Please join me in welcoming Miikka Salavuo, from the Sibelius Academy in Helskinki, to the music education blogosphere! The first blog post and the discussion that follows it in comments, raise some very interesting points on the implications of blogging in higher education, the future of refereed journals and how the internet will shape how we learn and network in the future.
To get an idea of some of the excellent work being done in music education in Finland check out the articles ” Garage rock bands: A future model for developing musical expertise?” by Heidi Westerlund & “Teaching popular music in Finland: What’s up, what’s ahead?” by Lauri Väkevä in the August 2006 issue of the International Journal of Music Education.
It is important for music educators in the US to be aware of the excellent work being done overseas!
Hi Evan,
You really hit the nail on the head here. There is so much innovative work being done in music education beyond the borders of the United States. In the UK, many countries have been integrating popular music and popular music processes into music education for decades. And, most recently many countries have modernized their creating-based curricula to be much more relevant to the musicianship of their students.
In fact, one of the first online and truly collaborative music creating projects for school music students originated in Finland through a UNESCO Grant:
http://unesco.uiah.fi/water/
It is great to see music educator and researcher blogs popping up all around the world!