According to the city's statement, Tanya Birri's "Female Funk Project" was one of the most important nuclei for today's Zurich music scene. Various successful singers took their first steps there. Up to 200 singing students a week attended Tanya Birri's school. Since the early nineties, she has been doing important mediation work, promoting participation long before this became a central concept in cultural promotion.

The 46-year-old from Zurich is constantly developing and running new cultural community platforms for amateurs, semi-professional singers and soloists. In her current large-scale project "Deine Stadt singt" (Your city sings), the excellent networker leads choirs in Zurich, Baden and Lucerne. Between 100 and 200 singers, adults and children, take to the stage for the choirs' performances, most recently in December 2017 in Zurich's Volkshaus.

The selected works will be performed on May 18 and 19 at Leuk Castle on the occasion of the 12th Forum Wallis International Festival of New Music. The quality of the works by female composers is remarkable, writes the Forum Wallis. With almost 20 percent of the submissions, they make up 35 percent of the works performed.

In the ranks came (in alphabetical order): James Andean (Finland/UK), Siamak Anvari (Iran/NL), Devin Ashton Beaucage (Canada), Manuella Blackburn (UK), Aaron Cassidy (USA/UK), Christopher Chandler (USA), Kyong Mee Choi (Korea/USA), Damian Gorandi (Argentina), Hubert Howe (USA), JoAnne C. Maffia (USA), Nicolas Marty (France), Georgios Nikolopoulos (Greece), Maggi Payne (USA), Sofia Scheps (Uruguay), Nikos Stavropoulos (Greece/UK).

There was a Special Mention for Siamak Anvari (Iran/NL), Ana Dall'Ara-Majek (France/Canada), Carolyn Chen (USA), Juro Kim Feliz (Philippines/Canada), David Gedosh (USA), Carlos Gonzalez Bolanos (Spain), Andrea Guterres (Australia), Linda Leimane (Latvia), Léo Magnien (France), Robert McClure (USA), Alain Michon (France), James O'Callaghan (Janada), Joao Pedro Oliveira (Portugal/Brazil), Marcela Pavia (Argentina/Italy), Tania Rubio (Mexico), Stavros Sakellariou (Greece), Nikos Stavropoulos (Greece/UK), Esteban Zuniga Dominguez (Mexico/France).

The jury consisted of Javier Hagen (Festival Director Forum Wallis, President ISCM Switzerland), Kotoka Suzuki (Arizona State University, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts), Reuben de Lautour (Center for Advanced Studies in Music Istanbul Technical University ITÜ MIAM) and Jaime E. Oliver (Waverly Labs for Computing and Music, New York University NYU).

The European Agenda for Music was developed as part of Europe-wide consultations aimed at the entire music sector. The multi-year process was coordinated by the European Music Council (EMC). A press release from the EMC and the official website explain what the recently published agenda is all about: "The European Agenda for Music (EAM) sets out the needs of the entire music sector and describes priorities for future developments. Music in all its manifestations is defined in the agenda as an enormously valuable asset for Europe, which is why the diverse voices of the music sector are to be channeled with the help of the EAM and brought into a dialogue with political decision-makers.

The EAM is based on five "music rights":

The right for all children and adults
1 to express themselves freely musically
2 Learn musical languages and musical skills
3 engage with music through participation, listening, creation and information

The right for all artists ("musical artists")
4 develop their art and communicate through all media with appropriate means at their disposal
5 receive just recognition and fair remuneration for their work

Since 2012, representatives from all over Europe have worked in seven working groups (creation, education, information/research, media, participation, presentation/live music and production) to crystallize the wording of the agenda from numerous basic documents. Helena Maffli, Beat Santschi and Daniel Kellerhals contributed from Switzerland due to their international commitments. The Swiss Music Council supports the EAM.

The European Agenda for Music, which is currently only available in English, can be consulted digitally at europeanagendaformusic.eu; it can also be downloaded there as a PDF. It is much more than a position paper, but should be seen as a guide for the music sector. The agenda can be adapted to local circumstances and developed further in a continuous process. Everyone is invited to participate. According to EMC, what is possible at European level should also be possible at national, regional or local level.
 

Music lessons are not to be expanded in the canton of Zug, but are to be continued at the current level. According to the canton, this makes it necessary to cut back on the Curriculum 21 template in the subject of music. In return, the Board of Education will be able to maintain a remedial lesson, which it considers to be "an important tool in the hands of the class teacher".

The canton will also incorporate its own principles of "assessment and support" into the curriculum. In addition, an elective subject "Geometric Drawing", which is not included in the curriculum, will be added, which has been advocated by the canton's trade and industry, among others.

Following the decision on the weekly timetable a year ago, the Board of Education adopted the Zug version of Curriculum 21. The current curricula will be discontinued as of July 31, 2019.

What kind of access do young people have to art today? And how can they be taught to approach music, opera and dance as creatively as possible? The network's "Shifting Perspectives" conference, which will be hosted by the Konzert Theater Bern from April 19 to 21, 2018, will explore these questions.

Reseo was founded in 1996 and brings together professional artists from 25 countries and 90 organizations from the fields of opera, music and education. The network's conferences take place every six months at different European cultural institutions, and in April 2018 they will be held at the Konzert Theater Bern.

The conference is primarily aimed at teachers interested in culture who would like to find out about and exchange information on current projects and experiences in music and dance education for young people. During the conference, those responsible at Europe's leading theaters and orchestras will present their current educational projects and ideas. Music and dance education projects from the Canton of Bern will also be presented.

Website: reseo.org

Marianne and Wenzel Grund have been treating and supporting musicians with physical, emotional or mental problems in their HPS practice for over 20 years. Most of their clients have gone through a veritable odyssey from specialist to specialist without really making any progress. Yet it is a reality that many stage artists and educators today feel the need to get to the bottom of things and solve their problems in a sustainable way. This is why we need new, contemporary therapy and counseling services that follow the economy of nature.

The wide-ranging methodological expertise of Wenzel and Marianne Grund has resulted in a synthesis of music kinesiology, hypnotherapy and breathing energetics over many years. Building on their wealth of experience as lecturers and knowledge gained from daily practice, they developed a comprehensive counseling and therapy concept based on natural laws for musician-specific topics.

Her new, carefully planned course to become a "Holistic Artist Coach" provides course participants with sound, practice-oriented training for holistic and professional artist counseling with therapy services.

This effective and result-oriented form of counseling and therapy follows a clearly structured and reproducible process, which is why it is also easy to learn.

In the music profession in particular, people are increasingly focused on producing and delivering a performance rather than engaging in an artistic process. This turns you into a perfect copy of a machine. A problem that sooner or later takes a physical toll. Constant tension and hardening set in or we develop all kinds of allergies and unfavorable behavioral patterns.

In order to understand how these complaints arise, you first have to realize:
Every problem begins in the subtle area at the meridian level, called the "conscious level" in music kinesiology. If the root cause problem is not resolved at this level, i.e. looked at, accepted and eliminated, it sinks to the "subconscious level". Here it manifests itself as a chronic malaise.

If the issue is not uncovered and resolved in the subconscious, it sinks even deeper to the "unconscious level". Here at the body level, we perceive the conflict as pain, for example. Pain of any kind is a signal from the body: "Hey, I have a problem, please help me."

If we are deaf or blind to these signs or suppress them with medication etc., then the problem manifests itself as negative cell information that generates all kinds of symptoms.

If we are talking about back tension, for example, Holistic Artist Coaching first asks or tests: What was the trigger in the subtle, energetic area? Because only there can healing begin. It is not the injection, the medication or the massage that fixes the root cause of the problem, but a change in thinking. This rethinking never comes from outside, but from within. Positive impulses can undoubtedly come from the outside, but healing is something that everyone creates themselves.

Problems, regardless of their nature (with the exception of external influences such as an accident or poisoning), always arise somewhere in a person's subconscious. External symptoms such as phobias, depression, asthma, migraines, cancer, burn-out, irritable bowel syndrome etc. are usually just a sign that something has not been stored correctly in the subconscious.

In the "Holistic Artist Coach" training modules, you learn step by step how to uncover the conflicts behind an obvious problem/symptom, to understand the person holistically and to activate their individual healing potential.

Holistic Artist Coaching is suitable for all musicians who are determined to make a change in their lives, have the courage to take a close look and strive for an optimal quality of life.

After successfully completing the course (modules I to VI), participants receive a certificate which entitles them to conduct individual sessions as a "Holistic Artist Coach" and to run their own practice.

In 2013, the St.Gallen band Hopes & Venom came second in the bandXost final in the Grabenhalle. It was there that founder Vanessa Engensperger (born in 1990) laid the foundations for wanting to make a living as a musician. Since then, she has continued to develop the band, networked in the local music scene and enjoys great recognition in her genre.

The music is a mix of neofolk, metal influences and dreamy rock. Vanessa Engensperger creates unconventional sounds, packs them into songs and thus creates music that opens up unfamiliar listening worlds to a cross-genre audience. Performances at the Open Air St.Gallen, the Weihern Open Air Festival and the Bergmal Festival in Zurich are among the most important stops for Hopes & Venom, who originally performed as a duo. In the last three years, a sound engineer and two St.Gallen dancers have regularly joined the band to support and enrich the live performances.

The only work contribution in the music category gives Vanessa Engensperger the opportunity to further develop her band project, expand the live shows and produce more elaborate videos. According to the city, this will bring her closer to her goal of creating a combination of different disciplines such as music, dance, video and light with Hopes & Venom.

Female violinists are not uncommon in public concert life, in contrast to female conductors and composers, for example. They perform as soloists, and they are more numerous in chamber music ensembles and orchestras when the audition for the positions behind the curtain takes place. Is there a need for a gender-differentiated historiography for female violinists after all?

The title of this book, ... like a man with a wooden spoongives an idea: Around 1800, a female violinist did not have the same opportunities as a male violinist. Countless restrictions under the pretext of morality - large physical movements, for example, were frowned upon - excluded women from playing the violin. The author Volker Timmermann breaks down the numerous social norms of bourgeois society that determined the choice of instrument, training and professional practice. These norms led to a divide between women and men, which in the case of female violinists manifested itself in the lack of opportunities for exchange with composers, as even a respected virtuoso was not considered an equal partner for a composer. Another limiting factor was the emergence of public concert criticism in the press, which in the 19th century judged whether female violinists played the role ascribed to them by society. The reservations were reflected in the form of massive gaps in the historiography. Using rich source material from various countries, the author shows how much elbow room - both literally and figuratively - female violinists enjoyed in different parts of Europe and how, even a hundred years after Antonio Vivaldi's death, Italian women in particular benefited from the fame of his Venetian violin school and the fact that female violin virtuosos were taken for granted. Particularly noteworthy are Timmermann's analyses of pictorial representations of female violinists and their instruments, which show the discrepancy between social expectations of moral movements on the one hand and the technical demands of violin playing on the other. The biographies of four hitherto barely documented female musicians complete the portrayal of the professional conditions of female violinists around 1800.

The subtle power mechanisms that have determined the professional opportunities of female violinists for 200 years still resonate in today's musical life. After all, how often is a sixty-year-old female violinist heard as a soloist in the concert hall today? Exactly. It is not only the audience's ear that determines the continuation of a female musician's career. This study explains why. It is aimed at both academics (interpretation research, historical musicology, gender studies) and music lovers who want to question their listening and viewing habits in the concert hall.

Volker Timmermann: "... like a man with a wooden spoon". Violinists around 1800, series of publications of the Sophie Drinker Institute, edited by Freia Hoffmann, 298 p., ca. Fr. 35.00, BIS-Verlag der Carl-von-Ossietzky-Universität Oldenburg, 2017, ISBN 978-3-8142-2360-5

"12 imaginative folk song arrangements for piano 4 hands" is the subtitle of the booklet Across Europe of the composer and teacher Luis Zett. His many publications are as diverse and multifaceted as his biography. For this collection, he has tapped into the diversity of European folk music and the melodic richness of the folk song. Whether the so-called "gypsy scale" and unusual time signatures (e.g. 7/8 or constant changes) in the Slavic area or the different basic moods from rather melancholic to cheerful and funny depending on the region: all these peculiarities make the pieces colorful and varied.

The four-hand arrangements are carefully and finely crafted. They surprise again and again with colourful harmonizations and rhythmic variety. I particularly like the "intermezzi" inserted between the verses. In these passages, he takes up melodic and rhythmic elements from the songs and dances and plays around with them freely. The pieces are of medium difficulty and make roughly equal demands in both parts. In my opinion, they are therefore very suitable for bringing together two pupils with similar abilities for a musically and pianistically stimulating discussion. I think it's a shame that there are no fingerings. However, this could be a worthwhile learning area in lessons. The comments on the individual pieces are helpful for understanding.

Luis Zett: Across Europe. 12 imaginative folk song arrangements for piano four hands, EB 8857, € 20.90, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2016

The advance praise was immense, ranging from "star composer", "exceptional", "innovative" to "creative and groundbreaking". And the artistic director of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra (LSO), Numa Bischof-Ullmann, who was jointly responsible for his orchestra's "education project", said confidently: "I am proud that we were able to win David Lang for the joint project", because he is a true world star.

Something very special was planned for the 50th anniversary of the Kantonsschule Alpenquai Luzern (KSA). The well-known American composer David Lang (*1957) wanted to create a work that would involve not only the orchestra but also the 1500 pupils of the school as well as the entire audience at the premiere venue, the concert hall of the Culture and Convention Center Lucerne (KKL). "A concert in which the audience becomes a protagonist is an experiment," explained KSA Vice Principal Stefan Graber.

Graber and his colleague Stefano Nicosanti were responsible for coordination: "Kanti Alpenquai is daring to experiment in the knowledge that this is a central task of grammar school education: an open, curious approach to the unfamiliar and new." He also emphasized the valuable collaboration with the LSO: "Both parties bring tradition, innovation and contemporaneity into a critical and enriching conversation."
 

High expectations were raised. Unfortunately, this is not always an advantage, as harmony and understanding at the premiere. Even the arrival in front of the KKL did not bode well, as cantonal students stood there discussing the preparations: "That was definitely for the foxes," was the unanimous opinion.

Before the performance, the audience, who were involved, had to practise first. The instruction by conductor André de Ridder and co-conductor Elena Kholodova, choir director at the cantonal school, lasted no less than 50 minutes. Quite a long time, considering that there were 750 Kanti students in the audience who had already practiced in the presence of David Lang days before.

The work is in three parts: In the first part, entitled "In the forest", the audience had to whisper the alphabet, while the orchestra played soft tremolo strings in the style of minimal music and cheering bells rang. Then horns joined the fray, while the audience was asked to answer questions about their origins. Under the guidance of de Ridder and Kholodova, quiet murmuring was at least slightly varied with crescendos and decrescendos.

It continued in this style. In the second part, the audience had to "sing" a "melody" consisting of just eight notes played by the orchestra "as in a carnival", and at the end there was a murmur of Esperanto words, a language that everyone understands. However, the utopian content and didactic orientation of the work came to nothing.

You could see students chatting with each other, schoolgirls fiddling with their cell phones or looking bored into the KKL circle. It was obvious that the young people were underchallenged. The evening lasted far too long, as Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 8 was played after the obligatory speeches, but only at 9.45 pm, when the audience's concentration had long since been exhausted.
 

Photo: Benno Bühlmann

September 5, 2017, students of the Kantonsschule Alpenquai Luzern interview David Lang in English.

Not everything failed. This is particularly true of the wide-ranging preparation. Students performed the work with Elena Kholodova on December 3, 2017 Just by David Lang from the movie Youth on. Encounters with the composer were also part of the overall project: four cantonal students were able to interview him in English at a podium.

The in-depth approach to Dvořák's Symphony No. 8 was also interesting. Pupils specializing in music were allowed to be present from the very first orchestra rehearsal. This resulted in interesting texts that were printed in the concert program. Music teacher Martin Bucheli also worked on the 4th movement of the work with a school ensemble, whereby the score, which actually requires an 80-piece orchestra, had to be reduced to 16 parts. Bucheli writes about this in the program booklet: "Although all the pupils attend instrumental lessons, there is no one who plays the bassoon, oboe, viola, piccolo flute, trombone or trumpet. Instead, there are several singers and pianists in the class. So I had to replace the missing original instruments with electric pianos or synthesizers." The result was obviously worth listening to, at least Bucheli was "amazed at how close we got to the original sound".
 

Photo: Markus Wild

Music teacher Martin Bucheli experimentally explores Dvořák's 8th Symphony with his class, with each pupil playing a voice adapted for this self-experiment on their usual instrument - a powerful shared musical experience in the sense of "harmony and understanding".

At first glance, the landscape format of this book is confusing - is it a picture book? And then someone writes a construction manual for clarinet and saxophone reeds, when today more and more musicians are switching to plastic reeds!

The clarinet reed - The saxophone reed - Building instructions by Hanstoni Kaufmann, the sequel to his first book Correct clarinet reeds, is indeed a picture book - but also much more! Illustrated with wonderful photographs, it explains everything to do with cane, from cultivation, extraction, storage, preparation and selection to material science. This is followed by instructions on how the author produces ready-to-play reeds in twelve steps using his method, which has been tried and tested and further developed over many years. All steps are described in detail and richly illustrated so that they can be followed independently. At the end of the practice-oriented book there is an overview of the materials required, including sources of supply for cane and tools. Hanstoni Kaufmann has recorded his knowledge and findings from years of experience in a detailed and inspiring manner.

This book is highly recommended to all clarinettists and saxophonists - whether they make their own reeds or just want to learn more about this important element of the instrument. And also to players of plastic reeds. - The fantastic pictures of the natural material and the craftsmanship may encourage them to return to the natural product ...

Hanstoni Kaufmann: Das Klarinettenblatt - Das Saxophonblatt - Bauanleitung, 87 p., Fr. 41.00, Finkenkruger Musikverlag, Falkensee 2017, ISBN 978-3-9815965-3-3, mhtk@bluewin.ch

Since the copyright to the compositions of Josef Suk (1874-1935) has expired, his weighty scores (above all the symphonic poem Asrael) can at least be found again on freshly produced CDs - a phenomenon that has also been seen with other masters in times of tight budgets. However, this release also makes it possible to publish new, corrected editions of the scores, which are then usually advertised as "Urtext", taking into account all available sources. This is also the case with Suk's meditation on the centuries-old, music-historically significant Wenceslas chorale.
With a length of 85 bars, a playing time of approx. 7 to 8 minutes and its devoutly sublime form, it represents a welcome addition to the repertoire both in the original version for string quartet and in the version for string orchestra, which was written only a little later, but also requires an explanatory classification - after all, the movement was intended in 1914, with all the historical implications of the melody, as a Czech-national addition (if not a rebuttal) to the imperial anthem, which had been compulsory in the whole of Slovakia since the outbreak of war and with which every concert had to be opened. An enlightened audience can deal with this; however, the work is still not protected from being appropriated by diehards.

Josef Suk: Meditation on the old Bohemian chorale "St. Wenzeslaus" for string orchestra op. 35a, edited by Zdeněk Nouza, score BA 9584, € 17.95, Bärenreiter, Prague 2017

id., for string quartet, pocket score TP 583, € 10.50

The piano cycle completed in spring 1912 In the fog (V mlhách) is Janáček's last major piano work and probably also the one in which the influence of musical impressionism is most clearly felt. A few weeks earlier, the composer had heard the pianist Maria Dvořáková perform Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau. Is it a coincidence that the same pianist also played the successful premiere of Janáček's new piano cycle at the end of 1914?

After the work had disappeared from the stage for some time, the pianist Václav Štěpán took a close look at it and encouraged Janáček to make some changes and additions as part of a new edition. The new edition published by G. Henle-Verlag, which was supervised by Jiří Zahrádka, is based on this revised version. A few notational inconsistencies have been carefully corrected and the music has been kept as clear as possible - as we have come to expect from Henle. Above all, the source situation at the end of the third piece now seems to have been clarified: until now, several versions have competed ad libitum for the favor of performers. The fingerings by Dénes Várjon also contribute to the clarity. They usefully supplement those of the revised edition of 1924.

As can be seen from Jiří Zahrádka's preface, which is well worth reading, Ludvík Kundera, a pupil of Janáček and father of the well-known novelist Milan Kundera, was originally supposed to be responsible for the premiere. His most famous novel The unbearable lightness of being was congenially filmed by Philip Kaufman at the end of the 1980s. Isn't it fitting that a passage from "In the Fog" plays the main musical role in this film?

Leoš Janáček: Im Nebel (V mlhách), Urtext edited by Jiří Zahrádka, fingering by Dénes Várjon, HN 1247, € 12.50, G. Henle, in collaboration with Universal Edition, Munich 2017