International Journal of Community Music

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Welcome to the 24th issue of IJCM. When we went to work on this issue, our aim was to explore research, in the German context, which examines the intersections of community music with other fields such as social work, ethnomusicology, music therapy and music education: research that examines the history of community music in Germany; that examines community music in the context of cultural, social and education policy in Germany; that develops the theoretical discourse of community music in Germany through socio- logical, pedagogical or philosophical perspectives and case studies or project descriptions of community music in Germany. We have intentionally tried to explore the field of community music in Germany from the perspective of writers from a variety of fields: social work, music education, music therapy and cultural education. On the one hand, it was an attempt to map the field, by inviting authors to contribute whose research or practice we could see had intersections with community music. On the other hand, it was an attempt to develop the community music discourse in Germany, linking it with the inter- national discourse and hopefully providing a springboard for further developments in the field in Germany. The process of finding authors for this issue was in itself a journey of developing community music in Germany, since the term ‘community music’ was barely known at the time. For some of the eight authors, writing for this issue instigated their thinking and writing about community music in relation to their own research and practice. Community music is gaining momentum in Germany, some of which we have tried to capture in this issue.
Over ten years ago, Burkhard Hill wrote an article about music in social work (2004). In this issue’s first article, ‘Sociocultural work and community music in Germany’, he has revisited and rewritten the article, reflecting on music in social work and sociocultural education in relation to community music and current developments in the field in Germany.
In the second article, ‘“Community Music” in Germany? An attempt to untangle German and English concepts in the context of music and pedagogy’, Elke Josties provides a personal perspective on developments in Berlin, analysing the education work of the Berlin Philharmonic as an example of community music. She takes a critical stance towards using the term ‘community music’ in the German context, arguing that there is a long tradition within German social work that matches the practice internationally known as community music. To her, it might threaten established funding structures and projects if we introduce a term that overlaps with ground already covered.
Third, Theo Hartogh’s contribution, ‘Music Geragogy, Elemental Music Pedagogy and Community Music – didactic approaches for making music in old age’, provides an analysis of music education with the elderly in Germany and shows how the principles of community music are mirrored in German approaches to music geragogy and elemental music pedagogy. While acknowl- edging difficulties with the term and differences in focus, he concludes by saying that community music should be adopted as a framework in Germany ‘to allow theory-driven and reflective usage’.
The fourth article in the journal, ‘Community Sound Work: Music in open health settings Voice & Body, Inclusion & Therapy, Individuality & Indication’, is by Wolfgang Mastnak who explores Sound Work as a music therapy approach, which complies with the philosophical paradigm of community music.
Andreas Wölfl also comes from the discipline of music therapy, and in the fifth article of the journal he explores the ‘Drum Power Project’, a violence prevention programme he has developed and applied in schools in Germany. He considers the intersections with this approach and community music therapy, and the differences between them, and argues for a dialogue between music therapy and community music to develop preventative work in the community.
In the sixth contribution, Bernd Clausen takes a critical stance on the explorations of community music in the German context so far and argues that future research in community music in Germany should be based on thick descriptions of existing activities and rejects ‘the sheer adaptation and campaigning of the term’.
The next article in this issue is by Thomas Grosse, who writes from the perspective of a university dean involved in the strategic planning of the University’s teaching direction. He argues that, currently, German ‘Musikhochhschulen’/‘conservatoires’ do not sufficiently prepare music students for their professional life after studying. He also traces the teaching culture at these institutions back to the ideal of the ‘master and apprentice’, which leads to the production of musicians who all aspire to join orchestras, even though only a very small percentage will successfully do so. He argues that community music might be a crucial addition to the training of musicians in Germany in order to responsibly train music students for the real job market.
The issue concludes with the eighth article, about the Munich Community Munich Action Research Group that worked together from October 2013 to November 2015. Alicia de Banffy-Hall describes the processes and the developments that emerged as a result of the work. This includes local practice, such as the development of community music as part of the Munich Philharmonic’s education programme, the introduction of a community music module at the University of Applied Sciences Munich and the collaborative organization of the Munich Community Music Conference, as well as the development of this journal issue.