What is the relationship between society and music? Everyone will agree that a society’s economic, social, technological, and political situation, as well as its norms and values affect which music can be listened to, and how, where and when music is produced, distributed, and experienced. However, the fact that music depends on technological, economic, and social developments does not mean that it is simply and solely a causal effect of these developments. Music plays an active and dynamic role in the formation of a society. Each society is constituted by and through many different practices, and music is one of them. Through music we get certain experiences – Bach’s Matthew Passion might evoke religious or spiritual feelings. Music gives us access to specific emotions, from sad to pleasant ones. It influences our behavior – think of how deejays can make us dance. It can express and distribute certain ideas – ideas about politics, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. Music can create communities but also destroy them; it demarcates spaces and creates specific atmospheres. The list can easily be expanded.
Taking the idea that music co-creates our society as a point of departure, I will investigate in my presentation what this means for professional music education. What roles can conservatory alumni play in our contemporary, everyday lives? Is it necessary to rethink and perhaps expand those roles? And how can artistic research be helpful here? What new perspectives can be developed so that music will be regarded (again) as crucial to our well-being, as indispensable for a reorientation on our civilization? Yes, this is going to be a lecture that can make a difference!