
Record rehearsals to review your progress. When sharing online, think about privacy and safety, particularly for young people, and ask permission before posting others' images or performances.
Artificial Intelligence and the Arts
Generative AI tools can now produce images, music, text, and video. This raises questions that are being debated by artists, lawyers, and educators:
Creativity and authorship: who is the author of an AI-generated image?
Copyright and consent: many systems were trained on works made by artists, often without their permission, and the law differs by country.
Skill and learning: using AI to produce a work does not develop your own perception and technique.
Honesty: schools and universities generally require students to disclose any use of generative AI, and to be accountable for their work (Thesify, 2026).
Good practice for students:
1. Follow your school's rules, and ask your teacher before using AI in assessed work.
2. Disclose what you used and for what.
3. Do the learning yourself: use AI for brainstorming or feedback if allowed, not as a substitute for practice.
4. Respect artists: do not upload others' work to be copied, and do not imitate a living artist's style to deceive.
5. Check facts, since AI tools can invent dates, names, and sources.
Technology and Tradition
Digital tools can help to record and teach endangered traditions, for example by filming ritual dances and interviewing master drummers, with the consent and guidance of the practitioners. They can also lead to commercial misuse. Treat technology as a means of preservation and creativity, always in dialogue with the communities that hold the knowledge.
CHAPTER 16