Facing the future

Daniel Weissberg - When we conceived the Music and Media Art course 15 years ago, the CD-Rom was supposed to be a flourishing future that we had to take into account in our training. At the time, even experts had no idea that the music business for computer games had been flourishing for years. Today, few people know what a CD-Rom is.

In Swiss German, the future is expressed using the present tense. Few things are overtaken by the present as quickly as visions of the future. Facing the future, in German: looking the future in the face. One of the genuine characteristics of the future is its facelessness, which makes it a projection screen for all kinds of wishes and fears - and these do not come from the future.

Perhaps conservatoires once looked the past in the face too one-sidedly for too long. However, the opposite of a mistake would also be a mistake.

Facing the Pres(id)ent

The only thing we know about the future is the present. Swiss German is right about that.

Daniel Weissberg

... has been co-directing the Music & Media Arts program in the Music Department at HKB together with Michael Harenberg for 15 years.

> www.medien-kunst.ch

Matthias von Orelli - How do the conservatoires see their future and that of the students, and how do the students themselves perceive these questions? Here are the thoughts of a student from Lugano and reflections from the conservatoires of Bern and Lausanne.

The Northern Irish conductor Darren Hargan (*1983) is currently studying for a Master of Arts in Music Performance (Ensemble conducting - contemporary repertoire) at the Scuola Universitaria di Musica/Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana in Lugano (although he already has a name as a pianist and coach). He is a young musician who is deeply concerned with the questions of the future of being a musician, responsibility and the status of educational institutions. In conversation, he emphasizes the enormous importance of music.

He sees music as a foundation of our society, which not only stimulates the mind, but also enables us to coordinate and express ourselves. After Hargan made the decision to study music, luck helped him with his own professional future. Following his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he was offered a permanent position at Zurich Opera House, which made it easier for him to start his career. However, according to Hargan, students need to understand that a music academy, however good it may be, cannot really prepare them for day-to-day life in the music business. It is important for every musician to learn every day in order to be ready for the future. It is therefore all the more important that the various internationally renowned music academies in Switzerland each have an individual profile in order to be able to support talented musicians according to their abilities.

When asked about the future, Hargan sees a particular challenge for conservatoires in helping students to find their own voice in the increasingly fast-paced music market. For him, a conservatory can only be successful if it has the opportunity to create a link between education and the music profession and at the same time encourages students to invest as much time in business matters as in practicing their art. Hargan considers it hopeless if one is merely able to play a certain selection of pieces with above-average virtuosity without asking oneself (economic) questions about career development. He is also very concerned about another topic: children. They are our future, and the young conductor describes it as a shame that so many children will never have the opportunity to play an instrument at school or attend a concert. Although some children learn the necessary practical skills, the system often fails them by not allowing them to fully exploit their creative potential.

"Many children never got to know the great musical achievements of mankind, such as Beethoven's music, which inspired writers, scientists and politicians," emphasizes Hargan. The fact that his Ninth was played after the fall of the Berlin Wall shows that people saw it as the only correct response to one of the most important events in the history of the 20th century. "This is another reason why classical music has a right to exist, and we all have a duty," says Hargan, "to ensure that all sections of society see the value and necessity that art has for children's lives." Excluding them from this experience risks missing out on the benefits that music could have brought them. "There is no question - music must have a future. The world is changing faster and faster, and we've never had so many opportunities to connect with people all over the world." Hargan adds that there is no time to look back over one's shoulders with nostalgic wistfulness. As a child of the 21st century, we must embrace these opportunities with open arms and follow the instinctive trait of all of us: Create!

When asked about the role of students of the future, society also plays a central role from the perspective of the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne (HEMU). Students should develop an awareness of the position and role that musicians and artists play in society, with a particular emphasis on curiosity and openness towards other art forms and the intention to facilitate connections with them. Just as Darren Hargan would like to see, there is also an awareness from the university's perspective that future students must not only be able to meet the demands of a constantly evolving job market, but should also contribute to innovations that influence the music business. The understanding of a future music culture consists of being open to the world, living in the present time and at the same time being aware of the cultural heritage and recognizing the need to bring this heritage to life (without nostalgic nostalgia) and transfer it into our time.

Tomorrow's students are therefore urged, HEMU believes, to acquire the tools to develop their musical practice, to define their own professional goals in order to find a place in society and to share these values and skills as widely as possible. In conclusion, the appeal goes out to all: "Be entrepreneurs; be as at home improvising jazz standards as you are with Mozart and try to figure out how to best serve yourself at the conservatory by creating your own offerings and actively participating in the development of the curriculum within the academic requirements."

Supplement in SMZ 12/2016

Under the title Music and migration KMHS publishes with this issue of Swiss Music Newspaper its annual supplement for the first time. The aim of the publication is to shed light on the breadth and richness of Swiss music academies with regard to a selected and burning issue. It was therefore obvious to take up the topic of music and migration - not only does it currently play a major geopolitical role, but it is also a focal point in the political context of Switzerland. It therefore also affects the internationally oriented Swiss music academies: students and lecturers who leave their homeland and make their home in another country, musicians who spend a large part of their lives traveling and rarely see their home country. These are just two of the aspects covered in the supplement. We hope you enjoy reading it.

Sous le titre Music and migration, la CHEMS publie avec cette édition de la Revue Musicale Suisse son premier supplément annuel. The aim of this publication is to highlight the diversity and richness of Swiss music schools in relation to a specific theme. The theme of music and migration is presented as an example of the important role it currently plays not only at the geopolitical level, but also in the world of music: It is enough to think of the students and teachers who leave their home country to pursue their education and have to find their mark in other countries, and of the musicians who spend a large part of their lives traveling and rarely see their country of origin. Ce ne sont que deux aspects de cette thématique, que ce supplément se propose d'explorer. We wish you a pleasant reading.