QuerKlang
QuerKlang is a music education project in which students of all ages and levels of education deal with experimental music and develop a composition within the class. At the end, the composition will be premiered at the festival for contemporary music MaerzMusik of the Berliner Festspiele . The project was initiated in 2003 by Kerstin Wiehe, cultural manager and publicist from k & k kultkom and Kulturkontakte eV as well as Ursula Brandstätter, Rector of the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz and Daniel Ott , professor at the University of the Arts in Berlin .
concept
The basic objective of the project is to encourage students to deal with musical material and its creative possibilities independently, to experience this as a personal means of expression and creation, and thus to develop curiosity, tolerance and understanding of the diversity of contemporary music creation. The focus is not on hearing and receiving selected works of contemporary music, but on experimental, independent handling of a variety of musical materials and ideas.
The project works in the form of five teams per run, with each team consisting of a composer, a music teacher and two students of music education (courses in instrumental education and school music). Each school class is accompanied by one of the teams during the ten to 15 double hours in which they work and work together.
This inclusion of music students who are preparing for the teaching profession is special. The implementation of the project at Berlin schools is embedded in a music education seminar at the Berlin University of the Arts, which serves to train student teachers in music. In this way, students have the opportunity to get to know the practical field of schools; for music teachers, on the other hand, the project functions as a further training offer; and composers finally come into contact with potential listeners of their works in unusual ways. The experimental pedagogy, which is necessary for the development of experimental compositions, is usually a new field of experience for all three groups, which they have to approach and deal with together in the process.
In this way, three normally independent working environments are linked: the world of schools, the world of university education and the world of freelance composers. The fact that the connection of these different worlds does not always run smoothly, but that differences also become clear in the joint work, is entirely in the spirit of the project. Because often it is precisely the energies and tensions released in differences that lead to the development of something new.
The special thing about the project is that each run and each composition process is individually designed by the students and the supervising teams and thus reinvents itself again and again.
The project is continuously evaluated by a management team and at the same time offers the teams a pedagogical, artistic and organizational framework for work in the schools and the opportunity to reflect on experiences. Five schools can take part in each round.
- Project management: Ursula Brandstätter, Daniel Ott, Kerstin Wiehe
- Project team: Elsa Franz, Mathias Hinke, Daniel Ott, Stefan Roszak, Henning Wehmeyer, Kerstin Wiehe
Educational guiding principles
- Experimental music requires experimental didactics
- Balance between structure and freedom
- The team as a central resource
- Use the existing skills
- Use the differences
- Learning in complex situations
- Central role of reflection
Cross-sound reverberation
Many of the project participants want to stay in contact even after the end of a run and develop the concepts that have emerged. QuerKlang - Reverb serves as the platform for this. The aim is to keep the exchange between the QuerKlang participants alive. A kind of laboratory for the mediation of experimental music is to be created. In addition to the work in the schools, reflection will also play a role again, with new ideas and impulses from the teams in the foreground. Structures are also to be created at the schools involved that anchor the QuerKlang approach within the school and in the school's internal curriculum. For this purpose, concerts are held as part of Nachhall, the dates of which can be freely chosen. They should take place at partner locations of the schools.
A forum enables the active and former participants to exchange experiences.
In addition, there is also a series of advanced training courses at the Berlin University of the Arts, which the former and active QuerKlang and QuerKlang reverberation participants can use to deepen and expand their musical, educational and practical knowledge in the QuerKlang context.
A permanent place for the experimental
The next step is to firmly anchor the experimental approach in schools. Here, some schools are already working on curricular modules in order to let the students work with the experimental approaches right from the start and in all grades. Here teacher coaching and advanced training are just as much a part of this as joint discussion and support for teachers in the conception and formulation. This approach can be used with all artistic subjects but also across subjects and in core subjects such as German and math.
Transverse sound transfer
With QuerKlang-Transfer, a compact format has been developed that enables a mini version of QuerKlang to be transported to other countries or cities. For this we offer two modules: first a compact introductory seminar on the musical, pedagogical and practical approaches of QuerKlang for teachers, students and composers and second a one to two week workshop with pupils on site, in which they develop their own composition and present to the public.
QuerKlang goes EU
QuerKlang is currently being prepared for a European level with the inclusion of international encounters. In addition to Germany, partner countries are Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Italy, Greece and Portugal.
Partner and sponsor
partner
QuerKlang - Experimental Composition in School is a collaborative project of the Berlin University of the Arts, Klangzeitort, k & k kultkom, Kulturkontakte e. V. and Berliner Festspiele | MaerzMusk in collaboration with Berlin schools and freelance composers.
Sponsor
2003-2004: The model project QuerKlang, which was launched in 2004 as part of MaerzMusik | Festival for contemporary music has presented student compositions to the public for the first time.
2006-2009: Funded by the BHF Bank Foundation
2009-2011: Funded by the Berlin Project Fund for Cultural Education
2011-2015: Funded by the European Social Fund and culture as a place of learning
2016 - today: Funded by the Berlin University of the Arts
literature
Experimental music needs experimental didactics. The “QuerKlang” project at the Berlin University of the Arts. Ursula Brandstätter. In: Discussion Music Education, Issue 51/2011, pp. 12–16.
QuerKlang is growing! Reflection as an instrument of quality assurance. Kerstin Wiehe. In: Michael Dartsch, Sigrid Konrad, Christian Rolle (eds.): Hear and see new things ... and convey. Pedagogical models and reflection on new music. Regensburg 2012. pp. 143–155.
QuerKlang. Differences as aesthetic and educational potential. Ursula Brandstätter. In: positions. Contributions to New Music, issue 61 / November 2004, pp. 2–7.
Sound networks or “art as the experience of expanding horizons and one's own changeability” (Lachenmann 1996). Hans Schneider. In: Hans Schneider, Cordula Bösze, Burkhard Stangl (eds.): Sound networks. An attempt to invent reality with your ears. Saarbrücken 2000. pp. 17-26.
Pedagogical conclusions and advice for practice. Gertrud Meyer-Denkmann. Chapter III in: This .: Structure and practice of new music in the classroom. Experiment and method. Vienna 1972 (Rote Reihe vol. 43). Pp. 61-91.
Experimental music and elementary learning. Andreas Langbehn. In: Ders .: Experimental music as a starting point for elementary learning. Saarbrücken 2001. pp. 84-106.
Inventing music with children and young people. Hans Schneider. In: Frauke Heß / Thomas Greuel (ed.): Inventing music - Contributions to teaching research. Music in Discourse Vol. 22. Aachen 2008, pp. 1–10.
Finding music with experimental instruments. Stefan Roszak. In: Kirsten Winderlich (ed.): Art and Aesthetics. Educational Journal Early Childhood. Berlin 2010. pp. 64–73.
Experimental music in school: practice, experiment and class composition. Christoph Riggert. In: AfS-Magazin, May 2011, pp. 16–20.
Attempted attempts. The “aesthetic project” verified on the exemplary subject of “time”. Gert Selle. In: Gert Selle, Wolfgang Zacharias, Hans-Peter-Burmeister (eds.): Impetus for the aesthetic project. A new form of action in art and cultural education practice. Hagen / Loccum 1994. pp. 50-65.
Aesthetic Research. Aspects of an innovative concept of aesthetic education. Helga Kämpf-Jansen. In:: Manfred Blohm (ed.): Blank spaces: Perspectives for aesthetic learning in schools and universities. Cologne 2000. pp. 83-114.
Openness and difference. About the relationship between new art and education. Ursula Brandstätter. In: Discussion of Music Education, Issue 1/1999, pp. 70–79.