exchange die kunst, musik zu vermitteln - Kunstdervermittlung.at

Organisational aspects – conditions for
structural quality
Organisational framework
For education managers to concentrate
on the content of their work and to approach
it in a well thought out and organised
manner, the co-operation between
all departments of a concert hall
or orchestra is essential. The majority of
the interviewees report a positive, inhouse
work atmosphere, dominated by
respect and understanding for all departmental
matters.
Project development
The process of developing music education
projects and concerts is different for
concert organisers and orchestras/ensembles,
since the way they plan differs
fundamentally.
Concert hall
Education managers working in concert
halls plan their concert series and associated
music education projects about 1
to 2 years in advance. They are either in
touch with the orchestras who play at
the hall or they approach ensembles or
vice versa. Most projects are made-tomeasure
for a specific hall and are unlikely
to be suitable for touring. Music
educators often deplore this fact and
make an important request: Music education
projects should be – just like
many opera productions for festivals – financed
by trans-national budgets and
subsequently be at the disposal of all coproducing
partners. One option is to incorporate
predominately visual, dance or
drama elements to communicate without
language. The other is to use connecting
texts which can easily be trans-
lated into various languages. Quality
would thus improve, since ensembles
would have higher budgets for development.
To be effective in a variety of
countries, dramaturgy and music education
methods would have to be planned
from an early stage.
Moreover, regular meetings between
concert organisers co-ordinated by the
European Concert Hall Organisation
(ECHO) led to an exchange of ideas
about international projects, which can
be adapted for different cities. One British
choir workshop project encourages various
different demographic groups to sing
and concludes with a festive choir concert.
It served as an inspiration for a German
concert organiser who transformed
the workshop idea into a long term project
for primary schools. He uses the help
of professional voice coaches and chorus
masters to promote singing in schools.
In orchestras
Orchestras and ensembles generally develop
their projects starting with the programme
for the coming year. The music
educator usually knows the scheduled
works, assesses them and decides what
age group they are appropriate for and
how the children can be introduced to
them. Sometimes, he needs to listen to
recordings of the works and to get hold
of the musical score with the help of the
orchestra’s librarian. At this stage, the
orchestral manager is usually the main
contact for the music educator.
The next step is to ask the conductor,
if he is willing to become involved in a
music education project and to find out,
if the concert dates can fit into the
schedules of the participating schools.
Education managers working in concert
130
halls have to cooperate with people outside
their organisation. In contrast, ideas
and concepts for orchestras usually originate
from the music educator or are developed
in discussions with fellow musicians
or with a particularly dedicated cooperating
school. Discussions are
considered to be stimulating and inspiring,
while developing and creating projects
alone is seen as a greater challenge.
Orchestras who cooperate with schools
in the long term often start the process
by thoroughly getting to know the needs
of the schools. They discuss the curriculum
for music and other subjects with
the teachers and jointly design projects
suitable for the specific location and organisation.
Cooperation of participants
Today, almost all music education undertaken
by orchestras includes concerts
that allow pupils to establish personal
contact with orchestral musicians. Pupils
also get assigned more active roles on stage
than they used to. In most orchestras, the
musicians prepare for their new assignments
independently. Music educators
have learned to adapt their concepts for
the musicians they work with. Their
ability to deal with the needs of groups
of musicians has improved as well.
A skilled music educator ideally gets
to know the strengths and weaknesses of
each orchestral musician over time and
incorporates their individual talents into
the project.
Not all musicians participate in the
music education activities for schools or
other demographic groups. In most
cases, a quarter of the orchestra is particularly
interested in this kind of work
and is also qualified due to their peda-