Originality in Music

After a lengthy review process, I have recently learned that another of my articles on the institutionalization of popular music is soon to be published. It will be in Music Education Research International (vol.5), a fully-refereed scholarly journal edited by Professor Victor Fung and published in an online, open-access format, and I understand the volume with my article will shortly be available. I have also added a link to the right side of this website for a separate page with a full list of publications. Below is the title and abstract for my upcoming article in MERI:

Originality and Institutionalization: Factors Engendering Resistance to Popular Music Pedagogy in the USA

David G. Hebert

Abstract

The roots of much of the world’s popular music may be traced to blues and rock – styles that originated in the Southern Mississippi Valley in the early 20^th century – yet, when considered from a global perspective, performance of these genres has been especially slow to gain wide acceptance in schools of their homeland: the USA. This paper begins with identification of some inevitable challenges associated with institutionalization of novel artistic movements, and then contrasts these with factors perceived to have engendered resistance to the growth of popular music pedagogy (PMP). That PMP is increasingly accepted while genres such as blues and rock come of age (and stake a claim to cultural heritage) is no coincidence. This discussion illustrates the perennial educational challenges posed by originality and cultural diversity in music, as well as the need for research to more fully understand opportunities and risks associated with the array of PMP approaches currently advanced.

Below are links to some of my other writings and projects that address related topics:

· Hebert, D. G. (2010). Jazz and Rock Music. In W. M. Anderson & P. S. Campbell (Eds.), Multicultural Perspectives in Music Education, Vol. 1 (third edition). Lanham, MD: Rowman-Littlefield Publishers.

· Campbell, P. S. & Hebert, D. G. (2010). World Beat. In W. M. Anderson & P. S. Campbell (Eds.), Multicultural Perspectives in Music Education, Vol. 2 (third edition). Lanham, MD: Rowman-Littlefield Publishers.

· Hebert, D. G. (2009). Musicianship, Musical Identity and Meaning as Embodied Practice. In T. Regelski & J. T. Gates (Eds.), Music Education for a Changing Society: Guiding Visions for Practice (pp. 39-55). Dordrecht and New York: Springer Press.

· Hebert, D. G. (2009). Rethinking the Historiography of Hybrid Genres in Music Education. In V. Kurkela & L. Vakeva (Eds.), De-Canonizing Music History (pp. 163-184). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press.

· Campbell, P. S., Hebert, D. G. & Will, R. J. (Eds.) (2001). Around the Sound: Popular Music in Performance, Education, and Scholarship - symposium proceedings. Seattle: University of Washington & Experience Music Project.

· Hebert, D. G. & Campbell, P. S., (2000). "Rock Music in American Schools: Positions and Practices Since the 1960s," International Journal of Music Education , Vol. 36, No. 1 (pp. 14-22).

Mahinarangi

Today the world lost a great songwriter, Mahinarangi Tocker.

A New Zealand Maori of Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Tuwharetoa, and Tainui-Ngati Maniapoto (as well as Hebrew and Celtic) ancestry, Mahinarangi was a unique and prolific yet under-appreciated, artist.

Please see my earlier post on Maori women songwriters:

http://sociomusicology.blogspot.com/2008/02/maori-women-songwriters_02.html

Other links:

http://www.kiwifolk.com/blog/2008/04/mahinarangi-tocker-mnzom-1956-2008.html

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0804/S00391.htm

http://www.muzic.net.nz/artists/757.html

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10504255

Maori Women Songwriters

In 2005 I began exploring the New Zealand music scene in the hope of finding some good topics to research. One important theme that rather quickly caught my attention was Maori women songwriters, so I began collecting their recordings and conducting interviews with them in 2006. Some of my favorites are Whirimako Black, Moana Maniapoto, and Mahinarangi Tocker, each of whom may be rightfully regarded as world-class creative musicians. I plan to give some research presentations on the topic of Maori women songwriters soon, and have begun developing related lesson plans for a book in collaboration with Kiwi performing arts specialist Susan Battye. Below are some interesting video clips of Maori women songwriters [NOTE: This website is best viewed with the Mozilla Firefox browser - downloadable for free - rather than Internet Explorer or Netscape.]:

Moana Maniapoto’s Life:

Moana Maniapoto’s Performance:

Whirimako Black’s ‘E Te Kai’ Video:

Mahinarangi Tocker (about one minute into this video on Kiwi poet Hone Tuwhare):

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And, while on the topic of Kiwi music it seems best to also take this opportunity to introduce a few notable New Zealand bands:


Pan-Pacific band, Te Vaka:





Golden Horse:





A classic Kiwi hit song: Split Enz, "Message to My Girl":





Another classic Kiwi hit song, Crowded House, "Don't Dream It's Over":




Here is a link to Kirsten Zemke-White’s insightful scholarly article on New Zealand hip hop:

http://www.imageandnarrative.be/worldmusica/kirstenzemkewhite.htm

Finally, here is a link to a fascinating news story from New Zealand: dog music hit.

Personal Sound Archives

I have decided to post some links to sound files from my early songwriting/composition projects.

By now, the majority of these files are probably only of sentimental interest (and some have obvious performance errors or poor sound quality), but they demonstrate the diversity of musical activities I have been involved in over the years:




Brace yourself!: my old rock band from ancient times, Post Impression playing “Give Me a Sign.” I wrote the melody and words and did the lead vocal and guitar solo on this track over 15 years ago (1992). Band members were Bill James, Michael Draper and Jason Mockley. In some concerts, we were the opening act for quite well-known alternative rock bands such as Everclear and The Posies:

• http://www.box.net/shared/ekb9ljcow0

Here some tracks from my first orchestral composition Symphony for Yamanashi (1996):

• http://www.box.net/shared/dhpfustcgc

• http://www.box.net/shared/cazoxtd8ok

Three original songs from Currents, my jazz fusion album with Michael Horowitz, Ian Dobson, Andrew Glynn, and Donald Sweeney. I wrote the words and music for these tunes (1999):

• I Know Not Where (modal jazz - I play trumpet and sing on this one, even some throat singing) -

http://www.box.net/shared/atv85co84o

• Recollection (fusion soundtrack - This one is also with my cousin Justin Hebert on some of the keyboard parts, who added a lot to the tune) -
  

http://www.box.net/shared/bx0br9jwwg

• Love Re-Arranged (This is just me on solo guitar and voice, but I sang some backing vocal tracks too) -

http://www.box.net/shared/qjq0p9v4sg

This is not really a composition: three tracks of free improvisation with Tchaikovsky State Conservatory Wa-On Ensemble (now called Moscow Pan-Asian Ensemble). The image on the left is from one of their other albums, but the tracks here were recorded in Russia (2003). Each track is interesting for different reasons - (1) On the first, I play muted trumpet in some uncannily improvised gestures and harmonies in sync with two Russian shakuhachi players, (2) Here I interject some throat singing into the texture, (3) Here I add lyrical trumpet lines after about one minute into the final track:

• http://www.box.net/shared/7g453saw4k

• http://www.box.net/shared/ybn8ndg2ss

• http://www.box.net/shared/yo263rgu80

Three rather excruciating tracks from my opera Correspondence (quite poor sound quality and intonation at an early rehearsal in Tokyo, but hopefully one can still get the idea of what this becomes). Belgian artist Eric Van Hove wrote the libretto and co-directed the performance, and DJ Kenji Williams contributed greatly to some pieces, including the first track below (2003):

• http://www.box.net/shared/v09dbx6gww

• http://www.box.net/shared/qposyr1ck4

• http://www.box.net/shared/vuqawgo84o

Here is a link to the opera’s website:
http://www.transcri.be/correspondence.html

“Arrival of the Sea Nymph” from Te Awha, Maori adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

This psychedelic music was designed to accompany a mystical scene in a theatrical performance. I played keyboard sounds and sang layered lines, then let the narrator speak her lines above the mysterious atmosphere. The volume level is very low (2005):

• http://www.box.net/shared/clmen1e88c

“Muriwai Seascape” - inspired by one of my favorite beaches in New Zealand, I play guitar chords and hum a melody over some ocean sounds (2005):

• http://www.box.net/shared/dkm5wk0gs8

Finally, this one is NOT my own composition, but this excerpt includes some of my improvised trumpeting on a jazz album recorded fairly recently in Tokyo (2006): Midori Takamura, “Body and Soul” from Mona Lisa

• http://www.box.net/shared/35jyh8akgs

Also, here is a link to a recording from a gig I did on trumpet with renowned blues songwriter Lou Pride and the Rooster Blues Band (October, 2007):

• http://people.bu.edu/blues/roost_pics.html
  

There are a lot more recordings that I am not yet able to put online, but hopefully they can be posted later. Also, I have several new songs that I would like to record soon, so hopefully I can post more sound files - both better songs and better quality recordings - within a few months.

Ancient Japanese Wind Music

These are photographs taken in Nara at Tōdai-ji (東大寺) (meaning “Eastern Great Temple”).

The images show panels of the enormous bronze octagonal lantern (from the 8th century) that is prominently located outside the grand entrance to the world’s largest wooden temple, the hall of the Todai-ji Daibutsu. Each panel depicts a musician playing a different wind instrument, including the sho, shakuhachi, and what appears to be a shinobue.

Here the lantern can be seen from a distance in front of the Daibutsu hall, and I am looking out of place in the foreground.

Tomorrow I am very pleased to have the opportunity to interview Japanese wind music composer Tetsunosuke Kushida, who has produced many outstanding works (mostly for European wind ensemble) that are based in the aesthetics of Japanese traditional wind music.

Kushida is from Kyoto - near Nara - and many of his works are programmatic, featuring themes such as Japanese traditional festivals and ancient bugaku dance, and even combining Japanese and European wind instruments in new and interesting ways. Like Alfred Reed, he is especially skilled at writing music for beginners that makes a strong musical statement without requiring very high levels of instrumental technique. I find that this art of producing hybrid music for school ensembles seems to be underappreciated among elite artistic communities, but it may in time attain greater recognition. Kushida has also produced works for professional ensembles, including Figuration for Shakuhachi and Band.

Kushida is one of the only influential Japanese band composers I had not yet had a chance to interview. Japanese composers are discussed in my forthcoming book, Wind Bands and Cultural Identity in Japanese Schools (Dordrecht and New York: Springer). Other notable Japanese wind music composers include Hiroshi Hoshina, Yasuhide Itoh, Isao Matsushita, Masamichi Amano, and Toshio Mashima. As part of this research, I also interviewed the Japan Bandmasters Association founder Toshio Akiyama, and discussed Japanese bands with leading Japanese musicologists as well as the managers of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and Osaka Municipal Symphonic Band, All-Japan Band Association competition, Japan Salvation Army Bands, and the Central Band of the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

The case of wind bands in Japan is especially interesting in terms of the themes of music transculturation and hybridity, as well as the institutionalization of new musical traditions. The unusually effective pedagogical approaches of Japanese bands are also of great interest to music educators outside of Japan.

Here is a link to my webpage at Boston University:
http://www.bu.edu/cfa/music/faculty/hebert/

Messiaen Conference in Boston

This weekend (October 12-13, 2007) is a fascinating international conference of the Boston University Messiaen Project entitled “Messiaen the Theologian.” Musicologist and organ virtuoso, Professor Andrew Shenton is the conference organizer.











French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) was inspired by Asian musical traditions, and his work has been quite influential among leading Asian and European composers.

Today I attended an insightful presentation by Wai-Ling Cheong (from Chinese University of Hong Kong) on Messiaen’s use of Japanese gagaku music and the inspiration that the Torii of Miyajima (pictured below) offered to his work:
















Olivier Messiaen was among the most innovative composers of the twentieth century, and his creative output represents an important example of how European art music has increasingly incorporated elements from musical traditions of other parts of the world. This is a topic of great interest to those grappling with the issues of hybridity and transculturation in musical creativity and education.

I encourage any musicians and scholars interested in such topics to attend the remainder of this conference.