Teaching

I wrote another statement on the employment practice of German music universities, with special regard to the field of music theory and aural skills where institutions significantly rely on freelance teaching staff. After describing the status quo, I introduce and substantiate two central desiderata: to create more permanent positions, and to lower the rate of adjunct teaching in the abovementioned subjects to a maximum of 10 percent. After that, I outline a scenario of how adjunct lectureships can be applied as a way of early-career faculty development and as a productive stage of postgraduate academic occupation. Looking forward to your thoughts and objective discussions!

Adjunct lectureships in music theory: Read my statement (in German)

The Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie (GMTH) has published a memorandum in the interest of adjunct teaching staff in music theory, which amounts to a considerable part of its members at German music universities. The most important desiderata are an increase of permanent positions and the reduction of classes taught by freelancers to a maximum of 20 percent. I was involved as a co-author in this paper, and more statements are to be issued soon.

After months of absence from my workplace, I was excited to explore the possibilities of the new university campus at Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, where my department has found its new home. Ambience and interior design go very well with the purpose of the recently completed building, which also provides large new spaces for the library and plenty of rehearsal rooms. It’s just a pity that face-to-face teaching is still not possible, and I look forward to meeting my students again in this environment. For now, I turned one of the seminar rooms into a digital workspace from where I delivered my online classes. Here is what it looked like—the technical equipment is quite satisfying, and I can well imagine to use a similar setup for hybrid classes, if needed in the near future.

Glad to be participating in the development of a new website dedicated to the exchange of music theory resources and OER teaching materials. The project is named Musiktheorie Digital and was started by my colleague Krystoffer Dreps. In collaboration with fellow music theorists Magdalena Büttner and Dennis Mayer, we will strive to gather a comprehensive and cross-linked collection of worksheets, syllabi, musical examples, and literature that is searchable by subject, media type, and author. The goal is not to keep one’s digital content to oneself, but to make it widely available to lecturers and students in German-speaking academia, and to motivate others involved in teaching music theory and aural skills to contribute and share their resources. Everybody is welcome to participate, so don’t hesitate to get in touch and open an account!