The German guitarist and musicologist Jörg Jewanski is no stranger to us either. He wrote in the Swiss Music Newspaper about the project "Sound-Color-Synthesis" of the Zurich University of Music (SMZ 5/2005) and, together with Natalia Sidler, published the accompanying volume Color - Light - Music. Synesthesia and colored light music (Peter Lang, Bern 2006). He has now written a book about the guitar for the Bärenreiter publishing house as part of a new series of instrument portraits. There is hardly any other instrument that comes in so many different forms. Nevertheless, Jewanski, who comes from the classical concert guitar, manages to report briefly and comprehensively on the history, performers and instruments.

Stylistically, the author distinguishes between classical, flamenco, blues, jazz, fingerstyle, rock and world music - a remarkable categorization that could certainly be contested, but which works quite well in the context of the guitar. Fortunately, he resists the temptation to trace all the ramifications of the development of this instrument in detail or to mention every reasonably prominent guitarist. Instead, he has the courage to set priorities, highlight special features and take the risk of leaving something out that someone else might have considered more important. After all, as a small example, in addition to comments on Blowin' in the wind and The house of the rising sun also a lot about the piece, which still seems avant-garde today Salute to Caudwell by Helmut Lachenmann from 1977.

Numerous

Pictures support the careful presentation of the slim volume. Small printed inserts provide additional explanations, and those who want to find out more about a specific topic will find numerous book, CD and Internet tips. Interspersed interviews with established performers such as Hopkinson Smith and Reinbert Evers as well as with two guitar makers round off the content. The book does not make any encyclopaedic claims and is therefore very pleasant to read despite the almost exaggerated variety of texts and the wealth of information.

Jörg Jewanski, Portrait Guitar, Culture, Practice, Repertoire, Performers, 156 p., € 27.95, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2011, ISBN 3-7618-1843-5

Composers and musicians began using cell phones as musical instruments years ago, such as Golan Levin in Dialtones: A Telesymphony (2001). Lars Oberhaus and Marcus Zihn carried out sound experiments in school projects using the same musical material, ring tones and keyboard noises. (Note 1) The resulting pieces of music were mainly conceptual in character. (Note 2) Research institutions, above all the CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) at Stanford University, also turned their attention to mobile devices at an early stage. In California, one of the first ensembles, the MoPhO (The Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra, 2007-2010), was founded, in which scientists and students played music on smartphones.

Thanks to mobile processors and large-format displays, smartphones are becoming pocket-sized universal devices similar to computers. Integrated sensors enable operation via a multi-touch screen, GPS or microphone. One in three Germans already owns a smartphone. In two years at the latest, cell phones without screen control should have largely disappeared from the market. Smartphones and tablets are ideal as communication, gaming or reading devices and, last but not least, as musical instruments.

The specific dynamic between those involved is already palpable as they work together to find new ways of creatively dealing with music. To date, music apps have mainly been used in the hobby sector. A number of YouTube videos document the experiments of amateur musicians with simple piano, guitar or drum applications that only rudimentarily reproduce their instrumental role models. However, innovative concepts and the constant further development of instrument applications are also increasingly attracting the interest of professional musicians such as Jordan Rudess. Music apps played on smartphones and tablets can sometimes also be heard on stage.

In addition to the established software companies and manufacturers of musical instruments (Yamaha or Korg), it is primarily hobby programmers who develop music apps. Sales are handled via app stores from Apple (iOS), Google (Android) or Microsoft (Windows 8) via the Internet. Interested parties have a wide range of tools at their disposal, currently over 12,000 for Apple devices and far fewer, around 400, for other platforms. An important technical basis for making music with apps like an instrument is the delay-free sound that only iOS can offer so far. Corresponding requirements have been announced for Android and Windows 8, meaning that an expanded range can also be expected for these platforms.

What makes apps so interesting?
Although artistic practice with music apps is still young, interest in innovative applications is high, as the popularity of relevant videos shows. But what fascinates people about music apps? The widely commented music videos and blog posts, such as those on Palm Sounds, shed light on this. (Note 3) In the following, I refer to the comments on the two music apps TableDrum and impactor.

With the app TableDrum (Note4) any sound, whether drumming on the tabletop or tapping against a metal object, can be synchronized with the digital device and linked to freely selectable drum sounds. In this way, a virtual drum set can be played without having to tap on the device surface itself. The drums played in this way can be heard through headphones. This principle of acoustic control of digital samples is implemented in the app Impactor expanded to include synthesizer elements. The ability to record and sample sounds and noises promises additional creative potential.

In the blog comments, users mainly express their desire to experiment and their joy in trying out something new. Even if some doubt the actual playing accuracy or the actual usefulness of these sound-controlled apps, they emphasize that they support innovative ideas and are interested in their further development. Experts also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these music apps, analyze pieces of music, make comparisons with previous applications and discuss possible technical alternatives.

The element of exploration and do-it-yourself runs like a guiding principle through all the discussions. The music is created in interaction with the medium. Users want to be musically creative, be confronted with manageable challenges and feel a sense of achievement. The main challenge for app developers is therefore to provide them with easy-to-use instruments. The sound result should be of good quality and entertaining at the same time. Successful apps also offer the option of integrating your own sound material and exporting music productions in order to send them to friends or publish them on the internet.

Innovation instead of digital imitation
The most successful music app to date is GarageBand for iPad, was introduced by Apple for the release of the iPad 2 and has been used specifically for promotional purposes ever since. Equipped with musical instruments such as a guitar, drums or keyboard as well as a sampler, sequencer and effects unit, this app is characterized above all by its extensive functions. However, the conceptual orientation of the instruments offered to the real models quickly reveals limitations, for example in the limited playing surfaces or in the visualization of mechanical processes such as the vibration of strings, which cannot be experienced haptically. The unfortunate conclusion: the app resembles a real instrument, except that it can do much less. Instead of developing innovative concepts that are geared towards the characteristics of the digital device, the programmers strove to emulate the play and sound of the original instruments, a claim that is bound to fail. Making music with music apps should therefore by no means be based on experience with the app. GarageBand for iPad be reduced.

In my opinion, mobile technologies such as smartphones and tablets represent a radical developmental step for musical practice. Difficulties in the realization of precise sound ideas as well as obstacles in the implementation of familiar instruments or playing styles should be understood as a call to find other ways of sound control and new principles of musical structuring. When the special features and strengths of a new medium are used consistently, art forms are created that could not have been realized with conventional means. One trend is that the use of music apps involves forms of musical practice that are individually tailored to the personal needs and skills of the user, turning smartphones into "instruments of use". By flexibly combining different instrumental concepts, they open up a variety of playful applications and creative expression possibilities for the user.

Musical expression thanks to sensors
Ultimately, only a small number of the many music apps available allow music to be used creatively. (Note 5) But which apps turn smartphones and tablets into digital musical instruments?

To answer this question, I would like to take a closer look at the aspect of physical experience when playing an instrument. Body movement can play at least as big a role in making music with mobile digital devices as it does in traditional music-making. Digital sensors are needed for this. These are technical components that record certain physical properties of the environment and convert them into digital data. Depending on the programming, music apps can interpret this data in different ways and provide the user with feedback in the form of an acoustic event or sound modulation.
Compared to laptops or computers, smartphones and tablets have a large number of built-in sensors. In addition to screen control via touch, the microphone, an acceleration sensor in all three axes, a digital compass, the digital camera and a gyroscope, which detects the position of the device in space, are suitable for making music. This makes it possible to incorporate auditory and visual experiences as well as tactile or gestural activities. To illustrate the functionality of individual sensors, a selection of specialized music apps (for iOS) is presented here:

• The multi-touch display has a sophisticated application in the app Pitch Painter. You can create graphic scores with your finger and then play them.
• The integrated camera makes it possible to control virtual musical instruments, which is possible in the app AirGuitar is utilized. You can play air guitar and play various chords.
• The vibration sensor is often used in drum apps. In Samplodica selected samples can be controlled with shaking movements.
• The gyroscope measures the position of the smartphone. The app GyroSynth transforms the smartphone into a kind of "sound glove" by using the change in position to modulate the sound. This allows musical parameters such as volume, pitch or filter settings to be controlled by turning and tilting movements.
• In some music apps, the microphone acts as a wind sensor. The sound is controlled via the volume of the breath on the microphone. The app Wivi Band has 15 modulated wind instruments such as trumpet, saxophone and clarinet.
• The digital compass is used in the app Sound wall is used to control the pitch via the spatial orientation.

Some music apps like ThumbJam combine different sensors with each other. The more sensors are used to consciously control sounds, the more musical the application ultimately becomes. The intuitive control of music interfaces using sensors enhances the musical experience. In addition, music-making is also made available to new target groups, especially people without a musical background or with physical limitations.

From "running" to disaster

In her presentation, she outlined the responsibilities of the Confederation, cantons and communes in the implementation of the constitutional article. With regard to the implementation of paragraph 2 on music lessons in schools, she referred to the work already underway in the language regions to harmonize curricula (Curriculum 21). Although she emphasized that the extremely high proportion of "yes" votes carried great weight for the respective working groups, she failed to provide a concrete answer as to how the concerns of the constitutional article would now be incorporated.

The association representatives present, first and foremost from the Swiss School Music Association (VSSM), were anything but satisfied with this. They emphasized how dramatically bad the situation was for music in public schools in many places, how time was of the essence and that, at the latest since the vote, it was no longer acceptable to consider this issue as being taken into account in the current processes. They also called for a nationwide working group on this issue so that the specific problems of the lack of teachers, the recognition of diplomas and the saving of lessons could be addressed with the necessary emphasis. The harmonized curricula are mere "stars in the sky" before 2018, but immediate measures are needed. Hardmeier described such a "parallel structure" as pointless.

Between the extremes

Both Jean-Frédéric Jauslin, Director of the Federal Office of Culture (FOC), and Beat Zemp from the Swiss Teachers' Association (LCH) took a position between the extremes. Jauslin pointed out that the vote was only two months ago and that the cantons had to be given time to implement the funding mandate. However, after a certain period of time, which has yet to be defined, the BAK would then be required to review the measures taken by the cantons and, if necessary, demand further measures. Zemp agreed with the EDK's approach in principle, but also pointed out that school music was in a real mess. He proposed a nationwide monitoring process to ascertain the situation in the individual cantons. And if necessary, such a survey could also be used to exert public pressure on the cantons in default.

Cultural practitioners from all fields and areas of culture who are resident in St.Gallen or who used to live here but are currently living abroad for educational purposes are invited to apply.

Groups can be considered if the majority of the members are resident in the city. Applications are judged by the Cultural Promotion Commission. The committee makes recommendations to the City Council for the awarding of work grants. No reasons are given for rejections.

In addition to a description of the project to be supported with the work grant, documentation must be submitted containing information on the artistic training of the persons involved and their work to date. (Images of works, list of exhibitions, concerts, theater performances, publications, readings, biography, awards, studio residencies, CDs, texts, books, etc.)

Applications must be submitted to the Department of Culture, City Hall, 9001 St.Gallen by February 20, 2013. Further information: Madeleine Herzog, Head of the Department of Culture, Tel. 071 224 51 60

The opening presentation Music as art of timet was developed by Roland Moser held. He began by quoting St. Augustine, who, when asked about time, replied that both the past in the form of memories and the future in the form of ideas represent an all-encompassing present. He then traced an arc from the attempt to translate tonal relationships into rhythmic relationships to an analysis of the rhythm of harmonic changes based on a 14-bar dominant field in Beethoven's Forest Stone Sonata and thus impressively demonstrated the complexity of the phenomenon of rhythm.

In the afternoon, the first topic was tempo rubato on the program. Jesper Christensen used many old recordings by performers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries in comparison with new recordings to reveal the rhythmic and tonal subtleties of the interpretation tradition before the First World War: uneven quavers, agogic shaping of phrases, prolongation of accented notes, etc. The sound examples were supplemented by many descriptions in practical performance texts. Mention was also made of Bach's E major Invention, the rhythm of which could be understood as a written-out rubato in the right hand. It was just a pity that the opportunity was not taken to put this important example for piano teachers into practice on the piano or to try out different variations.

In the next presentation Promoting rhythmic experience on the piano from Tobias Schabenberger Both theoretical considerations and teaching practice came into play. Based on the etymology of the root word "rit", which means order, law as well as flow, movement, he used many examples from the teaching literature to explain that it is not so much intellectual explanations of note values as physical feeling and movement that promote pupils' rhythmic competence. The fact that he demonstrated this very imaginatively in two teaching sequences with pupils was very beneficial for the participants as an inspiration for everyday teaching.

In terms of practical relevance, the Sunday morning with the topic Body percussion an ideal continuation. This time, after an introductory presentation by Andreas Gerber the participants themselves become practitioners. Reinforced by Karin Enz-Gerber The next step was to learn rhythmic patterns in two groups using sounds produced by the body. It was amazing, but also amusing, to see how we professionals at the piano quickly reach our limits as soon as the sequences become a little more complex.

At this congress, the Board once again succeeded in inviting two young graduates of the Music Education Master's program to present their theses in the "Podium", which has become a tradition. Rebekkah Läuchli spoke on the subject Játekók, pedagogical aspects of the series by G. Kurtág and  Annette Philipona about Teaching musical terms.

The topic of rhythm in jazz was not missing from the congress program. Andreas Meili was also able to captivate the participants on Sunday afternoon with his carefully structured presentation, which included many sound examples. He circled around the rhythmic phenomena of "swing" and "groove" and reminded the audience of the multifaceted nature of the phenomenon of tempo rubato with the subtlety of the phenomena presented.

Not to go unmentioned is the General meeting Saturday afternoon, at the Brigitte Bernhard was bid farewell as President after 7 years in office. Proposed by the Board as her successor and elected by the members present Jean-Jacques Dünki took over as President and moderated the final discussion on Sunday in his new role.

Whether you took part in the congress from start to finish or just picked out a few raisins, the congress provided inspiration for your own artistic practice and teaching.
 

According to a statement from the Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF), Nobs had to undergo surgery at the CHUV University Hospital in Lausanne as a result of the fall. The 76-year-old fell into a coma, from which he has not yet awoken.

The continuation of the MJF is guaranteed. Mathieu Jaton, Secretary General of the MJF, has taken over all of Nobs' responsibilities. Nobs handed over the operational management of the event back in 2010 due to health problems. However, he is still the strategic director of the festival.

Why does it have to be a French term? Why has the corresponding Master's program at Bern University of the Arts (HKB) been called "Théâtre Musical" for years? If you simply translate this term into German as "Musiktheater", you miss a nuance. In French, says Roman Brotbeck, who once co-initiated the course as head of the Department of Music in Bern, "Théâtre Musical" is the term for the "instrumental theater" as developed by Mauricio Kagel, Dieter Schnebel and others in Germany; for theatricalized music-making or musicalized theater. The French term is not only preferable because we are on the language border in the Bern region and many students come from French-speaking countries, but also because it includes the vowel. At the HKB, this was essential insofar as the course was long influenced by the Greek-French composer Georges Aperghis: His theater is strongly based on a musicalized language.

Theater um die Muhsiiik was the name of a festival and symposium conceived by Angela Bürger and Peter Kraut, which took place in mid-December at the HKB and the Dampfzentrale. The title of this highly stimulating event already hints at its proximity to language. The possibilities of contemporary "Théâtre Musical" were eagerly presented and discussed over the weekend. The musicologist Jean-François Trubert from the University of Nice explained the compositional innovations of the "Théâtre Musical" in a historical outline. The Berlin philosopher Harry Lehmann, whose theories on cultural theory are currently the subject of heated debate in Germany, developed the concept of "relational music" in contrast to "absolute music", which tends to take up more and more extra-musical materials and content. The Hamburg composer and director Jan Dvorak presented his own music theater projects on the border between classical and pop music. Composer Cathy van Eck presented cross-media pieces from her own oeuvre. And two of the genre's most internationally renowned composers, Manos Tsangaris and Daniel Ott, were also represented; both will take over the direction of the Munich Biennale for New Music Theater from 2016 and will probably refresh the festival somewhat in the process. It became clear that the "Théâtre Musical" already has a long history. And it has its forefathers. Tsangaris reminded the audience that many of the classics by Kagel and Schnebel, as well as Cage and Aperghis, refer to Beckett as a role model - and that it is important to move away from this. An important remark. How the "Théâtre Musical" can escape such constrictions became clear several times this weekend.

The situation of contemporary music theater in Switzerland was also discussed. The beautiful productions by the HKB at the Dampfzentrale showed that there is potential for this, at least in terms of training. Under the direction of Pierre Sublet, students staged their own version of Cage's Europera 2 from 1987. In it, it is left to chance how set pieces from European opera history are "composed" anew: Arias, orchestral parts, costumes, backdrops, etc., resulting in a fascinating mix-up that is as amusing as it is perverse. In Bern, the work was cleverly adapted for the needs of the school: dance and speaking parts were integrated; the opera house backdrops were replaced. And an extra quarter of an hour was added at the front, giving the Théâtre musical graduates an additional opportunity to perform. Europera 2 is the shorter and, as it were, condensed version, in which the amount of material from Europera 1 is presented in half the time, namely 45 minutes, which over time results in an acoustic overabundance, a somewhat undifferentiated mush of sound. Probably there should have been a little more nuance here - or would that have contradicted Cage's intentions?

Roman Brotbeck cooks for the "big music-culinary Muhsiiik banquet" © Joachim Koerfer

The fact that a "Théâtre Musical" can unfold a completely different sensuality was demonstrated by the "great musical-culinary muhsiiik banquet". In a variation on Cage's famous Water Walk, Roman Brotbeck and chef Martin Schöni performed a kind of brilliant Cook Walk with surprising variations and a highly convincing result in terms of taste. Finally, the graduates of the course once again had their turn in the interludes to the communal meal. The percussionist Françoise Rivalland, a lecturer at the HKB and, incidentally, an excellent interpreter of Aperghis, had rehearsed these virtuoso linguistic skills, which were wittily close to the border between the intelligible and the nonsensical. Once again, the Bernese "Théâtre Musical's" closeness to Aperghis became palpable; perhaps it would be good to develop further facets. But that belongs to the future of this genre, which is practiced at such a high level in Bern as almost nowhere else.

www.muhsiiik.ch

Picture above: Set pieces from European opera history - John Cage's "Europera 2" © Marco Frauchiger

An era is coming to an end: in 2012, CD sales in the trend-setting US market continued to slump by a low double-digit percentage. For the first time, they are now being outstripped by downloads via the Internet.

According to market researcher Nielsen SoundScan, 37% of all album purchases last year were made as downloads via platforms such as iTunes or Amazon mp3. This represents an increase of 6 percent compared to 2011.

In contrast, the previous main channels, the Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy stores, have become less important. They only sold 29 percent of albums in CD form. Compared to 2011, this represents a steep decline of 31 percent.

Picture: derateru / pixelio.de

By the end of the evening, you know that Joachim Reiber loves to tell stories, tells them poetically, plays with language like a juggler with his balls. And in doing so, he almost declares the subject of his writing, music, to be a minor matter.
Or rather. Encounters when writing about music was the title of the lecture that Reiber gave on December 13 at the Institute of Musicology at the University of Basel. It was the fourth evening of the concert and colloquium series Musik & Mensch, which is organized by the University of Teacher Education of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). It is aimed primarily at teachers and students of music education and aims to provide food for thought and raise awareness of new topics in music teaching. However, writing about music seems too far removed from everyday school life - Reiber only spoke to a small audience. This did not detract from his entertaining and stimulating presentation. Reiber took this year's main theme of the series, Encounter - Dialogue - Relationship, at its word and reflected on how encounters come about in his work, under what conditions dialogues take place and what long-term relationships can develop.

Internal affair
The magazine of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna not only lists all the concerts taking place at the Vienna Musikverein, but also features major portraits of conductors and soloists, long interviews and essays on music history. The magazine has already won six awards - in the customer magazine category. "Am I selling music with the means of language?" asked editor-in-chief Reiber in the laudatory speech for his articles.
He prefers to speak of "successful communication in the service of music". All the purposefulness that should underlie such a customer magazine is anathema to him. No matter how often the judges praise the successful implementation of the corporate philosophy, the appropriate use of media, the outstanding customer loyalty - Reiber reportedly doesn't care about any of that. He is simply interested in writing.
"Writing is a lonely thing, right from the start," he says and goes into great detail. He talks about how, as a teenager, he secretly admired the music critic in his home town of Stuttgart, how he was initiated into the service capabilities of language by linguists during his studies, and how he learned from philosophers the other day that language can also be about something else. How, for example, small children learn to speak, babble out of a love of life, murmur out of a frustration with life: to speak in order to express themselves.
Reiber also writes to express himself, to communicate - not to communicate something. This is important to him and runs through the evening like a common thread. "Writing about music - is music on the outside? Is it an object that is waiting to be translated?" asks Reiber, turning decidedly against all those program booklet writers, work reviewers, introductory writers and those who want to bring things closer, who place themselves above the reader with their knowledge. He sees it differently: "Getting in touch with the music through writing, seeking an encounter within myself, with what the music triggers in me - an inner matter."

Little relevant
As witty as Reiber's lecture was, as worth listening to and reading as his language proved to be, he also went round in circles. It was therefore not surprising that the subsequent discussion with Regina Kuratle was once again sparked by a linguistic quibble: like a composer who hears where the piece wants to go, Reiber hears where the text wants to go. Kuratle, herself a musician and currently in charge of the school harmonization project for the Basel-Stadt Department of Education, understood this to mean "waiting to see where the text wants to go" - something she could not afford to do in her purpose-driven profession. And the words were already spinning around waiting, listening, saying, meaning ...
Even an interjection from the audience was unable to break this up. The author asked how the topic of mediation was faring, given that degree courses with art mediation, music mediation and cultural mediation in their names are springing up like mushrooms. They thus mark at least a certain need for a relationship to be established between art and the recipient - not least due to the ever decreasing resources for music in schools. This question was also dealt with on a linguistic and anecdotal level: Reiber finds the word mediation "terrible", but confirmed that the Vienna Musikverein could also show a little more curiosity in trying out other concert forms. There was no time left for an answer from Regina Kuratle after Reiber's extensive comments.
An exchange with a person responsible for designing future curricula would have been very much in the spirit of the event. The aim is to gather ideas to enrich school lessons. The concert and colloquium series therefore includes lectures on Olivier Messiaen's bird music (with ornithologist Stefan Heller and organist Tobias Willi), concerts with encounters between traditional Japanese shakuhachi flutes and contemporary electronic music, and in Solothurn, Mojca Gal and the baroque ensemble Les Eléments introduce the music and way of thinking in the 18th century with works by François Couperin.

Collected ideas
To ensure that the ideas are not lost in the fleeting moment of the lecture, a website is being planned that will archive the lectures of the past eight years and invite pupils to exchange ideas. The first content should be available from February 2013.
Perhaps this platform will make it easier to realize what Markus Cslovjecsek, Head of the Chair of Music Education at the FHNW, actually wanted to initiate with the series: To find out how to get young people interested in music in the long term.
Cslovjecsek also conducts research in this area on other levels. He co-designed the "Creafon" educational toy, for example, but he is also interested in integrating music into other subjects. Understanding music as an integral subject at school, raising the awareness of listening, the writing of listening, for example in language learning - other countries are already further ahead in this respect. He refers to the European music portfolio, where projects on integrative music didactics can be viewed.
We can only hope that the dialog will not only take place online, but also face to face. Ten more evenings will offer the opportunity to do so in the coming year.

Journal "Musikfreunde" of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna:
www.musikverein.at

To the series:
www.fhnw.ch/ph/kultur-und-sport/musik

Platform under construction:
www.musikundmensch.ch
 

Photo: wandersmann - pixelio.de

The Swiss Gospel Choir was founded in 2008. It is made up of around 30 singers from all over Switzerland and, as an elite formation, belongs to the hard core of the Swiss gospel scene. All key positions in the artistic and organizational management are professionally filled.

"Swiss Gospel Choir goes to Holland"
This motto characterizes the 2013 season. After successful trips abroad in recent years, the choir will be giving concerts in the greater Amsterdam area at the beginning of August 2013. In addition to rehearsals and concerts, there will be time for cultural exchange and cultivating friendships. Rehearsals will begin in March. The project will conclude in September with concerts in Switzerland.

In mid-December, Helvetiarockt, the coordination office for female musicians in jazz, pop and rock, was able to secure funding to maintain the database of female musicians via the crowdfunding platform Wemakeit. 102 people donated 14,130 francs; the target was 14,000 francs.

At the request of the Swiss Music Newspaper Regula Frey, head of the Helvetiarockt office, confirmed that this online reference work could now be expanded and optimized in 2013. However, the future of Helvetiarockt is not secure. Like many other organizations, Helvetiarockt is struggling with the fact that most donors support projects but not structural costs. In addition, Helvetiarockt is often pigeonholed as a gender project or a music project and therefore often does not fit into the grid of the supporting organizations. "We work as broadly as possible (from girls at music school to experienced musicians)," says Regula Frey. "It's not easy to stay so broad and still not lose focus. Fulfilling all tasks with a 40% position is a big challenge."

www.helvetiarockt.ch
 

The motto "lifelong learning" also applies to music teachers. In 1990, the music school management in Nidwalden came to the unanimous conclusion that continuous further training was essential for their teaching staff. As the courses on offer at the time did not adequately meet the needs of the teachers or the music schools, they organized a first course themselves. At the end of August 1991, the participants spent a whole day on the subject of practicing. Peter Schwarzenbach, who together with Brigitte Bryner wrote the book Üben ist doof (Practicing is stupid), which is now in its seventh edition, was engaged as the course leader and speaker.

After this successful first attempt, further courses were organized every year. Cooperation with the music schools in Obwalden began in 1995 and with the music school in Uri in 2008.

The current training concept is based on three pillars:

• Own courses: These are organized by music schools in the participating cantons. They are free of charge for participants.
• Further education courses at elementary school: The offer is also available free of charge to music teachers.
• Courses from other providers: Contributions are paid to these in proportion to the respective teaching workload.

Each music teacher is free to put together their own course program. Four days of further training are required within two years. At some music schools, this obligation is included in the employment contract. One participant summarizes the personal benefit as follows: "Even if I don't implement what I've heard and learned one-to-one in my lessons afterwards, I always get new impulses and ideas on how I could develop and improve." Others say that there is often not enough time to implement new ideas in the classroom, but they are still grateful for the impulses.

Firmly anchored training day

The annual training day has become a fixed and indispensable part of the training program. It has been held since 1991 and takes place in the first week of school. As most music schools do not start lessons until the following week, this timing is very convenient for the teachers' work situation. The day is a suitable introduction to the new school year, a "warm-up", as one participant calls it. It is also very much appreciated because it offers the opportunity to get to know professional colleagues and exchange ideas with them.

Particularly in the initial phase, workshops were offered on questions that were relevant for all teachers as well as for very specific subject groups. In recent years, the training day has mostly been dedicated to a specific topic, for example: Swiss folk music, How do children learn to make music, Music lessons: What does the brain think about it, From child to young adult - approaches for music lessons.
It is obvious that a lot can only be thought about in a single day and not internalized enough. "Unfortunately, at least for me, you soon forget a lot of what was said. The documents often just lie in a drawer," says one participant. "You would have to keep at it every day, just like when practicing! Perhaps a revision course should be offered every few months for each topic. This could be a half day, for example, in which interested teachers could attend prepared for the respective topic. I would also be interested in the possibility of choosing an annual topic instead of the annual training day and working on this throughout the year (three to four times) in the form of small group sessions."
Depending on the response, follow-up and in-depth courses are already being developed, which will take place over the course of the school year.

Positive experiences

The close cooperation between the three cantons has proved very successful over the years. The first major advantage is that significantly more courses can be offered than would be possible if the three cantons were to go it alone. It is also not surprising that all the advertised courses can usually be held, often more than once, because there are enough interested parties. This means that - another plus point - the available financial resources can be put to excellent use. Of the total annual expenditure of around CHF 15,000, each of the 14 music schools ultimately only has to make a small contribution.

Over the years, the joint training program has also initiated cooperation at other levels. For example, the Rotary Music Prize is awarded every two years in the cantons of Nidwalden and Obwalden. When the Swiss Association of Music Schools was restructured into an umbrella organization a few years ago, the founding of a joint regional association was an undisputed and quickly decided matter. And finally, the cooperation has also contributed to an improved image with the authorities.
A major challenge for the working group is the constant search for new topics. However, this is also an exciting task that constantly triggers developments and opens up new territory.

Urban Diener
... runs the Stans Music School

Photo: Stefan Möckli
 

The scholarship, endowed with CHF 14,000 each, goes to the text performer Michael Fehr (Master of Contemporary Arts Practice course) and the artistic collective Feld 65 (Bachelor Fine Arts course).

The scholarship is awarded to young artists with special artistic and entrepreneurial potential. This year, 16 applications were submitted from the various departments of the BUA.