As the title suggests, this book examines the gendering of music education from a technological perspective. The main theme of the book suggests that in our understandable exuberance to grasp music technology as a solution to democratising music-making for all pupils, not just musically literate pupils that receive instrumental tuition, we have overlooked the potentially negative gendering effect of music technology. The book begins with a well-referenced argument, grounded in social constructivism, which challenges the educational policy position that digital technologies are innately democratising. The author argues that music technology encourages a ‘pervasive masculinist music culture’ (p. 40) that can disadvantage females particularly when engaging in classroom music composition. There is also an interesting account of how the concept of the ‘musical cyborg’ fails to mitigate the negative gender influence for female users of music technology.

The author's position is supported through empirical evidence, resulting from a research study conducted in four schools within a qualitative paradigm. The four schools represent differing levels of music technology provision and different gender mixes of staff within their music departments. The research employed observation and interview techniques to reveal participants’ descriptions of their engagement with music technology during the composition process. Results of the research revealed that boys were treated differently than girls, based upon perceived levels of technological expertise that were linked to boys’ domination of music technology in the classroom and their tendency to challenge the teacher's expectations in composition: as a result boys were often awarded higher status based on teachers’ perceptions of boys being more creative than girls. Girls were found to engage with music technology that required fewer skills and tended to use this technology at home rather than in school where they felt intimidated by the boys’ perceived superior technological skills. Boys also used technology at home and were found to spend longer periods of time increasing their technological skills than girls. The suggestion is that in trying to redress the previous imbalance, where music was considered a girls’ subject in school but males dominated the ‘profession’, by introducing music technology to attract more boys to engage in music in school, an effective balance has not yet been achieved. In fact, with the introduction of music technology, boys are increasingly dominating music in schools and girls are becoming disadvantaged. There is also an assertion made that male teachers and pupils ‘actively produce gendered technological cultures, which position female pupils in a marginalized role that stands outside of the male-produced culture’ (p. 61).

The process of composition is also examined from a gender perspective and the results of the research suggest that girls approach the use of music technology in composition in different ways than boys. In the research study, the girls tended to compose away from the technology and then employ the technology to enhance the product whereas the boys tended to incorporate the technology within the composition process. Girls were also more likely to talk about their personal feelings in relation to their compositions but boys were less inclined to do this. Could the girls’ personal relationship with their compositions be an explanation for their different composition process or is it the perceived masculinity of the technology?

The book is well written with substantial references from many prior studies from within music education research and more general gender research literature. The author's argument is well presented, well supported and deserves careful consideration. This book should be read by music teachers who employ music technology in an attempt to democratise their classrooms and make music composition available to all pupils regardless of their prior musical experience. They would then without doubt reflect on the important gender issues raised in this book and guard against the potential male dominance in the technological classroom.