Steve Gadd, Gary Chaffee, David Garibaldi and Rick Latham - to name but a few - are regarded as pioneers of linear drumming. This drumset playing technique emerged in the mid-1970s and is still as popular today as ever. Teaching aids such as Time Functioning Patterns (1980), Linear Time Playing (1993) - both by Gary Chaffee -, Advanced Funk Studies (1980) by Rick Latham and Future Sounds (1990) by David Garibaldi quickly found their place on the music stands of amateurs and professionals alike.

In Creative Dimension the Swiss drummer Charlie Weibel shows in an impressive way what cool grooves and fills are possible with linear drumming. Even the preliminary exercises in Weibel's booklet are fun and are also suitable for beginners. But then it really gets down to business with over two hundred one-bar examples. There are linear as well as quasi-linear grooves representing funk and fusion styles, Latin rhythms and shuffles.

The exercises and rhythms in Creative Dimension are reminiscent of the works of the above-mentioned protagonists, from whom the author says he is strongly inspired. Rick Latham may well have been the inspiration for the choice of notation form, where the simultaneously played beats are notated under an upward-facing stem. An additional advantage of this form of notation is that there are almost no rests; the rhythms are therefore easy to decipher.

Charlie Weibel deliberately avoids long passages of text and lexical explanations, which benefits the booklet greatly. As a supplement, he presents six challenging solos from his 2001 booklet Drumspectrum. A good 150 sound samples are provided on the enclosed CD. The recordings impress with their precise recording and rich sound. Really cool.

Charlie Weibel, Creative Dimension. Contemporary concepts for drumset, special grooves & solo drumming, Linear Time Playing (L.T.P) in Funk Latin Fusion Style, with CD, Fr. 39.00, Ghost Note Productions, Lucerne, ISMN 979-0-000-00158-9, www.weibeltech.ch

There was swing, Moravian songs, yodeling mixed with rap elements and pantomime or traditional English choral literature for boys. It was striking how often performances were enriched by choreographic elements and pantomimes, which the young actors performed with obvious joy and commitment.

The encounter between different cultures was interesting: the Innerrhoden costumes of the Hitzigen Choir from Appenzell mingled with the dark suits of the New Dublin Voices, for example. The choral literature of the other country was explored together on the podium and during the evening get-together. The Little Singers of Armenia, for example, taught their American and German colleagues an Armenian musical comedy after their performance.

The organizers around Kathrin Renggli, who masterfully organized the big event, were lucky with the weather on Saturday: in Basel's city centre, the ensembles provided a singing spectacle on six large open-air stages in bright sunshine. Even from a distance, people were drawn to the sounds coming from the youthful throats, and many curious spectators gathered around the stages. Astonished children as well as adults of all ages could be seen. The open-air street festival was a major attraction and a perfect advertisement for singing.

The final concert was exemplary for the entire European Youth Choir Festival 2014, an impressive event that took place as a Sunday matinee at the Theater Basel and once again united all the ensembles. Nineteen formations from all over Europe sang their favorite work, introduced and carefully moderated by Salome Kornfeld and Clemens Staub.

As soon as you entered the theater hall, you were overwhelmed by the abundance of young and old singers who had taken their places on the stage and almost completely filled it. The organization of the extensive matinee was top-notch, the songs performed were of high quality and often cleverly choreographed.

The matinee soon turned out to be a concert lasting around three hours, but thanks to the short schedule and varied program, it was never boring. For example, the children's and youth choir Coro Clairière Lugano, dressed in colorful shirts and with pantomime charm, sang the Lambrett TwistThe Choristers of Jesus College Cambridge followed in their traditional red robes with a beautiful harmonious sound and the traditional English song How Can I Keep From Singing?

Singing boys
In general, the "singing boys", to whom this year's festival motto was dedicated, provided special highlights and a little melancholy, as they are unfortunately becoming increasingly rare. Yet boys' and young men's voices have a lot to offer, such as the local hero, the Basel Boys' Choir of around seventy members under the direction of Markus Teutschbein, with the first movement of Leonard Bernstein's rhythm-steeped Cicester Psalm proved. It would be nice if there were more male singing enthusiasts again.

The choral literature performed was as colorful as the performers in their costumes. Whether It's all one thing of the Basel Girls' Choir, the Moravian Dúbravěnko zelenká of the Motýli Sumperk children's choir, or the Islenskt rapp of the Hamrahlíd youth choir from Iceland, one was amazed at the works on offer, often arranged, in some cases even by the conductors themselves for their ensembles. It was not only the singing youth that was an experience, but also the fiery commitment of the choir conductors, who achieved something almost unbelievable. They prepared their protégés for the big event with enthusiasm and high motivation.

A special musical treat was certainly the Student Choir of the Belarus State Academy of Music, which performed the piece Gostcik of its choir member Andrej Savritsky with subtle, highly differentiated singing. The Hanover Girls' Choir also belongs to the elite with its incredible sound and stringent training, thanks to which more and more girls make the leap to becoming singers. And then, of course, the final song Music is everywhere by Ivo Antognini, which rang out from hundreds of throats, including the audience in the chorus - a splendid finale!
 

Otto Tausk has been Chief Conductor of the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra and Theater St. Gallen since 2012/2013. As an "inspiring artistic personality who inspires audiences and orchestral musicians alike", Otto Tausk has already "made a significant contribution to the regional and international appeal of the St. Gallen orchestra and music theater" in his first two years in office.

In the 2013/2014 season, Tausk most recently conducted eight symphony concerts in St. Gallen and accompanied the orchestra to guest performances in Switzerland and the Netherlands. In music theater, the productions of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's "Die tote Stadt" that he conducted were most popular, according to the orchestra's press release.

The federal government wants to focus its cultural policy on three central axes of action: Cultural participation, social cohesion and creation and innovation. The Federal Council also wants to improve cooperation between the Confederation, cantons, cities and municipalities in order to achieve a coherent cultural policy at national level.

The Federal Council is requesting a framework credit of CHF 894.6 million to implement the Confederation's cultural policy, which corresponds to an average annual growth rate of 3.4%. Following the consultation procedure, the period of validity of the cultural dispatch is to be extended by one year until 2020 in order to ensure that it coincides with the multi-year funding decisions in other areas.

Interested parties are invited to comment on the consultation draft by September 19, 2014. Once the comments have been evaluated, the cultural dispatch will be submitted to the Federal Council for approval towards the end of the year. It will be discussed by Parliament in 2015 and enter into force in January 2016.

More info: www.bak.admin.ch/?lang=de&webcode=d_14467_de
 

According to the jury, Gary Berger's music creates an organic relationship to electronics without making it seem like an exotic addition. The composer consistently places the possibilities of electronics at the center of his work. In doing so, he demonstrates a virtuoso approach to the new technologies. His repertoire includes compositions for large ensembles and solo instruments as well as tape works.

Born in 1967, Berger beat off competition from 100 other candidates. He studied percussion at the Musikhochschule Zürich and composition with Julio Estrada in Paris and with Gerald Bennett and Daniel Glaus at the Hochschule Musik und Theater Zürich.

Between 1998 and 2010, he founded and directed various electroacoustic music projects such as the "Notstrom" ensemble and the "Generator" concert series at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). He has been a lecturer in electroacoustic music at the ZHdK since 2001. He also works as a freelance composer in Zurich.

The Fondation Suisa Prize honors outstanding achievements in the field of music and aims to support the prizewinners and make them known at home and abroad. The prize is awarded in a different category each year.

The jury for the orchestra, instrumental or vocal ensemble and electronics category consists of Xavier Dayer (Suisa President), Peter Kraut (Deputy Head of the Music Department at the Bern University of the Arts), Peter Révai (musicologist, journalist), Daniel Weissberg (composer, lecturer at the Bern University of the Arts) and Urs Schnell (Director of the Fondation Suisa).

According to a press release issued by the canton, the institutions were judged on their importance and appeal in terms of visitor numbers, the originality and independence of their offerings, their contribution to cultural diversity in the canton and their accessibility for the population.

There were two lists to choose from: The "red" list included institutions that tend to program more unconventional, urban (in-house) productions. The "blue" list comprised institutions that tend to be more popular with audiences from the surrounding communities.

The consultation resulted in a clear majority in favor of the "blue" variant, writes the canton. The cantonal government has therefore decided to place a strong emphasis on the diversity of cultural offerings and the population's access to cultural performances.

Thirteen cultural institutions have been included in the definitive list, which in future will receive a maximum of 50 percent from the local municipality, a fixed 40 percent from the canton and at least 10 percent from the other municipalities in the region.

The list includes BeJazz Köniz, Camerata Bern, Bernisches Historisches Museum, Konzert Theater Bern, Kornhausbibliothek Bern, Theater an der Effingerstrasse Bern, Kulturhof Schloss Köniz, Reberhaus Bolligen, Bern Chamber Orchestra, La Cappella Bern, Buskers Bern, Kornhausforum Bern and the Hunziken Mill in Rubigen.
 

In contrast to the agreements with the three major labels (Sony, Warner and Universal), an agreement with the independent music companies is still pending, writes the VUT. As the independent music companies, with their market share of 30 percent, supply a large proportion of the content for providers such as YouTube, VUT expects YouTube to enter into further negotiations in order to reach a fair solution.

According to WIN and VUT members, the terms of the new YouTube contract are "extremely unfavorable and non-negotiable". At the same time, the remuneration is below the prices paid by other streaming services such as Spotify. The VUT therefore emphasizes its demand that music services must not discriminate against independents.

In recent days, WIN has been negotiating with YouTube to find a solution, so far without success.
 

"Klassenmusizieren" is a form of teaching that was initiated in the 2007/08 school year. Currently, over seventy school classes, i.e. around 1500 pupils in Zurich, benefit from the program. It is run in close cooperation between the Musikschule Konservatorium Zürich (MKZ) and Zurich's elementary school, which provide teaching staff, sheet music and classrooms. In addition, every schoolchild receives an instrument on loan from MKZ free of charge.

To ensure that pupils continue to have access to music in class in the future, a benefit concert is held every two years for the benefit of "Klassenmusizieren". Previous concerts have been performed by Kurt Aeschbacher, Heidi Happy, Pepe Lienhard and Howard Griffiths.

This year, it is the Zurich musician Bligg who has been rehearsing with the class orchestras in the run-up to the big performance. Together they will play three Bligg songs that have been specially arranged for this concert. Eva Nidecker will host the concert evening. City Councillor Gerold Lauber, head of the city's Department of Education and Sport, is the political patron.

Info:
Benefit concert for "Klassenmusizieren" at the Zurich Volkshaus, Tuesday, May 27, 201. Concert starts at 7.30 p.m., doors open at 6.45 p.m.
 

The law currently in force is regarded as a pure subsidy law without cultural policy guidelines, as provided for in the cantonal constitution of 1984. After the Government Council drew up a cultural mission statement, an initial draft of the Cultural Subsidies Act (2009) was revised and supplemented. The revision was carried out "on the basis of the findings and objectives for the leitbild_kultur.bl 2013-2017 from the TAGSATZUNG kultur.bl in May 2011".

According to the canton, the current draft law represents a clear optimization of the current law in the area of cantonal cultural policy and promotion. It closes the gap between the cultural paragraph of the cantonal constitution and the cultural promotion already in place. 

The draft also covers public institutions of the canton's basic cultural offerings: the cantonal library, cantonal museum, cantonal archaeology, the Roman city of Augusta Raurica and the publishing house of the canton of Basel-Landschaft. It also regulates the distribution of roles between the canton and the municipalities, which is indicated by cultural policy, as well as the special importance of schools as a cultural mediation platform. 

Every five years, the jury awards this prize to forward-looking musicological dissertations that either deal with Dutch music or were submitted and defended at a Dutch university. Pedro Memelsdorff was honored for his research as part of his dissertation The Filiation and Transmission of Instrumental Polyphony in Late Medieval Italy: The Codex Faenza 117 was awarded. In it, he analyzes completely new aspects of this central manuscript from the 15th century. In his laudatory speech, jury president Francis Maes from the University of Ghent called the dissertation "one of the most important books on late medieval music written in the last ten years".

Memelsdorff's doctoral thesis is divided into three sections: The first examines the physical characteristics of the manuscript and reveals the process of its creation and compilation, as well as the traces left on it by medieval users. The second section traces the history of each individual piece of the older layer of the manuscript by collating the 50 intabulated instrumental diminutions preserved in the Codex Faenza with vocal versions of other manuscripts for the first time and interpreting them in terms of genre history. Finally, in the third part, Faenza 117 and two manuscripts newly discovered by Memelsdorff are compared. One, which can be dated to around 1400-1420, sheds completely new light on the instrumental diminutions of Faenza's older layer; the other, dated to the 1480s, contains the first concordances to Faenza's younger layers and provides information about their social and cultural background

Trio Rafale impressed the jury with their rendition of Schubert's second piano trio. Second place in the piano trio and quartet category went to the German Notos Quartet and third place to the French Trio Atanssov.

The competition is held every three years in the string quartet and piano trio/quartet categories. The Romanian Arcadia Quartet won in the string quartet category. The first prizes are endowed with 25,000 Swiss francs each and enable a concert tour of Japan.

The Rafale Trio, consisting of Maki Wiederkehr (piano), Daniel Meller (violin) and Flurin Cuonz (cello), has been coached by Eckart Heiligers at the Hochschule in Zurich and at master classes in Ochsenhausen since September 2009.

It has already won several prestigious prizes. These include 1st prize at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition (July 2011), 2nd prize at the Concours international de musique de chambre in Lyon (April 2011) and 1st prize at the Concours national pour Trio instrumental Prix Geraldine Whittaker of the Jeunesses Musicales de Suisse (2010).

The jury - Co Streiff, Gregor Frei and Michael Bonanomi - were impressed right from the start by the group's two wind players, in particular the new discovery Gileno Santana on trumpet. The band is moving into uncharted musical territory and there is a "sense of urgency at the moment, based on the uncertainty of what will happen next", according to the statement.

At the same time, however, the formation, a "promising international band that has what it takes to play the world's stages far beyond national borders", relies on the strong confidence in the improvisational skills of each individual musician. They are independent and different characters who, through their openness and willingness to take risks, know how to drive the Spartan compositions forward step by step.

The BeJazz sponsorship award is aimed at local and national musicians who want to overcome the financial hurdles of cross-border musical collaboration. The focus is on exchanges with musicians from abroad.

More info: www.bejazz.ch/transnational/

The reason for the delay: a dramaturgically important and musically rich quintet in the first act of the opera La Gazzettabetween the Barbiere di Siviglia and La Cenerentola based on a model by Goldoni, was long considered lost. Two years ago, it was found again in Palermo. After an initial production in Boston in April 2013, the Swiss premiere of the original version will follow in St. Moritz in June 2014 and in Basel in August under the direction of Eva Buchmann (director) and Jan Willem de Vriend (conductor).
 

St. Moritz, Kulm Hotel: June 28 to July 12, 2014 - advance booking: www.opera-stmoritz.ch

Basel, Volkshaus: August 29 to September 6, 2014. advance booking: www.opera-basel.ch
 

To this end, the publishers Bärenreiter and J.B. Metzler have agreed on a long-term collaboration with Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM), the operator of the world's largest bibliographic database of musical literature, starting in 2014. The MGG Online will offer two things: the unchanged content of the print edition from 1994-2008 and, in addition, an updated version of the MGG Online updated version with corrections and revisions, including new articles where necessary. From 2017, the entire content of the famous music encyclopaedia will be available to users in a newly created database. Regular subsequent updates will ensure that subscribers to the MGG Online the music encyclopedia MGG as a reference work for music research in the future.

The publishers Bärenreiter and J.B. Metzler are still responsible for the contents of the MGG responsible. RILM is contributing its expertise to the development and creation of an online database, including comprehensive research tools. Prof. Dr. Laurenz Lütteken (Zurich) has been appointed general editor. Together with the editorial team set up by the publishers and an international advisory board, he will oversee all updates to the MGG Online design the content.

The abbreviation MGG has stood for the reference work for half a century Music in the past and present. Founded by Friedrich Blume, who headed the first edition (published between 1949 and 1986), the second edition of the MGG edited by Ludwig Finscher. It was published between 1994 and 2008 and brings together all the essentials about music in 29 volumes and 25,000 pages. It contains around 20,000 articles written by over 3,500 authors from 55 countries.

Instruments that were purchased before February 25, 2014 and have a valid CITES certificate can now be imported if the ivory used for them was legally acquired before February 26, 1976. However, the resale of such instruments within the USA may be subject to further restrictions.

The regulations serve to protect wild elephants. The League of American Orchestras wants to continue the dialogue with the authorities in Washington in order to achieve further relief for traveling musicians.