The Third International Hisarlı Ahmet Symposium on Music Perception

Scientists have been studying the relationship between music and the brain for nearly twenty years.  Although this process can actually be said to have begun much earlier, from a systematic and interdisciplinary standpoint, it is still in an early stage.  Efforts to answer questions concerning elements of music appreciation, music psychology and the sources of musical pleasure have brought together scholars from multiple disciplines.  The reason for the intensity of work in this area is simple:  the place of music in human life.  Matejko said “music is my greatest weapon”; Attali is quoted as saying “music is ubiquitous in human life”. Individuals perceive music in different ways and have different musical tastes and perspectives toward the art form.  Factors accompanying changes in society result in even more changes in the perception of music.  The widening of social class differences in 19th century Europe brought new dimensions to music making, audience appreciation and music education.  In place of the five hour-long concerts of the previous century, today we are presented with briefer and more entertainment-oriented concerts designed for the accelerated audiences of industrialized societies.  The same is true of music education, which now must be geared not toward the aristocracy, but toward the children of those audiences just mentioned.  It is a reality that many things have changed in the last century.  Anything done in the realm of music--whether sectoral, mainstream or in the field of professional music education--without taking social and demographic structures into consideration is done in vain. 
The goal of this symposium, which was organized on a national level for the first two years but will henceforth take place on an international basis, is to take last year’s theme, “Acculturation and Enculturation in a Changing Society” to a new level.  Just where have developing society and technology brought the practices of music listening, music making and music education…and what lies ahead?

Submissions are expected on such subjects as:
Changes and Reflections in Music
Multiculturalism in Music
New Dynamics in Music

An Interdisciplinary Music Platform:  Pedagogical Approaches, Theories and Practices
Professional Instrumental Education in the Changing Century