David G. Hebert (; born 1972) is a musicologist and comparative educationist. He is a Professor of Music at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (Bergen, Norway), where he leads the Grieg Academy Music Education (GAME) research group. He has contributed to the fields of music education, ethnomusicology, sociomusicology, comparative education, and East Asian Studies. Since 2018, he has been the manager of the Nordic Network for Music Education, a multinational state-funded organization that sponsors intensive Master courses and exchange of university music lecturers and students across Northern Europe. He is also a visiting professor in Sweden with the Malmo Academy of Music at Lund University and an honorary professor with the Education University of Hong Kong. He has previously been sponsored by East Asian governments as a visiting research scholar with Nichibunken in Kyoto, Japan, and the Central Conservatory of Music, in Beijing, China. He also serves in various leadership roles with the International Society for Music Education.
Education and career Hebert has worked for Sibelius Academy, Boston University College of Fine Arts, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Te Wananga o Aotearoa, University of Southern Mississippi, Tokyo Gakugei University and the International Research Center for Japanese Studies.Hebert, David (Ed.), (2018). International Perspectives on Translation, Education, and Innovation in Japanese and Korean Societies. Dordrecht: Springer Press , Acknowledgments and Dedication (ix-xi). From 2012, he lectured in Beijing for postgraduate seminars at China Conservatory,McCollum J. & Hebert, D. G. (2014). Acknowledgements (xvii-xiii). In J. McCollum & D. G. Hebert (Eds.), Theory and Method in Historical Ethnomusicology. Lexington Books , p.xvii and in 2015 was a visiting professor in Brazil with the music PhD program at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. In recent years, Hebert has spoken at music conferences in Poland, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, China, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan. Hebert also serves on editorial boards of several scholarly journals, led the Historical Ethnomusicology group of the Society for Ethnomusicology (of which he is a Life member) in 2009–2011,Hebert, D. G. & McCollum, J. (2022). Preface: Why this Topic and These Authors (ix-xvi). In D. G. Hebert & J. McCollum (Eds.), Ethnomusicology and Cultural Diplomacy. Lexington Books , p. ix-xii. and was editor of the 25th anniversary proceedings of the Nordic Association for Japanese and Korean Studies. He has also been active in the development of innovative postgraduate programs: in northern Europe, he collaborated in development of the Master of Global Music program, in China he has contributed to development of the Open Global Music Academy, and from 2021 he is in a project funded by Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation to develop PhD programs in Uganda. Hebert teaches intensive courses in the fields of arts policy and international higher education for an international PhD summer school in Norway and arts policy in Beijing for law students at China University of Political Science and Law.Marit Fosse He also teaches a PhD course in Non-Western Educational Philosophy.Nadarajah Sethurupan David G. Hebert He holds the PhD and MA degrees from University of Washington, and a BA degree from Pacific University.
Research interests
Hebert's research is published in several scholarly books and 35 different professional journals.
Music competition in Japan In 2012, Hebert published Wind Bands and Cultural Identity in Japanese Schools,Hebert, David (2012). Wind Bands and Cultural Identity in Japanese School. Dordrecht: Springer Press a book that identified the world's largest music competition and documented the experiences of its participants. With more than 14,000 competing wind bands and widely admired performances, Japan is an especially important nation for instrumental music education, and Hebert's ethnographic and historical monograph has been described in the journal Music Education Research as "the most comprehensive information about concert (wind) band participation in any country." According to a review in the British Journal of Music Education, "David Hebert delved deep under the surface of the seemingly everyday where he discovered anomalies and cultural specifics that are unlike anything found in the West ... His book performs the remarkable: a call to explore new ways of doing high school band programmes differently."Norman Stanfield (2014). Wind Bands and Cultural Identity in Japanese Schools. "British Journal of Music Education", 31(1), pp.103-105. A sociologist with Tokyo Metropolitan University has said that this book "can serve as an important reference and inform the decisions of those attempting to advance changes to the educational system."Nishijima, Hiroshi (2013). Wind Bands and Cultural Identity in Japanese Schools. , 16(2), pp.337-340. The book also describes Japanese composers, and has been used for concert program notes by prominent conductors, such as Eugene Corporon, and Timothy Reynish (who describes it as "compulsory reading for anyone interested in Japanese music") This book helps to explain why music competitions are a global phenomenon.Hebert, David G. (2019). Competition in Music. SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture (Janet Sturman, Ed.), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, vol.2, p.610-613.
Music globalization, transculturation and hybridity According to Roberta Pike, Hebert asserts that “research is needed to explore the role of culture in music education.”Roberta E. Pike, Japanese Education: Selective Bibliography of Psychosocial Aspects (Fremont, CA: Jain, 2007), p.83. From a global perspective, Hebert has examined how musical practices, technologies, and genres are adopted into new contexts, including educational and religious traditions within institutions.Hebert, D. G., Abramo, J. & Smith, G. D. (2016). Epistemological and Sociological Issues in Popular Music Education. In G. D. Smith, et al (Eds.), "The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education". New York: Routledge; Hebert, David (2011) "Cultural Translation and Music: A Theoretical Model and Examples from Japan" In Noriko Takei-Thunman and Nanyan Guo (Eds.), Cultural Translations: Proceedings of the Workshop/Symposium in Varberg and Kyoto, University of Gothenburg, pp.20-39 In addition to research on Japanese composers, he has studied brass bands among TongansDavid G. Hebert (2008). "Music Transmission in an Auckland Tongan Community Youth Band". International Journal of Community Music, 1(2), pp.169-188. and New Zealand Maori,Hebert, David (2008). "Music Transculturation and Identity in a Maori Brass Band Tradition". In R. Camus & B. Habla, (Eds.), Kongressbericht Northfield /Minnesota, USA 2006 (Alta Musica, 26) Tutzing: Schneider, pp.173-200. jazz and popular music in the United States,David G. Hebert (2011). "Originality and Institutionalization: Factors Engendering Resistance to Popular Music Pedagogy in the USA". Music Education Research International, 5, pp.12-21. Christmas music in Finland, multicultural and indigenous music education in Guyana,Rohan Sagar and David G. Hebert, "Research-Based Curriculum Design for Multicultural School Music: Reflections on a National Project in Guyana," Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. the learning of Indian music outside of Asia,Hebert, David (2003). "Lessons from India: Globalization's Implications for Music Education," Journal of the Indian Musicological Society, Vol. 34 (pp. 38-46). and some cross-cultural music exchange projects in New ZealandPornprapit Phoasavadi and David G. Hebert (2006). "Celebrating Maori and Thai Music Magic: Implications of World Music Collaboration" . Research in New Zealand Performing Arts, 1. and Ghana. Hebert has written of inherent tensions between originality and institutionalization, and contends that musical hybrid projects should be “recognized as the potential wellsprings of new musical traditions.”Hebert, David (2009). "Rethinking the Historiography of Hybrid Genres in Music Education". In V. Kurkela & L. Vakeva (Eds.), De-Canonizing Music History. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, p.178. In 2008 at Boston University, he taught a course on the topic of "Music Transculturation and Hybridity". Hebert's research on this topic builds on the scholarship of Bruno Nettl, Margaret Kartomi, Mark Slobin, Timothy Taylor, and Tina Ramnarine. He twice served as keynote speaker for conferences on Music and Globalization in Poland, and the resulting book Music Glocalization has been described as “highly original” and “the first comprehensive account of how the notion of ‘glocalization’ may be useful in rethinking nationality in music and the use of local musical traditions that serve as a means for global strategies.” In the book, Hebert collaborated with Polish musicologist Mikolaj Rykowski to introduce theoretical models and the term ‘glocklization’, which combines the glocal concept with a Glock pistol, to indicate unbalanced forms of glocalization perceived as destructive to cultural heritage.Hebert, David & Rykowski, Mikolaj. (2018). Music Glocalization: Heritage and Innovation in a Digital Age. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, p.354.
Pluralism and music institutions Hebert's work has also addressed the challenges of representing cultural diversity and embracing pluralism in music education, claiming music has a unique role in intercultural communication.Hebert, David (2010). "Ethnicity and Music Education: Sociological Dimensions". In Ruth Wright (Ed.), Sociology and Music Education. Aldershot: Ashgate Press, pp.93-114. ; David G. Hebert, Tuovi Martinsen, and Keld Hosbond (2010). "Launching the Nordic Master of Global Music Program". Finnish Journal of Music Education, 13(1), pp.88-91. He has advocated for popular music pedagogy and world music pedagogy as innovative approaches for reaching a wider population of students.Hebert, D. G. Jazz and Rock Music. In W. M. Anderson & P. S. Campbell (Eds.), Multicultural Perspectives in Music Education, Vol.1 (third edition) (pp.112-127). Lanham, MD: Rowman-Littlefield Publishers (2011). Teacher educators have noted that Hebert “guides the reader toward a sociological understanding” of diversity,Patrick Schmidt (2012). Book Review – Sociology and Music Education "Visions of Research in Music Education", 22. and offers “suggestions for 'empowering music teachers to respond appropriately to the complexity of ethnic differences'.”Tami J. Draves (2011). Sociology and Music Education. "Journal of Historical Research in Music Education", 33(1), pp.109. Extending in directions pioneered by his PhD mentor Patricia Shehan Campbell, Hebert has also written of “the challenges of multicultural teaching in music” and “the central role that ethnic identity plays in musical meaning and engagement.” His research in this area has often been in collaboration with Nordic scholars, including Eva Saether and Marja Heimonen.Marja Heimonen and David G. Hebert (2010). "Pluralism and Minority Rights in Music Education: Implications of the Legal and Social Philosophical Dimensions". Visions of Research in Music Education, 15; David G. Hebert and Marja Heimonen (2013). "Public Policy and Music Education in Norway and Finland". Arts Education Policy Review, 114(3), special issue on "Cosmopolitanism and Policy", pp.135-148. Along with William Coppola and Patricia Shehan Campbell, he co-authored Teaching World Music in Higher Education as vol.7 of the Routledge World Music Pedagogy series.
Nationalism in music education