A Short Biography
I was born in Espoo, Finland, in 1965. I picked up visual arts and music as hobbies in my youth, and decided to continue my education in the latter after upper high school. Coming from the background of rock and jazz (in this order), the most natural choice at that time was apply to music education program. After graduating from the University of Jyvaskyla as a Music Education Major (Master's degree), in 1994, I worked in a public upper high school for a year, then applied a job at the University of Oulu as an assistant in the program of music education. I continued to work there as an assistant and senior assistant for 10 years, and after finishing my PhD, in philosophy of art and music education, moved to Sibelius Academy, of Helsinki, Finland, where I begun as a lecturer in the program of music education in 2005. I have been working in the program as a professor from November 2008.
Most of my work life is at present filled with research-related teaching, such as guiding theses and supervising graduate seminars. I also teach subjects that relate to popular music and jazz, such as "History of Afro-American music" and "Afro-American Ensemble". I try to arrange time for research and scholarly work, as well: in this field, my interests relate to philosophy of arts and music education, and pedagogy of popular music and jazz, as well as to the challenges that more recent digitally produced and mediated musical styles present to this pedagogy. I am also interested in developing my skills and understandings of web-based teaching.
At the writing of this, my personal life focuses very much on family matters. A father of three sons, I try to divide my family life with my few hobby interests. As a musician, I have been active player in rock bands throughout my life (well, from 14, at least), and have occasionally turned my interest in bass playing to a side profession. I also enjoy other types of music, sometimes venturing to the realms of classical music and jazz -- but only for the selected ears! My visual interests are at present mostly satisfied with watching films, rather the obscure and marginal ones than those that represent mainstream cinema.