Davide Rizzitelli and Atilla Bayraktar founded the band "Vals" in the summer of 2018 to experiment with new musical production methods. They work with old tapes instead of computer sequencers, with cassettes and tape loops instead of samplers and also incorporate visual aspects. The city is awarding a work grant in recognition of "the forward-looking and sustainable potential of this combination of nostalgic and futuristic elements".

Charles Uzor has been working on his third opera project for some time now, focusing on Leopold II, King of Belgium and owner of the private colony of Congo. According to the city, the project is "anchored in the present in its reappraisal of colonialism and the images of perpetrators and victims" and has the potential to captivate the audience through ambivalence, suspense and credible motifs.

In addition, the city will provide grants to Tine Edel (fine arts), GAFFA (Dario Forlin, Wanja Harb, Linus Lutz, Lucian Kunz) (applied arts), Priska Rita Oeler (fine arts) and Juliette Uzor (dance)

"Repertoire is a question of life." Eric Ericson, the Swedish choral legend, lived out this ever-applicable credo like no other and convincingly passed it on to his students (including the author of this text). In their search for exciting repertoire, choral conductors will find real treasure troves in the new collections presented here, with music from Luxembourg and France, as well as oratorio works by J. S. Bach.

The sacred vocal works of the Luxembourg composer Laurent Menager (1835-1902), who is relatively unknown in our part of the world, have been published in an exemplary edition by Verlag Merseburger as volume 3 of the large-scale Critical Complete Edition within the research project "Musique luxembourgeoise" at the University of Luxembourg.

Menager studied with Chopin and Mendelssohn's friend Ferdinand Hiller in Cologne in the mid-19th century. His church music is in the tradition of the German late Romantics and is characterized by a simple treatment of the text and a preference for homophonic-syllabic writing. The volume contains many beautiful-sounding, short and easy-to-perform German and Latin a cappella works (some also with organ accompaniment), which are ideal for the Catholic liturgy as hymns, Marian hymns and Tantum-ergo compositions.

In French choral musicpublished by Carus-Verlag, not only directors of Catholic choirs will find a stylistically wide-ranging sacred repertoire with some well-known works, but above all many worthwhile new discoveries and first editions. The works in Latin and French, many also with organ accompaniment, are for the most part not particularly difficult, mainly for four voices with additional small part divisions and can be used in both interdenominational and concert settings. The editor Denis Rouger, professor of choral conducting in Stuttgart, was able to draw on his many years of experience as conductor at the Parisian churches of Notre-Dame and La Madeleine for this loving compilation and complements the edition with a CD of selected works, beautifully sung by his chamber choir figure humaine.

In recent years, Breitkopf & Härtel's Urtext editions have provided an excellent treasure trove of oratorio repertoire: be it the new editions of "blockbusters" such as Handel's Messiah (highly recommended critical edition with many new perspectives, score PB 5560) or Mozart's Mass in C minor (sensitive reconstruction by Clemens Kemme, PB 5562), but also newly discovered works around Bach that would deserve more frequent performances.

Particularly noteworthy are the new publications by the Bohemian Baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka, who was highly esteemed by J. S. Bach. Both his Miserere C minor (ZWV 57, PB 5594), as well as his Missa votiva (ZWV 18, PB 5577) are masterpieces of his church music for the Dresden Hofkirche. They make do with an inexpensive orchestration (two oboes, strings and basso continuo) and yet are rich in form and color.

The works of Johann Kuhnau, Bach's direct predecessor at Leipzig's Thomaskirche, offer a truly rewarding rediscovery. His newly published Magnificat with Christmas interludes is a real enrichment for festive Christmas concerts with soloists, choir and orchestra (EB 32108).

Between Bach's Passions, their rediscovery and Carl Loewe's The atonement of the new covenant is the one-hour Passion oratorio, which is not too difficult to perform Gethsemane and Golgotha The textually vivid and palatable setting is reminiscent of Mendelssohn with its opulent choirs, contains only a few arias and involves the congregation with Passion chorales. An interesting enrichment for Passion concerts, but also ideally suited as Good Friday music in church services.

Laurent Menager: Sacred vocal works for mixed choir SATB, male choir TTBB, solo voices and duo, (=Critical Complete Edition Volume 3), edited by Alain Nitschké and Damien Sagrillo, score, EM 2600, € 140.00, Merseburger, Kassel 2018

French choral music, 45 sacred choruses and motets from the 15th-21st century, edited by Denis Rouger, choral director's volume with CD, CV 2.311, € 27.90, Carus, Stuttgart 2018

Johann Kuhnau: Magnificat in C major with interludes for performance at Christmas time, edited by David Erler , score, PB 32108, € 54.00, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2018

When you first leaf through the 1.2 kg book, you enjoy the illustrations and quickly gain an astonishing insight into Constanze's rich life with the dates from p. 601 and the final chapter on the interpretation of Constanze as a person. The book then reads like an exciting novel, artistically structured like an opera in overture, interlude and four acts with many cross-references thanks to the numbered chapters - but it is a scholarly work! Countless contemporary witnesses authentically document all events, family, cultural and political circumstances from her ancestors through her youth, her 10 years with Mozart, 29 years with Nissen and 16 years as a double widow until her death at the age of 80: How Mozart meets the Weber family in Mannheim, how the lovers have to defend themselves against their father Leopold, the great collaboration and exciting travels with Mozart despite many pregnancies and illnesses, her singing and pianistic abilities, Mozart's dramatic death with the untraceable grave and the Requiem, her famous salons, her struggle for the publication of Mozart's works, the care of her two sons Carl and Franz Xaver Wolfgang, her endlessly diligent marriage with Nissen in Copenhagen, Vienna and Salzburg, her care for her sisters and her sister-in-law Nannerl, and finally the last struggle that led to the founding of the Mozarteum in Salzburg. All the sources that the author collected throughout Europe are evaluated by her according to their credibility. It is not just a biography of Constanze, but covers the whole of Mozart's life. The book is a vindication of the long misunderstood woman.

Viveca Servatius: Constanze Mozart. A biography, translated from the Swedish by Krister Hanne, 653 p., ill., 80 p. Notes, 28 pp. Sources and literature, 14 p. Index of persons, € 50.00, Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2018, ISBN 978-3-205-20596-8

Wherever you open the book, a surprise is always possible, especially if you are rather biased towards "great classical music". The multicultural music listener, author and presenter Roger Willemsen succeeds time and again in eloquently "foisting" his "declarations of love for music" on the reader without expert frippery, so that one becomes (rightly) all the more aware of the decades of one-sidedness. In five chapters, moods, portraits, comparisons of "classical music and jazz" as well as world music and the incidental are offered, with different focuses, but mostly in a combination of sparingly applied historical knowledge and personal musical experience. His fixed points are John Coltrane, who "perhaps covered the musical universe more extensively than anyone before or after him", and jazz in all its facets. However, he is not primarily concerned with describing the music, but with "exploring the feelings" when listening to music; and here he has a wondrously rich vocabulary at his disposal. But all, even the most differentiated explorations are nothing without the corresponding sound; as if the menu were described to you in flowery terms, but you were not given any of it to eat. After reading Willemsen's comments, you can immediately check whether they apply to you: Almost all the titles mentioned can be listened to on YouTube - (still) for free, by the way.

The greatest discoveries are possible. In the 50 classical and jazz combinations, Willemsen juxtaposes pieces that reveal interesting similarities when exploring the emotions: Lennie Tristano's staccato playing after Muzio Clementi's G major Allegro, for example, or the adventurously nimble trumpet in Cherokee by Arturo Sandoval, after Niccolo Paganini's Moto perpetuo listened to. The Nocturne with the Teddy Charles Quintet compared to the third of Anton Webern's five orchestral pieces. It may be that some comparisons meet with incomprehension or that repetitions are noticeable, that one does not want to "prepare for an attack on the sentimental center", that some emotionally conditioned judgments seem a little too casual or that "mockery as a greeting" for Rex Gildo is superfluous. But the information about the "largely forgotten" pianist Jutta Hipp comes just in time for the current discussion about the revision of copyright law: shortly before her death, someone noticed that she was entitled to 40,000 dollars in royalties for records that had been sold after the end of her career. Do today's distribution media also have such a long-term memory?

Finally, however, an oddity: Jacques Loussier, who was of no small importance to our generation in terms of "broadening our horizons", is not mentioned. At the beginning of the 1970s, it was still noted on the "Loussier, Jacques - Play Bach" index card in the Bern radio studio that these records could only be used in the program "after consultation with the head of the music department". Clearly, when Willemsen (born in 1955) came within earshot of Loussier playing Bach, it was no longer a sensation.

Roger Willemsen: Music! About an attitude to life, 512 p., € 24.00; S. Fischer, Frankfurt 2018, ISBN 978-3-10-397383-9

Two years ago, Michael Behrendt devoted his book I Don't Like Mondays. The 66 biggest song misunderstandings incorrectly interpreted song content. The German music journalist used this above all to describe the songs and their genesis. His new work follows the same pattern Provocation! Songs that (have) caused a stir. On 296 pages, Behrendt presents a total of 70 songs that caused a sensation and uproar when they were published. According to the author, the "deliberately incomplete and subjective" selection begins with Claire Waldoff's Herrmann heesst er When the public suddenly thought they recognized a sideswipe at Herrmann Göring in the frivolously cheeky piece, this led to the end of the Berlin artist's career. In terms of content, Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit (1939), in which the US jazz singer tells of the strange fruit that hangs from trees in the southern states. A blunt allusion to more than 4,700 recorded lynchings of black people between 1882 and 1968, Holiday was chased out of the city when she tried to perform the piece at a concert in Mobile, Alabama.

In his publication, Behrendt mainly touches on well-known stories that seem harmless today, which he does not present in any great depth: There is Dylan, who experiences resistance when he switches from acoustic guitar to electric, and there is also The Who, who in 1965 on their single My Generation proclaim that it is better to die young. Last but not least, the book is also dedicated to gangsta rap, which sometimes tends not only to glorify violence, but also to anti-Semitic or homophobic tendencies, which the author condemns in the strongest possible terms. Behrendt's main insight, that the boundaries of what is acceptable are constantly shifting, is undoubtedly true, but is anything but new. Conclusion: Reading Provocation! Songs that (have) caused a stir proves to be entertaining, but it is not a must.

Michael Behrendt: "Provocation! Songs, die für Zündstoff sorg(t)en", 296 p. € 20.00 wgb Theiss, Darmstadt 2019, ISBN 978-3-8062-3922-5

She bears a famous name that has a special ring to it, and not just in Austria: Johanna Doderer is the grandniece of Heimito von Doderer, the author of the novel The Strudelhofstiege and other literary masterpieces. She can also look back on a remarkable oeuvre. Born in Bregenz in 1969, the composer has written numerous works ranging from chamber music and symphonic pieces to grand opera. There is no lack of recognition and resonance. Johanna Doderer has already received important prizes and awards. And to mark the centenary of the Republic of Austria in 2018, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra even played parts of her second symphony at the State Opera.

However, one of her most recent works leaves one somewhat perplexed. Everything flows for solo piano (DWV 109) was commissioned by the International Beethoven Piano Competition and was premiered at the opening ceremony. According to Doderer, the title is intended to reflect the intertwining of the musical themes. It is difficult to say whether impulses from Beethoven's music were also incorporated. There are a few pathetic moments, but in general small-scale accompaniment figures dominate, repeated in the style of minimal music. They occasionally intensify into more emotional climaxes, but mostly the music takes over. This is despite the fact that a rhythmic flow almost always prevails.

The pianistic texture is inconsistent: skillfully placed virtuoso cascades are contrasted with banal passages that come across as strangely awkward. (Bar 173, for example, can only be played reasonably well by people with long arms). On the last page there is a note that could have been written by Beethoven: "... with the most heartfelt feeling". Curiously, there is also an outburst in triple forte. Is there irony involved?

The piece ends - like Beethoven's piano sonata with the same work number - in pure E major ... and leaves all questions unanswered.

Johanna Doderer: Alles fliesst (Everything flows) DWV 109, for piano solo, D. 01 699, € 14.95, Doblinger, Vienna 2018

There is no doubt that the French trumpet school, with its driving force Maurice André, has influenced many generations of trumpeters like no other. Even in my youth, the grand seigneur de la trompette was omnipresent: he dominated the classical trumpet world almost single-handedly, just as Miles Davis shaped jazz.

It is therefore not surprising that Jean-François Dion felt the time was ripe to dedicate a tribute to the exponents of this French trumpet school. In 15 smaller individual pieces, he paints a musical picture of the dedicatees (from Roger Delmotte to Bernard Soustrot and Antoine Curé). And anyone who knows the masters well can hardly help but smile as they play through these sometimes somewhat etude-like gems. The baroque quotations in Maurice André on the one hand, the aleatory elements and damper changes for Antoine Curé on the other hand, are probably a bit bold - the beginning of Guy Touvron on the other hand, is subtly reminiscent of the rattling of the mill in front of his house - a nice proof of the composer's familiarity with his colleagues. It is also nice that each maître is briefly introduced in the appendix with a photo and biography - but it is a pity that greats such as Pierre Thibaud or Eric Aubier are missing, who would have deserved no less adulation.

Jean-François Dion : La trompette française - 15 portraits musicaux, for trumpet solo, TP 348, Fr. 20.00, Editions Bim, Vuarmarens

In October 2017, Zurich cellist Daniel Pezzotti, an extraordinarily versatile musical personality, passed away all too soon after a serious illness: after graduating with distinction from the Zurich Conservatory with Claude Starck, he became a member of the Zurich Opera Orchestra (now the Philharmonia Zurich) in 1986, played in numerous chamber music formations and ensembles and also developed a wide-ranging solo career. His repertoire encompassed the entire cello literature from baroque to contemporary music. Known as an enthusiastic jazz performer, as a lecturer in jazz cello at the Zurich University of the Arts he has inspired numerous music students in this field.

The New York-based Swiss jazz saxophonist and composer Daniel Schnyder often worked with Daniel Pezzotti and composed a sensitive piece for cello (viola) and piano to mark his death. Schnyder writes in the preface to the edition: "The music refers to the first verse of the cantata Come sweet death by J. S. Bach. Ad aeternam reflects the song of life, which is constantly changing and which suddenly, contrary to all expectations, takes a different path than we think."

The recording of the world premiere of ad aeternam at London's Wigmore Hall with Christoph Croisé, cello, and Alexander Panfilov, piano, is available on Youtube:

Daniel Schnyder: ad aeternam - In memoriam Daniel Pezzotti, for violoncello (viola) and piano, GM-1939, Fr. 16.80, Edition Kunzelmann, Adliswil 

In 2016, Denis Herlin published a new edition of the four books by François Couperin's Pièces de Clavecin started. Now the Second livre (1717), which he published on the basis of the latest source finds and research results and with the same care as the first book (see my review in the SMZ 6/2017, p. 19) has edited. The volume also rightly contains the Huit Préludes and the single Allemande from Couperin's textbook L'Art de toucher le Clavecin (1716/1717), as, beyond the chronological proximity of the two prints, there are some cross-references between them.

Here too, the manuscript tradition, the many reprints and new editions as well as the contemporary arrangements have been fully taken into account. The Preface and Critical Report provide information not only on all available sources and passages worthy of discussion, but also on the history of composition, some work titles, suitable instruments and practical performance problems. In addition, the editor has followed the page layout of the original print, which helps to avoid (impractical) turning points as far as possible, but in the smaller format of the new edition occasionally leads to a score in which everything appears to be reproduced in small print. Anyone who is willing to put their eyes through this is strongly encouraged to buy this edition; those who are not should at least look at it for the English and French texts (Critical Commentary only in English).

François Couperin: Pièces de Clavecin. Second livre (1717) with 8 Préludes and 1 Allemande from "L'Art de toucher le Clavecin" (1716/1717), edited by Denis Herlin, BA 10845, € 46.95, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2018

Théodore Gouvy (1819-1898), born in Goffontaine near Saarbrücken, on the border between Prussia and France, was active as a composer and conductor in both countries. He was particularly recognized in Germany for his symphonic works and in France for his chamber music.

The Sérénade vénitienne for viola and piano, dedicated to the Belgian violinist Louis van Waefelghem in 1875, is a pleasant but rhythmically demanding four-minute piece in E minor, ending in a radiant and gently exhaling E major. The viola sighs over harmonically richly changing semiquaver waves in the piano. It sings in large arcs, which are carefully differentiated dynamically and agogically, with trailing or upbeat thirty-second notes. The tonal range remains in the lower three strings and is best presented in the half to third register.

The Ponticello Edition - founded in 2009 and specializing in string and especially cello literature - deserves great praise for making this forgotten pearl accessible.

(Louis) Théodore Gouvy: Sérénade vénitienne for viola and piano, edited by Wolfgang Birtel, PON 1034, € 10.95, Ponticello Edition, Mainz 2018

When one speaks of a horn trio, one immediately thinks of the famous Opus 40 by Johannes Brahms, which inspired György Ligeti in the eighties of the last century to write his groundbreaking trio Hommage à Brahms to compose. Composers of "moderate modernism" also repeatedly attempted to follow in Brahms' footsteps. These included Charles Koechlin with his dreamy preciousness Quatre petites Pièces op. 32 by the English composer Lennox Berkeley and the Australian Don Banks, who contributed something enriching to this genre.

Edition Bim, the commendably active publisher of brass music in western Switzerland, has published a trio for violin, horn and piano by the American Richard Lane (1933-2004), who wrote a whole series of works for orchestra, wind orchestra and solo pieces for wind instruments. The eleven-minute trio appeals with its lively interplay between the three instruments and free, lyrical sections in the Adagio of the second movement.

The Englishman John Frith brings his love of the Brahms trio to his new work for the same instrumentation. Still a practicing horn player, he knows the tonal advantages of his instrument, which he places here in the best-sounding register to the other instruments.

Richard Lane: Trio, for violin, horn and piano, score and parts MCX75, Fr. 25.00, Editions Bim, Vuarmarens

John Frith: Horn Trio, for violin, horn and piano, E717, £ 17.95, June Emerson Wind Music, Ampleforth

The singer begins with a rapidly rising and falling gesture, the clarinet imitates her, and so it goes on, alternating. Within a short space of time, the gesture changes, the voices intertwine, rub against each other and continue to rise until they get stuck on the highest note. Short, quiet repetitions follow and finally a simple Slovakian folk song, a howling song. To be heard in the Meadow Song by Iris Szeghy. The Slovakian composer, who has lived and worked in Zurich since 2001, knows how to take such simple material - imitation is actually the oldest musical craft - and develop a coherent form in a small space. Based on such experiences, I once called her a master of the small form many years ago, which she did not allow to go unchallenged: she could also create large sequences. So be it. As far as epically expansive works are concerned, you won't find them here on this CD, which she recorded with the Slovakian trio Sen Tegmento. The soprano Nao Higano, the clarinettist Martin Adámek and the pianist Zuzana Biščáková give an incredibly beautiful performance. Only the German pronunciation sometimes seems a little bumpy.

The way Szeghy condenses the music and formulates it succinctly, without any pressure to innovate, based on familiar material, is beautifully demonstrated here. Sometimes she begins with simple, almost banal sounds and then takes them to extremes, into theatrically exalted gestures. For example, the piano piece develops from a dull pounding Perpetuum mobile to garish cascades. In Folclorico a slow clarinet cantilena is contrasted by orientalisms in the piano, which again explode in violent outbursts. This has its pitfalls, as it threatens to disavow what was laid down at the beginning, for example when one of the "Hesse Splinters" (based on fragments by Hermann Hesse) sarcastically distorts into a loud laugh where immortality is concerned. Not all of the pieces escape the placativity. This is the danger of not only suggestive, but also over-explicit representation.

Particularly haunting is the setting of Paul Celan's Psalm for voice alone. Between whispering, whispering, speaking and dark singing, the poem, which is so moving and unladen, unfolds, blossoms for a moment, like the central "Niemandsrose" - and then sinks again. The Invocation of the Great Bear Ingeborg Bachmann's concludes the CD: In the dead silence, the music flutters out lightly and seriously.
 

Ingo Laufs - You really can't complain that the term "digitization" is rarely used in everyday language. What possible applications, what developments and what advantages are conceivable for studying at a university of music through digitalization? The Kalaidos University of Music explored this question by putting the entire complex of music theory to the digital test, so to speak.

In the course of a long working phase, a system was developed for the individual areas of music theory (composition, ear training, aural analysis and stylistics, form theory and analysis, acoustics, instrumentology and music history (with adaptations in the jazz/pop area)) that combines several types of teaching. Each of the areas mentioned consists of teaching units with different weightings and different ECTS credits, and each teaching unit consists of a complex of individual lessons, group lessons, lessons with lecturers and lessons without lecturers as well as a relatively high proportion of self-study.

The teaching material is available to the participants for a certain period of time via the in-house communication portal; this means that students can access it again and again and use it as support. The majority of this situation will be taught online, and examinations will also be possible in this way. Students will therefore soon be able to receive their theory lessons and write their exams in the comfort of their own living room or study - which is by no means synonymous with a lack of control. Monitoring means tracking learning progress, ensuring progress in mastering the subject matter, i.e. support that goes beyond differentiating between "correct" and "possible" or even "incorrect" solutions. The latter can be easily solved technically by making the possible solutions visible to the learner. On the other hand, annotated feedback is necessary; it must be possible to understand right and wrong within an aesthetic frame of reference. Together with some of its cooperation partners, the Kalaidos University of Music will be testing this version, which has so far only been tested with individual, voluntary students, from April.

Another possible use of digital media that could certainly be discussed would be the recognition of video recordings or links to YouTube recordings as an admission test in the artistic field. There are certainly many advantages to being physically present, the live sound, the personality. All of this is more perceptible when you are sitting opposite each other. But in the age of digitalization and globalization, isn't it also permissible not only to think about how these developments can be used for studying at a conservatory, but also to apply them, even if only on a trial basis? If you don't try, you can't refuse. And so the Kalaidos University of Music, which has long accepted entrance examinations via YouTube when they are submitted by students from distant countries, has decided to accept this form of application and participation in its scholarship competition as well.

The opportunities of digitalization for a music university are therefore clear. On the one hand, digitalization makes it possible to prepare the teaching content in a clear way: On the one hand, images, sound and analysis can be brought together and the aspects to be taught/learned can be focused and pointedly prepared using the examples. On the other hand, this content can remain permanently accessible beyond the duration of a traditional lesson. This extends the learning time. Blended learning can therefore lead to a more in-depth form of learning.

Of course, the risks must also be considered. These consist of presenting teaching content in a way that is too distant from people and is almost exclusively reduced to what is technically feasible. The risk lies in wanting to make the human being - and therefore the teacher - superfluous. This will not succeed. The subject matter is too complex, and the teacher is a point of reference whose function should not be underestimated. Teaching is given a "face". Often - especially with creative tasks - problems arise that go beyond the "realization of sounds". This is where personal contact and support are essential.

Of course, students must also have the appropriate technical requirements. This depends on the format of the digital media. For example, there are programs available for purchase in the field of ear training (Earmaster), for which group licenses are issued to the universities. A computer with headphones is required for this, and a microphone is also necessary for the topic of "sight-singing". For most cases, however, the basic equipment should suffice, i.e: Internet access, computer with audio and video function, email access, because teaching must succeed with those possibilities that students usually have at their disposal without having to go to great expense. For their part, universities need teaching and learning platforms that allow students to access the content.

Ingo Laufs

... is head of department and lecturer for composition, analysis, theory of form, arrangement and composition at the Kalaidos University of Music.

Elke Hofmann - The innovative use of digital technologies in teaching has become an attractive feature of a university. The realization of the old dream of making teaching more flexible in terms of time and location is a blessing wherever knowledge needs to be imparted to as many people as possible in an individualized way. At the same time, it poses immense challenges, both for decision-makers when it comes to investing in rapidly outdated technologies and for teachers, who have to continually adapt their media and teaching skills to the requirements of the younger generation of students.

The digital transformation poses different questions and challenges for the traditional, highly individualized forms of teaching in professional music education than for typical university knowledge transfer.

Even with the help of the latest digital technologies, physical presence, which is essential for conveying the artistic and technical essence of mastering an instrument or voice or the creative process of improvisation or composition, cannot yet be transferred in a satisfactory form. The tempting flexibility in terms of time and location does not (yet) appear to be achievable, particularly in the core business of a music academy, i.e. individual artistic tuition and accompanying small group lessons. So far, the attraction of the main subject teacher, together with the attractiveness of the campus with regard to further practical experience in the chosen main subject or its specialization, has remained decisive for the choice of study location.

Looking back on the developments of the last two decades, it seems only a matter of time before this paradigm will also change; existing technologies are being intensively researched throughout Europe and are already generating a new culture of musical interaction.

Digital media have long been part of everyday life at the FHNW Academy of Music/Basel Academy of Music: students and teachers play from digitally represented sheet music on tablets, use online library catalogs and academic research portals and make their own musical and/or academic work visible and audible on websites or social media using digital video and audio recordings or live streaming.

Within traditional forms of teaching, teachers are developing digital tools for teaching special content (e.g. intonation/voice systems) and testing digitally supported examination formats; education students are working on the didactics of teaching videos. Learning management systems and collaborative digital group rooms enable new qualities in the use of contact time.

As one of nine universities in the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland network, the FHNW School of Music/Music Academy Basel is also located in an environment that is intensively involved in the transition of teaching to the digital future. In the coming years, the FHNW will set up special rooms for its nine universities that will enable their teachers to try out digitally supported forms of teaching, provide impetus for the development of digital and media pedagogical skills, develop a platform for the presentation of innovative teaching and promote discourse on the idea of the future of excellent teaching. In doing so, it aims to meet the different needs of the sub-universities and at the same time exploit interdisciplinary synergy potential. The FHNW offers teaching staff competitive incentives to implement individual projects; for example, David Mesquita and Florian Vogt from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis at our university won one of the first grants from the Teaching Fund for their project "Singing upon the (note)book", in the context of which an interactive website on certain aspects of historically oriented aural training is being developed.

The FHNW Academy of Music/Basel Academy of Music thus sees itself as part of a comprehensive process that will prudently lead the proven excellence of its teaching into a successful future.

Elke Hofmann

... has been the Digitalization Officer at the three institutes of the FHNW School of Music Basel since September 2018.