Structure of the study program

Within the stylistic breadth offered, the degree program in teaching at Gymnasiums and the degree program in teaching at Hauptschulen and Realschulen give students the opportunity to acquire their own artistic profile (classical, jazz, pop, etc.) in the instrumental main subject. The course of study for the teaching profession at elementary schools primarily teaches basic techniques of practical instrumental playing in schools. Further focal points are school-related music making, arranging and composing as well as musical-scenic project work, a special feature of Kassel's teacher training.

In the context of music education seminars and internships, students are enabled to reflect on, plan and design music-related teaching and learning processes. In order to explore how music can be taught, it is important to reflect on the different perspectives of musical education, teaching and learning. In addition, new teaching concepts and real teaching situations are the subject of the course. Thus, theory and practice remain in a mutual exchange.

About the subject area of music education

Music is made by people and for people. How this happens and why, what forms music takes in the process and what meanings are assigned to it at different times and in different cultural contexts - these are questions that musicology at the University of Kassel pursues. As both systematic and historical musicology, it offers different perspectives on its subjects and encourages students to reflect on the phenomenon of music.

To the Department of Historical Musicology

Department of Systematic Musicology

Information follows.

A special focus is the study of popular music, combined with a separate professorship for this area. The focus here is on band playing, supplemented by practice-oriented offerings in the area of arranging/composing and in the use of professional studio software.

To the Popular Music Department

The subject area of music theory, with its many aspects and questions, stands side by side with the instrumental or vocal subjects as well as with musicological and music pedagogical courses. The central questions here are what "holds composed music together at its core" - whether from a purely acoustic, compositional, historical, or stylistic perspective - how it is expressed in detail, and how we perceive it auditorily.

In the subject Tonsatz, students learn to deal with compositional conventions and styles in such a way that they can become creative in them themselves. They compose their own stylistic copies, improvise on given material in a practical way, establish references to original compositions and retrace developments in music history and aesthetics. 

In analytical courses  the focus is on the examination of compositions of different genres and styles as well as on the search for an appropriate way of speaking or writing about music. Analytical findings are not only related to scientific questions, but are also made useful for the student's own musical interpretation. In the process, musical horizons and listening repertoires are expanded.

In ear training, which is closely linked to the other subjects, students reflect on their  individual listening comprehension and their inner perception of sound. They develop methods to further differentiate this listening comprehension, to process auditory impressions, and to apply auditory competencies to aspects of their own music-making (rhythm training, sight-singing, listening for mistakes, replaying, etc.), but also to analytical questions. 

In addition to the curricular courses (composition, ear training, analysis), the department always offers supplementary courses. Examples from current and past semesters: Interpretation Criticism, Music Literary Studies, Open Practice Courses in Ear Training, Didactics of Listening Education, Composing from a Literary Basis, Practice Courses in Piano Practical Composition, General Bass Playing."