Innovation and music school - how does that work?

Becoming a futurologist

We live in a (working) world that is constantly changing and evolving, and closing ourselves off from it is difficult, impossible and also unnecessary - this was the basic tenor of the speakers. Raphael Gielgen encouraged people to take on the role of a futurologist in order to actively shape the future. It is worth developing new skills and reflecting on them. He sees the power of stories and rituals as extremely important, as they can help to create a desirable future for everyone. He sees particular potential in music to create such a connection.

Barbara Josef also emphasizes the power of the "we": "The challenge is to find a strong we in an individualized world." It's about cultivating shared values. The era of innovation and individuality is over - we are living in a time of omnicrises and resilience and teamwork are more important than ever.

Preserve and optimize - and reduce if necessary

School development specialist Stephan Huber presented his BIO+ approach. "Schools need innovation," he said at the start. The focus is on the question of strategy. The BIO+ approach proposes finding a balance between "preserving, innovating, optimizing" and at the same time taking care of existing resources by reducing or suspending what proves to be costly and of little use. It is also worthwhile to go on a treasure hunt instead of looking for mistakes - based on the realization that the work is never finished and that it therefore makes sense to focus on positive and pleasing things. Finally, he wished the principals present a lot of courage: "If you run a school, you have to make courageous decisions," he said, "and I wish you a good hand in doing so."

AI and music lessons

How has artificial intelligence developed? What can artificial intelligence do today - and how can we use it? After an outline of the history of artificial intelligence by Gilbert Nouno (Haute école de musique de Genève), Richard Eastes, who supported the VMS in the development of the digitization concept, gave specific tips on the use of ChatGPT. For example, he pointed out how important prompt engineering is: AI can only respond helpfully if it is given a role, a tonality, a mission and a format. In music lessons, both see four tasks for AI: as a reference work, as an assistant, as a sparring partner and as a ghostwriter. These include concrete applications such as AI playbacks, the compilation of exercises or a practice plan.

Finally, they had AI summarize the presentation in the form of a song. ChatGPT wrote the lyrics and the music tool Suno composed the music in the desired styles of trash metal and reggae. Excerpt from the generated lyrics: "Algorithms dance through the melody, giving the music new magic."

Building the music school of the future from Lego

Finally, the participants worked on design thinking with the Zukunftslabor team from Baden. "We want to get started quickly," said Simona Hofmann - identifying needs, developing, implementing and refining ideas and prototypes. In four different workshops, the participants dealt with questions relating to the music school as an institution, as well as composing music with the help of AI. "It was great to build with Lego again," said one participant in the Lego Serious Play workshop, where the ideal music school was built and discussed - and, as in the other rooms, there was a lot of laughter. Finally, the ideas for completely new events/concerts and target groups developed within a very short space of time, and especially the AI songs created by several groups, were met with applause.

Two main prizes for inclusive projects

Ten innovative projects from Swiss music schools presented themselves to a jury and the public with videos and live interviews as part of the Good Practice competition. The Münchenstein Music School took second prize with its project "Ringing schools", and the audience award went to the Alpnach Music School with the "Music School Plus" school development project. The jury unanimously decided to award not just one, but two first prizes - one to the Music school Oberemmental with "The Happy Fridays" and the other to the École de jazz et de musique actuelle EJMA Valais "Musician-ne au-delà du handicap" (detailed report in the next issue).

Live on air: the radio bus

A class from the cantonal school in Baden went live on air with the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation's radio bus and asked the guests exciting questions. The radio bus will be visiting music schools throughout Switzerland this year - a campaign as part of the association's 50th anniversary. The latter was heralded with a special highlight, namely the unveiling of the VMS's refreshed visual identity. The new logo plays with the visual representation of frequencies and the colors are fresh and cheerful - a first bang in the anniversary year.