One of my most formative teachers who influentially shaped my way of thinking about music and art is the music theorist, double bassist, mathematician at heart, and philanthropist Stefan Prey. At the end of the current semester he will take his leave after four decades of teaching at Universität der Künste Berlin. His career has been a silent and dedicated one: never striving for publicity or reputation, but constantly focusing on the subject and the students’ interests in a way I have not experienced anywhere else. The appearance of his website tells more about him and his attitude than I can explain here. This is just to say that my approach to teaching and my general understanding of how music can be perceived and comprehended owes quite a lot to Stefan and his paragon. So I am grateful and humbled to contribute my bit to the online festschrift for his 65th birthday—an analytical paper on the music of Amy Beach, which is accessible here. Thank you so much!
Diversifying (the History of) Music Theory
Only now I read Alexander Rehding‘s blogpost series »Can the History of Music Theory Be Decentered« in full length (original version here). The text originally dates from 2020, but was recently translated into German and published on the musiconn.kontrovers blog (see here). The article leaves me intrigued, deeply inspired, and a bit perplexed. Questioning the canon of Western music and theory is one thing (which I think I started a while ago), but taking the next step and setting out to diversify curricula and course content still poses a remarkable challenge for someone rooted in an essentially non-diverse academic environment. Well, I guess the process needs to commence in the heads, and takes some time to materialise. I’m on my way.
Board Elections at DTKV Berlin
A Capricious New Duo
Finally finished engraving my recent composition, Capriccio spirituoso for recorder (or flute) and piano, a piece that seeks to combine traditional harmony with a somewhat sophisticated approach to motivic work and form. The rather ambitious solo part was commissioned and supervised by my dear colleague Simon Borutzki, whose appealing virtuosity I will be fortunate enough to rely on for the forthcoming premiere. Everybody else is invited to access and check out the sheet music via IMSLP.
Apt Description, Vague Strategies
There is a recent article by Christian Höppner, chairman of Deutscher Kulturrat and Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband and general secretary of Deutscher Musikrat, providing a brief analysis of the state of freelance musicianship in Germany and its many structural problems—the first and foremost of which is the precarious income level of the protagonists. The article was published in the journal Kulturpolitische Mitteilungen and is available here in full text.
Höppner sketches some very general approaches to facing the current challenges, but he remains vague in offering specific recommendations for action. In particular, it is unclear how to achieve higher social recognition for working in the cultural sector, and how to avert the general danger of de-professionalisation as delineated by the author. Furthermore, Höppner claims that access to the Künstlersozialkasse should be facilitated and that the category of unemployment needs to be redefined with regard to freelance musicians, but these steps require political initiatives that are yet to be launched. The by far most important desideratum seems to be a general fee scale for freelance musicians and educators, which Höppner acknowledges but doesn’t elaborate on how to establish and enforce new regularia, and how to ensure that these cannot be evaded by both customers and contractors (which is a serious issue with the existing recommendations of minimum fees). In sum, the article provides little more than a problem description, while strategies and possible solutions remain to be found.