Tea­ching mu­sic in schools

Get­ting child­ren and young peop­le ex­ci­ted about mu­sic is one of the most be­au­ti­ful and perhaps most de­man­ding edu­ca­tio­nal mis­si­ons of all: ma­king mu­sic tog­e­ther, de­epe­ning un­der­stan­ding, igni­t­ing fire are chal­len­ging and ful­fil­ling tasks in equal mea­su­re.

It is about gi­ving pu­pils an ac­tive ap­proach to mu­sic. How can they de­ve­lop their abi­li­ty to per­cei­ve and crea­te? How do they learn to ex­press them­sel­ves through and about mu­sic and to deal with it in a re­flec­tive way?

Con­cepts for all ty­pes of schools

At the HfMDK we pre­pa­re fu­ture tea­chers in­ten­si­ve­ly for their pro­fes­si­on. Our tea­cher trai­ning cour­ses in mu­sic for pri­ma­ry schools (L1), se­con­da­ry schools (L2), grammar schools (L3) and spe­cial schools (L5 ) are ba­sed on ar­tis­tic, pe­dago­gi­cal and sci­en­ti­fic princi­ples and com­pe­ten­ces for an open, mo­ti­vat­ing, pu­pil- and ac­tivi­ty-ori­en­ted tea­ching of mu­sic. We al­ways com­bi­ne prac­ti­cal to­pics with re­se­arch.

No com­pa­ri­son: ever­y­day stu­dent life at an art aca­de­my

Tea­cher trai­ning stu­dents at the HfMDK move in an en­vi­ron­ment that is free of pi­geon­ho­ling. Clas­si­cal and po­pu­lar mu­sic, his­to­ri­cal and cur­rent mu­si­cal cul­tures, solo work and en­sem­bles, lear­ning and tea­ching me­thods, in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry pro­jec­ts – we ad­dress the en­t­i­re spec­trum of mu­sic. Stu­dents work on their mu­si­cal per­cep­ti­on and their tea­ching skills. They are gi­ven space for re­flec­tion and in­ter­pre­ta­ti­on, and are com­mit­ted to con­tri­bu­ting their to­pics and ta­lents, even bey­ond their own stu­dies – for examp­le in the de­part­ment­al coun­cil, in the AStA and in the stu­dent par­li­a­ment. Open­ness, ex­chan­ge: this ne­ver re­mains just a goal, it shapes us.

What else dis­tin­guis­hes us as an edu­ca­tio­nal de­part­ment of a Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic and Per­forming Arts? In any case, the ab­undance of sub­jec­ts, the high pro­por­ti­on of in­di­vi­du­al les­sons, the many gre­at en­sem­bles foun­ded by stu­dents – and our nu­me­rous coope­ra­ti­ons.