Matthew Thibeault

Nearing the end of my wife’s visiting professorship in Japan, I’m delighted to share that our adventures in Asia will continue in Hong Kong. I will start work this summer as Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts at The Education University of Hong Kong.

Here are a few photos that capture the beautiful campus, outstanding colleagues, and the overwhelming scope of Hong Kong. Outside the music building there is a statue of Confucius, a reminder the importance paid to education in China for over two thousand years, and who certainly supported music as central to life:

Confucius is often portrayed in good spirits—singing with friends, playing the lute, laughing and joking. He once told a disciple that he should be described as “so full of joy that he forgets his worries.” On another occasion, Confucius asked his disciples to tell him what their goals would be if they earned the eye of a ruler. One pledged to fix a broken state, another to bring prosperity to the people, and a third to serve in the ancestral temples. Then the disciple Zeng Dian spoke. “Dian, pausing as he was playing on his lute, while it was yet twanging, laid the instrument aside,” the Analects recounts. “‘ My wishes,’” he said, “‘ are different from the cherished purposes of these three gentlemen. In this, the last month of spring, with the dress of the season all complete, along with five or six young men who have assumed the cap, and six or seven boys, I would wash in the Yi [River], enjoy the breeze among the rain altars, and return home singing.’” Confucius then “heaved a sigh and said, ‘I give my approval to Dian.’”

Schuman, M. (2015). Confucius and the world he created. New York, NY: Basic Books. (p. 19)

The drawings and paintings of students are a window into preschool life in Japan. These, from a local art show, are drawn from several schools. Marching band, trips to the ocean and the zoo, farming sweet potatoes or bamboo, collecting beetles, and viewing the local giant buddha statue are all part of life, beautifully depicted.

Sound Recording at the Heart of Pedagogy: Suzuki’s Method in America
Thursday, March 17, 8:30 a.m. (Augusta Room 3)

This historical study examines the mediated pedagogic techniques of the Suzuki Method. I explore the role of mothers as pedagogic and technological innovators, the development of approaches to learning through listening, Suzuki’s notion of  a recording as teacher, and the pedagogic extension of the method through the adoption of the compact cassette tape format. Finally, the resonance between the Method and Japanese educational ideas is contrasted with the American resistance to recordings.

For those curious to think about what it means to connect musical development and instrumental learning to sound recording technologies, those who are interested in sound studies and media, and fans of Suzuki’s “Twinkle Variations”—you are invited! There will be time for discussion and questions.

While in Atlanta I will also be presenting to the Philosophy SRIG Pre-conference, attending the Philosophy SRIG session, and attending sessions for BCRME, for SRIG Chairs, and a social event for the University of Florida. NAfME Atanta Suzuki 2016 look forward to seeing many friends and making new ones.