8/31/25

Invited Lecture in Taiwan


National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) is the most international university in Taiwan, and among the highest ranked in Asia for teacher education and educational research. With a history of more than 100 years, it was founded during the Japanese occupation, known then as Taihoku College.


The College of Music at NTNU is also the most prominent Music institution in Taiwan.


I look forward to the opportunity to give an invited lecture there in Autumn 2025, during which I will share insights gained from the Global Competence Partnership project.

 


8/20/25

Decolonization of Musical Arts Education


It was a pleasure to learn just a few days ago that an article co-authored with my PhD student Erisa Walubo has been accepted by the journal Philosophy of Music Education Review. We expect it to be published sometime in the next six months.


The article offers a novel philosophical analysis of differing views on the notion of decolonization and how it can be applied to music education, or what is called “musical arts” education in much of Africa (since there it often entails the integration of singing, drumming, dancing, story-telling, and other practices).


Erisa Walubo is now revising what promises to be a strong PhD dissertation on Indigenous music and dance practices in Ugandan education, and has other interesting research articles in various stages of writing. Our collaboration, and Erisa’s doctoral studies, are sponsored by the CABUTE project, which also has many other publications under development, including by our postdoctoral researchers in music education James Isabirye and Milton Wabyona.


We eagerly look forward to seeing what the entire team will accomplish through the CABUTE project and the long-term impacts that their work will have for the improvement of education in Uganda. 


Congratulations to Erisa and the entire CABUTE team!  


8/10/25

Keynote Speech in China


I look forward to giving a keynote speech on Music Diplomacy for a major event in September 2025 at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. Some of my favorite music scholars will be there. 


Click HERE for details.


8/6/25

Fieldwork Begins in Sapmi


[UPDATE 30 September 2025: Here is the new website for this project: https://www.hvl.no/en/research/project/singing-maps/]


It is exciting to be visiting Sapmi, the Sami homeland in the far north of the Nordic countries, for research on the Sami joik and singing practices. The Sapmi Singing Map project is probably the largest research project ever on Sami singing, involving a team of researchers (interdisciplinary, both Sami and non-Sami) across the next four years, with the purpose of not only documenting the joik but also developing research-based and culturally appropriate educational resources.


As part of the first phase of fieldwork, the team is visiting Kautokeino, Maze, and Øksfjord to interview and film notable joikers from diverse localities and generations. Yesterday we also crossed the Finnish border, filming the local nature and wildlife to help show the context of this heritage. There will be several more visits across the coming years, in different seasons, to help us better understand how to meaningfully describe this remarkable land and its unique people.