Digitalizzazione: Studying and digitalization

Nadir Vassena - Cosa significano veramente "digitale", "digitalizzazione" nell'ambito musicale artistico e didattico? A questa domanda i più rispondono con degli esempi di applicazioni. Also interno della Scuola universitaria del Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana ci sono esperienze che sfruttano le possibilità offerte dalle cosiddette "nuove" tecnologie. Se già da anni gli studenti le adottano - per esempio per registrarsi e valutare a freddo l'esecuzione di un brano (o la gestualità, nel caso di un aspirante direttore d'orchestra) - le prime iniziative originali per integrare musica e tecnologia sono quelle sviluppate da Spazio21, l'unità che si occupa della realizzazione di progetti interdisciplinari e attività legate soprattutto alla creazione contemporanea. I nostri progetti partono da esigenze molto concrete. For example, in the didactic field, we have developed a program for l'ear training, modellato sulle richieste del nostro corso di ascolto per il bachelor e modificabile in base al livello di preparazione e alle necessità di apprendimento del singolo studente. Dopo la realizzazione di un primo prototipo (TiAscolto) distribuito come software, stiamo ora portando il prodotto sul web (SOLO: ear training web app) grazie alla preziosa collaborazione con il Software Institute della Facoltà di Informatica dell'Università della Svizzera italiana. Il materiale, in continuo aggiornamento, è liberamente disponibile sulla piattaforma empiricalbox.ch.

Ma la digitalizzazione non è solo un insieme di tecnologie. For music, the advent of digital has represented an epochal change. Il settore è stato tra i primi in cui la conversione dall'analogico al digi- tale ha comportato non solo una modifica della tecnica impiegata per rappresentare il segnale sonoro - anche le partiture! - ma, di conseguenza e progressivamente, di tutta la produzione, la distribuzione e la fruizione. Of molti di questi processi non si è spesso consapevoli. On the one hand, the digital format offers new opportunities for creation, transmission, diffusion and distribution, but at the same time it is important to realize that these operations - for example, the analog/digital transcription catena - are not necessarily neutral.

Per rendere attenti ai cambiamenti di paradigma in atto nella creazione e ricezione della musica elettronica - che in grandissima misura vive proprio dello sviluppo tenologico degli ultimi decenni - è nata EAR: Electro Acoustic Room, una serie di concerti dedicati alla musica acusmatica. Ormai giunta alla quarta stagione, questa coproduzione fra Conservatorio e LuganoMusica si concentra sul repertorio di musica su supporto che, proprio grazie alle facilità offerte dal digitale, è possibile diffondere e spazializzare efficacemente. Un compito complesso quello della diffusione, che richiede un'attenta interpretazione dell'opera e che trasforma ogni altoparlante in un vero e proprio strumento musicale. To do all this in a way that meets our specific requirements, we have developed a software that, concert after concert, we continue to perfect, always convinced that the "digitalization" of training goes hand in hand with the acquisition of the expertise of the technologies that surround it.

Nadir Vassena

... è Professore di composizione alla Scuola universitaria di Musica del Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana e Responsabile di Spazio21.

 Timo Waldmeier, what does digitization mean to you individually?

For me, digitalization means centralization, dematerialization (in terms of notes) and greater speed in the procurement of information, notes and communication. At the same time, however, it can also lead to a loss of reference to reality and to the material.

Where do you see the dangers and benefits of digitalization in the context of musical education or musical practice?

I think the danger of digitalization is that it can massively increase our stress levels by making us too accessible and enabling us to organize ourselves too quickly. So I try to take advantage of the efficiency and centralization of digitalization. However, I have to make sure that I organize non-working and unavailable times much more actively and incorporate them into my everyday life in order to defy their "dangers". 

Timo Waldmeier

... studies choral conducting at the University of Music FHNW Basel.

Michelle Süess, how has digitalization changed your life in recent years?

On the one hand, digitalization has changed the way I communicate: Due to the fact that most of my communication takes place via emails, text messages and messaging apps, all of which can be operated using a smartphone, I have increasingly felt the expectation for a quick response (from me, but also from my counterparts) increase in recent years. On the other hand, digitalization makes it easier to access specific information and to manage documents. I am really grateful that I can find specific information for research work, for example, not (only) by poring over books for hours, but also by searching and researching on the Internet. I also find it very practical to always have my documents such as teaching materials, work materials etc. with me on my laptop without always having to search for everything.

What influence does digitalization have on your studies or your career?

As there is a lot of communication via email and sometimes via Moodle, it is sometimes difficult to keep track and filter out what is really important. For example, for me personally, homework/information communicated by email gets lost more quickly than that communicated in class. Digitalization also has an impact on the communication of advertising for concerts/performances/events. The use of digital platforms and media for distributing flyers or inviting guests is very effective and has become very important. Digitalization is used a lot in the area of ear training. For example, melody dictations can be played individually on a device. The teacher does not need to play the melody on the piano every time and the students can complete the dictation at their own pace.

Michelle Süess

... is studying for a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Movement at the Basel University of Music FHNW.

Patrick Müller - Estelle Lacombe studied at the universities of Zurich and Paris - but without having to move from her home in Lauterbrunnen above Interlaken. This was in 1951 - if only in the imagination of a science fiction author, Albert Robida, who published his novel "La Vie Electrique" in 1890. In it, Estelle communicates and studies by means of the so-called "Téléphonoscope", a device that corresponds to today's video chat. What was still in the distant future at the end of the century before last has now become part of everyday life - not only on a technical level, but also in terms of how the broad and rapid availability of knowledge shapes relationships between teachers and learners. Digital media in particular enable access to knowledge from a wide variety of sources in a matter of seconds, and the possible authorities and canons have multiplied. Today's students, digital natives, know how to use this productively and as a matter of course.

For around six years, a group of musicians, artists and technicians led by Matthias Ziegler and Patrick Müller at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) has been exploring the possibilities that can arise from telematic formats. In this project, rooms in geographically different locations are connected via the Internet in such a way that musicians (but also actors, dancers, etc.) can interact in real time over distance: A video chat, in other words, in which digital communication technologies are used in such a way that they also enable an exchange on a musical and artistic level. The project has been supported by the SNSF in recent years. Previous telematic concerts between Zurich and places such as Bern, Belfast, San Diego or Hong Kong have shown that only a careful approach can create artistically meaningful and valuable situations. Only the knowledge of technological possibilities and experience in designing the scenic arrangement of mediating image and sound media enables musicians to work together productively across geographical distances.

These experiences from an artistic perspective are now also being made productive for educational settings at the ZHdK. On the one hand, the use of telematic means and their aesthetics are themselves being taught via an online learning tool that is currently being developed. On the other hand, we are interested in uses that differ from the usual forms of mediation in online learning, which often have a one-to-many structure (webinars, for example, or MOOCs): In Few-to-few settings, for example, small groups from different universities can be brought together in improvisation lessons, and cultural differences between the various locations become a topic. Finally, one-to-one instrumental lessons have shown how instrument-specific the corresponding teaching environments need to be designed: In singing lessons, for example, the representation of the whole body is central, whereas cellists require an image setting in the video transmission that shows the bow movement from a representative angle. It has also proved valuable that the unusual setting itself leads to productive self-reflection on teaching practice, for both teachers and students. And it is important to develop training models that understand telematic individual lessons not as an exclusive, but as a complementary - and enriching - tool.

Patrick Müller

... is Head of Transdisciplinarity at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK.