Sociomusicology: September 2026

9/4/26

Second Intl. Symposium on AI + Music Education

It is exciting to be participating again with an invited keynote for the Second International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Music Education (Jimei University, China), at the end of October 2026.

Across recent years, China has emerged as the world’s leading hub for research on AI in music education, with what appears to be more publications in the main international journals (in music, computer science, and education) than all other countries combined.

I attended the first conference of this kind in Xiamen at Jimei University last year, and was deeply impressed by how far China has contributed to innovation in this field, and eagerly look forward to returning this year to see how the situation has evolved. It is also encouraging to see the position that China appears to be taking on AI safety: actively encouraging international cooperation for sensible regulation.

Here are some recent publications on this topic:

BOOK:

Xie, J. & Hebert, D. G. (2026). A New Philosophy of Music Education for the Era of AI. Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003545453

BOOK CHAPTER:

Hebert, D. G. (2026, in press). International Law and Efforts to Ensure Just Forms of AI in Music and Education. In F. Abrahams, S. Kang, and C. Randles (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Artificial Intelligence in Music Education. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197824818.001.0001

[Soon available online (along with the first ten chapters)]

JOURNAL ARTICLE:

Chen, Y. & Hebert, D. G. (2026). Exploring the reception of Artificial Intelligence-enhanced music education: A multimethod study of higher education vocal music students. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 249. DOI: 10.5406/21627223.249.1.04

Image retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiamen#/media/File:An_overall_view_of_Xiamen_Island.jpg

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).