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It’s in Samarkand, at the Sharq “I think that music is an This is also related to a project that
Taronalari International Music I have in Europe. We have a Nordic
Festival, that we meet this dynamic important way to create peace Network of Music Education, which
music professor from the United includes the eight Nordic and Baltic
States, living and working in Bergen, through respect, encouraging countries, all 15 master’s programs
the Norwegian music capital, and across these eight countries. We have
birthplace of the famous Norwegian peaceful cooperation between exchanges of teachers and students,
composer Edward Grieg. David annual intensive courses in a different
Hebert, despite his young age, has a people everywhere, so, it is country each year, bringing all the
long and impressive curriculum vitae. students and teachers together. We
So now we leave the floor to Professor important to seek mutual are developing online resources now,
Hebert. understanding through called MOOCs, courses that anybody
can enjoy, a sort of video-formatted
Q: You held a presentation on “How music, and especially to class for people of all ages and all
to teach music to foreigners outside backgrounds. The idea is to have the
their country”. How did you first have cooperation between resources for teaching about music
get the idea to start working on this from all over, for instance about music
concept? teacher education and music from Estonia where you learn about
I have experience as a professional all the major performance traditions
musician and a musicologist, and have conservatories.” and instruments, then added to that
lived in many different countries, but you can watch specialised videos
I have also worked in the field of music education. Therefore, about instruments or specific approaches.
I’m very concerned with how we can train school teachers We are trying to do that in northern Europe, linking to the
to be able to teach about music from different parts of the projects in China, representing each region of China.
world. I find that in most parts of the world actually there
is a problem with music being taught in a mono-cultural Q: How do you find time to do all this?
approach. This means that wherever people live, they tend I do not really, I am usually too busy. I do not watch television
to teach music from that country, or where they are from, or and have cut out anything that is not essential in life. Maybe
teach Western European art music; in some cases, popular I work a little too much, but it is fulfilling.
commercial pop music or perhaps some jazz. I think that music is an important way to create peace through
In most places, there is not a lot of representation of music respect, encouraging peaceful cooperation between people
from other continents, for instance from the Southern everywhere, so, it is important to seek mutual understanding
Hemisphere or music from Central Asia. I thought it would through music, and especially to have cooperation between
be useful for the purposes of this conference to give a teacher education and music conservatories. Often, the music
presentation on some effective ways that have been developed conservatories focus very much on training professional
now for teaching music from “far-away” places like Central musicians, and they are not as much connected to society.
Asia, or other continents whose traditions some people do In teacher education, when music is brought into education,
not have so much awareness of nor connections to. as I said, it often does not represent music as a global
phenomenon. I therefore think there is a need for better
Q: You are a music professor. What exactly do you teach? cooperation in these fields, and that is what I’m working on.
My main position is in a music teacher education programme The focus should not be so much on training the next
in Bergen, Norway. Most of my students there are doing a generation of musicians, but the next generation of people
master’s degree in music education, planning to become music who may be in any career, but who would value music. If you
teachers, and I also teach in a doctoral programme. There I want to support music, listening to it and participating in
teach a course in non-western educational philosophy and a it… Maybe a taxi driver, journalist or attorney—whatever the
course in cultural policy. I teach at other universities as well. job—hopefully outside their job, they participate some way
I am a visiting professor at Lund University, at the Malmo in music –in a choir, or playing an instrument. It’s important
Academy of Music, where I work with doctoral students. We to enjoy music and be willing to support music by supporting
have a research programme on traditional music in Vietnam. politicians who are willing to use some money to promote
Then, I do a lot of work in China, with universities there. musical activities, or buying tickets to concerts, and so on.
For instance, in the law school in Beijing, I teach a course
on arts policy. I am working with the China Conservatory in Q: Do you think that, as many people say, classical music
Beijing. We are trying to set up a new doctoral programme and opera are music for the elite, and that there is a gap
on the tropical island Hainan between China and Vietnam, between the elite and the others when it comes to music? If
and then, we are developing online collaborations between yes, what can be done to reduce the gap?
higher education music programmes. Two hundred Chinese I have done interviews with opera directors about this very
universities and music conservatories have agreed to issue. I know one professional opera director in Bergen rather
cooperate online. well, Mary Miller, and I have talked about this subject with

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