Summer Teaching in Arts Policy

For the next two weeks, I will be teaching in Norway for our new PhD course Cultural Heritage and Policy in a Digital Age, a part of the Bergen Summer Research School: Global Challenges.  

To launch the BSRS opening event, I am also premiering an original piece on trumpet and piano, composed in collaboration with pianist Mai Goto. Fitting the program theme, we call it Facing Global Challenges.

UPDATE (15 June 2018): Here is a link to an article about BSRS!:

https://www.uib.no/en/globalchallenges/118469/all-over-world-summer-research-school-bergen

Our PhD course, which I am co-teaching with prolific math educationist and Indigenous Studies researcher Tamsin Meaney, has attracted accomplished scholars from all around the world, representing an array of academic and professional fields: from Norway, Nigeria, Turkey, India, Indonesia, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Kenya, Mexico, Poland, Guyana, and Greece. Their fields of specialization include archaeology, music, library/information science, law, public relations, socio-political studies, comparative literature, language arts, media technology, global studies, comparative politics, and museum studies. We have so much to learn from each other, and there are many good reasons to anticipate a very stimulating and profoundly meaningful experience together in Bergen, Norway!

Here is a link to projects from the course:

https://culturalheritage.w.uib.no/

After BSRS, I teach a course for China’s leading law school, which nowadays has the world’s largest law faculty, CUPL-Beijing. That course is called “Arts Policy in the 21^st Century”.

Later, I will go to Baku, Azerbaijian to chair two panel presentations at the 33^rd world conference of the International Society for Music Education. The titles of these sessions are (1) “Advancing Music Education in Northern Europe: Authorship in a State-Sponsored International Network” and (2) “From China to the World: Internationalizing an Innovative Music Education Initiative”.

It is inspiring to have the chance to work with such diverse and thoughtful students, and to catch up with colleagues from across the world.

[Shown above is a photo I took of the harbour in Bergen a few days before BSRS. Below is a video of our performance from the opening day]

Book Launch and Concert of East Asian Music

A unique book release event and concert is planned for Friday, September 7, 2018, at University of Bergen and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. It is open to the public. A detailed schedule will be posted here when the planning is finalized.

We will celebrate the publication of a new book entitled International Perspectives on Translation, Education, and Innovation in Japanese and Korean Societies (Springer, 2018), which is a major research outcome of the Nordic Association for Japanese and Korean Studies (NAJAKS).

A guest lecture will be offered by one of the distinguished contributors to the book, Dr. Lars Larm – a linguist recently affiliated with University of Gothenburg and Lund University, Sweden. 

As the book’s contributing Editor, I will also give a talk. The major sponsor for this event is the Japanese Studies department at University of Bergen, and support has also been offered by the Institute of Arts Education at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

Here are links for further information about the book:

https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319684321

https://www.amazon.com/International-Perspectives-Translation-Education-Innovation-ebook/dp/B07BBM19QT

Music Conference in Zhejiang

The Fourth International Forum for Leadership of Music Institutions (IFLMI) will be held in Jinhua, Zhejiang, China in mid-May, 2018. Several notable music professors from around the world will be attending as invited speakers.

UPDATE (16 May 2018): There have been some cancellations, but here is a link to the final program for this event: 

https://app.box.com/s/ocz9gr96jq1zlygp8aa7yvyq2ox84uc3

It has been a pleasure to be part of the organizing committee. I will give a presentation on the Nordic Network for Music Education, and also discuss the process of MOOC development for the Open Global Music Academy, which is to be built upon Huaxia Yuefu, an online consortium of 200 music institutions in China.

Below is an institutional profile of the School of Music at Zhejiang Normal University, which is likely to develop an excellent international network through this unique event.

Zhejiang Normal University, School of Music

Founded in 1985, the Music School of Zhejiang Normal University (ZJNU) is one of the earliest higher music education institutions in the province. Currently we have 72 faculty members, which including 10 professors, 27 associate professors, 23 lecturers and 12 staffs. Most of our faculty members held doctoral and master degrees, one was selected to “the Excellent Talent of the New Century by the Education Ministry Plan,” three were selected to the “151 Talent Project of the New Century,” three were selected as the provincial young leaders of the higher education system.

Currently the Music School has 700 undergraduate students and 120 graduate students. We offer three bachelor programs: Musicology, Music Performance and Dancing. We also offer first rank Master Program in Music and Dancing; recruit both EDM and MFA students in graduate level.

The ZJNU music education building has 13,000 m² and provides plenty space for Music School for our study, research, teaching and learning. Our music library has more than 60 thousand publication volumes. Up to now, more than 2,000 school music teachers have achieved their academic degrees from our school.

We are looking for more overseas music education institutions for international cooperation. We sincerely welcome foreign universities or music colleges to create connections and cooperative relationships to us.

Address: 688 Yingbin Ave., Wucheng District, Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province 321004, P.R. China

Tel: (+86) 579-8228 2416

Website: http://yy.zjnu.edu.cn

Book Release Event in Norway

Celebrating a new book with live music and readings . . .

UPDATE (June 25): There is already a nice review of this book:

https://cambridgescholarsblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/08/book-review-music-glocalization-heritage-and-innovation-in-a-digital-age/

WHEN: Wednesday afternoon, April 25, 2018, 14:00.
WHERE: Library, Kronstad campus, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen.
WHO: All are welcome, free public event.

LINK for more details:

https://app.box.com/s/jqhm13o05ndp2vnciljvx6v2oq18ybwe

The book to be featured at this event is called Music Glocalization: Heritage and Innovation in a Digital Age (edited by David Hebert and Mikolaj Rykowski). This book describes how the experience of music has changed as a result of new technologies and evolving attitudes toward the human condition. Cambridge Analytica/Facebook and music preferences, didjeridoos of PVC pipe, Eastern vs. Western influences from contemporary Uzbek music to the compositions of Estonian composer Arvo Part, musical traditions of Sumatra (Indonesia), and how Wagner transcends the stereotypes of pro-Nazi art - these are just a few of the topics raised in the book Music Glocalization.

Prof. Hebert’s co-author for this book – Dr. Mikolaj Rykowski – is coming from Poland to participate, and together they will present the main ideas from the book, offering brief readings and live performances of songs that directly relate to themes in the book. They are joined by two other musicians, Mai Goto and Aleksandra Rykowska.

Drinks and snacks will be served, and the audience will also have a chance to win a free copy of the latest book.

Here is a link to the recent book release event in Poland:

https://sociomusicology.blogspot.no/2018/03/book-release-event-in-poland.html

Here are links for further information about the book and its authors:

http://www.cambridgescholars.com/music-glocalization

https://amazon.com/Music-Glocalization-Heritage-Innovation-Digital/dp/1527503933/

Book Release Event in Poland

I look forward to visiting Poznan, Poland, in early April for a launch of our new book Music Glocalization: Heritage and Innovation in a Digital Age.

Here are links for further information about this book, including free samples:

http://www.cambridgescholars.com/music-glocalization

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Glocalization-Heritage-Innovation-Digital/dp/1527503933/

A link to further information on the book launch will be posted here soon. To make this book launch especially interesting, we plan to perform songs that thematically link with each excerpt to be read from the book.

Shown above is a nice photo of the Old Town district of Poznan, offered to the public domain by Dennis Jarvis on Wikipedia.

Study Trip to Vienna

In late May 2018, much of our music faculty from Bergen will be visiting Vienna on a study trip. This is the final activity planned by the old music department as we officially complete our restructuring to become part of a new Institute for Arts Education within a multi-campus university structure. 

Vienna is a unique city of great cultural significance, with many sites acknowledged by UNESCO as invaluable cultural heritage. We look forward to seeing several live performances as well as historical sites related to the development of European art music. 

   

Shown here is a public domain image of old Vienna from a 1493 edition of the Nuremberg Chronicle. 

Keynote Speech in Estonia: The Power of Music to Unite and Divide

I look forward to giving a keynote speech for the national music education conference in Estonia in April, 2018. It is exciting to have this opportunity to visit such a beautiful country with incredibly rich musical traditions. 

Below is a link to the conference website as well as the abstract for my speech. I am also posting here some photos I took during a visit to Estonia about one year ago. 

Website: http://imuo.weebly.com/keynote-speakers.html

The Power of Music to Unite and Divide: 
Rethinking its Potential Role in 21st Century Education

Music educators tend to believe that by teaching music they contribute to making the world a better place. Nevertheless, some policy-makers evidently assume that music, while a pleasant diversion, is of little consequence compared to technical and scientific pursuits. They note that many amateurs perform well without specialized musical knowledge, while some of the world’s highest paid musicians never formally studied music. Some even see music competitions as the ultimate arena for achievement, where participants are divided into winners and losers. The question of why music education matters is inseparable from why music itself matters, for which competition and economic arguments can seem a distraction. How this latter question is satisfactorily answered, I suggest, requires careful consideration of how music both unites and divides. It follows that I will discuss ways that particular forms of music are connected to such potent social categories as age, gender, socioeconomic status, nationality and ethnicity, as well as how various musical practices are addressed in the context of schools. In order for the importance of music to be more broadly appreciated, it seems music educators must strive to more convincingly demonstrate our evocative art’s unique power. From either a historical or global perspective, it becomes clear that music participation profoundly contributes to the cultivation of empathetic insights into diverse identities, while also strengthening community cohesion through appreciation of heritage and creative innovation. Having established this premise, I seek in this presentation to stimulate reflection on a critical question: How, as music teachers, might we best use music’s power to unite or divide?