Music education and maps: The use of GIS technology, large geocoded data sets and geospatial statistics to inform music education research

Recent developments in geographical information systems and geospatial statistics, together with greater access to large, highly-detailed ‘geocoded’ datasets, are transforming environmental, social and economic research. To date, however, relatively little use of these developments has been made in education or music research, and practically none within the field music education. This paper will illustrate the application of a range of these techniques to a deviant idiographic case study dealing with instrumental tuition provided by one English local authority between 2003 and 2010. The case study draws on analyses of detailed local records using, amongst other techniques: location quotients, tests for spatial autocorrelation and distinct distributions, and local regression models. The paper will demonstrate how these techniques can be applied using open-source software and freely-available census, government and cartographic data.