Alpinis auf der Bühne des Club Knox
Portrait of the folk music Ensemble Alpinis of the Lucerne School of Music. Photo Priska Ketterer/HSLU

Folk Music A one-of-a-kind degree programme in Switzerland 

The Lucerne School of Music is the first and only university-level institution in the country that offers a Folk Music profile. Our lecturers include folk music luminaries such as Markus Flückiger, Andreas Gabriel, Christoph Pfändler and Nadja Räss.

4 questions for Nadja Räss, Subject Specialist in Folk Music

How would you characterise folk music at the HSLU?

Our students can gear their curriculum totally towards folk music, both instrumentally and vocally. They develop a deep understanding of Swiss folk music and enhance their knowledge of international folk music. The programme centres around arranging and composing folk music. 

 

Why study folk music at the HSLU?

Because we are the only university-level institution in Switzerland where you can. The main instruments available are typical folk music instruments such as dulcimer, accordion, Schwyzerörgeli [Swiss diatonic button accordion] or yodelling, but also folk-adjacent instruments like the clarinet, violin, double bass and the piano.

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Our lecturers rank among the luminaries of the local folk music scene, which they in turn shape to a significant extent. This they do by continually infusing it with new influences and by applying their deep knowledge of old, traditional music. We also regularly host guest lecturers from Switzerland and abroad.

To whom would you recommend studying folk music?

I would recommend it to young people who want to engage closely with their instrument and who want to make music their life and career.

 

Which career paths are open to graduates?

Graduates have a wide range of career options, both on stage and in the classroom.

 

Where can folk music be heard at the Lucerne School of Music? 

Folk music can be found in various forms such as at the semester concerts and in the form of ad-hoc musical sessions called “Stubeten”. We also get together to listen to LPs in Ueli Mooser’s collection (German only).

Leading Figures in Folk Music

Studying Folk Music

Theory lesson

Pre-College

The Pre-College course provides an excellent grounding in the skills required to pass the entrance examination for the bachelor’s degree programmes offered by the Lucerne School of Music or other music colleges. It applies to classical, jazz and folk music.

Bildausschnitt des Volksmusikensembles Alpini Vernähmlassig

Folk Music

Study of Swiss and European folk music and development of a vocal or instrumental repertoire.

Central student counselling service

Advancing in the field of Folk Music

Detailaufnahme eines Schwyzerörgeli

CAS in Folk Music

The CAS in Folk Music continuing education programme is a platform for qualified musicians to consolidate and extend their folk music skills.

Dozierende Volksmusik

CAS in the Foundations of Folk Music (German only)

Musicians and music teachers consolidate their vocal or instrumental folk music skills under the direction of Nadja Räss, Markus Flückiger, Christoph Pfändler, Andreas Gabriel and Fränggi Gehrig.

Folk music in research

Yodelling and the mind: How to memorise melodies

Experienced yodellers from the Alpstein region have an impressive repertoire of melodies that they can distinguish, name individually and perform from memory at any time. How do they do it? In a joint music cognition study with ROOTHUUS GONTEN, researchers from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts investigated this very question.

Blasmusikformation, historisches Bild (Quelle: Musikgesellschaft Sonnenberg/Schwendi, Festschrift, 1991)

«D’Musikante chömid» - The tradition of Obwalden brass dance music (German only)

The project provides an in-depth insight into the work of two early protagonists of small brass band formations and acts as an impulse for further research and mediation projects in all municipalities of the Canton of Obwalden.

This is what Folk music sounds like

Videostill Jodel-Film

A glimpse into our yodelling classes

With statements by lecturer Nadja Räss and student Dayana Pfammatter.

Impression aus dem Aufnahmetag des SRF Potzmusig an der HSLU Musik.

TV-Show «Potzmusig»

The SRF programme «Potzmusig» at Lucerne Schoof of Music. Students and lecturers show their skills and enthusiasm for folk music. Watch the programme.

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