Håkon Matti

Q: What are the most fulfilling and most challenging aspects of your job?

I usually describe my work as a facilitator for choral music of many genres connected to the cultural life of Bergen. Technically I’m employed by the Bergen Nasjonale Opera and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra as chorusmaster through the professional choir Edvard Grieg Kor. The choral structure we’re building consists of boys and girls of all ages, from 6-year-olds through professional singers and large amateur choirs. The long term (20+ year) strategy that guides our work gives both hope and energy when projects are born and carried through, but can also be very challenging given the vulnerable foundation that art and culture rely on (funding, education, political direction, etc.).

Q: Please describe some examples (things you have personally witnessed) that show how music can contribute to civic engagement among young people. For instance, how through music do young people become more involved in improving their community, or more socially engaged and politically active, or concerned about global challenges?

This year we sang at a Festival «Siste kapittel» (Final Chapter) that facilitates and encourages meeting points for scientists, medical experts and artists (music, drama, literature, etc.). This particular concert was with a senior «elderly» choir singing together with children https://www.sistekapittel.no/konserter/generasjonssang-i-trnsalen. This concert served as a meeting point where grandparents and children could learn and perform with each other, opening a new perspective on aging and also utilizing knowledge across generations. Another fulfilling aspect to working with children’s singing is how they grow into understanding social interaction, learn to trust their own voice and personal understandings, and meet other cultures through music.

Q: Please describe examples from conversations among young people (things you have personally observed) that show some of the different ways they discuss music.

In general I find young people to be very open-minded to all music. In fact, I hear a lot of positive remarks when they recognize music they have sung before (seasonal music, but also opera and symphonic works).

Q: Based on what you have seen, how do such conversations change as young people mature (for instance, ages 15-17; 18-20; 21-25)?

Our child and youth choirs are organized in three groups aged 6-10, 10-16 and 16-26. In the oldest age group, the interest for the music’s background, theory, story, composers and history develops along with the urge to dig deeper into technical aspects of musicianship.

Q: Based on your experience, have discussions of music and society among young people generally changed across years due to different historical conditions? If so, how and why?

The situation has changed perhaps in the way that young people speak of artists related to mainstream radio and television series. Some years back it was much more common to listen to music in libraries and/or record stores, but now musical tastes of young people are shaped by algorithms and programmed directions rather than by their own interests.

Q: Do you sense that a shared knowledge of traditional (folk) songs and dances is changing among young people, and if so, how and why?

Changing awareness of traditional songs is a concerning trend, and I’m not sure if it is naturally weathered or limited by a less imposed cultural conscience in both the school curriculum and in physical social gatherings.

Q: What is the most interesting story you can share about how music impacts young people?

The greatest impact I notice is in the boys choir: how they mature and get a real sense of self confidence gradually as their voice and singing ability develops.

Q: In what ways do you see social media impacting how young people use and communicate about music?

A positive thing is the general interest for music that social media creates, and also digital tools and toys that can trigger curiosity and indeed fantasy. The negative sides are, among other things, the non-flexible desire to sound (and look!) like pop-artists, and to only imitate a unique voice while neglecting a healthy understanding of one’s own voice.

Q: What kinds of discussions have you witnessed stimulated through instrumental music? Can you imagine some new ways this could be achieved?

In the field of instrumental music, I notice reactions more than discussions: an energetic positive desire to do something good in one’s life!

Q: What kind of new methods in work with young people would be helpful in your work? What should be the purpose of these methods?

In terms of new methods, it is important to give schoolteachers tools to develop their own confidence in how they teach music to children - especially voice training and singing - and to make it relevant to superimpose music on theoretical subjects (Languages, math, etc.). Every child should sing every day.

July 2021