The feeling of happiness in the flow

SMM - How do you differentiate between professional and amateur musicians today? Jürg Kesselring, a neurologist from Valens, reminded the audience in the Great Hall of the Bern University of the Arts (HKB) that the boundaries are fluid. Musical competence and earning a living go hand in hand in the most diverse ways. There is the trained professional who only makes music on the side, as well as the technically rather modest performer who nevertheless makes his living entirely from music. In fact, as the conference revealed, the most striking difference seems to lie in the attitude towards music: "Only with the dilettante", Kesselring quoted Egon Friedell, "do man and profession coincide".

Music as a leisure activity is increasingly becoming a place of longing. Andreas Cincera, Head of Studies at the HKB Continuing Education in Music, also pointed out that the demand for adult lessons is increasing. Semi-professional ensembles, which are currently experiencing a boom, particularly in contemporary folk and world music, are likely to be important role models. Music schools are not yet exploiting the potential and are only now really beginning to reflect on what the ideal forms of teaching should look like. Perhaps, according to Cincera, the experiential and low-threshold aspects should be given more weight for adults than the intensive technical training that is important and useful for adolescents.

At the HKB, the relevant knowledge is imparted to future teachers in the form of a CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies): Students are taught by renowned experts and informed about the opportunities and limitations of musical learning for adults up to very old age.

It is undoubtedly a privilege of amateurs that they can - in the spirit of Friedell - indulge in the so-called "flow", a trance-like state of complete oneness with the music, without restriction. The theory behind this was presented at the symposium by Bremen musician and psychologist Andreas Burzik. It goes back to the American happiness researcher Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. Burzik highlighted the aspects of practicing in flow: The consciously perceived sense of touch creates contact with the instrument, attentive listening creates contact with the sound and the sense of movement, or rather the feeling of effortlessness, creates contact with the body; finally, the mindful approach to the practice material awakens the desire to explore, investigate and discover. The "unconscious effortlessness of the child" remains the model.

When it comes to technique and physical strain, professionals and ambitious amateurs face the same challenges. Contributions to the symposium on voice, posture and physicality took this into account. Salome Zwicky from the SingStimmZentrum Zürich explored the limits of vocal strain in a presentation; breathing, speech and voice teacher Nicole Martin Rieder devoted a workshop to the theory and practice of breathing and in another workshop, physiotherapists Marjan Steenbeek and Sibylle Meier Kronawitter looked at the interplay of the body parts when making music.

14th SMM Symposium, The Amateur Musician - Between Sick Ambition and Healthy Pleasure, October 29, 2016, Bern University of the Arts, Great Hall.