Silja Stegemeier is an artistic associate for vocal training at the Institute of Music. Among other things, she teaches prospective music teachers how to form a choir. She recently became the director of the university choir.
How long have you been at the university and what exactly do you do?
I've been here since 2004 and teach everything to do with children and singing. Now I mainly train music teachers here in Oldenburg.
When and how did you get into singing yourself?
I sang in the children's choir at church as a child. When I was 14, I took over the direction of the children's choir and joined the girls' choir in Hanover. I didn't realise at the time that it was one of the best in the world. The competitions and concert tours around the world were great.
Did you realise from the outset that singing would also become your academic appointment?
No. Studying music was out of the question for me in the first place. When I was told that "teaching is a proper academic appointment", I studied to become a primary school teacher. But then I realised that music was my greater passion, so I went on to study choral conducting, violin and rhythmics at the Hanover University of Music.
What has changed now that your hobby has become an academic appointment?
Sometimes I miss the carefree hobby. I now find it difficult to sing in choirs with other conductors who work differently to me. I also have two children now - they want to be looked after too (laughs). That's why I'm not singing in the choir myself at the moment.
But you have recently started directing the university choir, which has been rehearsing again this semester. Who sings there?
Anyone can join in. We don't have any restrictions, but I'm happy if interested people have already seen grades. We now have almost 80 people. Many of the participants are, of course, music students who have to take two vocal ensembles as part of their degree programme.
Singing has fallen into disrepute due to fear of infection with Covid-19. What did that mean for your work?
Singing together on a PC doesn't really work. There are online platforms where you can sing without delay, but they are technically challenging and there is something missing when you are not face to face. On the other hand, we once had a surprise visit from a Canadian woman in one of these virtual seminar rooms. She said "That sounds so nice, can I listen for a bit?" Of course, you don't experience that at university.
Interview: Sonja Niemann
