When I learned 40 years ago from Milan Škampa himself, the violist of the world-famous Smetana Quartet, that he had to take antidepressants before every concert, and had been doing so for 20 years, I was deeply shocked. Then I found out about hearing loss among musicians here in Switzerland, which led to some of them giving up their profession - and there was hardly any institution that was committed to such occupational illnesses, even the SUVA hardly offered any help at the time. Today, music training institutions have recognized the problem areas and offer direct assistance and courses, and a wealth of literature is available to raise awareness of the dangers of intensive music practice.

Or so one might think: In the informative concluding observations of this book, however, it must be noted that much is still in its infancy at the conservatoires, that the efforts to bring music physiology and musician's medicine together are based on personal initiatives that are still trying to build networks. Individual universities, including Zurich and Basel, appear to be at the forefront of developments in some areas.

All of the contributions in this book are the results of an interdisciplinary symposium held in Graz in 2013, which focused on music-making by both amateurs and professionals. Practicing techniques, dealing with "stage fright", problems of posture, liberation from rigid rules and many other problem areas are discussed. It should come as no surprise that some contributions are burdened by scientific jargon, as fundamentally new findings had to be linguistically named and systematized in order to be open to interdisciplinary discourse. Only in passing is a comparison drawn with elite sport, because "just like athletes, musicians often push themselves to the limits of their individual sensorimotor and biomechanical capabilities". The "overall physical demands of instrumental playing and singing are generally significantly underestimated. The cardiovascular system shows distinctly 'sporty' reactions when making music ... which is why good physical condition is of great importance".

Young people aiming for a career in music will no longer stumble unsuspectingly into these problem areas, but middle-aged musicians might be shocked to realize how many situations they have somehow "muddled through" themselves.

This anthology Practicing & making music - Texts on instrumental pedagogy offers a wide range of guidance on the current state of research, all possible risks, as well as suggestions for self-monitoring and self-help. However, the recorded round table discussion on the current situation reveals that many places are still a long way from being able to offer sufficient professional advice.

Healthy and motivated music-making. For a lifetime. Musicians' health between dream and reality, edited by Barbara Borovnjak and Silke Kruse-Weber, 297 p., € 16.95, Schott, Mainz 2015, ISBN 978-3-7957-0867-2

Anyone who conducts a children's orchestra is always glad to have done the groundwork. Here comes the series Let's hear it - we play in the children's orchestra just right. The sixth booklet offers three easily set German Dances from D 783 and six Ecossaises from D 529 by Schubert for 2 (3) violins, viola, 2 cellos (double bass) and woodwinds. Everything is practically in 1st position; the third violin and second cello can soon be played even by beginners. Unfortunately, apart from one piece in G major, all the others are in D, which is somewhat uncomfortable for the Bb winds.

Franz Schubert, Little Schubertiade. German Dances and Ecossaises for string orchestra, booklet 7, arranged for children by Katharina Mai-Kümmel; score, EW 716, € 17.50; set of parts, EW 329, € 49.80; Edition Walhall, Magdeburg 2015

According to the BAK press release, the nominees are: Susanne Abbuehl (Lucerne), Laurent Aubert (Geneva), Sophie Hunger (Berlin/Zurich), Philippe Jordan (Paris/Vienna), Tobias Jundt (Berlin), Matthieu Michel (Vevey), Fabian Müller (Zurich), Peter Kernel (Barbara Lehnhoff & Aris Bassetti, Iseo), Nadja Räss (Einsiedeln), Mathias Rüegg (Vienna), Hansheinz Schneeberger (Basel), Colin Vallon (Vevey/Basel), Hans Wüthrich (Arlesheim), Lingling Yu (Puplinge) and Alfred Zimmerlin (Uster).

The Swiss Grand Prix Music is endowed with CHF 100,000, the nominations with CHF 25,000 each. The BAK appoints a team of ten experts each year. This team selects candidates from all regions of Switzerland and from all musical genres to submit to the Federal Jury for Music.

In February 2016, the seven-member jury selected the 15 finalists from the 59 proposed musicians. The winner of the Swiss Grand Prix Music will be announced at the award ceremony. The composition of the jury has changed slightly: Michael Kinzer, who was already a member, has been appointed president following the resignation of Graziella Contratto. Sylwia Zytynska is a new member of the committee.

The city is changing and developing dynamically between preservation and renewal: Old buildings are being demolished, new buildings and modes of transportation are emerging. Public space is being used more, the city is becoming denser and the pace of change is increasing. At the same time, people are looking for identity-forming urban spaces.

In this process of change, noise is at the top of the list of controversial issues. Nevertheless, the acoustic quality of public spaces is often left to chance - in stark contrast to their visual appearance. It is forgotten that acoustics have a direct effect on our well-being, writes the City of Basel.

With a toolbox for the design and improvement of acoustic quality in public spaces, the Basel Office for Environment and Energy (AUE) demonstrates the opportunities offered by building materials, environmental design and building structures to improve acoustic quality in public spaces through urban planning, architectural and design considerations.

The AUE invites experts and interested parties to get to know the toolbox at a specialist afternoon and poster exhibition. In order to make the urban population more aware of their acoustic environment, three sound walks to sound phenomena and islands of tranquillity will also be offered. All events are free of charge.

More info: Day against noise 2016
 

Violinist Agata Nowak was born in Krakow in 1992 and initially studied at the Frédéric Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. She is currently studying for a master's degree at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne in the class of Francesco de Angelis.

Born in 1985, bassoonist Miguel Ángel Pérez Domingo comes from Valencia and studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel with Sergio Azzolini. He previously graduated from the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón with Juan Sapiña.

Trombonist Alexandre Mastrangelo, born in 1989, studied both in his home town of Geneva at the Haute Ecole de Musique with Jacques Mauger and then with Ian Bousfield at the Bern University of the Arts.

As in 2015, the jury is made up of Michael Haefliger, the artistic director of the Lucerne Festival, the composer and conductor Heinz Holliger and several lecturers from the Ensemble intercontemporain.

The Fritz Gerber Foundation has been active since 1999. It supports talented young people with permanent residence in Switzerland. Support is provided in the form of financial contributions to education, training and further education and is intended to make a difference where no public funds are available to achieve the foundation's purpose.

What criteria do critics use to judge an artist's performance? Until now, there has been a lack of corresponding empirical studies. Doctoral student Elena Alessandri and a team at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts have analyzed 845 reviews of Beethoven's piano sonatas that appeared in the British classical music magazine "Gramophone" between 1923 and 2010.

The researchers divided the text volume of over 400,000 words into three categories: The first includes aesthetic criteria such as intensity or complexity. "Critics discuss, among other things, how elegant, rich in contrast or coherent a recording is," says Alessandri. The second category describes the performance: how much technical control the pianist has, how willing to take risks or how carefully he or she plays. Even ethical issues, such as a musician's honesty or integrity, were assessed. Thirdly, it was examined whether the playing fits the musical and cultural context.

Two results were surprising for Alessandri and her team: "Over a period of more than 90 years, the way critics review music has hardly changed." In addition, professional music critics pay much more attention to performance criteria than is usual in examination and competition situations. The analysis of the critics' vocabulary and the evaluation model are intended to provide support for musicians, musicologists and critics. It shows which aspects critics attach more or less importance to and how they assess these aspects in detail.

"The evaluation of a piece of music is very complex and depends on many factors. Knowing and understanding the relevant criteria is enormously valuable for reflecting on our own musical work, but also for the way we listen to, evaluate and describe music," says Alessandri.

The research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation. In a follow-up project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and the University of Sheffield will investigate the function of music criticism (in German and English) in the classical music market. In particular, the question of the extent to which music criticism can influence the perception and purchasing behavior of music lovers and through which linguistic means will be investigated.

More info: journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00391/full
 

The first, introductory day of the symposium, which takes place on May 20 and 21 at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, is dedicated to the relationship between music and philosophy. The day's program includes keynotes by Peter Kivy (Rutgers University) and Paulo de Assis (Oprheus Institute, Ghent) and will conclude with a concert lecture by Albert Frantz (Vienna).

A second day focusing on Paul Klee's work will begin with a keynote speech by Ulrich Mosch (University of Geneva) on the relationship between Pierre Boulez and Paul Klee. A concert by the Vertigo Ensemble will present arrangements by HKB composition students orchestrating Boulez's piano works.

The project "Ontology of Musical Works and Analysis of Musical Practices" deals with the traditional questions of this discipline: What types of objects do musical works belong to and what characteristics (temporality, timelessness, repeatability and so on) do they have? It assumes that the diversity of practice plays a decisive role in the ontological definition of works of art.

More info: www.philosophie.unibe.ch/news/klee2016/index_ger.html

As the organizers announced, 20 categories were held in the classical and drum set disciplines on 16 and 17 April in two different performance venues. The classical categories timpani, xylophone, snare drum and marimba were particularly impressive with their high standard. Conny Steiger, head of the classical music jury, was impressed this year. "From A to Z, the participants performed at a high level over these two days. You could tell that they were superbly prepared. The musicians didn't just play their pieces, they presented them to the audience in their own individual way. It was fascinating to see the high level at which even the youngest Category III musicians performed."

Two new Swiss champions
Léonard Juston was able to defend his Swiss championship title in the Drumset category from 2015. With his first place in the Drumset I category, he scored 136.5 out of a possible 150 points. Léonard Juston also took the title in the Advanced Drummers category this year.
Yanis Wolf from Hildisrieden was crowned Swiss champion for classical records. He played his performance in the marimba III category, making him one of the youngest participants, but he received the highest score of all the marimba, vibraphone and xylophone categories.
Severin Rusch from Gonten AI was the 2016 Swiss Classic Skins Champion. He won the small drum I category.

The Office of Culture and the Music Commission of the Canton of Bern are launching the "Entr'acte" scholarships for the first time. The grants allow professional musicians from the Canton of Bern "individual freedom without production pressure to reflect on their own artistic position and/or to expand their own skills in the artistic-creative, technical or organizational fields".

A total of CHF 40,000 is available for the scholarships every two years. A maximum of 20,000 francs can be awarded. The detailed call for applications and the application conditions can be found on the website of the Office of Culture.

Applications must be submitted in writing by Friday, August 5, 2016 at the latest. The "Entr'acte" grants for musicians replace the previous call for innovative music education projects.

More info: www.erz.be.ch

Marianne Racine began her musical career in Zurich in 1984 at the legendary Kindli. Thanks to her engaging and open manner, a considerable part of the Zurich jazz scene has since benefited from her as a networker and trailblazer, writes the City of Zurich. She is also a role model and excellent motivator for women in the music business.

The singer knows no fear of contact with the most diverse musical styles, the city writes further. For decades, she has combined her own compositions with jazz standards, chansons and folk songs with her own artistic simplicity.

As a lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK, she is a mediator of skills and knowledge. She believes that taking away students' fear of artistic risks is central to her work as a music teacher.

The Kulturlandsgemeinde has existed in Appenzell Ausserrhoden since 2005 and has been run by the cooperative of the same name since 2012. Every year on the first weekend in May, it hosts a festival at a different location in Appenzell Ausserrhoden. 

The concept for the next four years (2016 to 2019) was formulated on the basis of a positive evaluation and experience to date. The two-day Cultural Landscape Community on the first weekend in May will remain unchanged. The cultural landscape community will now be expanded in terms of area. Supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, one of its aims is to promote networking at a national level.

The cantonal funds for the Kulturlandsgemeinde originally came from the so-called Kulturmillion, which was made available for special cultural projects when the National Bank gold was sold in 2006.

More info: www.kulturlandsgemeinde.ch
 

The full-length work with a duration of 75 minutes requires a large symphony orchestra, Armenian folk instruments, a large choir and two speakers in Western and Eastern Armenian. It will be presented in the presence of the Swiss ambassador Lukas Gasser.

The composer Alexander Brincken comes from St. Petersburg, was a member of the USSR Composers' Association from 1977 to 1991 and has lived in Lucerne since 1992. Since August 1993 he has worked as a piano teacher at the music schools in Ennetbürgen and Beckenried and as principal organist at the Catholic parish of St. Martin Buochs (Nidwalden). His compositional output includes four symphonies for large orchestra, a ballet as well as works for string orchestra, chamber music and choral works.
 

The Kappeler/Zumthor duo with pianist Vera Kappeler (born 1974) and drummer Peter Conradin Zumthor (born 1979) is being honored "for their innovative and creative jazz work and their interdisciplinary commitment to various cultural projects". The musician Astrid Alexandre (born 1981) is deemed worthy of support by the city due to "her enchanting voice and her multilingual, self-composed songs". Both the recognition and sponsorship prizes are endowed with CHF 4000 each.

In addition, one recognition prize each will be awarded in Chur to the linguist Oscar Eckhardt and the author and director Felix Benesch. The art and culture space "Kabinett der Visionäre" (Cabinet of Visionaries) will also receive a sponsorship award. The prizes will be presented by City Councillor Doris Caviezel-Hidber at a public ceremony on Wednesday, May 11, 2016.

According to the HKB press release, Neidhart will "play a central role in the conception, organization and implementation of this new preparatory course offered in Bern". As coordinator of the HKB's university courses with the various talent promotion models in the canton of Bern, the grammar schools and music schools (VBMS), she will supervise the individual profiles of young musicians on the final stretch before entering university and thus prepare the next generation for professional studies.

In addition to numerous other musical engagements, Eva-Maria Neidhart was a pianist in the 21st Century Orchestra between 2008 and 2012. She plays in chamber music formations, works as a piano accompanist and teaches children, young people and adults at the Lucerne Music School and privately. She completed an MBA in Berlin and Cambridge (UK) while working.

In 2011, she launched the Talent Week, a one-week masterclass for young string players (aged 8 to 16). She will be holding it for the 6th time in Lucerne in summer 2016. Until May 2016, Eva-Maria Neidhart is working at the Zurich University of the Arts, where she helped set up and organize the ZHdK Pre-College Music.

The exil.arte association, which has been in existence for ten years, has already demonstrated ways of bringing this topic to the public in concerts, seminars, workshops and international collaborations in the past. The director of the center is Gerold Gruber, his deputy Michael Haas.

The mdw's exil.arte Center will be open to domestic and foreign students, artists and scholars to view materials - often in the original - and evaluate them for their research. At the same time, the center is also aimed at publishers, concert organizers, ensembles and opera houses in order to "bring the archived musical sources to life".