Tour Posters: Sympathetic Resonance Trio

Here are posters for the Barents tour of the Sympathetic Resonance Trio, which offers a program of timeless songs on the theme of nature, peace, empathy and international cooperation during wartime.

TESTIMONIALS FROM THE TOUR: 

“… truly exceptional. The event seamlessly blended artistic expression with community engagement, showcasing the profound impact of sympathetic resonance in a live performance setting. The musicianship was outstanding, deeply engaging the audience and creating a captivating atmosphere. This concert not only provided a delightful cultural experience but also underscored the innovative dedication of Sympathetic Resonance in exploring the intricate connections between music and human emotions across national borders.” 

– Research Director, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (May, 2024).  

“The Sympathetic Resonance Trio, consisting of Sergei Tchirkov (accordion), David Gabriel Hebert (trumpet, vocals), and Ole Øvretveit (guitar), delivered a memorable performance that deeply resonated with our audience. The trio's ability to play with different musical traditions and styles resulted in a unique program that captivated everyone in attendance. For us, it was also important that the trio's work is built on collaboration and improvisation, crossing cultural and geographical boundaries. Their music serves as a meeting point for different cultures, represented by the USA, Norway, and Russia. We believe that this kind of collaboration and dialogue is extremely important today. Hosting the Sympathetic Resonance Trio was a great experience. They showed impressive artistry and professionalism. We're keen to invite them for future performances. We believe their music has significant cultural and artistic value, and their presence supports our mission of promoting artistic exchange and cultural enrichment in Kirkenes. We look forward to the possibility of working with the Sympathetic Resonance Trio again and continuing to support their artistic journey.” 

– Co-curator and Producer, Pikene på Broen (May, 2024). 

 

Handbook of Japanese Music in the Modern Era

It is a pleasure to announce a new book that promises to become an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the current state of music in Japan. The Handbook of Japanese Music in the Modern Era is soon being published by Brill. It is edited by Henry Johnson, an accomplished ethnomusicologist who is known for his important books on Japanese instruments. Johnson has worked in this field for many years and is a skilled and meticulous editor who carefully selected leading experts to write on an array of topics for this anthology. Here is how the book is described:

“Exploring an array of captivating topics, from hybridized Buddhist music to AI singers, this book introduces Japanese music in the modern era. The twenty-five chapters show how cultural change from the late nineteenth century to the present day has had a profound impact on the Japanese musical landscape, including the recontextualization and transformation of traditional genres, and the widespread adoption of Western musical practices ranging from classical music to hip hop.”

I am happy to have developed a chapter for this book on the teaching of musical instruments in Japanese schools, co-authored with Koji Matsunobu as a research outcome of the Global Competence Partnership project between our institutions. We look forward to further collaborations of this kind, and I encourage anyone interested in this topic to examine the book.

Here is a link to our chapter: 

https://brill.com/edcollchap/book/9789004687172/BP000027.xml

 

ISME Routledge Book Series

 

After some years, the ISME Routledge book series of the International Society for Music Education (on Routledge press) is now seeing some changes.

It was a joy to learn that I have been appointed to the Editorial Board along with a group of accomplished scholars from around the world: Emily Akuno, José Luis Aróstegui, Pamela Burnard, Chee Hoo Lum, Alexandra Kertz Welzel, Susan O’Neill, and John O’Flynn. The series is led by senior editor Gwen Moore.

Clearer procedures have now been established for handling proposals, contracting, and reviews for robust quality assurance and I am pleased to report that we have some quite interesting books on a broad range of topics coming soon!

Creative Innovations in Higher Education PhD Course

The next Bergen Summer Research School (2024) will include an exciting new PhD course called Creative Innovations in Higher Education.

Colleges and universities across the world are evolving to better meet the needs of a changing society, seeking new opportunities through innovations in teaching, research, outreach, and governance. This course will explore and critique concepts and initiatives that promise to improve the effectiveness and relevance of higher education.

Click HERE for more information on Bergen Summer Research School, which attracts PhD students from all around the world each year.

Here is more information about the course Creative Innovations in Higher Education:

Course leader
David G. Hebert, Professor, Faculty of Education, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL), Bergen.

Course lecturers
Emily Achieng' Akuno, Vice Chancellor, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST), Kenya. 
Chetwyn Chan, Professor of Psychology, Vice President, Education University of Hong Kong.
Marianne Løkke Jakobsen, Founding member and project leader, The Global Conservatoire. Head of Department, Director of Global Engagement, Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen. 
Tom Are Trippestad, Professor of Educational Theory and Policy, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. 
Yusef Waghid, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy of Education and Acting Head of Department at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.  
Abdul Quddus, Professor of Organization and Management, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

Course description
How can higher education become more effective, relevant, and inspiring? This course is designed for future professors and university leaders who intend to generate sustainable improvements.

Sometimes higher education is seen as an “ivory tower”, distant from practical concerns, but many new approaches seek to cultivate universities that are more directly engaged with professions and local communities. Some initiatives that claim to be “innovative” come with risks and provoke debates about the proper balance between financial costs and educational quality, or between practical skills and holistic competencies.

Some forms of internationalization are effective while others merely have a superficial impact. We will critically examine examples of sustainable creative innovation in specific professional fields, such as the training of teachers. Our course will focus on foundational values, ongoing debates, and recent research findings, with the aim of discerning which creative innovations are most promising for the future of higher education.

Learning outcomes - Students will:

•       Understand how the higher education sector can contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

•       Develop a global sense of various ways that colleges and universities are changing worldwide, and the underlying reasons for their evolution.

•       Recognize diverse approaches and initiatives to generate sustainable innovations to teaching, research, outreach, and governance in higher education institutions.

•       Critically evaluate applications of “innovation” discourse in higher education.

•       Produce research publications based on the course material.

Course leader

David G. Hebert, PhD, is a professor with the Faculty of Education, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen. He is also Honorary Professor with the Education University of Hong Kong and Affiliated Professor with University of the Faroe Islands. Additionally, he mentors postgraduate students with Kyambogo and Makerere universities and teaches a course on arts policy for China University of Political Science and Law. Author or editor of 10 academic books, he has taught for universities on each inhabited continent. With grant support from Norwegian government programs, he is now co-developing new doctoral programs in China and Uganda.

 Credits

Participation at the BSRS is credited under the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Participants submitting an essay, in a form of a publishable manuscript of 10-20 pages, after the end of the summer school will receive 10 ECTS. Deadline for submission will be decided by your course leader. It is also possible to participate without producing an essay. This will give you 5 ECTS. In order to receive credits, we expect full participation in the course-specific modules, plenary events and roundtables.

More details: https://www.uib.no/en/rs/bsrs/165806/creative-innovations-higher-education

 

UPDATE: I am happy to report that due to the nationwide strike my course Creative Innovations in Higher Education is not actually cancelled, but merely postponed to summer 2025. More information will be posted on the BSRS website by Autumn 2024.

 

Ethnomusicology of a European Composer

In just a few months, a new book will be published by Mikolaj Rykowski (vice rector, Paderewski Academy of Music, Poznan, Poland) as the fourth volume in Deep Soundings: The Lexington Series in Historical Ethnomusicology (Lexington Books, Rowman & Littlefield).

This book applies the theoretical concept music glocalization and methods from historical ethnomusicology to bring unprecedented insights into the life, times, and social milieu of European composer Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924), who experienced great success in the USA as well as central Europe. The book promises to be a useful model for others who seek to apply an ethnomusicological perspective to western art music.

 

Book description:

Music Glocalization and the Composer: The Case of Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924) examines the life and compositions of composer Franz Xaver Scharwenka. Mikołaj Rykowski argues that Scharwenka held the ability to function on a global scale relatively early in music history, founding conservatories in Berlin and New York, becoming one of the first artists to record music using cutting-edge audio technology of his time, namely the Welte-Mignon rolls, and by staging his own opera at The Met. Using a relatively new methodological perspective called music glocalization, Rykowski enables us to explore the composer's cultural roots in Poland and observe how the nineteenth century global sense of nationality influenced his musical output.