Sociomusicology: From Boston to Helsinki

12/12/07

From Boston to Helsinki

I am excited to have accepted a new job as Professor of Music at the Sibelius Academy in Finland. The new post begins in August of 2008, so I will be teaching for one more semester at Boston University and then moving to Europe. I will continue to supervise some doctoral dissertations for Boston University as an online Master Lecturer. The new job at Sibelius Academy will emphasize research and thesis supervision, and has come about partly as a result of restructuring within the institution to bring the music education, jazz studies, folk music (ethnomusicology), and arts management/music technology programs into closer collaboration within a single faculty unit. I am eager to work with the faculty in jazz studies, music technology, and ethnomusicology as well as music education, and see enormous potential for many interesting new projects within this unique and forward-thinking institution.

“The internationally renowned Sibelius Academy, located in Finland’s capital city Helsinki, was founded in 1882 and bears the distinguished name of the great Finnish master composer Jean Sibelius. The Sibelius Academy ranks today as one of the largest and most prestigious music universities in Europe. In addition to providing the highest education in the field of music, the Academy engages prominently in performance and in creative artistic activity and research” (from: http://fsa.siba.fi/en/sibelius_academy/).

Here are links to some open-access online articles that discuss music education in Finland:

http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Bladh_Heimonen6_1.pdf

http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Vakeva_Westerlund6_4.pdf

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001696.htm

http://www.uta.fi/FAST/FIN/EDU/sh-early.html

For those interested in music in higher education and folk music in Finland, Juniper Hill's recent dissertation provides some useful insights: http://juniperlynnhill.net/

The Folk Music Department of Sibelius Academy recently won a major award:
http://www.womex.com/realwomex/award_pr.html

For those interested in Finnish bands, I recommend examining publications by Kari Laitinen available online through WASBE (linked under National Wind Band History / Finland) and the Finnish Music Information Centre (linked under Contemporary Music / Publications / Other publications in English), and certainly the work of Paul Niemisto at St. Olaf's College.

Links for Japanese:
http://www.finstitute.gr.jp/
http://www.sib-jp.org/

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Welcome to Sociomusicology

For over 15 years (since 2007), this website has offered musings on contemporary society and its music by David G. Hebert, PhD. He is a sociomusicologist specializing in global music education who has held academic positions with universities on five continents. Dr. Hebert is now a tenured full Professor with Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen. There he leads the Grieg Academy Music Education (GAME) research group and manages the multinational government-funded Nordic Network for Music Education, which organizes annual intensive Master courses and exchange of teachers and students across eight countries. He is also an Affiliated Professor with University of the Faroe Islands and an Honorary Professor in China with the Education University of Hong Kong.

Professor Hebert's research applies an international-comparative perspective to issues of pluralism, identity, and cultural relevance in music education, as well as processes by which new music traditions emerge and change - both sonically and socially - as they are adopted into institutions. Born in the 1970s, he is among the most widely-published and globally-active music scholars of his generation (h-index:20; i10-index:30), with professional activities in an average of 8 countries per year across the past decade (2008-2020).