New Asia-Europe Doctoral Partnership

I am pleased to announce that we have just been approved for funding from the Utforsk program (Norwegian Directorate of Higher Education and Skills) for a 4-year project that will lead to closer cooperation and development of opportunities for a shared PhD/EdD doctoral program between Bergen and Hong Kong.  

Global Competence and Research-Based Practice in a Doctoral and Postgraduate Partnership (Project number UTF-2021/10057) will “strengthen cooperation and quality of doctoral and postgraduate education between Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL) and Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) by developing mechanisms for student exchange, 2 COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) courses and 2 new joint courses from each partner, co-authoring of research, and co-supervision of dissertations, all with an emphasis on 'Global Competence' and research-based practice, and leading to design of a "sandwich" (shared) doctoral degree in Education. Through intensive Research & Writing Workshops, and application of innovative pedagogies, the project will upgrade teaching while boosting research outcomes.”

Six goals aligned with UTFORSK’s Results Framework (URF) will be achieved: 1) Establish detailed institutional agreement and exchange plan for teachers, 8 doctoral students and 5 master students, 2) Modify 2 existing courses from each institution for COIL (online) format, and develop 2 new joint courses at each institution, thereby strengthening doctoral studies through sharing of 8 courses, 3) Integrate research-based Global Competence modules, taught as a pedagogical mentorship for doctoral students, 4) Develop Doctor of Education (EdD)/PhD "sandwich" degree partnership based on shared COIL courses, new joint courses, Research & Writing Workshops, and co-supervision of theses, 5) Strengthen research collaboration and publish outcomes (6 refereed articles/chapters by end of project), 6) Apply methods developed through this project to strengthen education in other partnerships (Norhed, Nordplus, Erasmus).

 

Here is a link with an additional announcement:

https://www.hvl.no/en/news/new-funds-for-educational-cooperation-on-entrepreneurship-renewable-energy-and-global-competence/

 

Kampala, Uganda

It is exciting to be visiting Kampala, Uganda now through the CABUTE project, where I have some meetings and lectures for Makerere University and Kyambogo University, as well as a Keynote Speech for the 2022 East African Teacher Education Symposium. 

I look forward to sharing, learning more, and seeing what we manage to accomplish through this collaboration. It is inspiring to cross borders together with education and music. 

The photograph below shows the project's latest recipients of full scholarships for music education PhD studies (Erisa Walubo) and Master studies (Lydia Basemera and Rogers Mpoza), along with the CABUTE-Music subject co-leaders (Dr. Nicholas Ssempijja and myself) and recent ISME president Prof. Emily Akuno. 

Here is a link to a related article from a newspaper in Uganda: https://observer.ug/education/75851-academicians-decry-disappearance-of-music-from-uganda-s-pedagogies

 

New External Doctoral Committees

I look forward to serving as an External Examiner (“Opponent”) for the PhD defense of Laura Ellestad with a dissertation titled “Norwegian-American Fiddling in the Upper Midwest: The Construction of Norwegian-American Identities” at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo. It will be very interesting to see how Ellestad approaches this topic, with a dissertation to be defended in spring 2023. This will be my second time serving on the doctoral committee for a string player working in a genre outside western classical music, since years ago I was a doctoral supervisor for Ari Poutiainen, a jazz violinist now at University of Helsinki.  

Also, I look forward to serving as an external member for the PhD committee at University of Luxembourg for Japanese comparative educationist Miwa Chiba. She was a student in the first cohort of my PhD course “Non-Western Educational Philosophy and Policy”, later becoming a contributor to our special issue in the Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education as well as the book Comparative and Decolonial Studies in Philosophy of Education. Chiba is deeply interested in the philosophical foundations of contrasting educational systems in Europe and Asia, and it has been a great pleasure to work with her.  

In the end of October 2022, I will be teaching for a third year for the university-wide professional development course in Doctoral Supervision at University of Bergen. Click HERE to learn more about my interests and experience in doctoral education.

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:University_of_Luxembourg.jpg

Sympathetic Resonance

UPDATE (Summer 2023): Click HERE to access entire demo album with original song arrangements.

UPDATE (Autumn 2023): Sympathetic Resonance Trio has been awarded funding from the Norwegian Barents Secretariat to develop its performance outreach project in Kirkenes, the far Northeast of Norway.

UPDATE (Summer 2024): Sympathetic Resonance Trio is preparing to collaborate with other artists in a recording studio session for production of original ambient sounds and meditative music.

The Sympathetic Resonance Trio is comprised of three performers with different national, cultural and musical backgrounds. Sergej Tchirkov from St. Petersburg has the accordion as his main instrument and is a PhD candidate in music at the Grieg Academy, University of Bergen. Sergej has performed widely across Europe and has recently made himself known as a strong critic of Russian aggression and as a music activist with concerts against the war. David Gabriel Hebert is a Professor of music education at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, and joins the trio as its trumpeter and vocalist. He comes from Seattle, and in addition to a broad career as a practicing musician, has around ten books and a number of publications behind him. Ole Øvretveit is a Norwegian guitarist, producer and political scientist. Øvretveit has a background in cultural and scientific cooperation across national borders as well as blues-based music.

Sympathetic Resonance began as a cross-genre music project where improvisation and co-creation were the focus. Over time it has become more structured and based around a set of songs, but co-creation, new thinking and improvisation remain central concepts. Our project aims to create an understanding of the times we live in and a commitment to help make the future better.

A war of occupation in Europe is something that only a short while ago most of us liked to imagine was impossible. But it is here, and decades of cross-border cooperation are ending, perhaps for good. Cooperation between Russia and the West is not possible today. But it is possible to use culture and music to understand both our common and differing histories, nature and cultural traditions. It is possible to focus on both the dark and light parts of history; It is also possible to shine a spotlight on the positive effects of interaction, cultural cooperation and mutual understanding between positive forces across borders. It is better to build bridges than walls, even if the bridges may be made of air.

With interaction and improvisation as a foundation, the trio interprets music across borders, eras, themes, cultures and nature, from the cold Arctic in the north to the rivers that flow south into the Black Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Our project deepens understandings and dialogue based on three thematic threads: Human dignity and democracy; man and nature; interaction and co-creation.

LINKS TO SONG SAMPLES:

·          Ol Man River

·       Wayfaring Stranger

·       Volga Boatmen Song

·       Oh Shenandoah

 

Musicians:

Sergej Tchirkov, accordion

David Hebert, voice and trumpet

Ole Øvretveit, acoustic guitar

Link to VR-painted video: https://youtu.be/oYEEsNrJ74E

Music Talks in Prilep

It is exciting to be in Prilep, North Macedonia as part of the MusicTalks project for enhancing the effectiveness of nonformal youth music activities, funded by the EU's Erasmus Plus program.

We look forward to reporting on the project outcomes, including our 13 research-based methods, at the upcoming Nordic Network for Music Education course in Bergen.

Videos of our work are posted here: https://sites.google.com/view/music-talks-erasmus-project/videos

Below are some photos from our work both yesterday and today:

Ethnomusicology Conference Papers

It was a pleasure to give two co-authored presentations this week for the XXXVII European Seminar in Ethnomusicology in Graz, Austria. This was together with a postdoctoral researcher and PhD student affiliated with the Grieg Academy Music Education research group.

Dr. Thanh Thuy Nguyen’s paper highlighted some major points from our forthcoming book (with Stefan Ostersjo and Henrik Frisk, on Cambridge University Press) about new methods for decolonized intercultural music collaborations.

Marianne Løkke Jakobsen’s paper expanded on our recent book chapter in Ethnomusicology and Cultural Diplomacy, about music diplomacy between China and Europe, featuring in-depth discussion of the Panda Suite project.

Nordic Network 2022 Course in Bergen

We look forward to hosting the 2022 Nordic Network for Music Education (NNME) intensive Master course on 24-28 October, in Bergen, Norway, at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

Click here for details: 

https://www.hvl.no/forsking/konferanse/nordic-network-for-music-education-nnme/

Travel grants from Nordplus will support several music education Master students (and their teachers) from across the 8 Nordic and Baltic countries with airfare and hotel costs to participate in Bergen, and others will participate online. 

At least 15 of the participating Master students will have an opportunity to present live in Bergen and obtain feedback on their in-progress theses from music education professors affiliated with universities in other countries. Other students will participate online from home. 

Keynote speakers for this NNME course include:

• Chee Hoo Lum (National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) 
• Mikko Seppänen (University of the Arts, Helsinki) 
• Helga Rut Gudmundsdottir and Adam Switala (University of Iceland) 
• Zalys Vytautas (Siauliai University, Lithuania) 

Other special opportunities at the NNME course include:

• Expert panel discussion on music learning technologies, moderated by Kristi Kiilu (Estonia)
• Sessions by local experts on such topics as improvisation / 'soundpainting' (Jostein Stalheim), thesis writing strategies (Felicity Rinde and Catharina Christophersen), and media technologies (Sigrid Jordal Havre)
• Live music-making sessions led by Ole Gunnar Eikeland and others, including Sympathetic Resonance Trio. 
• Presentations on funded research projects: Music Talks (Erasmus Plus), and FUTURED (Norwegian Research Council)

Here is a link for more information about the Bergen area: https://en.visitbergen.com/

Here is a link for more information about NNME and its intensive Master courses: https://www.hvl.no/en/collaboration/networks/nordic-network-for-music-education/