"As a teacher, I try to inspire a lifetime of learning and discovery."

When does a gift be­co­me a ta­lent? And what has to hap­pen for it to evol­ve into an ar­tis­tic de­ve­lop­ment? A re­flec­tion by Prof. Ta­bea Zim­mer­mann.

The­re is pro­bab­ly no bet­ter task than to ac­com­pa­ny high­ly ta­len­ted young mu­si­ci­ans on their way. The ques­ti­on of what has to hap­pen for a ta­lent to be­co­me a true ar­tis­tic per­so­na­li­ty is not easy to ans­wer; the fac­tors that can play a role are too va­ried. In ad­di­ti­on to a strong love of mu­sic, sen­si­ti­ve ears, a de­si­re to dis­co­ver and learn, a quick per­cep­ti­on, a good mix­tu­re of ad­ap­ta­bi­li­ty and stubborn­ness, joy in ma­king mu­sic tog­e­ther, fle­xi­bi­li­ty in the fin­gers, joy in prac­ticing and the abi­li­ty to re­co­gni­ze op­por­tu­nities that pre­sent them­sel­ves, what is nee­ded above all is re­co­gni­ti­on and en­cou­ra­ge­ment from em­pa­the­tic and in­spi­ring tea­chers as well as from the fa­mi­ly and school en­vi­ron­ment. Im­pe­ding fac­tors such as ex­ces­si­ve ex­pec­ta­ti­ons, mis­gui­ded stri­ving for per­fec­tion, envy and lack of un­der­stan­ding from others, im­pa­ti­ence, ex­ces­si­ve de­mands and exa­g­ge­ra­ted self-cen­te­red­ness must be ba­lan­ced out.

As a tea­cher, I try to ba­lan­ce the stron­ger ta­lents and the less strong qua­li­ties first and to sti­mu­la­te lifel­ong lear­ning and dis­co­very. I place gre­at trust in the young peop­le to be able to in­te­gra­te al­rea­dy exis­ting and new­ly lear­ned skills into their in­di­vi­du­al per­so­na­li­ties and to grow from them. They are en­cou­ra­ged to try things out, to make mista­kes and learn from them, to re­co­gni­ze and de­ve­lop their own po­ten­ti­al. I see per­for­mance op­por­tu­nities on a li­mi­ted sca­le as a gre­at chan­ce to test the cou­ra­ge of one's own in­ter­pre­ta­ti­on and com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on skills. In do­ing so, I find it im­portant to gather only good ex­pe­ri­en­ces if pos­si­ble and not to take the less good ones too se­rious­ly.

Be­cau­se of my own ex­pe­ri­en­ces as a high­ly gifted young per­son - who of­ten did not 'be­lon­g', who had to find and pave her own way due to a lack of role mo­dels in her so­ci­al en­vi­ron­ment - I can of­fer ad­vice bey­ond the in­stru­men­tal les­sons and give en­cou­ra­ge­ment when cri­ses ari­se. I re­mem­ber my own tea­chers as good role mo­dels. They gave me a wealth of skills that I could ex­pand, ques­ti­on and de­ve­lop wi­t­hout ever ha­ving to 'era­se' anything. I bring this ap­proach to my work at the HfMDK and am hap­py to be part of this uni­ver­si­ty com­mu­ni­ty.

Sin­ce this fall, I have been men­to­ring two young vio­lists as part of the Young Aca­de­my, and I would also like to streng­t­hen the cham­ber mu­sic bet­ween the young peop­le from the midd­le voice. To pa­ra­phra­se Ro­bert Schu­mann, "Sing di­li­gent­ly in the choir, na­me­ly midd­le voices. This makes you mu­si­cal."