FOBISIA 2024 Recap
Last week I had the honor of attending the FOBISIA 2024 Conference at the Denla British School in Bangkok, Thailand on behalf of MusicFirst. I also had the pleasure of presenting one of the Keynote Addresses to the delegates there. It was an incredible event and it was so wonderful to spend time with such a wonderful group of music educators who have dedicated their lives to teaching in Southeast Asia. Yes it was an incredibly long journey, but it was 100% worth it. One of the added bonuses of the trip was that I got to spend some quality time with my dear friend and colleague, Marcel Pusey - who runs OGenPlus and Cool4School. He is a gifted musician and presenter.
One of the highlights of the conference was right at the start. A HUGE group of students opened the conference with a song that Marcel wrote. They did a great job with it, and they were so cute! I also got to spend time with my good friends from MusicEDNet - our retail partners in Australia and New Zealand - always great to catch up with them. Another highlight for me on a personal note was that I presented my Keynote on my birthday. It’s not easy spending a birthday so far away from my family, but the delegates sang me Happy Birthday - which was very special.
My Keynote Address centered around AI and it’s impact on music education. I think that the delegates really enjoyed it based on the feedback I received immediately afterwards, One of the best part of the talk is when I ask for prompts from the audience to help compose a song in Suno or Udio. The delegates suggested that I write the song about a leaking air conditioner dripping water there in the auditorium and a unicorn. Here is what Suno came up with. Everyone had a VERY good laugh on hearing it.
Finally, this was the first time I had been to Thailand. While I didn’t have very much time to explore the city of Bangkok, Jonathan Ang (who organized the conference brilliantly) welcomed us all with two spectacular social events - a Gala Dinner and a River Boat Cruise in Bangkok. On Saturday I had the chance to do a little sight seeing as well. Bangkok is a fascinating place - filled with chaos, hustlers, friendly people, incredible sites and smells, Tuk Tuks and shrines. Hopefully I will return one day with my wife to explore some more. Here are a few photos that I took throughout the event.
I look forward to returning to FOBISIA next year in Vietnam. It is an amazing organization that runs a wonderful event for music educators. Until next time!