Shifting Boundaries, Round Three

At New Music Conference 2022, seven professorships in the fields of music and art embarked on a journey together by initiating Shifting Boundaries – Situating Contemporary Music Practices, a multi-year research that enquires into the rapidly shifting boundaries in contemporary music. An initial exploration of this vast landscape culminated in the publication Shifting Boundaries (November Music, 2023), followed by a second session of discussions at the Conference about key themes as musical co-creation, collaborative processes, and the process of rehearsing.

We are happy to present a third exploration within the Shifting boundaries theme during New Music Conference 2024:

Musical Learning Cultures in the City of Amsterdam: Bridging Diverse Compositional Contexts

This session will explore two initiatives in Amsterdam that reflect the city’s diverse musical learning cultures, each contributing to the rich tapestry of musical education in the metropolis. The first initiative is a music project with youth in Amsterdam Noord, which uses rap as a tool for engagement and cultural expression. The second initiative focuses on composing music specifically designed for multimodal workshops tailored to children with severe mental and physical disabilities, providing inclusive and adaptive music education experiences.

Through these projects, we explore the various places where musical knowledge is transmitted across the city: from neighborhoods and communities to music schools, cultural centers, and the Conservatory. While these environments differ in structure, focus, and accessibility, our aim is to uncover potential exchanges and pathways for reducing the socio-economic divides often perpetuated by traditional music education models. By promoting a holistic understanding of musical learning that transcends dichotomies such as formal/informal, process/product, and individual/social, this session encourages a broader and more inclusive vision of music education.

Iris van Doggenaar (music educator, NL)
Iris van Doggenaar is a music educator who works with different audiences within the special education field. She completed her Bachelor’s in Music Education and her Master’s in Musical Leadership at the Conservatorium of Amsterdam. In her work, Iris is involved in teaching children with special needs, developing specialized music teaching materials for platforms like 123Zing, and providing training for educators working in this field. She combines her background as a pianist with a practical, hands-on approach to music education, focusing on inclusion and tailored learning experiences. Additionally, Iris teaches at the Conservatorium of Amsterdam, contributing to the education of future music teachers.

Jonathan Szegedi (artist, NL)
Jonathan Szegedi is a dynamic cultural professional based in the Netherlands. A drummer by trade, he channels his expertise into fostering sustainable and equitable mechanisms of value creation in the cultural NGO and higher arts education sector. With a dedicated balance between research and practice, he draws from his extensive background in jazz and classical contemporary performing arts. Jonathan regularly performs throughout Europe, works as teacher and researcher at higher music education institutions and does fundraising and project management for cultural institutions. His work is driven by a deep fascination with modes of interspecies coexistence, posthumanist thought and non-anthropocentric processes of creation.

Moderator: Carolien Hermans (Associate Professor of ‘Musical Learning Cultures’, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, NL)
Carolien Hermans is a researcher, educator, and artist with a background in pedagogy and choreography. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Bachelor’s program ODM (Music Teachers Department) and the Master’s program Musical Leadership at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. In March 2024, she is appointed as Associate Professor of ‘Musical Learning Cultures’ at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, wherein she endeavors to bridge the gaps between diverse music learning environments in the metropolis Amsterdam, fostering a more equitable approach to music. She holds a PhD from the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA), where she conducted artistic research on enactivism/embodied cognition, dance improvisation, and physical play.