Freiburg center for research and teaching music now open

The Freiburg Forschungs- und Lehrzentrum Musik (FZM) (Research and Teaching Center for Music) is a newly founded joint institute by the music school and the University. The concept was developed four years ago, the first joint congress took place in April 2019. Today, after the two rectors Prof. Dr. Ludwig Holtmeier, University of Music, and Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Schiewer, University of Freiburg, signed the cooperation agreement, the FZM will officially begin its work. The FZM focuses on music-related disciplines such as musicology, music theory, music physiology/musician medicine and music education. It cooperates with other disciplines such as philosophy, history, literature, ethnology and computer science.

The FZM is one of five state centers initiated by the Baden-Württemberg State Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts through various conservatories and with a proven track record. The University of Music and the University of Freiburg have a long tradition of close cooperation in musicology and music theory, and the University also has a Center for Popular Culture and Music (ZPKM). Since its foundation, the Freiburg Institute for Musicians’ Medicine has been a joint institution of the University of Music, the University Medical Faculty and the University Medical Center Freiburg. “By placing these traditional forms of cooperation in a new, innovative institutional context, we want to gradually develop the Research and Teaching Center for Music into one of the central institutes for music-related research and teaching in Germany and Europe,” says Hans-Jochen Schiewer. “I am convinced that the FZM can become a European center with international appeal that can productively tap into the potential of the Upper Rhine institutions of academic music education and research in Germany, France and Switzerland,” adds Ludwig Holtmeier.

The newly founded center does not yet have a fixed location. It will be shaped by the people and their contents who use this institution for research and teaching cooperation. Its open structure opens up the opportunity for people from various disciplines to work beyond the boundaries of scientific disciplines. The intention is that artists embrace the opportunity to become researchers by systematically sounding out the aesthetic possibilities of their art or by investigating their art with scientific methods and by incorporating their findings directly into artistic education.

At the same time, the FZM wants to closely link research and teaching and integrate research results directly into its own teaching programs. Students at the University of Music and the University can already take advantage of the joint offerings of both institutions in musicology. The next step will follow in the 2020 summer semester. From then on, they will be able to study music theory, music physiology and ear training at the FZM. The music profession in both artistic and education disciplines has changed considerably in recent decades. The new state center will allow the University of Music and the University of Freiburg to create new opportunities to comprehensively train students and prepare them even better for the job market and career entry.

For more information

• Website
• Article in the University newspaper uni’leben (page 6 below --  German only)
• Article in the yearbook from the Hochschule für Musik (page 10 – German only)