Sociomusicology: March 2026

3/3/26

Keynote for 70th Anniversary Conference in Korea

It is exciting to be invited as a keynote speaker for the 70^th anniversary conference of the Korean Music Education Society (Seoul, August, 2026).

The theme for the 2026 conference is “70 Years of Music Education: Expansion and Future Perspectives in the Age of AI”.

South Korea has a population of more than 50 million and enjoys an unusually vibrant and active music education research community.

This 70th anniversary will be a very special event, well worth attending.

English Coursebook on Chinese Music

It is a pleasure to announce a new textbook for learning of Chinese music, developed by Dr. Zijin Yao at Beijing Language and Culture University, English Coursebook on Chinese Music. This book offers a detailed description of Chinese music genres in cultural context, with explanations for both Chinese and English terminology.

Yao, Zijin, Ren Jie, Wang Xiaoran, Sun Run, and Hebert, David. English Coursebook on Chinese Music (Chongqing University Press, 2026).

This book will be uniquely helpful for any foreigners interested in understanding Chinese music traditions and for any Chinese musicians who would like to know how best to explain this music to others.

It was a pleasure to support Dr. Yao and her team in their development of this unique book.

Links for purchasing will be provided here in the future.

Welcome to Sociomusicology

For nearly 20 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 both University of the Faroe Islands and Kyambogo University (Uganda), 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:22), with professional activities in an average of 8 countries per year across the past decade (2008-2020).