Innovation and music schools: what approach to take?

Becoming a futurologist

We live in a world that is constantly changing and evolving, and it's difficult, if not impossible, and above all pointless, to try to escape this reality: such was the general observation of the speakers. Raphael Gielgen encouraged audience members to take on the role of futurologist, and actively participate in shaping the future.

In his view, it's worth developing new skills and analyzing them. He considers the power of storytelling and ritual to help create a desirable future to be particularly important, and sees music as having particular potential for establishing such a link.

Barbara Josef also emphasized the power of "we": "The challenge is to find a strong 'we' in an individualized world." It's about cultivating common values. She believes that the time for innovation and individuality is over: we are living in an era of "omnicrise", in which resilience and teamwork are more necessary than ever.

Preserve, optimize - and reduce where necessary

School development specialist Stephan Huber presented his BIO+ method. "Schools need innovation", he said in his introduction. The key question is strategy.

The BIO+ approach (an acronym for bewahren (conserve), innovieren (to innovate) and optimieren (optimize), means striking a balance between these three aspects, while being mindful of available resources (reducing or suspending what is costly and of little use).

Stephan Huber also emphasized that it's better to look for treasures than mistakes, in the knowledge that the work is never finished, and that it's therefore wise to focus on what's positive and gratifying. In conclusion, he wished the principals present courage: "Running a school means making courageous decisions. I wish you all the tact you need to do so."

Artificial intelligence and music teaching

How has artificial intelligence (AI) evolved? What can it do today - and how can we use it? After a historical sketch of AI by Gilbert Nouno (Haute école de musique de Genève), Richard Eastes, who supported ASEM in developing a digital concept, gave concrete pointers on how to use ChatGPT.

For example, he stressed the importance of prompt engineering (prompt engineering): AI can only provide useful answers if it is assigned a role, a tone, a mission and a format in advance.

With regard to music teaching, the two speakers see four tasks for AI: that of reference work, assistant, sparring partner and pen-pusher. Various concrete applications are proposed for this purpose, such as AI-based playback, or the preparation of exercises or an exercise program.

Finally, they asked the AI to summarize the conference in the form of a song. ChatGPT wrote a text, and the Suno music tool composed the music to accompany it in the styles requested (Trash Metal and Reggae). Extract from the generated texts: "Algorithmen tanzen durch die Melodie, verleihen der Musik neue Magie." (Algorithms dance with melody, giving music a new magic).

Building tomorrow's music school with Legos

Last but not least, participants discussed the design thinking with the Zukunftslabor team in Baden. "We want to get down to work straight away", announced Simona Hofmann: identifying needs, developing ideas and prototypes, applying and perfecting them. The participants, divided into four different workshops, examined various issues relating to the music school institution and computer-aided music composition.

"It was great to be able to build Legos again," said one participant at the Lego Serious Play workshop, where the ideal music school was built and discussed, but also laughed at - as in the other rooms elsewhere. At the end, the ideas for new events/concerts and target groups developed in a very short time garnered much applause, as did the songs that several groups had created with the help of AI.

Two first prizes for inclusive projects

As part of the best practice competition, ten innovative projects from Swiss music schools were presented to the jury and the public by means of videos and live interviews. The Münchenstein School of Music was awarded second prize for its project "Klingende Schulen"and the People's Choice Award went to the Alpnach music school for its "Musikschule plus" school development project.

The jury unanimously decided to award not one, but two first prizes, one to Oberemmental music school for "The Happy Fridays"the other to the Ecole de jazz et de musique actuelle EJMA Valais for its "Musicians beyond disability"(more details in the next issue).

Live on air: the radio bus

A class from the Baden cantonal school produced a live broadcast with the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation radio bus, and asked the guests some fascinating questions. Over the course of the year, the radio bus will visit music schools all over Switzerland - an action undertaken as part of the 50th anniversary of the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation.^e anniversary.

A special event marked the launch of the jubilee: the unveiling of ASEM's new visual identity. The new logo plays on the visual representation of frequencies, and the colors are fresh and cheerful: a first highlight for ASEM's fiftieth anniversary year.