IAML-LIMTI

Geir Johansson, Norwegian Academy of Music RAIME)

2009-11-14T00:20:00.000-08:00

Geir Johansson from the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo was talking about the students in the music teacher's programme and the relationship between their feeling of identity and their approach to learning: Deep or surface learning. Surface learning is categorized by words like memorizing, reproducing, passivity and a negative attitude to learning in general. Deep learning is consequently the opposite. The student’s judgement of what is relevant in his or her education is very much formed by this experienced identity: Am I a musician och a teacher? It is difficult to handle these two parallel identities and transform them into a “core identity”. The supervisors at the training field may act as a bridge between these different arenas.

The RAIME Conference in Gothenburg

2009-11-14T00:06:00.001-08:00

One of the lecturers during the conference was Cecilia Hultberg from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. She presented a case study of a typical situation in a conservatoire: The one-to-one lesson. This type of lesson is difficult to handle in different ways. One is the uneval power relation between the teacher and the student. Another problem is the difficulty to handle student evaluations and to clearly define both learning content and learning outcomes.Teachers often feel isolated at work and without support when problems occur.

Cecilia Hultberg wanted to investigate the role student expectations had on their learning. It turned out that the students were very much focusing on instrumental skills and technique and were not susceptible to what the teacher actually was talking about. During interviews after the lessons it turned out that the students often had missed the central points the teacher had intended to convey, Typical answers were; “The lesson didn’t give me anything, but I appreciate the teacher as a good guitarist.” or “Well, I know about musical things myself”. Many times a student want to have a particular teacher because of his or her status. This may turn out to be a disappointment. Over time they start to be interested in the best teacher instead of the best performer. It may take a long time before the students realize what they have actually learnt during their education.

New publication: Research into Higher Music Education

2009-10-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

In case you are interested to order "Research into higher music education: an overview from a quality improvement perspective" by Harald Jörgensen (mentioned in my previous post) I would like to give you some more information.

Novus Press, Oslo
EUR 33.50
ISBN 978-82-7099-538-7
novus@novus.no
Fax +47 2271 8107

"Higher music education institutions are numerous and spread all over the world. What does research tell us about these academies, conservatoires and schools of music? How can research be utilized in the institutions' quality improvement process? These are the basic questions addressed in this book. The book is the first international overview of research into higher music education, and includes a presentation of nearly 800 studies. The studies address basic charasteristics of the institutions, their resources and internal processes, as well as their relation to external sectors. The book is primarily written for leadership, staff and students in these institutions, but is also aimed at people engaged in or interested in higher education, especially education in arts subjects."

Harald Jörgensen: Research into Higher Music Education

2009-10-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

The RAIME conference started with an opening paper by Harald Jörgensen, Norges musikkhögskole: "Research in and about higher music education: an overview". The speaker had made an impressive investigation of a vast amount of studies in the field, recently published (2009) in the book "Research into higher music education: an overview from a quality improvement perspective".

This research field is quite young - more than 90% of the studies have been published after 1980! There is a complete dominance of research from the US. The second most productive country is Great Britain. A big problem is that studies published in smaller languages unfortunately will be invisible in an overview like this. The author had, however, included studies in Norwegian;-)!

The speaker urged his colleagues to treat the reports and assessments the regularly do as research, by adding theory and reflection - then publish them. Institutions must establish and encourage research within their own walls. Sadly it turned out that several participants shared a common experience, namely that the management of the conservatoires simply does not want such research to be carried out. Especially not if it is critical to the work of the institution.

In his speech Harald Jörgensen was actually focussing on what topics have been neglected by researchers so far. Most studies concern processes taking place within institutions, but there are almost no studies of the institution's missions and goals. The list of topics was quite long - apparently there is a lot of more work to be done. This is good, I guess, since the research community is growing drastically year by year.

Conference with Research Alliance of Institutions for Music Education (RAIME)

2009-10-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

At present, my place of work "Artisten" is hosting the 10:th conference of Research Alliance of Institutions for Music Education (RAIME). The first meeting took place in Stockholm 2010. About 40 researchers have gathered here in Gothenburg, mainly from the US and Northern Europe. RAIME consists of nearly thirty institutions from all over the world. The research themes presented at their symposiums are very diversified. Since I have the kind permission from the organizers to attend I will be happy to give you short summaries of some of the presentations.

Offer from the Masterclass Foundation

2009-09-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,

I am so sorry that I don't have time to write more often on the blog, but I suppose you know how it is...

I just wanted to forward a message from Joanna Pearson at the Masterclass Foundation, since I am very fond of their Masterclass DVDs.Our library has all of them and the students are very enthusiastic!

"The Masterclass Foundation" is announcing a special offer to IAML members. Some of you may have come across our products during the IAML-IMS conference in Amsterdam in July. By placing a firm order for a full set of 28 Masterclass DVDs in October, you will receive a duplicate set completely free. To take advantage of this offer, please contact Joanna Pearson at joanna.pearson@masterclassfoundation.org and put in the subject line ‘IAML OFFER’. In the body of the email give your name, job title, College or delivery address, VAT number (if relevant) and whether you are likely to pay by credit card or would prefer to receive a pro-forma invoice. The Masterclass Foundation will then be in touch with you personally about your requirements."

IAML Newsletter - "Special Amsterdam Issue"!

2009-07-29T00:58:00.001-07:00

Dear colleagues,

I just wanted to alert you on the fact that a new issue of the IAML Newsletter now is available on the IAML web site. The editor, Michael Fingerhut, who always did a great job with the newsletter has this time surpassed himself! It is his last issue with a focus on the Amsterdam conference. Enjoy!

Questionnaire about the future activities of the LIMTI Branch

2009-07-16T02:28:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,

At the last session with "LIMTI" in Amsterdam I handed out a questionnaire about the future activities of our branch. I realize that not everybody has the privilige to attend IAML conferences or did attend the session but had no time to fill in the form. Therefore I put the same questions on the blog. I would be most obliged to receive your comments. In case you prefer to send them by fax, this is my fax number: +46 31 786 40 59.

1. What do you think about today's session?

2. What topics do you think would be interesting for future conferences?

3. Do you have any suggestions regarding other activities for our branch?

4. Do you have any comments regarding the web site?

5. Do you have any comments regarding the blog?

Visit to AEC in Utrecht

2009-07-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,

I am now back from the IAML conference in Amsterdam - trying to digest all the impression. The conference was a great success in every aspect: Great professional and social programme plus a lot of music wonderfully performed by various artists such as "Fugimundi" with Eric Vloeiman, Louis Andriessen, Ton Koopman and Nederlands Kammerkor. The conference staff was kind and obliging and the organization just perfect. The Organizing Committee is worthy of great praise!

Friday July 3, a couple of days before the conference started, I went to Utrecht to visit the office of "AEC" - the European Association of Conservatoires. Gabriela Rojková, office manager, and her team gave me a warm welcome and introduced me to the work of the organization. Of course, I took the opportunity to inform as much as possible about IAML and the Libraries in Music Teaching Institutions Branch. I had already met the president, Johannes Johansson, director of Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and invited him to give a talk at next IAML conference in Moscow. My idea is that one of the sessions with our branch will focus on Bologna and Music.

It turned out that the office team had just recently discussed the importance of involving librarians working at music conservatoires around Europe in the work of AEC. Perfect timing! They are very eager to receive contact information such as:

1. The name of the institution
2. The name of the head librarian
3. E-mail address
4. Phone number
5. If you would like to be included in the newsletter distribution list

Please, send the above information to: aecinfo@aecinfo.org

Kind regards,
Pia

See you in Amsterdam! ...and plans for Moscow!

2009-07-01T04:14:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,

I am looking forward to seeing (some of) you in Amsterdam! As you may have noticed in the programme the session with Libraries in Music Teaching Institutions will take place on Friday at 11.00. We also have a joint session with Public Libraries Branch on Wednesday at 11.00.

This Friday (July 3) I will visit the "AEC" office (The European Association of Conservatoires) in Utrecht to discuss a possible future collaboration. I thought it would be a good idea to invite speakers from AEC to our session in Moscow. Topics to discuss could be:

1. "What will happen to Bologna after 2010?"
2. "Artistic research and research education"
3. "Quality assurance and accreditation"
4. "Information literacy"

Any response on the above would be grately appreciated!

~Pia~

Are we properly prepared for the role as pedagogues?

2009-06-24T08:28:00.001-07:00

Dear colleagues,

The last question from the conference in Reykjavik:

Group no. 7

Is there something like “library pedagogy”? Are we properly prepared for the role as
pedagogues?

"Yes, of course, “library pedagogy” exists and we are pedagogues
whether we like it or not. A problem is that many librarians are not sufficiently trained for the
role. We simply don’t have time to enter the role as pedagogues, as we are usually
overwhelmed with other library tasks. In most libraries we also need more librarians to be
able to cope with this pedagogy role.
The library at the Department of music and media in Piteå belongs to Luleå University library,
where LRC, Learning Resource Center, is growing stronger and stronger. LRC is an
organization unit for the University’s researchers, teachers and students. LRC offers
pedagogical service and support for the learning process in all kind of ways.
The library has also the responsibility for all publications at the university."

Elisabeth Hansson, Musikhögskolan i Malmö
Yvonne Suopanki-Lakso, Musikhögskolan i Piteå

Library anxiety

2009-04-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,

There are now only two questions left from the conference in Reykjavik. Group no 6 dealt with the following: How do we deal with “library anxiety” – a term often used to describe the feeling of inferiority among library users?

Please, share your experiences with your colleagues!

~Pia~

Progression in information literacy education for music students

2009-03-10T02:12:00.001-07:00

Dear colleagues,

I now post question number 5 from the conference in Reykjavik about Bologna related topics.

Group no. 5

The Bologna agreement talks about progression. How do we apply a progressive approach
to information literacy education for our music students?

Our group started the discussion by defining the term “progression” as “kunskapsutveckling”
(development of knowledge). We had an idea that it might be easier to measure progression
in other subject fields than music.

According to the Bologna agreement progression should take place between the three levels
Bachelor, Master and Doctorate as well as within each level. Johan Söderberg,
Musikhögskolan Piteå, the only person in our group, who had experience of “formalized”
teaching meant that the needs of the students at bachelor and master level do not differ.
Therefore his library offers information literacy education only to the bachelor students. The
education includes an introduction to the library catalogue, the library homepage, evaluation
of sources etc. The teaching has the individual degree projects as the reference point. The
library staff meets the students again at the doctoral level. The teaching now focuses on
specific databases, handling reference tools (for example Endnote), the publication process
etc.

Another approach to information literacy education is a more personal contact, based on the
students individual needs and interests during different stages in their education. Inger-Mari
Malm from Tromsö shared her positive experiences of inspiring the students to use the
library for finding information. She mentioned a few examples:

• Collecting groups of instrumentalists with their teachers and showing them relevant
resources, sometimes with themes such as early music, folk music and old
recordings.

• Collecting students from the rock/pop/jazz department (“rytmisk linje”) with the
resource “American Memory”, available at the web site of Library of Congress, as the
theme.

• Exhibitions, with bibliographies and listed subject terms, on themes like jazz, female
vocalists, bluegrass etc.

Finally we all agreed that the conditions for information literacy education for our music
students vary a lot. One important factor is of course the size of the school. An institution like
the Sibelius Academy with 1.700 students probably needs to work in a more formal manner
than many other smaller schools. We also agreed that different programmes need different
approaches. Our experience tells us that the needs, interests and attitudes of the persons
studying classical music versus rock/jazz are quite different. We have to take this into
consideration.

Pia Shekhter

Student's motivation

2009-02-10T07:33:00.000-08:00

Dear colleagues,

I now post the fourth question from the conference in Reykjavik about Bologna related topics.

How do we motivate the students to consider information literacy as something important?

Group number 4 in Reykjavik answered like this:

"At master level let the student choose their own topics to use in the course in the library.
Tell them to take responsibility on their own learning. In few words, explain that "quick and
easy" is not the way to go for any scholar, show subject headings and thesauruses.
Every encounter with the students is a chance to teach (preach?) information literacy.
Give the music student a chance to control their own process in search strategies and finding
key words. Information literacy as a tool in a life long learning process. Make library catalogues more accessible. The librarian as a information specialist and in Europe at least, not a teacher."

Kirstine Folmann, University of Bergen Library

Any comments?
~Pia~

Registration of scientific publications

2009-01-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

The reason why I have not written for a long time is that I have been busy registering publications from our school in the database "GUP" - Gothenburg University Publications, which is a bibliographic system for the registration of scientific publications authored by researchers at Göteborg University. After some negotiations we are now allowed to include not only articles, books, reviews etc. but also musical compositions and compact discs. This was a big step forward since the administrators of the database needed to reevaluate the meaning of the concept "publication". We are, however, not allowed to include concerts or other types of performances. I am curious to hear about how it works elsewhere and my questions are:

1. Does your school have a similar database?
2. What type of material is included?
3. Who is doing the registration - the librarian or the author?

Pia

Librarian - Teacher collaboration

2009-01-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

Dear colleagues,

It is now high time for the next question discussed at the Nordic Music Academy Libraries Conference in Reykjavik, 16th – 18th June 2008. Unfortunately there was no written summary from group nr 3, which I could include here, but I think all of you have some experience of the subject. Please, share your thoughts!

How do we promote the collaboration between the librarian and the teachers?

Pia

Test

2009-01-19T13:54:00.000-08:00

Dear colleagues,

This is just a test to check if the RSS function of this blog is working.

Pia

Subscribe to the blog - new RSS function

2009-01-07T01:57:00.001-08:00

Dear colleagues,

Best wishes for the new year!

I just wanted to draw your attention to the possibility to subscribe to the blog (RSS) if you would like to be alerted when a new post or comment have been added. Please, find the symbol at the top in the column to the right.

Pia

God Jul och Gott Nytt År!

2008-12-20T06:57:00.001-08:00

Before I pack the car with christmas presents, one husband and one bird and leave for my hometown Västerås, I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a sincere

God Jul
och
Gott Nytt År!

Pia

Invitation to create and edit your own posts!

2008-12-20T06:40:00.000-08:00

I would like to invite you all to participate to this blog by creating and editing your own posts, besides the possibility to comment. It will make the content much more interesting! It is really easy - just send me your e-mail address and I will add you as an author. Shortly thereafter you will receive an e-mail with a confirmation link. You need to have a Google Account - if you don't you will be prompted to create one. That's it!

Pia

Study visists and work exchange

2008-12-20T06:02:00.000-08:00

Me and my colleagues at the Academy of Music and Drama have had the privilege to make some study visits in Scotland, thanks to a grant from the University of Gothenburg. We just came back from the trip, which was full of nice impressions. Before leaving Gothenburg I had read a book about the country and I can confirm the statement that the Scots are very hospital! We received a wonderful reception wherever we came. I would like to take the opportunity to say a special thank you to Karen McAuley at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and Almut Boehme, at the National Library in Edinburgh - both members of the IAML community.

This made me think of an idea Birgitta Sparre, librarian at Ingesund University College of Music, launched at the IAML conference in Oslo 2004 - namely work exchange between music libraries within IAML. I remember that we sent around a list for people to sign, but I am afraid nothing came out of it. Maybe it would be a good idea to use this blog for people to get in contact? I start by posting an open invitation to Gothenburg!

Pia Shekhter
PS: If you are living inside EU the so called Erasmus Staff Training might be something to consider

Artistic vs Scientific

2008-12-20T05:43:00.000-08:00

With kind permission from Ann Malm, librarian at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, I post the summary of the second group in Reykjavik* concerning the question

How can a “scientific” and “artistic” approach be combined? Can, for example, a personal
reflection on a creative process qualify as being “scientific”?

We had a long discussion about artistic exams on different levels. Should they try to copy the
science exams, especially on a higher level (dissertations)? It is very hard to compare such
different methods. In the scientific field it seems to be easier to present a result, compared to
an artistic work. Whether it is equivalent for instance to present a process diary made during
a musician's work, to a written analysis of some laboratory experiment is hard to say. It is a good idea for the students to improve their ability to express themselves, when it comes to a degree
project, but on a doctoral degree - it is much more difficult to say what is needed. We think
this issue was very difficult, and that we perhaps are not able to answer the question.

Ann Malm

* Nordic Music Academy Libraries Conference, 16th – 18th June 2008 (please, see below).

How can a "scientific" and "artistic" approach be combined?

2008-12-12T06:18:00.000-08:00

Dear colleagues,

I think you agree when I claim that there is hardly a day passing without the word "Bologna" mentioned if you are working as a librarian in a music teaching institution! I predict that this will be a hot topic for our branch at IAML conferences years to come. To stimulate a discussion on various aspects of Bologna I would like to post another question and invite you to share your thoughts!

How can a "scientific" and "artistic" approach be combined? Can, for example, a personal reflection on a creative process qualify as being "scientific"?

Pia Shekhter

What does "information literacy" mean in a music environment?

2008-11-15T03:17:00.000-08:00

16 - 18 June, 2008 librarians working in higher music education institutions met in Reykjavik. Our colleagues at Iceland Academy of the Arts, with the library director Lisa Valdimarsdóttir as head of the organizing committee, had prepared a fantastic programme for us. One session was devoted to discussions around the Bologna process. We were divided into groups - each group received one specific question. We had only about half an hour for the group discussion before we met and presented summaries for eachother! I was actually quite impressed that so much came out of this!

With kind permission I post the summary of group one below. Tone Elofsson, head librarian of The Norwegian Academy of Music, made the outline:

Group no. 1

What does “information literacy” mean in a music environment?

First of all teaching information literacy at a higher music education institution is not limited to
text. Both printed music and sound recordings must be included. One of the tasks will be to make the students aware of the importance of different editions of printed music, point out the difference between Urtext editions and later editions and also give access to digitized manuscripts when possible. Showing the need of listening to many recordings of the same composition – get to know about the change of style, different interpretations, versions played on original instruments etc. Today it is also expected that musicians should be able to communicate about the music they perform, and often they even have to write program notes. Here the library could contribute through teaching the students how to search and find suitable texts from printed sources and databases.

Tone Elofsson

2008-11-15T02:48:00.000-08:00

Dear Colleagues,

Sorry for not keeping in touch! The reason is a rather hectic schedule - I'm sure you are all familiar with this!

Some of you attended the second session with LIMTI in Naples. As you might remember I asked you to participate in a discussion during the year about the Bologna process. This was one of the reasons why I created this blog. The idea was that the discussion will be followed up in Amsterdam next year. I announced that I would post several questions as "food for discussion". Here comes number one - I look forward to your response!

1. What does “information literacy” mean in a music environment?

Pia Shekhter

Farewell to ELIA!

2008-11-04T03:47:00.000-08:00

Late Friday afternoon there was a closing plenary with "observers" from outside reflecting on the content of each symposium. I think this was a very good idea, but I was quite tired and had some problems to concentrate. I was not the only one... The plenary session ended with a composition/happening by Staffan Mossenmark, Academy of Music and Drama, Gothenburg, in which we all took part - chewing hard bread, making sounds with balloons etc. The evening ended with a reception offered by the City of Gothenburg and, for people who could still stand up, a continuation "in the tradition of Pecha-Kucha".

Unfortunately I was not able to take part in the conference on Saturday. That meant that I missed the ELIA General Assembly, some so called fringe sessions and the final party.

I found the conference very stimulating and had an idea that it would be interesting to invite speakers from ELIA and AEC to a coming session with Libraries in Music Teaching Institutions. We are, so to speak, in the same boat. What do you think?

~Pia~

Talkin' loud and sayin' something

2008-11-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

During the conference there were five parallell symposia running. I attended the one called "Talkin' loud and sayin' something" about artistic research. The symposium took place in Göteborg Museum of Art and had four photographic exhibitions and video installations as a starting point. Each artist made a presentation of her (all artists were female) work, which was commented by a panel and followed by questions from the audience. The discussion was not about the artistic "end product", but the process leading up to it - could it qualify as "research"? Could the art product be seen as an answer to the research question? Could the theory be visualized? The debate was quite intense. The artists themselves meant that their Ph. D. studies had opened up their minds to explore new methods and approaches while many people in the audience were quite sceptical. There seemed, however, to be a consensus that we need new books in art history and new art critics with this perspective in mind. Everybody also seemed to agree that it was important to make a distinction between "practice based research" and "research based practice"! I must admit that I felt just as confused at the end of the symposium as in the beginning - but maybe on a higher level;-)?

~Pia~

Who is singing and what is the impact?

2008-10-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post from the ELIA conference the programme on Thursday ended with Open Houses at the art schools in Gothenburg. At the Academy of Music and Drama the so called Discipline Sessions were followed by food, drinks and a performance with opera, music, theatre and dance by students.

In addition the participants were offered a "bonus seminar" on Artistic Research Into Singing.

The first speaker/singer was Katarina A. Karlsson, Academy of Music and Drama, Gothenburg, who talked about her research topic - the canzonas by Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620) with female protagonists. Campion composed an unusual amount of canzonas whith a female persona. One of Katarina A. Karlsson's research questions is "How does gender affect the audience's perception of the lyrics and the music of Campions's songs with female personas today?" The songs are quite humoristical and not at all decent! Karlsson started by performing a few of them with a sweet and innocent voice to a blushing audience! She wanted to make the point that the content of these songs requires something else than a nice voice and correct ornaments in the tradition of performance practice of early music. Instead she intends to make the songs come alive by highlighting aspects like folksiness and parody. She has been experimenting with different ways of presentation and has, for example, noticed that the hurdy-gurdy resulted in a completely different way of using the voice.

The second speaker/singer was Hendrik Vanden Abeele, Orpheus Research Centre in Music, Ghent. His doctoral research study "B-Gu Ms 15. What a late fifteenth century antiphoner does with a present-day performer of plainsong". He talked about how practical experience and experimenting with sources aids the understanding of performance practices. For example how the fact that a small group of singers are standing close to each other, singing into each other's ears(!) and sharing one score has an effect on the performance. Something new to me was that a lot of very specific performance instructions are included (with red text) in manuscripts from the time. Hendrik Vanden Abeele is the leader of a group called The psallentes. There are several videos with the group on YouTube, for example singing Caritas pater est.

Quality Assurance an Accreditation in Higher Music Education

2008-10-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

In the afternoon so called Discipline Sessions took place followed by Open Houses at the art schools in Gothenburg:

1. School of Design and Crafts/HDK
2. Valand School of Fine Arts
3. Chalmers University of Technology
4. Academy of Music and Drama/Artisten

I chose to attend the session organised by the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC). The topic for the session was "Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Music Education". First we were given a short presentation of the Association itself and its projects. "AEC is a European cultural and educational network with more than 248 member institutions for professional music training in 55 countries" (from the AEC web site) . It was founded already 1953. Among other things AEC has been focussing on the Bologna process and its implications for its members. Two keywords in the Bologna process is "learning outcomes" and "quality assurance". AEC has established that the accreditation should be made by the music institutions themselves with a so called subject specific approach. Therefore they introduced a new service with reviews by a team of "critical friends". The review results in a report with recommendations for improvements. As a help AEC has put together so called Polifonia/Dublin Descriptors. It was pointed out that it is important that the team is internationally composed to get a varied perspective. It is also important that the context is considerated. Even a very conservative school can be regarded successful if the students meet high standards. So far there has not been any evalutation of artistic research, which will be a special challenge. Since practice based research still is a very young area there is a problem with "peer reviewing".

There are several document which can be downloaded from the AEC website, for example

1. Bologna and Music
2. Accreditation in European Professional Music Training

Pia Shekhter

Keynote Speaker Peter Sellars

2008-10-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

The actual conference programme started this morning with the keynote speaker Peter Sellars, professor of World Arts and Culture at UCLA and one of the world's leading theatre directors. I found his speech absolutely brilliant! He started off by saying "Thank God I am an artist and not a banker", with the recent economical collapse in mind. Sellars predicted a "depression era art" and stressed that students have to be taught to play a useful role in society. In UCLA he is giving the courses "Art as social action" and "Art as moral action" to students from all kinds of disciplines. The audience was captured by Sellars associative presentation, which seemed improvisational but of course was very well staged. For me his firm belief in the importance, even in a practical sense, of culture was truly inspirational.

Opening of the ELIA conference in Gothenburg

2008-10-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening the opening ceremony of the 10th ELIA biennial Conference took place in the Concert Hall. Inaugural addresses were given by representatives from the University of Gothenburg, the City of Gothenburg, the European Commission and ELIA. The speakers emphasized the relationship between arts and the surrounding society, which was not surprising. I was more impressed by the focus on arts and environmental issues. The problem of climate change now seems to be on everybody's mind and I think it is a good idea that we are reminded about it in different contexts.

After the speeches there was a performance made by students from the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg and the University College of Dance in Stockholm. The performance was in the form of a happening with elements of circus included. It was the first time I heard a classical violinist playing Brahms while cycling on a one wheel bike!

Then good food and drink was served and the party continued in a tent completely built up for the conference by beer crates(!) right in the middle of Götaplatsen - Gothenburg's main cultural square. The purpose with the tent is to offer the delegates a place to meet in the evenings - maybe have a drink and exchange ideas and information. There is also a small exhibition with material from different schools. In addition presentations in the tradition of a "Pecha Kucha Night" will be given. Maybe you also come across this expression for the first time? This is a definition I found on Internet:

"Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) has tapped into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown, without having to rent a gallery or chat up a magazine editor. This is a† demand that seems to be global – as Pecha Kucha Night, without any pushing, has spread virally to over 100 cities across the world. Find a location and join the conversation."

The Importance of Artistic Research and its Contribution to "New Knowledge" in a Creative Europe

2008-10-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

As some of you may remember one of the topics for the "LIMTI" session in Göteborg 2006 was "Artistic research". I just noticed that ELIA recently has composed a strategy paper on artistic research, which is now available online, also for downloading.

Pia

ELIA Biennial Conference in Gothenburg

2008-10-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Colleagues,

Today the 10:th ELIA Biennial Conference opened in Artisten, Göteborg (the same venue as the IAML-IAMIC-IMS Conference 2006). There are about 500 delegates from 39 countries. Again the Artisten foyer is full of people speaking foreign languages, which brings back nice memories!

"The European League of Institutes of the Arts, ELIA , founded in 1990, is an independent network of approximately 315 Arts Education Institutes covering all the disciplines of the Arts - Dance, Design, Theatre, Fine Art, Music, Media Arts and Architecture - from 47 countries." (from the web site of ELIA)

I will attend as much as I can during these days and keep you informed on the blog!

Pia Shekhter

Open Access to University Music - the Challenge of YouTube and Ning

2008-10-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

Peter Berry, Faculty librarian at the Malmö faculty of performing arts/Lund university, has written a paper on Open Access in connection with music, which he kindly shares with us:

"Open Access to University Music - the Challenge of YouTube and Ning"

Peter Berry
through Pia Shekhter

"LIMTI"

2008-10-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I should point out that the abbreviation"LIMTI" is not "official". I have taken the liberty to use it on our blog for simplicity.

~Pia~

Programme for LIMTI in Amsterdam 2009

2008-10-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody!

I hope to see many of you at the IAML conference in Amsterdam next year (5 - 10 July 2009)! Maybe you are already interested in the programme for our branch?

Our branch has been invited to have a joint session with Public Libraries Branch by the chair Hanneke Kuiper, which I gladly accepted.

The second session will be "our own" and have the theme "The Music Librarian as a Pedagogical Resource". I am very happy that the following speakers have accepted my invitation:

* Steven K. Gerber; George Mason University USA
"Drive-By, Drop-In Musicology"

* Jane Gottlieb, The Juilliard School, New York USA
“Libraries and the Universe of Information About Music: Keeping Our Books, Preserving our Values.”

* Dorothea Baumann, Secretary General of the International Musicological Society
Bibliography and Internet - Teaching Search and Valuation Strategies".

Kind regards,
Pia Shekhter
PS: I write this with the reservation that the programme may change.

Welcome to our new blog!

2008-10-26T07:57:00.001-07:00

Dear colleagues in Libraries in Music Teaching Institutions - welcome to our new blog!
I have created this blog as a forum for discussions for our branch in between the annual conferences of IAML. I am very much looking forward to meeting you here!

Kind regards,
Pia Shekhter