Music education is far more than “just” music class at school; it’s much rather a realm of complex interplay between art, pedagogy, and scientific and scholarly pursuits. This is borne out by the diverse opportunities for related study at the mdw, the numerous areas in which graduates and faculty are active, and a wide variety of educational and research projects.

The mdw’s music education offerings encompass numerous different degree programmes. In the following, teaching faculty members and students from the mdw’s Music Education (ME) and Music Education for Voice and Instruments (IGP) programmes discuss how music educators for regular schools and music schools are trained as well as the importance of artistic training in this context.

The Erasmus+ project ALIISA (“All In – International Inclusive Society in Arts”) ran from September 2020 to August 2023 and involved the mdw along with Finnish, Lithuanian, and German (arts) universities, universities of applied sciences, and music and dance schools.

As part of the course on Music Mediation/Community Music, itself part of the subject area “Music in Dialogue” at the mdw’s Department of Music Education Research, Music Didactics and Elementary Music Education, this past winter semester saw the project Tschick – ein Held? conducted with inmates at JVA Gerasdorf, a juvenile detention centre in Lower Austria.

How does the music education field deal with socio-political shifts, culturally relevant re-assessments of value, debates on norms, and new qualities?

mdw Rector Ulrike Sych and Harald Huber met with mdw Magazine to discuss educational shortcomings and solutions for the future.

In no case should having the opportunity to take a playful approach to music be left to chance or depend on the musical interest of parents and teachers. And in this spirit, we’ve devoted the following pages to the significance of music education in its infinitely many facets.

A portrait of a passion for teaching.