This book provides instruction in both plucking and strumming techniques for 5 and 10-string Finnish kanteles. Explanation of musical notation, rhythm, and other elements of music theory are provided for the novice, yet the exercises are scaffolded to provide motivating material for the more experienced musician. In addition to the instructional materials, a number of traditional Finnish tunes are included as well as many familiar melodies. Plus, over twenty arrangements playable by mixed kantele groupings and detailed appendices of chords and chord transitions make this book a solid foundation for learning to play the kantele. Includes access to online audio.

Presenting information heretofore difficult or impossible to find in English, this work opens a window on the colorful panorama of Finnish music. The 500-plus entries present historical and modern composers, the accomplishments of hundreds of internationally acclaimed performing artists, as well as more general articles on folk music, early manuscripts and publications, cantors and hymnals, early Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Lutheran music, leading orchestras and choral groups, festivals, and much more. No other such extensive and comprehensive work on Finnish music exists in any language other than Finnish and Swedish. This English-language dictionary makes the subject available to readers throughout the world. In addition to the entries, chronologies of Finnish history and Finnish music, as well as a map of Finland, correlate history and locations with the entries. A general bibliography and entry-specific bibliographies offer further resources. The Dictionary interprets a sometimes limited amount of available information, describing forms and styles of compositions, operatic roles performed, the content of scholarly work, and significant and unusual events in the lives of the musicians.

Various modes of women's contemporary cultural, social and political leadership can be found in music. Informed by different histories and culturally bound social mores but also by a comparative perspective, the contributors of this volume ask what can be considered leadership in culture from women's point of view. They deconstruct the notion of leadership as corporative and career-related modes of success by showing how women's agency, power and negotiation in and through music can and should be considered as empowering, transformative and role-modeling. By interweaving several disciplinary perspectives - from ethnomusicology, musicology and cultural management to sociology and anthropology - this volume aims to substantially contribute to the study of women's leadership.

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In the age of digital music it seems striking that so many of us still want to produce music concretely with our bodies, through the movement of our limbs, lungs and fingers, in contact with those materials and objects which are capable of producing sounds. The huge sales figures of musical instruments in the global market, and the amount of time and effort people of all ages invest in mastering the tools of music, make it clear that playing musical instruments is an important phenomenon in human life. By combining the findings made in music psychology and performative ethnomusicology, Marko Aho shows how playing a musical instrument, and the pleasure musicians get from it, emerges from an intimate dialogue between the personally felt body and the sounding instrument. An introduction to the general aspects of the tactile resources of musical instruments, musical style and the musician is followed by an analysis of the learning process of the regional kantele style of the Perho river valley in Finnish Central Ostrobothnia.

Music has long served as an emblem of national identity in educational systems throughout the world. Patriotic songs are commonly considered healthy and essential ingredients of the school curriculum, nurturing the respect, loyalty and 'good citizenship' of students. But to what extent have music educators critically examined the potential benefits and costs of nationalism? Globalization in the contemporary world has revolutionized the nature of international relationships, such that patriotism may merit rethinking as an objective for music education. The fields of 'peace studies' and 'education for international understanding' may better reflect current values shared by the profession, values that often conflict with the nationalistic impulse. This is the first book to introduce an international dialogue on this important theme; nations covered include Germany, the USA, South Africa, Australia, Finland, Taiwan, Singapore and Canada.