RPIVA Visit and Balta Performance

Here are links from my recent lecture “Music Education Around the World” in Latvia at the Riga Teaching Training and Educational Management Academy (RPIVA), as well as a seminar in which I was advising the university’s PhD students in music:

http://www.rpiva.lv/index.php?&mh=akt_bildes&galerija=711

http://www.rpiva.lv

http://sociomusicology.blogspot.com/2013/02/residency-in-riga.html

RPIVA is a very stimulating environment, with a lot of research activity, and Riga is a pleasant city bustling with music. During my residency I had a chance to see a stunning performance by the institution’s extraordinary women’s choir Balta, and to perform with musicians in Riga’s fine jazz scene, attend a final doctoral defense (disputation), and meet with various music scholars.

Balta truly seems to be one of the most outstanding women’s choirs in the world today. I look forward to seeing them perform again. Here is some information about Balta from the RPIVA website:

"BALTA is founded in 1999. 
Artistic director and conductor of the choir is Prof. Dr. Mara Marnauza. 
Pianist – Laimrota Kriumane. 
Students of Music teacher program, other programs and students and graduates from other universities are the members of the choir. 
Choir BALTA has participated with a great success in 4 International competitions.

•   Choir took the 1st prize in female choir category and Grand prix in X International choir competition in Budapest (Hungary) in 2005.

•   BALTA took the 1st prize in Female choir category, the 3rd place in Folk music category and the special prize of jury for bright interpretation of J.Tamulonis “The Sea” in International competition for Universities' choirs in Pardubice (Czech Republic) in 2002.

•   Choir took the 3rd prize in International choir competition of Franz Schubert in Vienna (Austria) in 2000.

•   BALTA took the 3rd place in International choir competition in Klaipeda (Lithuania) in 1999.

The choir has improved vocal and artistic master hood in several master-classes of famous conductors such as English conductor and composer Bob Chilcot and Czech conductor Alexander Vacek and American composer and conductor Arthur Maud. BALTA has successfully toured coming to the front and acquiring the acknowledgement from professional musicians and reviewers as well as from the public in Latvia and abroad (Germany, Norway, Austria, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Poland, Spain, Germany etc.). 
There are original pieces of Latvian classical and modern composers, Latvian folk music, music of various styles and periods by different world composers – from renaissance to jazz - in the repertoire of BALTA. 
First CD of BALTA “Sparks of Light” is recorded in 2003 in Riga 's Sound record studio. 
In the future BALTA is looking forward to new programs, joining highly professional singing, stage choreography and direction." 

Research and Development Conference

FoU Conference in Bergen

The Faculty of Education at Bergen University College will soon host its annual "FoU Konferanse" event on Research and Development (abbr. FoU in Norwegian) on April 9 and 10, 2013. 

The FoU Conference will feature presentations related to research methods as well as cultural performances. I look forward to giving a keynote speech "Enriching Education through International-Comparative Research" and performing with DATES, our faculty a cappella vocal jazz quintet. Some of my graduate students also intend to give presentations at this conference. 

FoU Conference website: 

http://www.hib.no/aktuelt/konferanse/2013/fou-konferanse_2013_AL.asp

HiB Faculty of Education website: 

http://www.hib.no/english/AL/default.asp

HiB Music Department (Grieg Academy-Faculty of Education) website:: 

http://www.hib.no/english/AL/music/default.asp

[pictured: public domain image of Viking lurs]

Deadline for Nordic Conference on East Asia

The 25th anniversary conference of the Nordic Association of Japanese and Korean Studies (NAJAKS) will be held in Bergen, Norway, on August 21-23, 2013. The conference theme is Translation, Education and Innovation.

Ethnomusicologist Keith Howard (Professor, SOAS) is one of the Keynote Speakers for NAJAKS 2013, and as one of the conference hosts I will be chairing the concluding plenary session. Music performances are also being planned, and we intend to organize a paper session on performing arts in East Asia. The deadline for abstract submissions is March 1^st, 2013.

Click here for more information: http://www.najaks.org/

Visit to Beijing, China

Bergen University College is looking to strengthen its relationships with Chinese institutions, and plans are in the works for another visit to Beijing in just a few months. I look forward to visiting with Chinese colleagues, and I hope more Chinese researchers will come visit Bergen University College, especially to celebrate the move into the new campus in Kronstad:

  

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

In the upcoming trip to Beijing, I am hoping we can formally establish suitable partnerships for exchange of music teachers and students, online seminars, and various kinds of comparative research, including the Understanding Talent project:

http://www.hib.no/senter/suf/forskningsprogram/understanding-talent-chinese.asp

Residency in Riga, Latvia

I look forward to spending a week soon in Latvia, giving lectures under the auspices of the Nordplus exchange program at the Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy (RPIVA): http://www.rpiva.lv/

The main purpose of this trip to Latvia is to lecture for Master students and advise some Doctoral students at RPIVA, and plans are in the works for a collaborative research project as well.

Riga is a delightful city with a rich history and rapid new developments, and RPIVA has many new initiatives to strengthen education-related research. 

Norwegian Band Conductors Conference, 2013

In February of 2013, the Norwegian Band Federation (NMF: Norges Musikkorps Forbunde) will hold its national brass conducting conference at the Grieg Academy-Institute, University of Bergen. I have been asked to give a keynote presentation: “On the Wind Band Movement in Japan, With Reflections on Conditions in Norway”.

Japan, where I lived for several years, is considered to have some of the finest school wind bands in the world, particularly among children aged 10-15; but western Norway, where I now live, appears to have some of the very most outstanding European-style community brass bands, particularly among young adults aged 15 through 40. In recent years, Norwegian bands have consistently won major European brass band competitions. Still, I should mention that Norway also has some notable school wind bands and Japan as well has some strong community brass bands. Wind bands and brass bands are rather closely related ensembles, but have slightly different instrumentation, repertoire and performance traditions, and I have enjoyed some very interesting opportunities to work at length with such ensembles, also in the USA and New Zealand (both European-style bands and ensembles in the Tongan and Maori traditions), as well as in Japan and more recently, Norway. This event will provide an opportunity to discuss the similarities and differences from an international perspective. I look forward to meeting several of the leading Norwegian band conductors at this event.  

Click HERE for an interesting article on Wind Music in Norway by Jan Magnus Dahle. 

Although my work as a Professor of Music in Norway mostly emphasizes music research and academic study of music nowadays, I have continued to play trumpet and do some band conducting here, and some of my recent and current trumpet students play in the award-winning brass bands from this part of Norway.

Nordic Network for Research in Music Education 2013

The Music Department of Bergen University College (Grieg Academy-Faculty of Education) will soon be hosting the The 18^th annual conference of the Nordic Network for Research in Music Education (in Bergen, Norway; February 25-28, 2013). We are expecting more than 70 participants for the conference, which includes both PhD students and experienced researchers from across Northern Europe. Below is more information about the conference:

Welcome to the annual NNMPF-conference in Bergen, Norway

Dates: 26th of February – 1st of March

Location: Bergen University College and the Grieg Academy – Institute of Music , Bergen, Norway

Dinner: Hotel Neptun (Valkendorfsgate 8, Bergen), Thursday evening (20.30–23.00)

Site host: Eiliv Olsen, Bergen University College

 

Prior to the conference, a PhD seminar will take place in co-operation with Grieg Research School in Interdisciplinary Music Studies (GRS).

The seminar will start Tuesday the 26th at 1 pm and end Wednesday 27th at 11 am, and take place at the Bergen University College. This seminar has the following objective:

- to discuss PhD students projects/papers and provide an organized meeting place and peer environment for doctoral students in music education.

PhD candidates who are in an early stage in their projects are especially welcome. Senior researchers will participate as facilitators for the discussions.

Here is a link for detailed information:

http://www.hib.no/english/AL/music/news/nnmpe_2013.html