Sociology of Music in Japan

It is exciting to now be participating in the XVIII World Congress of Sociology in Yokohama, Japan, following some teaching for Yokohama National University. Yokohama is a fascinating city that served as a center of westernization from the mid-nineteenth century onward, and it continues to be a globally significant hub of innovation (see above photo of the city skyline, which I took yesterday). This conference, with the theme of “Facing an Unequal World” has more than 6,000 participants from all throughout the world, and more than 60 of the paper presentations address some aspect of music from a sociological perspective. I am serving as Chair and Discussant for a session entitled “Sociological Approaches to Western Music in Japan”. The session features two quite interesting papers by Japanese scholars: Musicology in Post-War Japan: German Influence and Social Context, by Naomi MIYAMOTO, and “Japanese” Approaches to the Music of Frédéric Chopin, by Yasuko SHIBATA. 

UPDATE: Due to a program change, I also served as Chair of a session on Sociology of Art in Japan: 
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2014/webprogram/Session4114.html  

In Yokohama, I have also been meeting with various academic presses that seem very interested in possibilities for several future books that I am either already writing or intend to produce. I am especially eager to secure a contract for the book I am currently editing, Translation, Education, and Innovation: Proceedings of the 25^th Anniversary Conference of the Nordic Association for Japanese and Korean Studies.

Who will publish it, and what about the other books I am developing?: Brill, Springer, Palgrave-Macmillan, Routledge? We will see . . .

Links for more information:

https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2014/webprogram/Session4110.html

http://www.amazon.com/David-G.-Hebert/e/B006L2XYMM

Theories and Methods for Music Research

In November 2014, the Grieg Research School for Interdisciplinary Music Studies will offer a seminar on theory and methodologies entitled "The Study of Musical Experiences: Data Collection, Interpretation and Analysis." This program at University of Bergen will be of interest to music researchers of all kinds. Click HERE for the website, and click HERE to download a brochure for this event. I am leading the observational data analysis methods section on Friday morning (28th.), and music therapy researcher Brynjulf Stige will demonstrate qualitative data interpretation on that afternoon. 

Also related to the theme of methodologies in music research, click HERE for an announcement at Amazon for the new book Theory and Method in Historical Ethnomusicology, and click HERE for a preview of the book. 

Sociology of Global Music

This summer I will spend some time in Europe, North America, South America, and East Asia. Our music department in Norway is currently moving into its new campus, complete with a concert hall, rehearsal rooms, and recording studios, and I am hopeful that within the next few years we will launch new international-collaborative graduate programs with partner institutions. I am also working on developing a series of public recitals and guest lectures to propose for our new concert hall, as well as preparing a solo recital of my own, and eagerly look forward to upcoming performances as a singer with the Edvard Grieg Choir and Bergen Domkor.

At China Conservatory in Beijing, I will do some lectures and help with planning an international conference for leaders of music institutions (IMILF "World Summit on International Exchange"). Later, in Yokohama, Japan, I will chair a session on “Sociological Approaches to Western Music in Japan” for the International Sociological Association’s XVIII World Congress of Sociology: “Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for Global Sociology”.

I look forward to visiting family in the USA, and to giving a speech for the International Society for Music Education (ISME) conference in Brazil.

Recently I am busy with coordinating the editing and revisions to a new book: Translation, Education, and Innovation: Proceedings of the 25th Anniversary Conference of the Nordic Association for Japanese and Korean Studies (Ed., David G. Hebert, in preparation, 2014). I am also developing various large grant applications and another book entitled Understanding Music in Schools and Communities: A Global Perspective. That book will offer an international view of the changing landscape of music education in an age of corporatization, globalism, and mass surveillance.

New Musicology Book to Press

I am pleased to announce that on Monday (April 28, 2014) the complete manuscript for a new book will finally be sent to the publisher:

Theory and Method in Historical Ethnomusicology, edited by Jonathan McCollum and David Hebert (Lexington/Rowman&Littlefield, in press, 2014).

Click HERE for a link to a preview of this book, as published in the journal Ethnomusicology Review.

Click HERE for a book announcement and sales information on the Amazon website.


This book offers a detailed description of new developments in global music historiography, including techniques applicable to historical research across an array of music specializations: ethnomusicology, historical musicology, jazz studies, popular music studies, early music performance practice, and music education history. It presents a unique perspective, informed by recent technological developments as well as interdisciplinary application of new theories from such fields as philosophy of history and historical sociology.

Contents

Foreword: The Past is No Longer a Foreign Country                         ix        

Keith Howard

Acknowledgments                                                                       xvii

Chapter 1

Foundations of Historical Ethnomusicology                                     1

Jonathan McCollum and David G. Hebert

Chapter 2

Methodologies for Historical Ethnomusicology

in the Twenty-First Century                                                          35

David G. Hebert and Jonathan McCollum

Chapter 3

Philosophy of History and Theory in Historical

Ethnomusicology                                                                                    83

David G. Hebert and Jonathan McCollum

Chapter 4

Hearing Echoes, Sensing History: The Challenges

of Musical Diaspora                                                                     147

Judah Cohen

Chapter 5

Ancient Music, Modern Myth: Persian Music

and the Pursuit of Methodology in Historical

Ethnomusicology                                                                                    173

Ann Lucas

Chapter 6

Analysis of Notation in Music Historiography:

Armenian Neumatic Khaz from the Ninth through

Early Twentieth Centuries                                                             195

Jonathan McCollum

Chapter 7

Southern American Fiddling through the

Mid-Nineteenth Century: Three Snapshots with

Modern Connections                                                                    255

Chris Goertzen

Chapter 8

A Tale of Two Sensibilities: Hindustani Music and

its Histories                                                                                277

Daniel M. Neuman

Chapter 9

The Legacy of Music Archives in Historical

Ethnomusicology: A Model for Engaged Ethnomusicology                 283

Diane Thram

Chapter 10

Contested Contextualization: The Historical

Construction of East Asian Music                                                   311

Keith Howard

Chapter 11

Advancing Historical Ethnomusicology                                    335

Jonathan McCollum and David G. Hebert

Index                                                                                                  358

About the Contributors

Click HERE for more information about the book.

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

77,000 Page Views

For seven years I have posted a few statements per month onto this blog, typically just some recent observations or an update of my activities as a music professor. It is hard to believe that as of this week there have been a total of over 77,000 page views. Below are images that describe the audience, which turns out to be quite international, and it is also interesting to compare the charts for “all time” vs. “this month”. There are many visitors from Eastern Europe this month, probably related to my recent keynote speech in Poland and visit to Latvia, but recently there are fewer visitors from Oceania, perhaps because it has been such a long time since I was living in New Zealand.

Music and Globalization

Soon the 11^th international conference Musica Practica, Musica Theoretica will be held at the Academy of Music in Poznan, Poland, on the theme of “Music from the Perspective of Globalization”. I look forward to giving a keynote speech for this conference, which I have entitled “Globalization and Research Methods in Musicology” (displayed: public domain image, map of Poznan from 1617).

Link:  https://app.box.com/s/s07l1d54vu91qg97igww

Following the conference in Poland, I will participate in the 7^th international conference Theory for Practice in the Education of Contemporary Society in Riga, Latvia. I gave a keynote speech for that conference in 2012, and will be chairing a session and presenting a paper this year.

Link:  http://www.rpiva.lv/index.php?mh=teorija_praksei

This travel to Poland and Latvia (sponsored by Erasmus and Nordplus programs) follows the conclusion of another fascinating project: Across the past week I have performed as a member of an opera chorus with the Edvard Grieg Choir in the Bergen National Opera production of Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera, The Golden Cockerel. This was presented with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Grieg Hall, featuring outstanding artistic directors and soloists. It was a great pleasure to work with such accomplished professionals across an array of fields: directors, choreographers, stage designers, costume makers, conductors, dancers, singers, etc. News media and critics have awarded this opera production the highest possible ratings, noting the “world class soloists with dazzling stage design and direction”. Displayed here are publicity photos by Magnus Skrede, released on the Bergen National Opera website. In these scenes from the opera, I am the Boyar in the red hat and robe, gesturing toward the dancers and gazing at our dying Tsar (played by Andrew Shore). The diverse participants in this opera demonstrate the role of globalization in music today, with soloists, directors, managers and orchestral musicians from all throughout the world. 

More information:

http://eng.bno.no/whats-on/2013-2014/the-golden-cockerel/