Young people know things

Tet Koffeman

Young people know things. They are connected to a source. A creative, urgent, meaningful
source. It's about energy and expression. It is about curiosity and fascination. About pushing
boundaries and becoming visible.
Look at me, listen to me, here I am.

September 2011 saw the start of a new course within the Bachelor of Music at HKU Utrechts
Conservatorium: Musician 3.0. Why the name Musician 3.0? Because it didn't mean
anything. Not yet. The word was still available. It could still become anything. Not claimed by
tradition, by culture, by experts or skeptics.

The guiding idea was to give the maker and performer, traditionally separated at the gate, a
place to develop in both domains. Creating, performing ánd communicating. Non-stylistic
but developing your own prototype from an artistic inquisitive and entrepreneurial attitude.

Discussions with young people who want to enter the music profession from a versatile view
of autonomous and applied art as well as with people from the work field have led us to
start this new curriculum. A work field that is changing rapidly and in which the T-shaped
professional is central: setting up an interdisciplinary community in which these hybrid
artists can meet and develop as T-shaped professionals with a clear vision: a professional
who brings with him a specific expertise and a strong desire and ambition to connect with
professionals from other disciplines, within and outside of the arts. A field of work that calls
for curious, inquisitive, connecting and innovative makers and players who think about new
connections and new applications.

Vision: the power of making

"Making is the most powerful way to solve problems, express ideas and shape our world.
What and how we make defines who we are and carries forward who we want to be.
For many people, making is necessary for survival. For others, it is a calling: a way of
thinking, inventing and innovating. And for some, it is simply the pleasure of making
something and then saying; "I made that." The power of making is that it fulfills all these
human needs and desires.
Those whose craft and ingenuity reach the highest level can make amazing things. But
making is something anyone can do. The knowledge of making - of both everyday objects
and highly skilled creations - is one of man's most valuable resources."
(Daniel Charny, Guest Curator V&A Museum London)

This text has been an important starting point in designing and shaping the Musician 3.0
curriculum. Making, in the sense of creating, is always taken as the starting point for your
development into a professional musician.
The subtitle Creating, Performing, Communicating indicates that you develop in these 3
domains, in which you develop both separately and, with emphasis, in cohesion. Starting
next year, these domains will also be the foundations of all curricula of the Bachelor of
Music, with which Musician 3.0 also presents itself as a Research & Development
department: educational innovation is central.

A number of other key pillars under this design from the beginning include: student-
centered, non-stylistic, creative making processes, interdisciplinary work, a powerful
connection between making yourself and playing yourself, and attention to communication:
what do I want to bring about and what am I bringing about?

Principles
Creative making processes
Gaining insight into your own creative making processes is an important quality for your
further development. Gaining insight into other people's creative making processes, sharing
experiences, building knowledge and contextualizing your own artistic and craft choices is, if
possible, even more important.

Music in Context
The key questions already mentioned: what do I want to bring about and what do I bring
about, have everything to do with the contexts in which or for which you make music.
Where does my music acquire meaning? What does the environment, the collective, the
assignment, the setting, the vision, the collaboration add to the meaning of my work? In a
number of courses and projects, you will investigate these changing contexts and develop
expertise in using these contexts in your work.

Interdisciplinarity
Within the program, through projects and external assignments, you will regularly be asked
to collaborate with people from other (art) disciplines. This will give you new insights into
your own possibilities and ambitions, and you will already be building a network which you
will be able to make use of after your studies.

Experiment:
Learning by doing, is an important starting point within Musician 3.0. You will regularly be
invited into new situations outside your comfort zone to discover your sources, skills,
insights ánd frustrations in order to take the next step. The Laboratory course in year 1 and 2
is a good example of this. Improvisation is another means of doing this research. An
exploration of playing space, imagination, instrumental mastery and deploying this in an
adventurous and non-designed setting, instant composing, focus and discipline.

Student-centered:
Within Musician 3.0, the student's learning questions are central. What do you need to
become a T-shaped professional? What profile do you design for yourself? What connections
do you want to make with the professional field? What is your DNA as a Musician 3.0? Based
on these coaching questions, you will shape your profile yourself over the course of the four
years and graduate as your own prototype. Reflective and communication skills thus also
play an important role in the development of this own profile.

Non-stylistic:
In an environment where you meet other musicians, all with their own baggage, experiences
and fascinations, a rich learning environment is created. This learning community allows you
to learn a lot not only from your teachers but also from your fellow students. The new group
of freshmen is again a very diverse group with young musicians from different backgrounds:
classical, jazz, cabaret, avant-garde, rock, improv and soul. You will not be offered style-
related skills but, based on the principle of analysis-synthesis, you will pick apart what you
hear, what you make and what you play and, after thorough research, put it back together
again. This is how you develop insight, routine and artistic choice.

First graduation
In the summer of 2015, the first batch of Musician 3.0 students graduated. The pioneers.
Started from a powerful ambition, willing to move into the land of not knowing...
Determined to shape their desire to develop from their artistic resources into a new
generation of young artists and professionals.

LISTEN TO US. LOOK AT US. HERE WE ARE.