When does the shortage of qualified personnel hit music schools?
While municipal conservatories were created as early as the 19th century, most music schools were only founded in the 70s or 80s. Many of the first generation of music school teachers will soon be reaching retirement age.
Within the SSPM, the group of members born between 1962 and 1967 is by far the largest. It is therefore worth considering how to avoid a future shortage of music teachers when these baby boomers reach retirement age.
What's more, the Federal Council has announced that it wants to save half a billion francs in education and research between 2025 and 2028, despite the general rise in prices, and it's clear that the cost-cutting measures will also affect music colleges. Yet it must be worthwhile for them to train students in fields in which graduates* can actually find work. It is therefore to be hoped that, despite the pressure to economize, they will invest more in music pedagogy and train fewer performance artists, not all of whom will subsequently find work. Or, as Urs Frauchiger used to say to new students when he was Director of the Bern Conservatory: "You think you're in a talent incubator, but you're primarily in a music teacher training college".
This in no way means that music students should be less well trained artistically. Future music teachers must be excellent musicians, endowed with a thorough technique, great musicality, extensive stylistic knowledge and skills, and a convincing charisma. They must perform regularly themselves and be able to pass on their knowledge and skills to their students, whatever their age. If more young musicians of the highest calibre are to commit themselves to music pedagogy out of conviction, the professions in the field of music education need to be better recognized by society.
A colleague who teaches around 35 pupils at various music schools was recently asked by the mother of a pupil: "But what is your job? Such scenes should be a thing of the past. And it should no longer happen that colleagues say of themselves: "I'm just a music teacher".
Teaching music is a wonderful, rewarding, versatile, tiring and important profession. Didactic training is just as important as artistic training. And the SSPM must and will work to ensure that music schools do not suddenly hire people who are not trained for the job, as is already the case in compulsory schools.
