Sociomusicology: February 2024

2/19/24

Deep Soundings, Volume IV

I am happy to report that Volume IV is now being printed, the latest monograph in the Lexington Series in Historical Ethnomusicology: Deep Soundings.

It is a pleasure to edit this book series, which provides new insights into global music heritage.

Below is our list of recent titles and forthcoming (contracted) books:

Vol. I (2021), by Ambigay Raidoo Yudkoff, PhD:

Activism through Music during the Apartheid Era and Beyond: When Voices Meet

Vol. II (2022), by David G. Hebert, PhD and Jonathan McCollum, PhD (editors):

Ethnomusicology and Cultural Diplomacy

Vol. III (2022), by Raja Iskandar Bin Raja Halid, PhD:

The Malay Nobat: A History of Power, Acculturation and Sovereignty

Vol. IV (2024), by Mikolaj Rykowski, PhD:

Music Glocalization and the Composer: The Case of Franz Xaver Scharwenka

Vol. V (forthcoming, 2025), by Amy Frishkey, PhD:

Navigating Neo-Traditionalism in Garifuna Popular Music

Vol. VI (forthcoming, 2025), by Matthew Machin-Autenrieth, PhD:

The Spanish-Moroccan Musical Brotherhood: Colonial Legacies, Interculturalism and Cultural Memory across the Strait of Gibraltor

2/16/24

The GAME research group will soon be completing its application for funding to extend the Music Talks project as Music Talks II, which will build further on our previous methods but emphasize the design and application of new digital tools. We are thankful for the EU's Erasmus Plus funding and hopeful the project will continue.

Music Talks produces evidence-based methods for using music to promote civic engagement among European youth, and is based on a collaboration between Nordic, Baltic, and Balkan organizations in multiple sectors: a university, community schools, and youth-oriented NGOs.

In addition to the materials on the Music Talks website, we will soon have the following academic outcome:

Hebert, D. G. & Johnson, D. (in press, 2024). Global music communities and civic engagement in the digital age. In D. Blandy & F. Bastos (Eds.), Promoting Civic Engagement through Art Education: A Call to Action for Creative Educators. Routledge.

2/6/24

Four Decades of Folk Music Research in Finland

It is inspiring to now have an opportunity to participate in the 40-Year Jubilee Symposium of the Folk Music Department at Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.

I used to work as a Professor there about 15 years ago and helped to establish its Master of Global Music program. It is a pleasure to have this opportunity to return and see the current situation, as well as to meet other singing researchers as part of the Singing Maps project managed by my colleague David Johnson.

The symposium will be live-streamed on the University of the Arts YouTube channel, and links for the streaming are provided at the end of the program. Click HERE to access the symposium program.

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki#/media/File:Helsinki_July_2013-27a.jpg

2/5/24

Horizon Europe Submission 2024

It is exciting to now be completing an application for the EU’s Horizon Europe large research grant program. These applications are massive, requiring hundreds of man-hours to develop. For this application, we lead a consortium of 10 partners from 8 countries, seeking 3 million euros, so every detail must be carefully considered. There is likely to be stiff competition, but we seem to have outstanding competence in our team, with a great concept, design, and methodology for a project that promises to have a significant positive impact.

Our Project Board includes the following people: Sociologist Tia DeNora (University of Exeter), philosopher Kathleen Higgins (University of Texas), and composer/media artist Sandeep Bhagwati (Concordia University, Canada).

If funded, we would be able to pursue original research and development that makes important steps toward alleviating some concerning social problems.

We carefully developed a project to fit exactly what the EU is seeking, so let’s hope the evaluation committees support the proposal!

Deadline Extended for BSRS

The application deadline has been extended for Bergen Summer Research School, and PhD students from around the world are encouraged to apply. Generous scholarships are available especially to support qualified students from the Global South so they can participate in Bergen, Norway this summer.

An exciting set of interdisciplinary courses is available.

Click HERE for more information. Application deadline: 15 February 2024.

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.

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).