Sociomusicology: Review: A New Philosophy of Music Education for the Era of AI

8/17/26

Review: A New Philosophy of Music Education for the Era of AI

Thanks to Wei Bing for producing what is likely to be the first published review of our latest book A New Philosophy of Music Education for the Era of AI.

The review is published in Chinese, available HERE.

For those who do not read Chinese, click HERE to access an AI-generated translation into English (but without the photos).

We look forward to seeing more reader responses to the book and sincerely hope it offers useful stimulation, and even inspiration, to music teachers worldwide.

Here is an updated blurb for the book:

A New Philosophy of Music Education for the Era of AI

By Jiaxing Xie & David G. Hebert

The popularization of generative AI promises to profoundly change life as we know it. In the education professions it is important that we respond rapidly in a careful way to ensure the sustainability of educational quality, cultural heritage, and even personal identity. This book offers a new vision of how arts fields can reposition themselves as the essential subjects of deep personal meaning in an age of increasing alienation. The authors offer a view of AI that is hopeful yet critical, based on patterns seen in global history, and how collective human intelligence has evolved across time. This is a philosophy that eschews the pitfalls of postmodernism, and is informed by science, as well as global challenges that impact both humans and the natural environment. Against the background of AI's challenges to human modes of production, the authors demonstrate how music education can become a tool for self-discovery in this transformative era.

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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:23), with professional activities in an average of 8 countries per year across the past decade (2008-2020).