All articles marked in blue can be read directly on the website by clicking on them. All other content can only be found in the printed edition or in the e-paper.

A reason to celebrate?
What motivates the managers of Swiss music institutions
around their anniversaries? A small survey

Anniversaries and no end
Essay on the suffering of memorial days

De Paris à La Chaux-de-Fonds : la Fête de la musique
Entretien avec Eric Tissot, president de la Fete de la musique de La Chaux-de-Fonds de 1996 a 2004

RESONANCE

L'Opéra de Fribourg fête son anniversaire avec " Carlotta "

Farewell, oleander and fig tree - Symposium on the 20th anniversary of the death of János Tamás

"I call it courage" - Second edition of the Femmusicale festival

The power of images - the power of sound - Daniel Mouthons Liquid Crystal Display

The deliberate, the curious, the scattered - Donaueschingen Music Days

Experimental zones - 28th Days of New Music in Weimar

Politics: The 80 million Basel deal

Carte blanche with Ilona Schmiel

Reviews - New releases
 

CAMPUS

HEMU, CL et EJMA : vers un pôle d'excellence de toutes les musiques

Le souffle, source de musique et de vie ? Une méthode respiratoire

Important impulses for music lessons in the thirties
Unabridged article by Bernhard Billeter

Much achieved and much more to come - 40 years of VMS
Speech by Helena Maffli
History of the VMS

5th International Church Music Congress in Bern

Church music competition: Interview with Beat Schäfer

Reviews of study and teaching literature - New releases

klaxon Children's page 

 

FINAL

Riddle - Pia Schwab is looking for

Here you can download the current issue. Please enter the search term "e-paper" in the print archive. 

Efforts to improve music teaching in schools, music schools and private lessons are old and still relevant today. Founded in 1893, the Swiss Music Pedagogical Association (SMPV) has, according to its statutes, strived from the beginning to the present day to, among other things, "unite ... professionally trained and music-pedagogically active professional musicians ... for the purpose of promoting music education in Switzerland". 102 years ago, it introduced strict diploma examinations for this purpose, a training program that is continued today at the Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences. The organization of congresses, lectures and further education courses in Switzerland flourished in the 1930s. 

At the same time, such efforts were supported by the institution now known as the International Society for Music Education (ISME). Under the leadership of Leo Kestenberg, it held its first congress in Prague in 1936, the second in Paris in 1937 and the third in Switzerland in 1938. The accomplished concert pianist Leo Kestenberg (1882-1962), born in Rosenberg, Hungary (now Slovakia), had been involved in social democratic educational work since 1900. This was a matter close to his heart and he organized concerts and events for the general public in Berlin, where he taught piano at various conservatories. In 1918, after the end of the war, he was appointed music officer in the Prussian Ministry of Science, Art and National Education and continued to teach piano, from 1921 as a professor at the Hochschule für Musik. His book Music education and music cultivation of 1921 attracted a great deal of attention. Many of the ministry's decrees on music education in and out of school originated from his pen. He organized annual Reich School Music Weeks until he was abruptly retired in 1932 (as a socialist and Jew even before the seizure of power!) and emigrated to Prague. In 1938, he fled to Paris, where he received an appointment to Tel Aviv.

It was an eventful time. I take the following from the dissertation The life and work of Margit Varrós by Ruth-Iris Frey-Samlowski (my review of this book can be found at here). The Prague Congress was boycotted by the Axis powers Germany and Italy as well as Russia. 700 delegates and 21 government representatives were invited, from Switzerland Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Walter Simon Huber (the father of Klaus Huber), the director of the Zurich Conservatory Carl Vogler and Willy Schuh, who wrote a detailed report for the Swiss Music Newspaper in which he described his goal as In it, he described his goal as "a departure towards the musical activation of the whole people in contrast to the mere pleasurable passivity of a limited group of listeners and the mechanization and flattening of musical life". Margit Varró had missed this event for unknown reasons, but was invited by Leo Kestenberg to a lecture in Prague on "Musical talent and personal habitus" and a radio broadcast in Holy Week 1937. He received them personally, showed them around a large music library with teaching materials that was being set up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the Foreign Minister Dr. Kamil Krofta was personally involved in Kestenberg's work) and the Smetana Museum. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship that was to be decisive for them. Her performances were well received by numerous listeners and in the press.

Just one month later, she traveled to Paris, where the second congress took place at the same time as the world exhibition "Art et Technique". Her lecture "La réceptivité musicale de l'enfant et l'adolescent" on a psychologically substantiated basis, from infant and toddler onwards, published in French and Hungarian, aroused great interest. This congress, with significantly fewer delegates, namely 95 from 14 countries, was also boycotted by Germany, but was widely reported in the international press. Illustrious speakers from Switzerland, who were temporarily resident there at the time, Walter Damrosch, Ernst Krenek, Alois Hába, Curt Sachs and Jaroslav Krika, as well as the following Swiss: W. S. Huber, who worked in the Swiss Music Newspaper and in the Swiss music education journals and Hugo Keller, who contributed an "exposé". "Concerts for young people with age-appropriate mediation" was the main topic of the congress, which interested Margit Varró all the more as she had already organized countless concerts in Hungary herself. Ernst Schelling, who had conducted the New York Philharmonic's "Young People's Concerts" from 1924, Robert Mayer from London and the German-American Walter Damrosch reported on their experiences in concerts and on the radio, while the quarter-tone composer Hába and Krenek were particularly committed to contemporary music.

Varró had already visited Switzerland before 1930. A surviving photograph bears witness to this. In 1936, she traveled to Bern, probably for a teaching demonstration. In attendance was the well-known pianist, music teacher and musicologist Eduard Rüfenacht, whose book The purpose and task of music educationFrancke-Verlag Bern, included it in the last, expanded edition of her textbook in 1958. In 1937, on her trip to Paris, she gave a lecture to the Basel SMPV local group on the same topic as previously in Prague, with a detailed discussion in the Swiss music education journals M. W., probably Walter Müller von Kulm. Finally, in 1938, she stayed longer in Switzerland before taking part in the third International Congress, which lasted a week (June 23 to 28). Prior to this, the date is not known, she gave a lecture on "L'enseignement vivant du piano" at the Ecole normale de Musique in Paris and two lectures in Brussels on June 20 on "Le talent musical" and "Les nouveaux buts de l'enseignement musical".

Unfortunately, no more programs or lists of participants from the Swiss congress can be found, a fact that suggests little archival care in the SMPV. However, Ruth-Iris Frey-Samlowski has succeeded in reconstructing a detailed program from press reports in the 14 participating countries (including this time, in neutral Switzerland, also Germany!), which is still so interesting today with its approximately 50 papers and presentations that it is offered here in abbreviated form:

Zurich, June 23 and 24

• Greetings in the auditorium of the Höhere Töchterschule: Fritz Enderlin, Rector; Jaroslav Jindra, Ministerial Secretary, Prague; Leo Kestenberg, Prof. Dr. Antoine-E. Cherbuliez, President SMPV Zurich chapter; Prof. Dr. med. Miroslav Seemann, Charles University, Prague.
• Presentations: Prof. Dr. Heinrich Hanselmann, Zurich, "Music education and curative education";
• Prof. Dr. György Révész, Amsterdam, "The psychobiological significance of music education for the blind and deaf-mute";
• Prof. Dr. M. Seemann, "The tasks of the doctor in the care of the deaf and dumb".
• Practical demonstrations: Mimi Scheiblauer and Olga Zollinger, Zurich (assistance), "Musical-rhythmic education for the deaf-mute and infirm" at the Wollishofen institution for the deaf-mute and on the excursion to the Bühl institution in Wädenswil (mental patients) and to the Albisbrunn rural education home (children with learning difficulties).

Bern, June 25

• Greetings in the Schulwarte, Bern: Kurt Joss, President of the SMPV local group Bern; Dr. E. Bärtschi, principal of the city of Bern; Prof. Dr. M. Seemann, Prague; Mr. Wöldike, Copenhagen.
• PresentationsEduard Rüfenacht, Bern, "The educational significance of musical improvisation";
• Dr. Ernst Ferand, Hellerau/Laxenburg, "Die psychologischen Grundlagen der Improvisation" (his dissertation, Vienna 1937, "Die Improvisation in der Musik" contains its comprehensive history);
• Prof. Dr. Henri Vallon, Paris, "Movement and music, a physio-pathological study".
• Gertrud Biedermann, Bern, "Lesson with children in bamboo flute carving and playing"
• Gertrud von Goltz, Bern, spoke about her experiences in singing lessons at the Hilfsschule Bern.
• Rhythmic-musical demonstration: Ernst Müller, director of the institution for feebleminded children Weissenheim/Bern,
• ConcertHugo Keller, Bern (choirmaster) with the Berner Singbuben and the Röseligartenchor

On June 26, a visit to the Faulensee/Spiez institution for the blind was also on the agenda. Gottfried Kölliker, a blind music teacher, gave a presentation on the high educational value of the musical care he provides at this institution, supplemented by a choir and orchestra concert.

Basel, June 27 and 28
Focus: musical education for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled

• Greetings in the council chamber of the half-canton of Basel-Stadt: Dr. Fritz Hauser, member of the cantonal government, current president of the National Council; J. Jindra, Prague; L. Kestenberg; Dr. F. Wenk, secretary of the Basel-Stadt Department of Education (moderator); Bourgoin, inspector general, Paris; Prof. Dr. Xirau, government representative, Barcelona; Dr. Fr. Wenk, secretary of the Basel-Stadt Department of Education (president of the day).
• Performances at the official reception in the foyer of the Kunstmuseum Basel: Basler Waisenknaben with Guggemusig; Ernst Sigg, director of the Collegium Musicum der Knabengymnasien; E. Jakob, songs by the Sissach traditional costume group; Dr. Gustav Güldenstein, music theory teacher at the Basel Conservatory, dances by Mozart and Dvořák.
• PresentationsL. Kestenberg and Walter Müller von Kulm, SMPV Basel and Director of the Conservatory (both untitled);
• Prof. Alois Hába, Prague, "Healing powers of music education in our time";
• Willy Overhage, short presentation.
• Visits in and near Basel: Baselstädtische Anstalt für Geisteskranke Friedmatt with a presentation by Prof. Dr. John Staehelin "Die diagnostischen, prognostischen und therapeutischen Vorteile einer musikalischen Heilpädagogik" and a presentation by Helene Horsberger, Basel, "Rhythmik mit verschiedenen Gruppen von Geisteskranken"; Anstalt zur Hoffnung, Riehen, with a presentation by Melita Kosterlitz, Hellerau/Laxenburg, "Gymnastik mit einer Gruppe schwachbegabter Kinder"; Öffentliche Primarschulen der Stadt Basel, presentations by W. S. Huber, "Overview of the external and internal structure of school music education in Basel" and "Essential requirements of modern school education", three lessons based on the "Lechner method", which has been made compulsory for elementary school in Basel, and Esther Gutknecht, teacher of a girls' primary class, presentation with an insight into the teaching methods of music education at public elementary school and a performance of a self-created musical play by female pupils.
• Visits outside BaselGoetheanum Dornach, lecture by Werner Pache "Structure of anthroposophical music education";
• Sonnenhof in Arlesheim, lecture by Dr. Julia Bort, "The importance of music and healing eurhythmics in Rudolf Steiner's curative education";
• "Home for children in need of spiritual care"

The congress passed the following resolution, edited by Goldschmid (probably Rev. Theodor Goldschmid, hymnologist and composer, Central President of the Swiss Church Hymnal Federation 1896-1937), Rudolf Schoch, Zurich and W. S. Huber Resolution:

Even if the topic was more specialized this time, the congress must have had a tremendous impact in Switzerland, not only in curative education, but for the overall importance of music education. The two specialist journals and many daily newspapers reported on it in detail. The stream of visitors at all three conference venues was overwhelming and exceeded the boldest expectations. I got an idea of this through the rhythm and piano teacher Olga Zollinger, who performed with Mimi Scheiblauer in Zurich. She worked in England for several years after the war and from there brought the idea of so-called voluntary student examinations (level tests) to Zurich, which experienced their first heyday from 1965-79 in the Zurich SMPV local group and have now spread far and wide, especially in Lucerne and at the Zurich Youth Music School. The aim of these level tests is to teach children not only technical mastery of the instrument, but also a comprehensive musical education with ear training, general music theory, elementary harmony and form theory as well as improvisation (invention exercises), i.e. exactly in line with the thrust of the three congresses mentioned above and also in accordance with Varró's demands. I got to know Olga Zollinger well during my time as president of this local group in 1971-82. Even then, she spoke enthusiastically about the impulses she had received in 1938 and before and the direction she had taken.

The planned congress in Prague in 1939 did not take place. Czechoslovakia had been overrun by Hitler's Germany and Kestenberg, the spiritus rector, had managed to escape to Tel Aviv. The ISME had to be re-founded after the World War, in Brussels in 1953 under the auspices of Unesco.

I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my first piano teacher, Hans Rogner. The Viennese had settled down in Zurich, was employed at the conservatory as a piano and theory teacher, conductor of the professional school orchestra and librarian, and composed charming and modest music, for example stage music for the marionette plays of Ambrosius Humm, the son of the well-known writer Jakob Humm, who provided the texts. Rogner implemented what I only realized later, exactly the reform ideas received in the thirties, not least from Margit Varró, without her name ever appearing in class. He wove ear training and general music theory into the lessons. For the latter, he humorously wrote the "Musica" booklets available from Jecklin together with Ernst Hörler with drawings, for example of the interval lake and the wooden tone ladder with the two narrower rungs per octave. This was no gray theory, he let his students sing, improvise and compose. However, it is almost impossible to teach such a wide range of skills in half-hour lessons. He deducted ten minutes from the 60 minutes of individual lessons, took a group of six pupils together and gave one additional "theory lesson" per week.
 

Dear colleagues,
Très chers amis,

I am extremely pleased that we are able to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Swiss Music Schools Association together today, thank you very much for the invitation! It is a special honor to be the guest speaker at this celebration, and I have taken this task very seriously. I have chosen "Heritage, diversity and the future" as my theme. This is not an original invention but a pure loan - but it's worth copying the good ideas, don't you think?

The fact that Europe has come to the good idea The idea of founding a national music school association was not that long ago. On the other hand, we all know that the founding of conservatories in the sense of public institutions of musical education dates back over 200 years. Le Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris came first, in 1795, and in the following decades the founding movement spread to most European centers. In Switzerland, Le Conservatoire de Musique de Genève was the first to be founded in 1835, followed by Bern, Lausanne, Basel, Winterthur and Zurich in the forty years that followed. In these schools, it was generally possible to study in the same building from childhood to the completion of professional studies: the continuum of musical education was a matter of course.

Youth music schools, on the other hand, are a phenomenon of the post-war period. The major socio-cultural transformations, the new sense of identity and the general reconstruction after the war also favored the progressive emergence of a much broader musical education than before. In this context, it is no coincidence that France and Germany were the first to establish a national music school association in the 1950s.
In the sixties and seventies, the number of music schools increased rapidly, both in Switzerland and throughout Western Europe. Most music school associations in Western Europe were also founded at this time.
Eastern Europe, on the other hand, developed a different model based on the Soviet model, with centralized music schools and with the aim of promoting talent rather than the masses. During the Cold War, West-East contacts were extremely limited, but after the fall of the Berlin Wall, most Eastern European countries also founded music school associations.

The links between the Swiss Association of Music Schools (VMS) and the European Music School Union (EMU) have been close and steadfast since the founding of the two organizations, EMU in 1973 and VMS two years later. We in the EMU are very grateful for this loyalty over the decades and for the many good examples set by the VMS. I will return to this topic in the third part of my speech.

Héritage, Diversité, Futur. In Switzerland, diversity is an integral part of the heritage, just like in few other countries in Europe. More than 50% of the Swiss have at least one grand-parent from abroad, even though diversity is part of the identity of this population and (I quote) "multiculturalism is inscribed in the Swiss reality to the extent that it has integrated our subconscious", according to a quote from Neuchâtel native Gabriel de Montmollin. Anyone or anyone - like myself - who comes from a centralized country spends just a few years trying to understand this land where the customs and traditions, dialects, menus, architecture and everything else change as the landscape that we have admired since the trains of the famous Swiss railways passes by!
But it was even more exciting for me to discover that in this small country the same ways of thinking about teaching as well as the traditions and pedagogical practices are just as varied, whether in public schools or music schools. However, I would like to point out to you that I was not really aware of this when I was working at the Lausanne Conservatoire, before I started teaching colleagues from all over Switzerland thanks to my experience on the ASEM committee and in its work. Little by little, I then realized that Switzerland as such and Swiss pedagogy are a mini-Europe, and nothing surprised me more in the diversity of the European networks.

"Unity in diversity" is both the beautiful European motto, the ideal of Switzerland and the source of the richness of our culture and our music. But it is such a demanding context! Concretely ensuring this demographic, political, linguistic and educational diversity is a daily task that requires a great deal of commitment and effort. ASEM offers an extraordinary national platform for meetings and debates that can be lively, but never destructive. Over the decades, it has always been possible for ASEM to find solutions to the most diverse problems because, ultimately, the whole world has been le choix de travailler ensemble à long terme. This calls for patience. I have heard it said that in Switzerland the mills turn slowly ("In Switzerland the mills grind slowly"). For me, the sense of this slightly moqueuse phrase is positive. I believe that Switzerland is still this "nation of will" that is prepared to face the ever-growing challenges of the world today and is capable of finding solutions.

" Plus vous saurez regarder loin dans le passé, plus vous verrez loin dans le futur"/" The further you can look back, the further you will look ahead " (Winston Churchill). The 40-year existence of the Swiss Association of Music Schools contains many aspects and solutions to problems that can be admired from a European perspective. I see the following valuable elements:

• strong networking with the entire Swiss music sector, in which the VMS has acquired a proactive and pioneering role
• a patient and pragmatic structure of the association organization (renewals without revolutions)
• the unique pension fund for music and education, an ingenious business model that has been around since 1978
• the Forum Musikalische Bildung, a national platform that has become sustainable
• -The driving force of the VMS in political work, I am thinking above all of the development of the popular initiative Youth and Music and the ongoing implementation of the constitutional article, and - last but not least :
• the permanent international networking of the VMS. You should know that the 7th European Youth Music Festival of the EMU 2002 in Switzerland - a huge challenge for the VMS - was one of the very best festivals for the European participants, thanks to the support of every single group from a music school in one of the regions of Switzerland. It was a tangible and unforgettable experience of Swiss diversity in all its dimensions.

On our shared journey into the future, it is now more important than ever to look for global signposts. If there is any sovereignty over national and international educational organizations, it can only be Unesco, and here I would like to recall the second Unesco World Conference on Arts Education in Seoul in 2010. The Seoul Agenda, the result of this conference, was unanimously adopted by all Unesco member states around the world. It is a concrete action plan with practical strategies and recommendations for action and consists of three objectives:

1.Den Access to artistic and cultural education as a fundamental and sustainable component of a high-quality renewal of education.
2.The Qualityt the conception and implementation of artistic and cultural education programs.
3. apply the principles and practices of this education in order to contribute to the management of today's social and cultural challenges to contribute.

These three goals are difficult to separate and are closely interrelated. The first two objectives, access and quality, are dealt with almost constantly by all music schools in Europe that I know of. In contrast, the third goal, social and cultural challenges, remains much more distant from the debates about the future of music education and music schools. One can guess the reasons for this. Nevertheless, there is a growing general awareness of our holistic responsibility for education in a world of globalization, migration and uncertainty. None of us is too small or too big to implement this third goal in our own way and in our own place, be it at the individual, school, regional, national or international level.

Switzerland is at the forefront of Europe in many musical matters: the number of members of the Swiss Music Council, the number of students in music academies and learners in music schools (we are no. 2 in Europe), the growth of the concert industry, the number of amateur orchestras and choirs, and so on. That is why our responsibility is perhaps even greater to do everything we can, all together, to ensure that the journey into the future goes in a good and safe direction.

40 years is a wonderful age: you have experience without too much weight of the past and there is still a lot to learn and experience. I wholeheartedly congratulate the Swiss Music Schools Association and all its past and present contributors and wish them much strength, joy and success for the future.

Advance - connect - support / anticiper - unir - soutenir : quelle belle vision, qu'elle vous porte toujours plus loin, chers amis !
 

Photo: Heiner Grieder

The duo Calva presented the birthday party brilliantly.

The VMS President and former VMS Presidents were also captivated by the musical wit of the duo Calva:

Hector Herzig (1st from left)
Hans Brupbacher (2nd from left)
Willi Renggli (1st from right)
Christine Bouvard, current VMS President (2nd from right)

Photo: Heiner Grieder

The Catholic and Reformed Churches of the Canton of Zurich, together with the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), are organizing the competition "Sound & Glory" for church music. Two presentations are required, which must be uploaded as a video by March 31, 2016 to www.klangundgloria.ch. Musicians from all genres are invited to take part, as are amateurs and students. With the competition, the initiators want to draw attention to the "diverse artistic and professional opportunities in church music."

Beat Schäfer, Head of Church Music at the ZHdK and jury president, answers a few questions to shed some light on the background to this competition.

SMZ: Reading the competition announcement gives the impression that there are too few aspiring female musicians who specialize in church music. Is that the case?
Beat Schäfer: In terms of supply and demand, that's true. A survey of over 170 parishes commissioned by the Reformed Church of the Canton of Zurich in 2008 in connection with the new personnel regulations showed, for example, that a quarter of all organists active in 2008 would be of retirement age by 2014/15. This is now the case. On average, however, only around three organ students have completed their Master's degree in recent years. It should be noted that the ZHdK by no means only trains musicians for the Canton of Zurich! In fact, we currently have a year without a single Bachelor's organ student. However, the DAS course (organ C course for experienced amateurs or pianists who play the organ as a sideline) is quite well attended. The situation is somewhat better for choir conductors in church music (around four graduates per Master's course). The currently discussed reduction in congregations (as a result of declining church membership) is also not taking place to the same extent as the current decline in student numbers. The new continuing education course "Church Music Pop and Jazz" is just starting (third course year).

Isn't it more the case that church music is booming? I'm thinking, for example, of the major church music festivals Cantars 2011 and 2015, the Bern Church Music Congress at the end of October or the church music symposium as part of the 1st Mendelssohn Days in Aarau.
It is certainly the case that these events have a positive impact. And there is also a lot of positive content to report. With this in mind, those responsible for the "Klang & Gloria" church music competition are hoping for equally positive impulses both externally (in the media) and internally (in the churches). However, one must be aware of the special event character of these events. Their organization was professional, and the aforementioned events were well received by the media. However, all three were one-off events that are only possible every few years, but which, despite their high profile, represent an important part of church music production, albeit only a part. The Church Music Congress in Bern, for example, never claimed to be representative of "nationwide" church music, but rather wanted to provide impulses that would (hopefully) have a broad impact. In this respect, some important productions were not performed by congregational ensembles, but by institutions outside the church (high school choirs, university choir, Südwestfunk chamber choir, HKB students).
Or, despite the overwhelming response to Cantars - which I am very pleased about - I could easily list over 100 parishes in the Canton of Zurich alone, Catholic and Reformed, that were unable or unwilling to send a choir, band, organist or church musician to Cantars or the events in Bern or Aarau.

Photo: ZHdK

Beat Schäfer at the inauguration of the organ in the new organ hall of the ZHdK

Does church music need a new image?
I think that the image, the reputation of something like church music, is always changing and can even be contradictory in the breadth of our society, depending on the person, time and place. The "image" is partly really to do with the subject matter of church music, but also with the person making the assessment (with their experiences, standards of value) and also partly with the environment (for example the image of the church as a whole).
However, a "false" image - or perhaps it is better to speak of a cliché - is often slow to change because you always find places that confirm such entrenched prejudices ("fewer people sing in church choirs, especially old people", "the music is too one-dimensional and stylistically too narrow", "church music speaks a language that is outdated" etc.).

Church music is fundamentally something very dynamic, i.e. both powerful and moving and self-moving. Church music therefore always has different facets. Four aspects should illustrate this dynamic:

1. church music is part of our western musical culture, which deals with the pastbecause it is part of a tradition (of the Bible, of the church, but also of traditional [church music] practices). It is itself often a product of an earlier culture. Through their performance, musical works are passed on as art forms and treasures that can inspire, comfort, delight or challenge just as much today as in the past. At the same time, it bears witness to past or still current rites. Precisely because this church music carries valuable treasures of the past into the present, it must ensure that it does not degenerate into a pretext for arguments for old, rigid structures and outdated beliefs.

2. church music is part of today's culture and is constantly reinventing itselfbecause it takes place today and has to be current: it deals simultaneously with today's concerns, today's language and today's forms of expression, life and faith content. Church music that is not also current, newly created and meaningful today would only be a museum deposit.

3. church music is beyond their proclaiming, eulogizing, rousing or soothing function of comforting the individual listener, also community-buildingThis is achieved not only by bringing together listeners with similar interests, but also by being part of a community action, or by forming and promoting community, e.g. in congregational singing, choral singing, making music at open singing events, in a community orchestra or a church band.

4. church music is - detached from its intrinsic value - by its nature as worship music always also Partner of the word The interplay of the spoken word, the biblical or divine word and this interplay. Where this interplay is successful, it always leads to added value for both sides.

For me, all four aspects are essential to the essence of lively church music in the congregation, in the church, or to the positive impact of church music in secular society.

Why are new ideas needed?
As described above, it is part of the nature of church music (I think of any art!) that it is constantly being "reinvented" - even when interpreting "old models/scores". For church music, there is also something of an inner program from tradition not to stand still through words from the Bible such as Psalm 96 Sing unto the Lord a new song or the Reformation declaration that the church must always be an "ecclesia semper reformanda" (to which the Catholic Church also clearly professes with its councils).
Perhaps your new ideas address the openness of the artistic means of expression in the competition (wording of the call for entries: "Whether rap, dance, classical or pop performance, whether words and music in free combination, composed, arranged or improvised - we are looking forward to your ideas!) We are of the opinion that "harmonious" or "incongruous" church music can be made with all stylistic means and hope that the competition will naturally lead to many successful realizations of good ideas, but also that, in addition to aspiring or "established" church musicians, people who otherwise come "from a different corner" will also apply.

In which direction could/should church music move?
For me, the direction has never really changed significantly in all my years of professional experience: Towards people, towards immediacy, towards great authenticity, towards convincing artistic or artisanal work, towards more urgency and, in church services, towards liturgical coherence; correspondingly less towards decoration, arbitrariness, wellness sound, sacral background noise.

Isn't the problem in many places in the structures or at the roots?
Certainly. In addition, in customs or simply in ignorance of what church music can do more than just spread a good mood.

Are parishes not financially able or willing to employ well-trained musicians on reasonable terms?
In the canton of Zurich, where this competition was launched, the employment conditions for professional church musicians in both the Catholic and Reformed churches range between the salary of a primary school teacher and a secondary school teacher (depending on the level of training and area of responsibility). The operating resources vary, depending on the church music formations or music offerings, as does the teamwork depending on the staffing of the various responsible persons (including church musicians).

On the other hand, the congregation and the liturgist often expect nothing more from the music than the "embellishment" of the service.
Yes, unfortunately that still happens in some places. This is very often also due to the lack of appropriate training for liturgists, and sometimes also to a lack of understanding of their role.
Rarely are there church musicians (often those without a background in church music) who, whether ignorant, resigned or taking the path of the easiest resistance (or effort), are only concerned with the pleasant sound of the congregation, detached from the content and the tension of a church service.
It is precisely because it would be a great loss if, in future, more and more musicians had to be deployed for worship tasks who are unfamiliar with the content, form and meaning of the various worship services, who do not have a corresponding variety of stylistic expressions at their disposal and who do not also see themselves as serving to build up the congregation, that it is important to keep introducing people to this exciting profession and these diverse tasks. This competition is intended to be one impulse among many towards this goal.