Last weekend, I hosted the first Community Music Netzwerk national meeting at Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, with music workshops on tune learning, band work, sound painting, music in prisons and early years settings, and network development. Over 65 practitioners from across Germany and Switzerland connected, learned, made music, and shared meals together.
The CMN emerged out of my PhD research in Munich, and I have been chair since we founded it. Starting from a group of just eight people in Munich, we’ve now grown into a network of over 100 people, with many institutions supporting us—and we keep growing. Since 2012, we have worked on building this network: developing structures for organizing the network, making community music visible in Germany, connecting practitioners, working on quality, and developing practice in regional areas…
On Friday, we had our annual meeting, and I stepped down as chair. During the last week, I felt a mix of emotions. Some sadness and a sense of mourning as I let go of this role and at the same time, I know it is good for the network to be led by a new team—in the spirit of how it all began—with participatory action research and shared leadership at the core. I am now passing the baton to Matt Robinson and Marion Haak-Schulenburg, two exceptional community musicians I deeply trust.
I want to thank the amazing women I worked with—as a team, we led the network for the last few years: Marie Karaisl, Marion Haak-Schulenburg, and Swantje Ndiaye. Thank you also to Burkhard Hill and the Munich Community Music Action Research Group. Without them, we wouldn’t have started this in Munich all these years ago.
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