My Erasmus+ teaching period at the mdw is now several weeks in the past. In October 2024, I spent a week as a guest with the class of Professor Franz-Josef Hauser, who teaches classical piano and piano practicum in the mdw’s Ludwig van Beethoven Department of Piano in Music Education. We already knew each other through the network of the AG Schulpraktisches Klavierspiel (workgroup for practical piano playing for schools), and I was looking forward to meeting him again and to our upcoming collaboration.
Upon arriving at the mdw, I was warmly welcomed by Prof. Hauser, who in the course of the day also introduced me to many of his fellow teachers. This open atmosphere at the mdw immediately made me feel welcome.
Prof. Hauser and I agreed that we would partially team-teach, which was a very rewarding experience for both of us and for the students as well. Many of them gave us the feedback that the situation of working with two instructors at the same time was initially unfamiliar, but that they discovered that this approach had many positive aspects: different teachers focus on different things, meaning that the musical work could be conducted in a more diverse manner. One focus of my work is the interplay of voice and piano and the use of miking in pop vocals. This was also the topic of the lecture/masterclass I was invited to give in the evening of my third day of teaching, which was attended by students, former students, and teachers. The title of my lecture was “Klangwerkstatt – Gesang trifft Klavier” (Sound Workshop – Voice Meets Piano). Here, as well, the atmosphere felt very open and warm to me; everyone was interested in learning from and with each other and was very interested in the topic of the lecture.
I am very grateful that I was able to learn from and with my colleague Franz-Josef Hauser in Vienna. I returned to my school, the University of Music FRANZ LISZT in Weimar, with many new teaching ideas and material and would be happy to return to the mdw at any time for another teaching period.
Photo credits: Franz-Josef Hauser
