Jazz Violin Improvisation

Finnish jazz violinist Ari Poutiainen will soon defend his doctoral dissertation at Sibelius Academy, with a formal ceremony scheduled for June 8, 2009. Ari’s unique study provides new insights into the technique of violin playing in modern jazz styles.

UPDATE 1 (December, 2009):

Click HERE to access a PDF file of a review of Dr. Poutiainen’s doctoral publication from the 2010 issue of the Strings journal.

UPDATE 2 (May, 2010):

Dr. Poutiainen's doctoral publication has also received very positive reviews in both the prestigious international journal The Strad, as well as in Fiddler magazine.

Click HERE to access a PDF file of a review of Dr. Poutiainen’s doctoral publication from a 2010 issue of Fiddler magazine.

Wind Bands in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Upcoming Event:

Wind Bands in Cross-Cultural Perspective

(Symposium funded by the QUB Internationalization Fund)

11 & 12 June, 2009

Queen’s University Belfast

School of History and Anthropology

Click HERE for a programme of this unique symposium coming soon to the United Kingdom, hosted by anthropologist Suzel Reily.

Click on Bands Around the World, and then scroll down for further information related to this topic.

Music Conferences in March and April 2009

It has been a great pleasure to give presentations at five very interesting international conferences and symposia on music in Europe during March and April. Details are listed below. In May I will stay in Finland to focus on advising students and completing various writing projects.

-Paper presentation, "On Virtuality and Music Education in Online Environments," The Changing Face of Music Education: Music and Environment (CFME09) International Conference, Tallinn University, Estonia (April 23-25, 2009). [It was a pleasure to finally meet John Sloboda, Nigel Marshall, Armin Langer, Mariann Abraham, and many others. Estonian scholars Tina Selke, Gerhard Lock and their colleagues were fabulous hosts at Tallinn University.]

-Paper presentation, "Institutionalizing Popular Music Pedagogy: Lessons from Jazz Education," Sixth International Research in Music Education (RIME) Conference, University of Exeter, United Kingdom (April 14-18, 2009). [It was very nice to see my new friends from Sweden again, and also to talk with Steve Dillon, Pamela Burnard, Albert Ibanez, Liane Hentschke, Nantida Chandransu, as well as fellow Americans Marie McCarthy, Randall Allsup, Patrick Schmidt and Cathy Benedict, and all the way from Oceania, Trevor Thwaites and Kathy Marsh. Sarah Hennessy has done an amazing job with this conference over the years! It was nice to hear many good comments about the work of Sibelius Academy students.] It was also great to meet Andrew Missingham afterward in London, and we are discussing collaboration on some research and development projects in global music technology.

-Lecture on "New Music Technologies in Japan and the USA," and Workshop with Alex Ruthmann (by videoconference) on "New Technologies for Music Teaching and Learning," Nordic Network for Music Informatics, Performance and Aesthetics (Nordplus-funded), University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark (March 29-April 5, 2009). [I recall that Anders Friberg and Kristoffer Jensen gave some especially informative presentations at this event.]

-Paper presentation with Marja Heimonen, "Pluralism and Minority Rights in Music Education: Implications of the Legal and Social Philosophical Dimension," Beyond Musicology - 13th Annual Finnish Musicology Symposium, University of Turku, Finland (March 26-27, 2009). [It was very interesting to talk with Tia DeNora and Richard Leppert for the first time - outstanding broad-minded scholars and genuinely nice people.]

-Presentation, "Tools for Collaboration in Online Music Communities," GLOMUS, coalition of Nordic higher education academies, steering committee meeting at Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, Norway (March 3-4, 2009). [Founded by four Nordic higher education academies of music - Royal Danish Conservatory-Aarjus, Norwegian Academy of Music, Malmo Academy of Music, and Sibelius Academy - GLOMUS is an international network for exchange in global music and related arts.]

There is also some good news at Sibelius Academy: our Rector Gustav Djupsjobacka has been reappointed for another term of leadership, and our Dean Jari Perkiomaki is now being promoted to Vice Rector. It is likely this will lead to many positive changes in the next few years.

Also, I am excited that Alex Ruthmann and I have been asked to write a chapter on music technology for the Oxford Handbook of Music Education, a uniquely comprehensive resource that I believe will be published in late 2010.

Music in an Uncertain Global Economy

Here are two important news stories of relevance to the future of music in the global economy:

(1) According to a very recent report, Google (in partnership with Warner, Sony, Universal, EMI, and others) has just launched a new music service in China that may help open an enormous music market that has until now consisted of 99% pirated copies and illegal file sharing. In theory, this could be a very positive development for professional musicians, but will it be so?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/technology/companies/06music.html

(2) A BBC World Service survey of 29,000 people has found “broad support for reform of the international economic system ahead of the G20 summit.” According to the article, “More than 70% of people in 29 countries think major changes are needed in the way the global economy is run.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7970625.stm

Despite such survey results, there is also strong evidence that many place little faith in the G20:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE5354K320090406

Also, here is a link to the 2009 digital music report of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which offers an industry perspective on recent changes in music production and consumption:

http://www.ifpi.org/

Music in Nordic Institutions

The start of 2009 has been quite busy.

During the past two months I have had lectures and/or meetings at the following institutions:

• Orebro University, Orebro, Sweden

http://www.oru.se/templates/oruExtIntroPageLevel2____4965.aspx

• Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen, Denmark

http://www.rmc.dk/en.html

• Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway

http://www.hib.no/english/

• Grieg Academy, University of Bergen, Norway

http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/05english/start.htm

• Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, Norway

http://www.nmh.no/english

• University of Helsinki, Finland

http://www.helsinki.fi/university/

It is inspiring to see various new developments in the field of music at higher education institutions across the Nordic region. With the exception of Iceland, the Nordic region seems to have been less affected by the global economic downturn than most other parts of the world (and despite some very recent trends, might turn out to be as resilient as India), but even here there is increasing concern for the efficiency and financial viability of universities that will likely lead to further restructuring of national educational systems. Music continues to be valued and supported, with new approaches to performance, pedagogy, curriculum and research that may rightfully be regarded as “cutting edge” and innovative in a global context.

Here is a link to an insightful report from 2004 by Marja Heimonen that describes Nordic music conservatories:

http://www.nkinfo.org/files/Nordic%20Music.pdf

[I recently took the above photo of this statue of Grieg near his former residence in Bergen, Norway.]

Ethnicity and Music Education

The role of ethnicity in music teaching and learning is a topic of increasing interest among music educators in the 21^st century. Recently I have been developing a chapter entitled “Ethnicity and Music Education: Sociological Dimensions” for the book Sociology and Music Education (Ed., Ruth Wright) that will be published on Ashgate Press in late 2009. Contributing authors to the book include Ruth Wright, Christopher Small, Lucy Green, Pamela Burnard, John Finney and others. I believe this will be the first multi-author book to provide an international overview of this topic by primarily European authors.

Here is a link to an article that describes a music education project among Native Americans: http://archives.dailyuw.com/2001/013001/N1.yakimafeat.html

Here is a link to a project involving Thai and Maori music educators:
http://www.drama.org.nz/ejournal_single.asp?ID=26

Hildegard Froehlich has also written a concise and unusually insightful book that provides an American perspective on the sociology of music education:

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/academic/product/0,3110,0131776967,00.html

Here is a link to a useful resource for sociology of music education compiled by Marie McCarthy:

http://www.maydaygroup.org/php/resources/bibliographies/sociology.php

There have also been five international symposia on the Sociology of Music Education, from which conference proceedings were produced:

http://www.sociologyofmusiceducation.com/

Ethnicity is a particularly complex topic in music education that must be considered in terms of the identities of teachers, students, and even the music itself. The following organizations tend to offer relevant research studies:

Society for Ethnomusicology

http://webdb.iu.edu/sem/scripts/home.cfm

Cultural Diversity in Music Education

http://www.cdime-network.com/cdime

Asia-Pacific Symposium for Music Education Research

http://www.tmue.edu.tw/~2011APSMER/

...............................................................................................

UPDATE (summer, 2010):

Here are some of my recent publications related to this topic:

• Heimonen, M. & Hebert, D. G. (2010). “Pluralism and Minority Rights in Music Education: Implications of the Legal and Social-Philosophical Dimensions”, Visions of Research in Music Education, vol. 15.
  

• Hebert, D. G. (2010). Jazz and Rock Music. 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. (in press, 2010). Ethnicity and music education: Sociological dimensions. In R. Wright (Ed.), Sociology and Music Education. Aldershot: Ashgate Press.

• Hebert, D. G. (2010). Educating Professional Musicians for a Multicultural Society: Emerging Issues and New Developments. In proceedings of Orally Transmitted Music and Intercultural Education, symposium offered by EU Culture Initiative Music, Orality, Roots, Europe (MORE) at Cité de la Musique, Paris, France (December 3-4, 2009) [http://www.music-orality-roots.eu/sites/default/files/MORE-Symposium1-HebertD-EducatingProfessional.pdf].

• Hebert, D. G. (2009). Rethinking the historiography of hybrid genres in music education. In V. Kurkela & L. Vakeva (Eds.), De-Canonizing Music History. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 163-184.
  

• Editor (with Sidsel Karlsen), special issue on multiculturalism:
  

Finnish Journal of Music Education, Vol.13, No.1

Congratulations to Dr. Carol Shansky

Carol Shansky has very recently completed her doctorate degree in music education with a dissertation entitled A History of Two New Jersey Community Bands: The Franklin and Waldwick Bands. This thorough and insightful study examines two of the oldest surviving instrumental music ensembles in the American state of New Jersey, with attention to how these bands transformed over time, the broader cultural forces that contributed to their sustainability across generations, and their social role as vehicles of informal community music education. Dr. Shansky is an accomplished professional flutist and experienced lecturer of college courses. It was a great pleasure to serve on her doctoral advisory committee along with her supervisory professor Patrick Jones of Boston University.

Congratulations, Dr. Shansky!


Here is the abstract of Dr. Shansky's dissertation study:

Abstract:
This research established the history of two currently operating New Jersey community bands and illustrated their roles in music education. The bands studied were the Franklin Band founded 1874 and the Waldwick Band founded 1894. The histories of these two longstanding bands contribute to the history of community bands in general and the State of New Jersey in particular. The Franklin Band is one of the oldest bands in New Jersey and has maintained a steady presence in its geographic area, with the exception two brief hiatuses the beginning of the twentieth century and World War II. In addition, ensembles that were related to the band such as a Hungarian Band and the Franklin Miners Band provided the functions of a town band elsewhere in the community. The Waldwick Bands history was less consistent than that of Franklin having been founded as a town band in 1894, it appears to have dissolved in the 1920s. The town of Waldwick experienced a resurgence of a town band in the form of an Italian Band in 1937, followed by a reformation as a fire department band in 1954 and finally as a community band in 1966. Research and reporting of this study utilized historical methods. Archives, books, newspapers, and other publications and photographs were examined. In addition, longserving and former members of both bands were interviewed to support the historical record. Background information on community bands in general was gathered by document review as well. Participation in a community band is an important resource of music education for adults and schoolaged musicians. This research study describes the successful participation of schoolage participants in two particular community bands and the implications that community band membership has for the music education of all involved in these ensembles. The long histories of these two bands illustrates that community bands have long served, and continue to serve, a valuable function in participants lives, and in the lives of the communities in which they exist. In addition, these histories reveal the roles of two particular community bands in the life and culture of their local area.


Here is a link to Dr. Shansky's website:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8wzr8/