Sociomusicology: July 2012

7/12/12

Research on Music Policies and Practices in Europe

Below are abstracts for some of my upcoming collaborative publications:

Hebert, D. G. & Heimonen, M. (2013, January; Draft in review for special issue on “Cosmopolitanism and Policy”). “Public Policy and Music Education in Norway and Finland,” Arts Education Policy Review, Vol. 114, No. 1.

Public Policy and Music Education in Norway and Finland

David G. Hebert and Marja Heimonen

Abstract

Our previous research has examined the legal bases for music education in Northern Europe as well as the role of music among ethnic minorities and in the construction of national identity. Extending on previous work, this article applies the Toulmin argument model of rhetorical analysis—which features identification and dissection of the components of prominent enthymemes—to scrutinize concepts within both educational policy documents and relevant music education literature from Norway and Finland across the past decade. Our analysis will produce a detailed account of how understandings of “music education” are formulated through the rhetoric of public policy, enabling rigorous examination of relationships between the prospective limitations of these formulations and the actual concerns of music teachers evident in professional periodicals since the start of the 21st century.

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Hebert, D. G., Kallio, A. A., & Odendaal, A. (2012, in press). “Not so Silent Night: Tradition, Transformation and Cultural Understandings of Christmas Music Events in Helsinki Finland,” Ethnomusicology Forum, Vol. 21.

Not so Silent Night: Tradition, Transformation and Cultural Understandings of Christmas music events in Helsinki Finland

David Hebert, Alexis Anja Kallio and Albi Odendaal

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of Finnish joulumusiikki (Christmas music) concerts and sing-alongs as well as participants’ motivations for attending these immensely popular events. Contemporary joulumusiikki events were studied through ethnographic observations and interviews conducted at five prominent Christmas music venues in the capital city, Helsinki. Findings highlight how these events may be understood as rituals that both maintain traditions and mediate the transformations of contemporary Finnish society. Joulumusiikki events were determined to provide opportunities for particularly Finnish celebrations of distinctively Finnish ideals. Thus, both as expressions and constructions of ‘Finnishness’, joulumusiikki events are seen as an important social tradition that continues to evolve and transform. With very little previously published research on such topics, this study offers preliminary but important insights into the role of Christmas music events in Finnish society which are highly significant due to their powerfully affective connection to cultural heritage and the fact that more than a fifth of Finns (around 1 million) participate in them annually.

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).