The Swiss Youth Jazz & Pop Competition
Since 2012, the Swiss Youth Music Competition has also included a track for Jazz&Pop. Compared to the number of applications in the classical music sector, the Jazz&Pop competition is a niche event despite several waves of specification.
I was able to talk to Lukas Hering, President of the Jazz&Pop Expert Commission, about the reasons for this and possible measures to counteract it.
Jazz and competition are not fundamentally mutually exclusive, in fact they are not even alien to each other. Jazz history tells us that the cakewalk - a forerunner of jazz - owes its name to dance competitions. And the legendary Zurich Jazz Festival in the 1950s motivated an entire generation of jazz musicians throughout Switzerland to take up jazz with its competition.
However, it is also undisputed that the jazz and classical music scenes are different. The youth music competition also takes this into account: in classical music, the preliminary decision is called Entrada and takes place live in a concert hall, while the preselection, the equivalent in jazz, has so far been based on video presentations. The classical final is usually a classical performance in the auditorium of a music academy, while the jazz final is a set in a jazz club.
What both types of competition have in common is that they are not about scoring and ranking solo performances, but about supporting and advising talented young musicians, regardless of their chosen style. At Entrada, Preselection, Come Together and Finale, the performers receive feedback from competent representatives of the scene. Contact with colleagues who have similar interests provides the opportunity to network, and in some cases a studio recording or a performance in a professional setting even opens a door to the professional scene.
It is important to know that "Jazz&Pop" is a kind of placeholder for all styles outside of classical music, or as it is formulated on the homepage: "Jazz, improvised music, pop, rock, hip hop, electronic music etc." However, jazz and electronic music are probably less popular among the target age group of ten to twenty-year-olds than pop or rock.
As Lukas Hering assures us, we are open to a wide range of styles and are always curious about original projects. For projects that go beyond the scope, there is also the opportunity to take part in the composition or free space competition.
While the number of registrations for the classical music competition has remained stable at a high level for years, there is still free capacity in the jazz & pop competition. For this reason, the competition was evaluated and refined five years after its introduction in 2017. This was reflected in growing registration numbers in the following two years, although these stagnated again from 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
The procedure will be reconsidered for 2024. Regional preliminary rounds in Jazz&Pop in the form of the classical entradas are being considered. About the intensified Cooperation with various music schools should further improve the responsibility and visibility of the competition.
A jazz & pop music competition in the age of inflationary competitions, talent and casting shows? The Swiss Music Competition has drawn on decades of experience in classical music to create a jazz & pop variant that is closer to the participants and the scene than almost any other competition. It is to be hoped that this tool will soon be fully utilized by young musicians.
The registration dates and formalities can be found at
sjmw.ch.
