Con­ti­nuing Education Master's in In­stru­men­tal & Vocal Pedagogy

The program offers you the opportunity to deepen and expand your artistic and music pedagogical qualifications according to your profile. The goal is to enable you to stimulate and professionally accompany artistic-musical learning processes with people of all ages: whether in instrumental or vocal individual or group lessons, in musical work with ensembles or bands, or in the context of educational collaborations with general education schools.

With appropriate professional activity, 60 CP or 40 CP can be credited through professional achievements in the field of instrumental or vocal pedagogy. A prerequisite in any case is a completed Bachelor's degree in Music. Prospective students with purely artistic focuses so far can deepen the qualifications required for the Master IGP in the Supplementary Studies in Instrumental/Vocal Didactics. The entrance exams for the Master take place at the beginning of each winter semester, and the application deadline is April 1.

Possible major subjects: All instruments and singing, also as a course of study in Jazz/Pop (possible major subjects can be seen on the website of the Jazz/Pop Program).

The Study Offer
The Master's program is divided into a total of three areas, which include both mandatory courses and freely combinable options. Profiling is thus possible both towards (artistic) music practice and towards scientific music education.

1. The area of “Music Pedagogy & Didactics/Methodology” aims for a deeper engagement with the didactics of one's main subject (Didactics/Methodology Coaching) as well as with current music-pedagogical topics and issues in the IGP Forum. The Master's internship offers special opportunities for linking theoretical and teaching-practical aspects as well as possibilities for practice-oriented research, providing insights into diverse fields of music school work. Not least, here own teaching experiences can be complemented by self-chosen perspectives and focus areas.
2. The courses in the Elective Area are selected based on individual focus settings. In addition to artistic, teaching-practical, and more scientifically oriented courses, there are also offerings in the fields of Improvisation, EMP, Class Music Making, Musicology, Music Physiology, Theory/Ear Training, Music Mediation, or in another instrumental subject or singing.

A special feature of the program is the individual supervision of students and the close cooperation with the Stuttgart Music School. The HMDK Stuttgart also offers a thoroughly inspiring environment: in addition to the proximity to diverse musical and artistic practices, also through the Campus Gegenwart.

Mögliche Hauptfächer

Alle Instrumente und Gesang, auch als Studienrichtung Jazz/Pop (mögliche Hauptfächer siehe Jazz/Pop). Studienbewerber mit abgeschlossenem künstlerischem Master belegen anstelle des künstlerischen Hauptfachunterrichts das Modul „Künstlerisches Coaching“.

Zulassungsvoraussetzung

Abgeschlossenes künstlerisches oder künstlerisch-pädagogisches Musikstudium (Bachelor oder Diplom), sprachliche Fähigkeiten auf dem Niveau B2, erfolgreiche Aufnahmeprüfung.

Weiterführende Studienmöglichkeiten

Promotion (Dr. Phil.)

Camilla Hartmann (Master’s in IGP: Prof. Dr Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann; cello class: Joachim Hess, Hugo Rannou) has been accepted into the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra’s Stirling-Phil Academy for the coming 2026/27 season, specialising in music education and concert programming. In the summer of 2026, she will also take on an assistant role at the Menuhin Academy and with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad.

Rebecca Goodman (Master’s in Instrumental and Vocal Pedagogy) has been Head of Music Education at the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart since July 2026 and, in this role, is also responsible for overseeing the Klangmobil in collaboration with the HMDK Stuttgart.

Daniel Berrío Quintero, alumnus of the Master's program in Instrumental & Vocal Pedagogy, will assume the position of piano pedagogue with the Regensburger Domspatzen in September 2026. His special focus will be on the instrumental training of the singers in the internationally renowned choir.

Meng Yuan – alumna of the Master's in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy with Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender (Piano Pedagogy), Alexander Sonderegger (Piano), and Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann (IGP) – will begin her full-time employment as a piano teacher at the Zurich Conservatory of Music (MKZ) starting in August 2026. 

Work results from students of the seminar "Forum IGP: Reinventing Music Schools," organized by Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann in the winter semester of 2025/2026 at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, were again published on the website musikschullabor.de.

Valerie Campbell (Master Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy) has taken on the co-lead of the Jazz/Rock/Pop department at the Filderstadt Music School since December 2025, after having already led the EMP department there as a deputy for a year. 

Paul Frey (Master's in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy) has received a teaching assignment for voice at the University of Education Ludwigsburg starting in the summer semester of 2026. There, he will teach school musicians in both major and minor subjects. At the HMdK, he will be accompanied by Silke Kaiser (Subject Didactics/Methodology) and Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann (IGP).

Annika Stegger (Advanced Master's in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy) has published an article on the topic "Music Pedagogy Meets Music Geragogy: Intergenerational Encounters in the Music Theater Project 'Hansel and Gretel'" in the peer-reviewed journal Klangakt. It is freely available at klangakt.ub.uni-muenchen.de

IGP Master's student Rebecca Goodman won second prize with Clara Schneider, Lilia Rubin, and Marite Männi for the idea "Funky Brain" in the "Ideas in the Tower" competition by the Career Service in 2025.

Valentin Bauer, alumnus of Music Education & W-MA IGP student, will take on the position of assistant to the cathedral conductor at Cologne Cathedral in February 2026. As part of this, he will work in vocal & music pedagogy as well as conducting with the Cologne Cathedral Choir. His special focus is on developing a voice training concept that accompanies the choirboys from childhood through the voice change to adulthood. 

Yannis Brückner (Master's in Instrumental & Vocal Pedagogy) gave a lecture at the 2025 EPTA Congress in Düsseldorf, where he presented insights into his research on the interaction of body and sound under the title "Piano Teaching as a Creative Experience Space – Diverse Paths to Individual Motion Learning."

Meng Yuan (alumna of the Master's in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy with Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender and Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann, alumna Bachelor EMP) published the following article in the journal üben&musizieren: Meng Yuan: "Support or Hindrance? Function of the Cursor in Music Learning Apps for Sight-Reading Training." In: üben&musizieren 4 (2025), pp. 32-33.

Daniel Berrío Quintero (Master's in Instrumental & Vocal Pedagogy) gave a lecture at the participant forum of the 2025 EPTA Congress in Halle (Saale), where he presented insights into his pedagogical practice under the title "Experiential Report on Composing in Everyday Music School Life: From Improvisation to Composition."

Milena Roder (Master's in Instrumental Pedagogy and Master's in New Music) has received a teaching assignment for music at the Heidelberg University of Education (starting: Winter Semester 2024/25). There she holds seminars with a focus on music pedagogy.

Work results from students of the seminar "Forum IGP: Music Schools of the Future," organized by Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann in the summer semester of 2024 at the HMDK Stuttgart, have been published on the website of the Music School Laboratory.

Valentin Bauer (Advanced Master's in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy) received the Reichstein Scholarship of the Schumann Society Düsseldorf for the period 2024-2025 to realize his research project as part of his Master's thesis in Vocal Pedagogy (advisor: Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann). Additionally, he will be permanently employed as a vocal pedagogue at the Music School of Cologne Cathedral Music from the school year 2024/2025.

Lukas Saalfrank (Master's in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy with Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender and Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann) will take on an 80% position as a piano teacher and head of the piano department at the Herrenberg Music School in September 2024. There he will work with children, adolescents, and adults in both individual and partner lessons and further develop the department.

Jinzi Ju (Master's in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy with Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender) expanded her position at the Neckartailfingen Music School as a permanently employed piano pedagogue for children, adolescents, and adults to 33% in April 2024.

Meng Yuan (Master's in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy with Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender and Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann, alumna Bachelor EMP) focused her teaching activities with the subjects Piano, MufA Piano ("Music for All"), and EMP after a successful application from September 2024 at the Stuttgart Music School (70%).

Valentin Bauer (Advanced Master's IGP) received a teaching assignment in singing and choral voice training at the Episcopal School of Church Music in Essen (start: September 2023). There, as part of the C-church music education, he works with aspiring and practicing church musicians in the region in both weekly sessions and workshops.

Valentin Bauer (Advanced Master's IGP) has been working as a vocal pedagogue within the framework of "BachBewegt! Singing!" of the Bach Academy Stuttgart since December 2023. Additionally, he participated as a substitute (Tenor 1) in the SWR Vocal Ensemble in the two projects "Advent Concert" and "Come&Sing".

IGP Master's student Dennis Brenner won first prize with his idea "3D Animation Supported Video Learning Offering for Making an Oboe Mouthpiece" at the "Ideas in the Tower" competition by the Career Service in 2023.