DAYUM throwing some serious shade!
Ingolf Wunder
OK.
Let’s talk frankly.
I’m sure that some of you are quite confused what I’m actually doing?! He is a pianist (also a conductor), but weirdly enough he has an IT start-up (actually two of them), speaks out here and there about the value of music and creativity and other brainy stuff, does something with education but who knows what. Oh, and he does some masterclasses from time to time. Does he teach? Why he plays so little? WHERE IS HE?
I love playing the piano, I always did and I’ll always will! But when I started at 14 I had pink glasses: I believed that all people of this world of music actually care for music and music education, its quality, are sensitive enough to feel and understand the subtle texture of music, and most importantly that they follow the good taste and good musical values in order to preserve the essence of music: MUSICALITY.
On my way, I realized how naive I was and how little people actually care, hear and understand. Slowly, little by little it made me feel uncomfortable. I literally started to feel a physical pain whenever I thought how bad music education level actually is. Already in 2011 Paulina and I knew that we must do something. If you know that something is wrong but you don’t do anything about it, you’re also guilty.
Years later we started our first remote-teaching platform Appassio (by the way, some major changes coming up soon!), then Appassimo (used now by major universities). All to connect teachers with students online, to give them more options. But only a remote-teaching in itself is not, and never was the final goal of our start-ups and projects. We have plans for the next years which (with a bit of luck and a lot of work - we do work very hard for our luck), might get a huge additional educational layer that would help getting back to the essence of music. And which, in consequence, will improve the value and the level of it.
Do I teach? Only during occasional masterclasses. Why? To spot first hand what are the problems, what students are bothered by, what they’re struggling with… and because I like it
The Art Of The Piano masterclass is a perfect “place” for a movement which aims at increasing the musicality level in a genuine and meaningful way. But that’s just a tiny thing in my schedule which helps me do a market research and confirm how bad education stops a young person from getting what music is actually about. Shiny social media, the general decreasing level of sensitivity and awareness, combined with an attitude of many classical artists who hide their lack of deep musical understanding behind generic phrases and truisms, make it quite difficult to improve anything.
As a born stubborn optimist though, I believe that change is possible. Paulina and I both believe in that! Therefore we put so much focus into education and prediction (based on research) how future technological world might influence the profession of musicians. And believe me, if one doesn’t do anything regarding the quality of education and the level of musicality now (which is worryingly low also in case of some “top” musicians), then the future of the music-connected professions and music itself does not look bright.
So if you think for yourself, hey, this guy says what I always thought, or if you have further ideas, or if you are already an activist working for the same goal of bringing musicality back into music, give us a shout. People that still hear it have to stick together to make change happen.
Have a good weekend,
Ingolf & Paulina
