Institute for Mu­si­co­lo­gy, Music Pedagogy and Ae­s­the­tics

Music and Science in Teaching and Research
The discipline occupies an interface between the subjects and programmes represented at the university. Musicology provides knowledge transfer, expands and differentiates "classical" educational content, offers a forum for critical reflection for artistic practice, and provides its own impulses such as repertoire expansion or historically informed interpretation. Historical Musicology addresses European music history in its entirety, as well as global or transcultural perspectives in excerpts. In addition to the historical or philological approach, methods of musical analysis and critical hermeneutics, empirical-quantitative methods, particularly in the field of music psychology, are equally significant. Other focuses include music sociology, interpretation research, and regional music history, often in collaboration with neighbouring disciplines such as music education, music theory, and aesthetics.

Musicology sees itself as a discipline that closely contextualizes artistic practice and creates spaces for dialogue. In addition to explicitly scientific events and in-house collaborations (e.g. with the Studios for Early and New Music or the Campus Gegenwart), projects have been and are being carried out in cooperation with institutions such as the State Gallery, the State Library, the State Opera, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, the University of Stuttgart, as well as the "Bachakademie", the "International Hugo-Wolf-Akademie", the "Akademie für gesprochenes Wort", the "Kunstakademie", the "Akademie Schloss Solitude", and "Musik der Jahrhunderte".

The events in musicology are open to prospective music teachers (BA and MA Teaching degree with Music), church musicians, instrumental pedagogues, and students in the Bachelor's programmes in Music (including EMP). Since 2003, doctoral students and since 2012, students in the Master's program in Musicology have also been included. There is a regular teaching assignment in the field of church music. The recurring offer in the so-called systematic disciplines is strengthened by teaching assignments in areas such as instrument studies and ethnomusicology. Lectures and seminars are explicitly aimed at auditors - within the existing capacities.

A six-semester lecture series on the history of (primarily) European music in its various forms from classical antiquity to the present, as well as further lectures on more specific topics, form the backbone of the teaching. The aim of these lectures is to provide all students with a basic framework of facts, structures, and relationships, while also critically reflecting on this type of knowledge transfer and stimulating further questions.

Alongside the lectures, there is a seminar offering that allows students to set individual priorities. The range of courses in each semester is designed to provide the broadest possible offering, allowing for receptive and active learning to complement each other.

Following the initial methodological orientation ("Introduction to Scientific Work"), events in the basic studies (proseminars) offer all students the opportunity to explore the working methods and issues specific to the subject. On the other hand, the main seminars offer a deeper content-related focus and are primarily aimed at teaching students and students in the Master's programme in Musicology, but are open in principle to interested participants from other courses of study. At a stage where participants are already familiar with the techniques of academic work, there is the opportunity for greater independence in exploring musicological issues.

The examination colloquia (for the bachelor's thesis and the oral state examination) are intended to accompany students through the examination phase. In addition, a bi-weekly colloquium on current research questions offers advanced students, especially during work on their state examination, master's thesis, or dissertation, a platform for exchange.

Musicology in the courses of study
Musicology in Bachelor of Music · Musicology in Bachelor of Church Music
Musicology in Music Education · Master Musicology

In recent years, the field of Music Pedagogy has become highly specialized. In addition to areas such as music imparting, elementary music education, and instrumental pedagogy, the field of music pedagogy in Stuttgart has seen the introduction of three specific focuses since the winter semester of 2010/11: historical, systematic (e.g. cultural policy or comparative), and empirical-analytical (e.g. studies on music taste, talent research, or teaching research). An annual rotating teaching assignment adds current trends to the program, such as class music-making, pop music, or youth cultures. The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports also allows highly qualified music teachers from secondary schools close to universities to assist in practical teaching, providing students with the opportunity to observe and gain first-hand teaching experiences in real classrooms with various focuses and under expert guidance.

In the concert business, music imparting programmes have become indispensable: Almost every orchestra, opera house, or ensemble has developed event formats aimed at attracting or retaining a wider audience of different age groups, backgrounds, and levels of education for classical music. This has led to the creation of numerous new concert formats and diverse projects that seek to open up access to music through various approaches.

This development has not only led to the emergence of new fields of activity for music educators, but also means that musicians are now expected to have knowledge and skills in this area in their professional lives, as well as to participate in music outreach programs.

The field of music imparting provides the opportunity to engage in the scholarly-theoretical examination of subjects within the field in historical and contemporary dimensions, as well as the chance to gain hands-on experience in the conception and implementation of music imparting programs through supervised practical projects, ranging from moderated concerts to audio features.

Elementary Music Pedagogy is an artistic-pedagogical discipline. It deals with diverse possibilities of artistic expression in music, language, and movement. Musical basic phenomena form the starting point for exploring, improvising, and creating with various means, always based on the individual's own body. This stimulates developmental processes that promote and strengthen individual personality, musicality and creativity, perceptiveness, social skills, and motor skills. 

Elementary Music Pedagogy as a pedagogical discipline is aimed at people of all ages, regardless of prior knowledge, and can therefore make an important contribution to inclusive and integrative action. The understanding and methods of Elementary Music Pedagogy at the HMDK Stuttgart are shaped by the artistic-pedagogical principle of rhythmics. It is both a central subject in the curriculum of Elementary Music Pedagogy studies and a principle of approach in other subjects.

The field of aesthetics originally comes from the university and was initially located in philosophy. In philosophy institutes, aesthetic thinking in the 18th to 20th centuries has united various philosophical currents and schools of thought, connecting them interdisciplinary to other disciplines such as literature, music, theatre, and film studies. From the university, aesthetic theory has moved to many art schools, music schools, as well as theatre and dance schools. There, it has increasingly developed in recent years and has become more interdisciplinary and also more complex. 

Contemporary aesthetics at the HMDK sees itself not as a mandatory part of education, but builds on the university idea of personal development and independent self-expression during studies. Having one's own thoughts, pursuing them over a period, artistically working on them, and confronting them with thoughts, beliefs, and actions of others is essential for artistic development. The offerings of contemporary aesthetics help pose important artistic questions about the place and significance of one's own work in society today, one's relationship to culture and tradition, as well as the political aspects of artistic work and performance. 

Courses in contemporary aesthetics (as events of the CAMPUS GEGENWART) are offered in various courses of study at the HMDK and are also open to students from the "Akademie der Bildenden Künste" and the "Merz-Akademie Stuttgart" (and partially to courses of study at the University of Stuttgart), which results in the interdisciplinary nature of the participants.

One of the central tasks of the HMDK Stuttgart is scientific or artistic-scientific research and teaching. Science at the university conveys, expands, and revises "classical" educational content, provides a forum for critical reflection on artistic practice, and offers its own impulses, such as repertoire expansion or historically informed interpretation. Conversely, the scientific disciplines benefit from their immediate proximity to their "subject."

More about research and dissertation projects