The device, called "Motioncomposer", can generate sounds, music and poetry from every movement, even if it is just the blink of an eye. In this way, Wechsler hopes to help people with disabilities achieve genuine musical expression, improved body and self-awareness and thus the development of a realistic body image.

The Motioncomposer is currently being presented as part of a symposium for barrier-free interactive sound art at the workshop studio of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

In a workshop, four guest composers from Norway, Spain, Italy and Germany are working with experts from Bauhaus University and guests from the Infomus Institute in Genoa (Italy) on new music scenarios for the device.

More info: www.motioncomposer.com

"Where the hell is the press?" offers six music journalists at the start of their careers practical training and further education. Designed as a mentoring program, the pilot project also aims to stimulate a discussion about the state of cultural journalism in the Swiss media and the current framework conditions of the critic's profession.

The music journalists Ane Hebeisen (Der Bund) and Yann Zitouni (RTS) have been engaged as mentors. They will design and run the festival blog together with the participants from May 23 to 25, 2013 www.wherethehellisthepress.netwhich offers alternative coverage of the Bad Bonn Kilbi 2013.

The participants Eva Hediger (Winterthur), Laurent Küng (Lausanne), Louis Rossier (Fribourg), Andreas Ruf (Olten), Fabienne Schmuki (Zurich) and Pascaline Sordet (Lausanne) were selected following a call for applications.

The pilot project will be evaluated after the first edition and will be pursued in the context of other festivals and disciplines.

The 41-year-old from Bern has worked as a dramaturge, lecturer and editor of the Theaterlexikon der Schweiz. Christine Wyss studied German language and literature at the University of Bern, graduating in 1998.

Wyss is a member of the Music Controlling Group and the City of Bern's Literature Commission. Thanks to her wide-ranging cultural policy and cultural commitment, she has an excellent network in Bern's cultural scene, writes the canton.

The office oversees the activities of the cultural commissions of the Canton of Bern in the areas of calls for proposals, awards, foreign and travel grants as well as art acquisitions and manages the secretariat. Christine Wyss succeeds Carine Zuber, who headed the office until the end of 2012 and is now in charge of the Zurich jazz venue Moods. Lukas Vogel is responsible for the cultural commissions on an interim basis.

Music is more present in society than ever before and yet it can be seen that pupils are less enthusiastic about music lessons than they used to be. The initiators of the colloquium identify open questions such as: Should music lessons be exhausting? Do teaching materials and courses need to be adapted?

According to a statement from the organizers, the multilingual 1st Swiss Music Education Research Colloquium aims to

• "Take note of Swiss and international research on motivation in relation to music education;
• Exchange practical analyses that combine motivation and music (teaching);
• Paving the way for cross-linguistic collaboration between researchers and practitioners in music education."

The colloquium is aimed at practitioners (instrumental teachers, music teachers at general education schools, conductors), researchers and political decision-makers. It is organized by the Music Education Research Group of the Fribourg University of Teacher Education. Members of the organizing committee are Jérôme Schumacher, Pierre-François Coen, Olivier Blanchard, Catherine Vernaz and Jérôme Fracheboud.
Contributions on the topic can be submitted until July 22. All submissions will be reviewed by double-blind reading.

Further information: www.musique2013.ch

Image: © knipseline / pixelio.de
 

Both teachers and students at music universities are becoming increasingly international. Sometimes - even in music - there is a lack of translation of the appropriate technical term.

The Music dictionary by Johanna Heutling offers the basic vocabulary of musical terms in German, English and Russian and, for the first time, in the Asian languages Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Italian and French technical terms are also included in the performance terms. The indexes in the appendix allow the keywords to be found quickly.

It is aimed at a large user group of amateur and professional musicians, but above all students at music colleges. The dictionary will also be used by German or English-speaking musicians working in Eastern Europe or Asia. As studying abroad has become more attractive than ever due to the international harmonization of the study system, the book also contains administrative terms that go beyond purely technical vocabulary and make everyday study easier.

Johanna Heutling, Dictionary of Music German - Japanese - Korean - Chinese - Russian - English, 380 pages, € 28.00, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-7651-0397-1 

Newly elected committee members are: Sabina Binggeli-Brogle, long-standing member of the Board of Trustees and President of the Pro Argovia Cultural Foundation, Lenzburg; Walter Leimgruber, Professor of Folklore at the University of Basel and Franziska Reck, filmmaker and film producer, Zurich.

The President of the Commission for Cultural Affairs continues to be the Director of Culture, State Assemblyman Alex Hürzeler. Hanspeter Thür, Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, President of Theater Tuchlaube, Aarau, serves as Vice President.

The re-elected members are: Lieni Füglistaller, former National Councillor, Rudolfstetten-Friedlisberg; Hedy Graber, Head of the Culture and Social Affairs Directorate of the Migros Cooperative Federation, Zurich; Linus Hüsser, historian, Ueken; Josef Meier, President of the Aargauer Kunstverein, Wettingen; Ruth Soland, Artistic Director of Klanc, mezzo-soprano and music teacher, Zofingen; Maja Wanner, President of Klosterspiele Wettingen, Würenlos.

The following people did not stand for re-election for the 2013-2016 term of office: Simon Libsig, author and storyteller, Baden; Urs Pilgrim, President of Murikultur, Muri; Gillian White, visual artist, Leibstadt.

The commission's tasks include, in particular, advising on the allocation of operating contributions to communal and private cultural institutions of at least cantonal importance. The commission is also consulted on major cultural projects that affect the Swisslos fund, on overarching projects in the areas of monument preservation, archaeology, museums, libraries and archives or on landmark decisions regarding cultural mediation by the cantonal government.

BeJazz TransNational 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.

The organizers will select three projects from the applications. Those selected will each play a public concert at the BeJazz Club. All performers receive the usual BeJazz fee plus expenses.

BeJazz TransNational covers the travel costs of the foreign partners as well as the costs for a maximum of three additional overnight stays. This enables the bands to have an intensive rehearsal phase prior to the performance.

Based on the performances, a jury will decide which of the three projects is most worthy of support. The selected band receives the BeJazz TransNational sponsorship prize worth 8,000 francs to support further project-related activities.

More info: www.bejazz.ch/transnational

The four bands that made it through were Dinner 4/5 from Wettingen, Pinut from Aarau, Crystal Minds from Untersiggenthal, Last Sorrow from Wynental and the two best school bands (led by a teacher): high/low city from Reitnau and SPAM from Schöftland.

The six finalists are coached by an expert from the music business. They work on arrangements and live performances in their own practice room and are given tips for their band careers. An audience prize will also be awarded at the final.

The ZHdK was actually due to move into the new Toni-Areal campus in summer 2013. Intensive preparations have therefore been made in terms of content, organization and technology for the major project, which will see over 35 locations merged. Since February 2013, it has been clear that the move will be postponed by a year due to construction delays.

The international accreditation of all Master's degree programs was completed in 2012. With the accreditation of all its degree programs, Switzerland's largest art academy has reached a milestone that is significant not least for its international profile, writes the ZHdK.

Research has also established itself, according to the ZHdK. The good success rate at the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) last year shows that it is on the right track.

In 2012, interest also focused on the doctoral programs that the ZHdK runs in cooperation with foreign art universities. Thanks to these international collaborations, young lecturers and researchers in the arts and design can be supported. These disciplines are not represented at local universities.

According to Thomas D. Meier, the ZHdK is aiming for its own right to award doctorates in the medium term. As the newly elected President of the Rectors' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences, he wants to promote a constructive dialog with the universities on the subject of doctorates.

As Artistic Director of the Lugano Festival, Reymond will be responsible for concert programming, which will have new opportunities thanks to the future concert hall in the LAC (Lugano Arte e Cultura).

Its tasks also include harmonizing the Lugano Festival's concert offerings with the programmes of other local music institutions, in particular RSI (Radio and Television of Italian-speaking Switzerland) and the Orchestra of Italian-speaking Switzerland Foundation. The Festival will extend its program, which was previously limited to the spring months, to the whole year.

The LAC cultural center is the work of architect Ivano Gianola and is due to open its doors in 2015. Designed as a multi-purpose center, the building offers space for activities in the visual arts, music and performing arts and houses a concert and theater hall in addition to the exhibition space for the New Art Museum.

Label of the Year is once again ACT; the Munich-based label specializing in jazz is receiving this award for the fourth time in a row. Both award winners, Live Act and Label of the Year, were determined in recent weeks by public voting on jazzthing.de. 

Rusconi won over the audience against the greats Wayne Shorter, Enrico Rava, Esperanza Spalding and Rudresh Mahanthappa. Rusconi, consisting of Stefan Rusconi, Fabian Gisler and Claudio Strüby, has been on the road for 6 years and has so far played over 200 concerts, mainly in Europe and Asia, both on renowned festival stages and in indie venues.

A "Glockenspiel" by artist Lorenz Schmid will replace the monotonous break time chime after the renovation of the Pestalozzi school building. The niches in the façade of the side wings of the building, which have been empty since the building was completed, will each be fitted with a bell. Triggered by a programmable circuit, the monotonous melody of the existing break time gong is replaced by a varied chime that mixes with the existing background noise.

The microphones installed in the uppermost niches capture the sound at the point of origin and carry it into the interior of the school building. The sound is distributed throughout the building via the in-house loudspeaker system.

The city council and the commercial school KV Aarau invite all interested parties to the vernissage with aperitif on May 23, 2013 at 11 a.m. in the Pestalozzi school building.

At the Bern University of the Arts (HKB), research with a focus on interpretation is strongly encouraged. The results of these profound and conscientious studies are a number of valuable publications in the brass section, which are published in the SMZ some of which have already been reviewed. (cf. new edition of Eugène Roy's trumpet school, SMZ 10/2010, p. 34)

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) wrote his Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in E major for Anton Weidinger (1766-1852), the Viennese keyed trumpet virtuoso for whom Joseph Haydn also wrote his Trumpet Concerto in E flat major in 1796. The premiere took place on January 1, 1804 at the imperial court in Vienna. The original manuscript is in the British Library, London.

This facsimile shows the entire score in a clearly legible handwriting. The editor Edward H. Tarr concludes by comparing the handwriting that this must be the composer's autograph manuscript, although the score was created in several stages. The solo part was notated in a different font color and is scribbled over in some places with melodic variants (simplifications by the soloist?). Several leaps are marked, in two places even realized with glued-in insert sheets.

In Tarr's critical commentary (German/French/English), the proposed changes are examined and can be compared directly with the original in the solo part. A further chapter is devoted to the keyed trumpet, the original research project and object. Most of the 150 or so original instruments still in existence today are left-handed and equipped with 5 keys - unfortunately none of Weidinger's instruments have survived. This means that many questions about historical performance practice with this instrument are left to speculation and the puzzling of those trumpeters who get involved in playing the keyed trumpet.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Concerto a Tromba principale 1803, Facsimile, (= HKB Historic Brass Series 4), TP 306, Fr. 85.00, Editions Bim, Vuarmarens 2012

id., introduction, historical view, analysis, critical commentary, original solo part, by Edward H. Tarr; German TP 306d; French TP 306f; English TP 306e; Fr. 22.00 each, Editions Bim, Vuarmarens 2012

Charlier and Sourisses introduce you to improvisation

"He is a lean old man with whom I soon became acquainted. He was kind enough to play me one of his solos, which was very difficult but nevertheless pleasing. Although he must be about seventy years of age, he plays with as much zeal as a young man of twenty-five." The famous English music traveler Charles Burney tells of his visit in 1770 to a great Swiss composer (if Geneva can be counted as a place belonging to the Swiss Confederation): Gaspard Fritz (1716-1783), who is still a little to be discovered here. Fritz kept himself well in practice, wrote Burney, "despite having so few opportunities to show his talents and be duly rewarded for them". Local music historians have certainly paid tribute to him; Hermann Scherchen once championed him in music editions and recordings. Concert organizers, however, tend to neglect him, even though his music is quite remarkable. Burney has aptly described him as having the zeal of a youth (even though Fritz was only 54 at the time). Handel is also said to have praised his music.

The new recording of five symphonies from Opera 1 and 6 confirms this judgment - and not only because the orchestra La Stagione Frankfurt under the direction of Michael Schneider goes about its work with verve. From the very first note, it is clear that we are not dealing with a staid Helvetic minor master. This music pulsates vividly, storms and pushes, works with contrasts and can enamor a detail in the next moment. These are the most beautiful testimonies to a musical style that wanted to appeal directly to the emotions: through immediacy, clarity, variety and spontaneity of expression. Nothing seems contrived, there is no fat on it, it is always a pleasure to listen to and you never get the impression that yet another music-historical corpse is being exhumed. Fritzen's music is alive and kicking!

Gaspard Fritz: 5 Sinfonias (op. 1 no. 5 & 6, op. 6 no. 3, 5, 6). La Stagione Frankfurt; conductor Michael Schneider; cpo 777 696-2