Muzikale lezing tijdens het festival 'Terug naar het Begin' in de kerk van Holwierde.

Paper presented at the 31st European Seminar in Ethnomusicology ESEM, Limerick (Ireland), 18/9/2015. This paper presents a case study of ‘Belinda’, a Dutch woman in her early sixties who considers herself at the same time as ‘un-musical’ and musically hyper-sensitive. She is neither an ‘outstanding performer’ …

Classical musicians are a unique population. Unlike other musicians, they learn their skills with the use of sheet music, right from the beginning. Investigation of brain response may help us understand how educational methods influence learning in this group of musicians. In this study, we hypothesized …

Seeing improvisation as something that really needs its place in conservatoire training and education may be more or less ‘new’. However improvisation itself is of course not at all new and has existed since as long as we can remember. I would like to talk to you about what improvisation means for musicians, …

This essay is published for the occasion of the inauguration of Evert Bisschop Boele on June 25, 2014 as professor ‘New Audiences’ of the research group Lifelong Learning in Music, Centre of Applied Research and Innovation Art & Society/Prince Claus Conservatoire, Hanze University of Applied Sciences …

Recognition of action, goals and intentions has been shown to be mediated by a multimodal mirror-neuron system, not only in monkeys, but also in humans. A fronto-parietal network of brain areas has been identified where these neurons are located. We should expect musical actions, goals and intentions …

Professoral inauguration speech, 25-06-2014

The capacity to make music and understand it is an evolutionary development not shared by animals. Learning to play an instrument has been shown to involve the development of larger brain volume. A strong correlation has been found between high musical activity and preservation of non-verbal memory, …

Music moves us, literally. We tend to move the body in synchrony with the beat. Individuals without any professional music training are capable of singing or humming along with an unfamiliar melody or indicating the melodic contour by means of hand gestures. Musicians who play by ear are able to do the …

This study focuses on the uses and functions of music in the life of individuals in the province of Groningen at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The study is an ethnomusicological study representing the sub-discipline of ethnomusicology-at-home. It uses Andreas Reckwitz’ formulation of practice …