The ‘Rock People’ ensemble is a rock-oriented collective comprising eighteen students. They enjoy performing outside the university at venues across the city of Oldenburg. The repertoire of this group, with its flexible line-up of singers and ever-changing rhythm sections, ranges from indie rock to the heaviest forms of metal. Through complex, democratically organised processes, the group arrives at a shared repertoire, made possible by a collective, constructive spirit of openness. Within the academic curriculum, this rather unconventional course offers the opportunity to gain practical musical, communicative and organisational experience. This stimulates critical thinking, including in relation to practical, aesthetic, historical and socio-functional aspects of music.