Taking a breath before the big performance: (from left) Coach Kai Fikentscher with the group Thursday (front), behind Coach Torsten Bendzko with the bands Beyound Brightness and Sea Lounge. © Roettig
Dießen – Let's be honest: When you hear the word "music school", you spontaneously think of recorder, violin or piano lessons. Talents from the Dießen Music School proved that there is another way with their rock and pop night at the Freie Kunstanstalt.
Three young bands turned up the noise so that the windows in the former carpenter's workshop were shaking. The occasion was their contribution to the anniversary program "40 Years of the Dießen Music School", which encompasses all genres of the musical educational institution. Mayor Sandra Perzul said it correctly in her greeting message: "40 years and not a bit quiet!"
All bands have their roots in the music school at Johannisstraße 22 between the youth center and the fire department. The cool guys from "Beyond Brightness" have been rocking together for the longest time. In 2011 they started as a cover band, from 2016 they played their own songs with metal, electronic and hip-hop influences, which they even released on an album.
Also on CD there is already a single of the group "Sea Lounge". It convinces with its mixture of pop and rock, garnished with elements of jazz and funk. The up-and-coming band "Thursday" celebrated their debut performance with a focus on jazz and blues at the Freie Kunstanstalt. The bands were accompanied and coached by Kai Fikentscher and Thorsten Bendzko, both members of the 20-member teaching staff of the music school, which currently teaches around 400 students in various instrumental and vocal subjects.
The Dießen Music School is part of the "Association of German Music Schools". Across Germany, 1.5 million people attend music schools Where the distances are short and the supply is large, there is also a lot of demand – according to a study by the association. This is fully true of Dießen, as Thomas Schmidt, headmaster and teacher of brass instruments, confirms. Since 2003 he has been running the "Centre of Excellence for Musical Education and Making Music Together", as he proudly calls the school. It is open to children from the age of 1.5 to senior citizens. "Without us, cultural life in Dießen would certainly be a bit poorer," he says confidently. Wherever there is something going on in the market town or in the districts, people like to fall back on the various ensembles of the music school. Like at the New Year's reception of the municipality, at "Dießen leuchten" or at the consecration of a new fire engine.
According to Thomas Schmidt, there is a reliable partnership with the municipality and municipal institutions such as the Carl Orff School and various kindergartens. He also thanked the many donors and the volunteer board of directors headed by Hannelore Baur and Melanie Vordermayr, who made a lot possible in the background.