Very pleased to arrive in Bologna, Italy for the International Society of Music Education (ISME) World Conference. Will be here for the week, presenting and listening to papers and concerts from around the world. Sunday 20 July, Day 1 was a bit of a blur, recovering from jet-lag (around 27 hrs travel time from Australia), but meeting up with lots of friends and whirling around the beautiful city, its fantastic food (Italian slow cooking), wine and architecture.
We eventually made our way up to the Bologna University (the oldest in the world, pre 1500) and the Conservatorium (200 years old) for conference registration - some 1200 delegates here!
Day 2 was a little more sane and we attended some of the opening sessions (including a great paper by Prof Michael Hannan, SCU on music PhDs in Australia). The ISME opening ceremony was held in Bologna’s beautiful Teatro Manzoni theatre - about the same size as the Qld Conservatorium’s main theatre - with just sensational acoustics.
Perhaps way too many speeches and not enough music, but still very eloquent words throughout and wonderful thoughts about the meaning of music across the world, in so many cultures, in so many settings - united as a vehicle for peace, intellectual and spiritual development.
Again, I can’t get over just how many people are here for this conference - such a powerful representation of music-making and education, from early childhood to university, from Africa, to Brazil, to Australia to Norway.
And some very good corporate sponsorship, for example, the Gibson Foundation have being doing great work with ISME, here presenting them with a check for US$50,000,
And of course, a couple of Gibson Les Pauls as prizes for two of the leading Italian music educators here:
So for now, catching up with old friends and making lots of new ones - and likely far too much drinking, eating. We ended up in the wee hours drinking and making lots of noise around the piano in a little restaurant somewhere: Frank Millward and Heather Keeens (UK), Don Lebler (QCGU) and Michael Hannan (SCU):
And so, now about time we got to work(!). Looking forward to more from Bologna . .
Day 2 was a little more sane and we attended some of the opening sessions (including a great paper by Prof Michael Hannan, SCU on music PhDs in Australia). The ISME opening ceremony was held in Bologna’s beautiful Teatro Manzoni theatre - about the same size as the Qld Conservatorium’s main theatre - with just sensational acoustics.
Perhaps way too many speeches and not enough music, but still very eloquent words throughout and wonderful thoughts about the meaning of music across the world, in so many cultures, in so many settings - united as a vehicle for peace, intellectual and spiritual development.
Again, I can’t get over just how many people are here for this conference - such a powerful representation of music-making and education, from early childhood to university, from Africa, to Brazil, to Australia to Norway.
And some very good corporate sponsorship, for example, the Gibson Foundation have being doing great work with ISME, here presenting them with a check for US$50,000,
And of course, a couple of Gibson Les Pauls as prizes for two of the leading Italian music educators here:
So for now, catching up with old friends and making lots of new ones - and likely far too much drinking, eating. We ended up in the wee hours drinking and making lots of noise around the piano in a little restaurant somewhere: Frank Millward and Heather Keeens (UK), Don Lebler (QCGU) and Michael Hannan (SCU):
And so, now about time we got to work(!). Looking forward to more from Bologna . .
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