Brave new world of church music

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Annedore Hacker-Jakobi emphasizes diversity

Annedore Hacker-Jakobi has been a professor of choral conducting at the HfMT since the 2017/18 winter semester. After her school days at Lake Constance, she studied school music and choral conducting at the Karlsruhe University of Music, German studies at the University of Karlsruhe and choral and orchestral conducting at the Würzburg University of Music. During her studies, she conducted various choirs and ensembles in Karlsruhe and Würzburg and has since contributed her experience and skills to countless music and theater productions.

When asked about her still young professorship at the HfMT, it is important for her to differentiate first. "I teach choral conducting as a main subject for church musicians. But my main profession is as a conductor. I'm not a church musician myself, although I've always been involved with it, and even more so now. Text and source analysis is just as important as musical form analysis. I have to set a good example and deal with it theologically. I'm not afraid to pass on some theological questions to the church music students." Early music also falls within her area of responsibility, but she is not part of the Early Music department and does not want to call herself an absolute expert in this field. "There are completely different calibers at our university. I find it incredibly enriching to have such colleagues at my side. My job is to teach the subject of choral conducting. The field is enormously diverse and must be broadly based in terms of content, as the students will also need to be versatile later on as finished cantors."

From Annedore Hacker-Jakobi's point of view, the tasks and focal points in the field of choral conducting are very diverse. "First of all, this includes teaching movement with a strong communicative content on a non-verbal level: how do I move and what do I trigger in my counterpart? This is followed by the transfer to specific works - from analysis to subtext interpretation, via the emotional statement to the corresponding facial expressions and gestures. Another area of teaching is learning all kinds of rehearsal methods with a focus on a certain approachability and emotionality."
What about the immediate musical factors such as sound and voice training?
"It's not just the 'right' tone that interests me, but also the beautiful - or deliberately unattractive - sound with a message; and as far as vocal training or the use of the voice as an instrument is concerned, this is of course an indispensable field, especially in relation to amateur choir conducting, as is the development of basic skills such as listening and sight-singing."
Keyword repertoire and program design. Here, too, Annedore Hacker-Jakobi has a clear position. "Specialization is possible, and certainly everyone can and should do what is closest to their heart in their profession. Feeling good is the top priority, only then can you burn for something and infect others. Nevertheless, I advise you to look beyond your own nose. In my opinion, you shouldn't ignore the modern age - both the E and U areas. It is better to recognize the possibilities of combining both sides. On the one hand, the opportunity lies in the music-making itself. Bach and Palestrina can also be played flexibly. The music can and should live. For choirs that find a certain freedom in music-making somewhat difficult, an excursion into jazz or even pop may even be the solution. There is an amazing amount of music with a spiritual background here too." On the other hand, she sees another important task in attracting new members. After all, many cantors have to deal with an ageing church choir. "How do I attract young people? Perhaps through a new style? In this way, I can perhaps inspire people who have not yet heard so much of Bach, Schütz, Monteverdi or even much younger contemporaries of serious church music for a new world of church music."

TEXT DIETER HELLFEUER
PHOTO CHRISTINA KÖRTE