<Synopsis>

On Friday, February 23, 2018, 13:00–18:00 (Boston time), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Department of History and Seijo University’s Center for Glocal Studies jointly held a workshop, titled “Music and Global Modernity,” on the MIT campus. The workshop consisted of seven presentations and a discussion. Hiromu Nagahara (MIT) acted as coordinator.
Six of the speakers were musicologists from Boston and the seventh was a member of the Center for Glocal Studies. In addition to the above individuals, the gathering was attended by the Chair of the Department of History and around 10 researchers and graduate students from Harvard University and MIT. Although it was a relatively small gathering (around 20 attendees in total), the presentations and discussions were animated, indicating a promising outlook for future workshops.

<Report>

The workshop (timetable shown below) began with a keynote presentation by Mamoru Toya. Focusing on cultural imports, a key concept in the musicology of modern-era Japan, Toya introduced the theme of “The Gathering: The Vestiges of Intercultural Transmission Seen in the Musical Scales in Modern-day Japan.” In this presentation, Toya underscored the importance of examining Japanese music culture through both global and local perspectives.
The second part of the workshop featured three presentations by Japanese musicologists residing in Boston. The third and final part, titled “Locating the ‘West’ Within the Context of Globalized Music,” featured presentations from three local Western musicologists.
The presentations were followed by an animated discussion among the speakers and other attendees. The workshop focused on no single theme, but the emphasis on global, local, and glocal perspectives yielded ideas for discussion.

Music and Global Modernity: An Interdisciplinary Workshop
http://history.mit.edu/news/music-and-global-modernity-interdisciplinary-workshop

Time and Location

February 23, 2018, 1–6pm
MIT, Building E51, Room 275

Schedule

1pm: Part 1, Keynote Presentation by Mamoru Tōya（Seijō University, Center for Glocal Studies）
“Thinking Through 'Westernization' in Japanese Music Culture”

2pm: Part 2, Locating “Japan” within Global Musical Modernity
Marié Abe (Boston University), “TBA”
Miki Kaneda (Boston University), “‘Swallowing and Spitting History’ (Contemporary Japanese Perspectives on Experimental Music and Performance)”
Hiromu Nagahara (MIT), “Going East (and West): Sonobe Saburō’s Musical Journeys across the Postwar World”

3pm-3:30pm: Discussion on Part 1

3:30pm-3:45: Break

3:45pm: Part 3, Locating the “West” within Global Musical Modernity
Melissa Bilal (MIT), “Music, Modernity, and Imperialism: Recordings of Russian Armenian POWs in German Camps, 1916-1918”
Elina Hamilton (The Boston Conservatory Music Division), "Will the West Embrace Japan?: Unexpected Resonances from Boston's International Peace Jubilee (1872)"
Emily Richmond Pollock (MIT), “The Problem of Tradition and the Possibility of Renewal”

4:45pm-5:15pm: Discussion on Part 2

5:15pm-5:45pm: General Discussion