A new cultural-political statement has been issued by my professional body of musicians, Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband Berlin. The most important topics are fair payment for freelancers (see our new fee guidelines) and future challenges for music school administrations as a result of a court decision on the social security of freelance teaching staff that are integrated in the business. We will be in touch with the Berlin Senate administration for that matter. Please continue reading here.
Streaming Release #2
My second streaming release is out! Take a listen to the song Du schlank und rein wie eine Flamme, an excerpt from my Three Cantilenas on poems by Stefan George, composed in 2001, and recorded by Anna Hofmann and myself in 2004 at the Brahms hall of Hochschule für Musik Detmold. Free sheet music is available here. #streamscometrue
Landesmusikrat Board Candidacy
I am running for a position as board member of the Berlin music council, Landesmusikrat Berlin, with the intention of advocating for freelancers in music and contributing to issues of professional music education. If you represent an organisation that is a member of the Landesmusikrat, I’d be grateful for your support!
New Plugins on Open Music Academy
I am excited to announce that my digital teaching fellowship at Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf has yielded some results. The public platform Open Music Academy, currently run as a project of Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, now features four new plugins that allow persistent user entries within tutorials, introducing functions such as form fields, file upload, and a customisable whiteboard. These plugins are available and ready for use within virtual learning rooms and collaborative environments, and also include a commentary function for assessment and individual feedback. Please feel free to create an account and give it a try!
It is my hope that these plugins will be applied with benefit for designing modular tutorials, teaching materials, and online assignments. Many thanks to the developers, Andreas Helmberger and Adriana Luchian, for their proficient coding, to Ulrich Kaiser for his most valuable support, and to some of my colleagues from the RSH music theory faculty who supervised and tested the new features.
Streams Come True
I decided to publish a selection of my compositions on commercial streaming platforms—not to earn a profit, of course, as I don’t expect any significant revenues, but to make my music more widely available. My first release is a short solo piece that I wrote and recorded some twenty years ago: Introduction and Waltz for piano, a capricious miniature inspired by Brecht’s Threepenny Opera. If you like it, please add the piece to your libraries or playlists, and consider following or sharing my artist page. Your support is much appreciated!