Sociomusicology: May 2026

5/3/26

Japanese Studies in Bergen 2026

It has been a pleasure to serve on the planning committee for an interdisciplinary Japanese studies conference in Bergen sponsored by the Scandinavia Japan Sasakawa Foundation. The conference will be in mid-November 2026, and includes sessions on an array of topics connected to Japan.

The conference will be hosted at University of Bergen, and the leaders and other members of the planning committee are Benedicte Mosby Irgens, Nathan Hopson, and Shimotori Misuzu (all with the UiB Japan Studies program), as well as Kristin Rygg from the Norwegian School of Economics.

The program will include a music research panel (in which I will join with Matthieu Stepec and Yuki Morijiri) as well as some performances of Japanese and Norwegian music, including pianist Marina Matsuoka.

More information and links will be posted here when made available.

I previously participated in the symposium that first established Master studies in Japanese at University of Bergen a few years ago, as well as the recent events in Bergen commemorating 120 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Norway.

A Japanese studies conference that we also hosted in Bergen some years ago resulted in THIS BOOK, which I coordinated as editor. With long-term research interests in Japan, I last visited in February of this year to meet officials with the City of Hamamatsu and various music industry experts for development of a large grant application that now includes researchers from the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments and the Min-On Concert Association. The GAME research group, which I manage in Bergen, is also now hosting a postdoctoral researcher from Japan funded by the Japanese government (JSPS program).

Here are links to a few recent Japan-related publications:

· Chiba, M., & Hebert, D. G. (2025). Understandings of inclusivity in music education: a comparative policy study of Luxembourg and Japan. Music Education Research, 27(1), 37-53. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2024.2434839

· Hebert, D. G., & Matsunobu, K. (2024). Learning musical instruments in Japanese schools. In H. Johnson (Ed.), Handbook of Japanese music in the modern era (237–253). Brill. https://brill.com/edcollchap/book/9789004687172/BP000027.xml

Image source: https://pxhere.com/no/photo/1640826

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).