From Musikvermittlung to Jazz Encounter

Conceptual Considerations for a Jazz-Specific Approach to Music Mediation

Abstract

Based on the German term Musikvermittlung, this article highlights the problems of conceptual approaches to music mediation in order to develop suggestions for future directions in jazz. To this end, the article first draws on the specialist discourse concerning the terminological implications of Musikvermittlung, which primarily relates to the field of classical music. Particular attention is paid to the problem that a one-dimensional understanding of “Vermittlung” or “mediation” implies that learning is seen as a passive process, in which cultural hierarchies are reinforced.

In the following pages, these findings are reflected upon in relation to jazz and its socio-cultural contexts. Points of orientation are developed for the further conceptual development of “jazz encounters”. Key aspects include a processual understanding of jazz and a power-critical orientation arrived at through encounters in “third spaces”. Finally, suggestions for study programmes and further training of jazz musicians are developed, which aim, among other things, to prompt reflection on one’s own professional self-image.