The music schools fight for survival. The permission to take private lessons seemed a blessing. But the authorities pulled it back a week later.
Dachau - “Now it's time for the substance. And we thought we could get away with it, ”says Dachau drum teacher Norbert Siegl, summarizing his situation and that of his teachers and colleagues. On Monday, April 20, he received the official okay from the health department to resume his drum lessons under strict conditions - only five days later the denial came. "Due to the instructions of the Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Nursing, we have to change the information we have given so far that the one-to-one lessons can only take place either online or in the student's house, not with the respective music teacher," said the district office in a statement.
Another blow for Tilo Ederer from the Dachau Boys' Chapel, who had just prepared everything for the class. Like, for example, clearly more restrictive distance rules than the 1.50 meters when walking, which of course makes sense especially when using wind instruments.
Markings were placed, information boards were set up, hand disinfection and washing facilities were set up or restructured accordingly. For each lesson, only one student should have been there for 30 minutes, who would have stood in the opposite direction at a distance of eight meters from the teacher. Everything would have been taken care of.
Just like with "Drums", the drum school of Norbert Siegl, where lessons had already started when the denial came. "The pupils came to me with a face mask, washed their hands first and were only allowed to enter the classroom," explains the drum teacher. In the room itself, he had set up the drums so that the teacher and pupil weren't looking in the same direction and were sitting several meters apart. So everything in accordance with regulations.
"Parents, pupils and teachers had put their trust in the measures and were extremely happy to finally be able to make music again," says Siegl - an emotionally important aspect in times of exit restrictions during the corona pandemic. A bit of normalcy. "The fact that we are no longer allowed to teach is quite a blow for us teachers and the students," says Norbert Siegl, regretting the change in the district office.
Tilo Ederer also cannot understand why the authority canceled its okay within a few days. However, neither Ederer nor Siegl understand why teaching at the student's home is allowed.
A teacher from the boys' band described the concerns of the music teachers as follows: “In private households, however, I cannot avoid a possibly existing virus and would carry it from one house to the next. Therefore, this regulation stunned me, ”says the statement that is available to the Dachauer Nachrichten.
Siegl then went to the district office, but has so far received no response, either by phone or email. The Dachau drum teacher also feels abandoned by politics. In contrast to other industries, there are no concrete aid measures for freelance artists. The original commitment would have helped to make the income situation for the music schools in Dachau bearable.
Wolfgang Reichelt, press spokesman for the Dachau district office, very much regrets the withdrawal of the "revocable exceptional permit". District Administrator Stefan Löwl is in close contact with the government and tries to achieve "a citizen-friendly interpretation of the measures" in all areas, not only at the music schools. After the district office last week approved the lessons in the music schools under strict conditions after consultation with the Dachau health office, just a few days later the state government issued a new "enforcement note", which had to be interpreted strictly and strictly, the highest directive, Reichelt also has to adhere to the Dachau district.
So the district office had to withdraw the exemption. This step was not justified by the Bavarian government.
Marcus Faiss, head of the "Bluenote Musicschool" in Dachau, was initially pissed off about the procedure of the district office. He was “horrified” by the suggestion that classes be held in the private households of the students. "We are sure that we can easily comply with the hygiene measures in our premises. However, we cannot guarantee or expect that this can also be implemented by all students at home, ”said the music teacher. Like his Dachau colleague Norbert Siegl, Marcus Faiss also criticizes the government's existing financial aid measures as insufficient. Marcus Faiss complains that he can no longer bridge more months with this ban on work. He calls on those responsible to find a way to "start teaching again while protecting against infection".
It is not only the owners and teachers of the music schools that are hard hit; also the older ones, such as Heini Buckenmaier (78). He has been a student on “Drums” since the early 1990s. Last week he finally saw his teacher Harald Schuhbauer again and was allowed to practice with him. "It was excellent, I already had withdrawal symptoms," the 78-year-old describes his emotional state. Although he plays in various bands himself and has a lot of experience, he still enjoys teaching after almost 30 years.
He cannot understand why the Bavarian state government prohibits teaching in music schools but may have opened the hardware stores. "I find that absurd," said Buckenmaier. The Dachau amateur musician does not want to let his humor and his love for music be taken away. But he is angry that culture is "always at the back". Humans need culture like air to breathe, he emphasizes. But the Bavarian state government currently sees it differently.
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