The Jesuits as pioneers of organised music education

Prof. Dr Thomas Erlach and the music theatre archive for children and young people

For him, sound training for music teachers is the most important criterion for securing music lessons in schools in the long term. "Children shouldn't be left at the mercy of people who haven't learnt it properly," says Erlach, pointing out that a large proportion of music lessons - especially at primary schools - are taught by teachers from outside the subject. With the music theatre archive for children and young people at the University of Wuppertal, he has already taken an important step towards tackling this problem.

As part of his appointment, he "inherited", so to speak, the music theatre archive of the retired Münster-based Germanist and theatre expert Prof. Dr Gunter Reiß, which he has been continuing ever since.

"Most people are familiar with opera, operetta or musicals", but Professor Erlach points out that there is a special section that is exclusively for children and young people. Plays that can be performed by children and plays that were written for children. There are around 1500 scores on the shelves of his archive, most of which are on permanent loan from publishers. And they should be used. The Wuppertal music educator knows that many theatre projects are carried out at all schools. That is why he wants to build up a network, wants to find out what is being done in projects so that he can then provide teachers with useful advice. His music theatre archive already contains an archive database in which anyone interested can look for plays. To ensure that the material is always up to date, he is expanding his contacts with publishers and is also happy to invite people to the archive's home in Bendahler Straße, because teachers should be able to research on site and try out scores on the piano. With this very special transfer service, Erlach supports the trained music teachers, can respond individually to the type of school, student clientele and group size and create long-term sustainability. Because that's what it's all about for him. In his inaugural lecture entitled "Music Theatre Pedagogy at the University of Wuppertal - Goals and Tasks", he clearly stated that teachers who have studied at the university should be able to transfer what they have learned independently.

The artistic personality is developed

Music teacher training is based on three pillars: subject-specific science, subject-specific didactics and subject-specific practice. Students also learn to sing and play an instrument. This is the most individualised part of the course, in which individual lessons are also given. An artistic personality can develop in this one-to-one support. This is something, Erlach emphasises, "that sets music apart from all other teaching subjects!"

A large proportion of music students do not come from the classical, but rather from the popular track, and here too it is important to consider how support is provided.

Erlach wants children to get to know music in all its diversity. He therefore makes sure that students are exposed to many different types of music during the course of their studies, so that children's impartiality towards all types of music is utilised in their early phase. In the long term, genres such as classical art music will also be given more space again.

For him, the principle is very simple: "For us, it's not only important to make music and sing, but also to be able to explain what you're doing."

Professor Erlach knows what he is talking about. After studying to become a teacher of Latin, Catholic theology and music, he completed his traineeship in Ratingen. In 2005, he completed his doctorate with a thesis on "Entertainment and instruction in Jesuit theatre around 1700", a topic that emerged as an interface between his subjects. To this end, he researched in Vienna and Munich, dug up Latin manuscripts, translated and edited them and also found extensive sheet music material, which he also brought into the archive.

"Basically, the Jesuit drama is also part of this archive, because the Jesuit plays are also musical theatre for children and young people, just older pre-forms. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Jesuits had a kind of monopoly on education in Catholic Europe and were therefore the leading order that combined grammar school and basic studies."

The Jesuits' studies included the rehearsal and performance of tragedies and comedies by pupils. The pupils had to learn texts by heart, act and sing; and all in Latin. Initially, there was a certain scepticism towards music, which stemmed from very long theological contexts, as it was thought that music was too sensual. But then the Jesuit order used music so skilfully that the educational messages were conveyed with the appropriate rhythms and melodies that were easy to memorise.

And in order to be able to perform the comedies in Catholicism at all, the carnival season was utilised. For example, assemblies of the gods were parodied, similar to Offenbach's operettas later on. The Jesuits already knew all the dramaturgical tricks back then. "There were also theatre theorists among the Jesuits," explains Erlach and shows a book by Franciscus Lang from 1727 entitled "Abhandlung über die Schauspielkunst". It explains to the teachers, who had to write the plays for the pupils, how a tragedy should be structured sensibly, written in a comprehensible way and well received by the audience. "And much of what Lang wrote," he emphasises, "still applies today." The beginnings of organised music education date back to the beginning of the 18th century and still have an impact today.

Music is sedimented spirit (Adorno)

Erlach, who says he once wanted to go into a monastery, likes to deal with overarching questions of musical education research, i.e. topics such as music and religion or music and language. He quotes Adorno with the words "the musical material is sedimented spirit" and adds, "so there is something in there that you have to get out first, something that is not immediately obvious (...). And in this respect, music is something you can work your way through. ... it first requires an effort and then suddenly an added value is revealed, because I would never have discovered something if I hadn't spent more time with it. That's the educational quality of music."

Despite all his educational work, the trained organist has always remained a musician. He also has a final tip for future teachers: "Don't stop being a musician. So, as well as teaching professionally, you have to take away from your studies that you can also make music without thinking about teaching. Simply because it's beautiful."

Uwe Blass (interview from 28/07/2017)

As part of the Ü-55 Research Days, Prof. Dr Erlach will speak on Thursday, 14 September at 3.15 pm, course 19, on the topic: Music theatre pedagogy at the University of Wuppertal - tasks and goals. Free registration at www.wuppertal-live.de

The music theatre archive can be found at the following link: www.musik.uni-wuppertal.de/musiktheater-archiv.html

Born in Arnsberg in 1970, graduated from the local grammar school Laurentianum in 1989. Studied Latin, Catholic theology and music to become a grammar school teacher. Trainee teacher in Ratingen. 2005 Doctorate in music education at the University of Dortmund with a thesis on "Entertainment and instruction in Jesuit theatre around 1700". 2005-2014 Research assistant at the TU Dortmund University. Since 21 November 2014 university professor for music didactics at the BUW.