As the arts, media and society change, music also changes, giving it the opportunity to discover new forms and functions.
Barbara Balba Weber – 04. Sep. 2024
The craft of a musician has been and remains (almost) the same for decades. The situation is different with regard to their role in society: everything here is in a constant state of change. And with these changes, the terms with which universities respond to social challenges to the arts are also changing. No sooner had people noticed that “music education” had become a relevant discipline for which specialists urgently needed to be trained than they had to get used to the term “cultural participation”. At the same time, there was also talk of “audience development”, “community music”, “co-creation” or “musicking”. What all terms have in common is that musicians contribute to society as artists beyond their craft. Or as Augusto Boal, the Brazilian director and theorist puts it: “Being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it.” These trends are being intensively discussed not only at universities, but also in international associations such as the AEC (music colleges) or ELIA (art colleges).
The Bern University of the Arts recently held an interdisciplinary course on the topic of “Artistic Citizenship” to meet students’ interest in social engagement that goes far beyond music education. In a research week, we investigated theoretically and empirically whether and how the “Artistic Citizenship” model is suitable for this: Can concepts such as artistic citizenship, social responsibility and civic mission form a productive connection with artistic excellence, imagination and creativity? What happens to our art when we understand its practice as a social process or as a “tool in society”? We also looked at global megatrends that are identified under keywords such as “global migration” or “down-aging” (older people feel increasingly younger). Students from all disciplines conducted their own qualitative experiment, which they independently linked to one of the megatrends discussed. They were able to present the results, including performances, project and workshop concepts, to concert organizers at a public event.
In this context, a student has dedicated herself specifically to the dialogue group of very old people and placed her experiment in the “Silver Society” trend. The aging of society today is both a challenge and an opportunity for new socio-cultural vitality. The student – a flutist – regularly visited a 90-year-old woman suffering from dementia, who had also previously played the flute, in the retirement home. She was deeply impressed by the lady’s great and positive response to her flute playing, especially to her freely arranged folk songs.
In order to develop new methods and innovative strategies as a university, the Bern University of Applied Sciences has long been focusing on three strategic areas: digital transformation, sustainability and “caring society”. In this way, the university aims to respond to challenges and enable students to share classical music with very old people, for example. A team from the Departments of Music and Social Work is currently working on how to respond to the need of older people for musical expression and for creative, process-based exchange with young people. In the longer term, this should be able to be taught and learned in a university context.
The Music Department at the University of the Arts has long offered the opportunity to study content relating to communication and participation as part of the MA in Specialized Music Performance. Part of the final thesis is then a tailor-made project, which may include new concert formats or the inclusion of groups with a non-classical background.
If we do not understand music merely as a performative act of performers for a passive audience, but rather think about, research and expand its practice in a socially comprehensive manner, then this strengthens the importance of this music as a whole, it brings previously separate social groups into active exchange and it increases the legitimacy of our universities as educational, communication and cultural institutions.
Barbara Balba Weber is Head of the Music in Context Department at the Bern University of the Arts
