Changement de présidence à la tête de la CHEMS

Matthias von Orelli - Noémie L. Robidas, the director of the HEMU - Haute École de Musique et Conservatoire de Lausanne, is the new president of CHEMS. Together with the new Vice-President Valentin Gloor, Director of the Department of Music at the Haute École de Lucerne, she will give an overview of the ideas for CHEMS.

Noémie L. Robidas (NR), on 31 October 2020, you took over the presidency of CHEMS. What does this task mean for you?

A key word for me with regard to this new task is "federate": federate the colleagues between them on the CHEMS project and federate CHEMS with the Swiss musical community. Together with Vice-President Valentin Gloor, we will also be discussing new issues that represent today's challenges for our schools. Certain.es would like to imagine that the Swiss music schools are in competition with each other (which I have not personally considered until now), but for me, given the current social issues, it is very important to move beyond this position and to show solidarity in order to be able to tackle the challenges that await us. It is important to present the Swiss music high schools as mutually complementary and to emphasize strongly the specificity of the missions that our schools have, which are sometimes diluted in the maze of Swiss specialty high schools.

Valentin Gloor (VG), you will be Vice President, what do you see as the challenge for the next few years?

The legislative processes of recent years have meant that the specialist conferences - including the UAS - have had to redefine their role. In what Noémie beautifully describes as the "magma" of universities of applied sciences, it is no longer really clear what voice a conference like the KMHS has, when it is heard and what it can comment on. From our point of view, it is clear that the KMHS must be heard as the voice of this important sector. Only in this way can the concerns of tertiary music education be brought forward and made fruitful. And only in this way can the arts, in the larger context, gain the necessary weight in the UAS landscape and contribute to the further development of UAS education and the corresponding professional fields.

Mrs. Robidas, do you have a common vision for your mandate as President and Vice-President?

I can't say too much about our "vision" at this stage, because it will take some time before it becomes a reality. In all cases, it is a vision co-ported with Valentin Gloor and shared with colleagues from CHEMS. In fact, cooperation must prevail in our organization and the issues must be well distributed according to the forces present. If certain issues relating to the reform of Bologna have been the subject of major battles from 2005 to 2015, there are now other challenges awaiting us. CHEMS, like our universities, must reorient itself and be perceived as a creative, proactive and incontournable force, especially in the eyes of the funding authorities.

VG : In fact, we need to give this vision even more room for internal discussion so that it is a shared vision of the entire KMHS. Cooperation among the members of the KMHS as well as cooperation between the KMHS and its members with other players in the higher education and cultural policy environment will be key success factors for our work in the coming years. The development of a common vision for the KMHS is a key step in this direction.

You studied in Canada and France, and you worked in France for a long time. How do these countries differ from Switzerland in terms of the training of musicians?

NR : It is rather difficult to compare these three countries in this way, especially as there is still an ocean between Canada and Europe... In Canada, the music schools are generally integrated into one university - all musical studies take place in the same faculty.

Higher music education in France is different from other European countries. In addition to the two CNSMDs in Paris and Lyon, which offer excellent conditions for completing higher education diplomas, there are a dozen higher education colleges that complete the offer, all affiliated with universities so that their diplomas (Bachelor's, Master's) can be recognized. The study conditions are highly variable and one thing is certain, the infrastructures and budgets allocated are far from sufficient. This is explained by the fact that historically, it was initial teaching in conservatoires that provided the resources and these were not reoriented when the higher education colleges were created. Thus, in France, initial teaching offers better conditions for teachers and students than those offered by higher education. On the other hand (because nothing is negative far from it!), the promotion of music in France is part of the country's cultural policy, a policy that aims to support and promote artistic creation at all levels and to make the works of this creative activity, especially those that are of particular artistic importance (especially contemporary creation), accessible to the greatest number. As far as Switzerland is concerned, intercantonal diversity is undoubtedly the richness but also the most important challenge to be taken into account! The presence of half a hundred HEMs on Swiss territory is a strong sign of the authorities' encouragement of culture and music in particular. I can only rejoice and work, especially in the context of my new functions as President of CHEMS, to highlight the richness of these schools for the country. We attract millions of talented young people from all over the world, which is a great source of pride for Switzerland. We must continue to focus on promoting and supporting young Swiss talent as much as possible, developing artistic research and fostering links with the professional world; these are just some of the issues that must be included on our national agenda.

It is unthinkable to talk about the COVID crisis, which continues to have a major impact on our daily lives. According to you, how did the Swiss music schools prepare for such a situation and how did they react?

NR : Let me sum it up in a few words: fundamentally, the music schools were not really well prepared, with a few exceptions perhaps. On the other hand, I was surprised and touched by the speed with which all these measures were implemented and the schools adapted to the new circumstances. It is now important to learn the lessons of the period and to better coordinate and harmonize our actions at all levels. CHEMS can certainly offer a common space for reflection in this regard.

VG : This space for reflection is of great importance in order to make the knowledge gained fruitful for the further development of our conservatoires. There are probably at least three different fields of work: The continued fulfillment of our mission in and despite the difficult initial situation has given rise to new forms of teaching, collaboration, performance, production and research into music. These new forms give us an exciting basis for the next steps and future projects. However, overcoming the crisis has also put our conservatoires - as well as all institutions in our society - to the test structurally. Under the magnifying glass, it became clear how our organizations function, where processes, responsibilities and tasks can be clarified and better distributed. We should also reflect on this area together. And last but not least, it became clear how resilient our relationships with our environment are - be it our respective universities of applied sciences or our exchange with political and official decision-makers. This also needs to be analyzed - targeted strengthening in this area can provide crucial support for the work of the conservatoires.

For the cultural sector in particular, these events have been and still are catastrophic - what are the lessons you are currently learning?

NR : Unfortunately, this crisis is not over. I have to say that I am more worried at the moment than during the lockdown. The uncertainty is great, because we want to organize the concerts and events again, and at the same time the protection of all the people concerned must be guaranteed. We must also understand what this normality to which we want to return means. In my opinion, there is no need to be nostalgic - we must accept the situation and adapt to it as much as possible by being proactive and inventing new formats.

VG : Of course I completely agree with my colleague! And this seems to me to be an essential role of the conservatoire: not only to act as a mediator of the known and the tried and tested, but also as a laboratory for that which is still developing - open to unexpected results.

However, it also seems to me that an important task of the KMHS is to clearly support all efforts by our cultural, educational and cultural policy partners to maintain and strengthen the cultural sector, especially in this precarious situation.

You said that you want to make CHEMS more visible at the political level as well. Where do you want to start?

NR : For me, the political system in Switzerland is sometimes a little mysterious, but I think it's important that political work is present and visible. At the end of the day, everything is a question of lobbying. As I said a little higher up, I think we have to act with pedagogy. In order for politicians to understand that the Hautes Écoles de Musique are different from other HES/Universités de Sciences appliquées. That is why I consider it so important to operate in a coordinated manner. It must be explained that music cannot be measured in purely economic terms by the sale of tickets or the first performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, or quantitatively by the number of publications by our teachers and researchers. The Hautes Écoles de Musique are also laboratories and experimental installations that need to be supported and protected because they offer something else: a musical, artistic and sensitive vision.

The CHEMS also symbolizes the cooperation between the music schools. How is this currently working and what potential do you see for your work as president? Does it also apply to coordination with the foreign partner universities?

NR : Historically, there have always been close ties with the music academies in Germany. In addition, all the regions of Switzerland naturally have their own partnerships with foreign countries, which I find fascinating. These ties are not only to be strengthened, but also to be nourished and, if necessary, conventionized. Europe is so vast, it seems to me that we need to find high-quality partnerships based on private relationships rather than trying to multiply them without a concrete objective; this is certainly an issue that Valentin Gloor and I are addressing with CHEMS.