International Association
of Schools of Jazz
Annual AEC Congress 2001
Walter Turkenburg
IASJ Chairman
28 November 2001
The AEC is the over fifty years old Association of European Conservatories. About 160 schools for higher music education are member of the AEC. Schools for higher education are conservatories, music universities, academies of music and Hochschulen. The four-day annual meeting in Groningen was an opportunity for the representatives of the institutions to participate in a large number of sessions, meetings and the general assembly. Most of the representatives present were men and women in charge of the institutions: the directors, deans and principals. Most of them have a background in classical music. A number of the schools associated in the AEC have jazz departments. Some of them are at the point of starting one. Most of the AEC members that have a jazz department are also member of the IASJ. What is discussed and decided at meetings of the AEC affects professional music training in Europe, both classical music and jazz.
There were four main topics that were discussed in plenary sessions and so called break-out sessions.
The first topic was Music Education in a Multicultural European Society. During the last two years with support of European funding through the Connect Program, various pilot projects have taken place in which a number of conservatories participated. By studying and putting into practice various forms of world music such as Indian raga music, African percussion music and Indonesian ketjak music, models of good practice were developed for European music education. It is my personal view that no matter how interesting these projects, it looks like it that the wheel of improvisation is re-invented by looking at world music. There can be found many examples of good practice if one looks at the teaching and learning of improvisation in jazz.
The second main topic was dealing about the effects of the Bologna Declaration. It 1999 the Ministers of Education of the European countries decided that by 2010 all higher education, including conservatories, must have reorganized their curriculum into a bachelors and masters degree structure. Culturally divers as Europe is, this leads to many problems. The harmonizing of all structures in the various countries is a difficult task because of the differences in traditions, policies and willingness to change. However, someone remarked that what the Euro is for the financial world, the bachelors-masters structure will be for the music educational world. After all was done and said the official AEC points of view on the bachelors-masters issue is:
In order to realize the AEC policy on this matter a Bologna Declaration Working Group was established. This working group will continue to implement the new pattern of education in the member schools. A few days before the AEC-Conference an interesting discussion on this topic started in the Digital IASJ Ongoing Dialogues. It is clear that every school of jazz, public or private, will be affected by the new structure.
The third main topic was the support scheme for talented young musicians. In the Netherlands the conservatories have set aside a substantial amount of money for the support of the really talented young musicians. Once admitted to this program students receive near to full support for studying abroad, visiting master classes or participates in any practical activity that can normally not supported by the school.
The forth main subject was the evaluation of the MusicWeb. This interactive web site is developed in order to support the teaching of music theory and history. Implementing the possibilities of the MusicWeb in jazz education calls for an essential different approach to the teaching of music theory. The use of a portal for all music theory related aspects could create sheer endless possibilities. Much depends on the capacities and willingness of the theory teachers involved in the MusicWeb consortium. At this moment developments have different speeds at the various schools in Europe.
It is clear that in Europe the institutions involved in professional music education are in a transit period. In Europe frontiers have changed, mobility has grown and the society has become multi cultural. All these changes have an everlasting impact on the cultural life and thus on music education. It is important to be aware of the changes and interesting to see how traditional institutions such as conservatories react upon them. Consequently it is important for the IASJ to be involved in the process of change. Collaborating with the AEC can have advantages for the IASJ. The AEC might be the platform that can help realizing plans such as the producing the book The History of Jazz in Europe, jazz in general education, and the research on jazz improvisation. The AEC has good contacts in Brussels and has proven to be successful in receiving financial support from the various European cultural support programs. However, not all jazz schools or jazz departments in Europe are associated in the AEC. Especially the middle and south of Europe is not very well represented. The EMMEN network in which private jazz and also pop/rock schools are represented forms an addition to the AEC network of established institutions. In order to realize all kinds of plans brought forward in IASJ Meetings, collaboration with both EMMEN and the AEC seems to be the best policy to follow.