Rivka Worms

What are you working on now?
“During the last interview, I was working for Muziekschool Amsterdam and I taught at home. In the meantime, a lot has changed. I now work full-time in permanent employment as a music teacher at the Vossius Gymnasium secondary school. I teach classes 1 to 6 (ages 12-18), as well as the final examination subject Music. In addition, I still have a small teaching practice at home with piano and singing students. I still sing in my jazz and ArtBopCity (previously: Jiggle ’n Jazz). Unfortunately, everything has been on hold for a while due to the coronavirus. In order to remain active making music myself, I started jazz guitar lessons, online with a teacher.”

How have you improved yourself?
“In 2018, I completed the Master of Education in Arts, which I’m very happy about. I enjoyed developing interdisciplinary projects during the Master’s programme. For example, I organised a children’s exhibition together with a visual arts teacher in the CODA museum in Apeldoorn. Due to the research I conducted, I am now better able to supervise subject combination projects and literature research. During the Master’s programme, I got to know people from other disciplines and learned to approach art in a broader manner. As a result of that, I am now delving into dance, theatre and visual art. At the Vossius, I also teach the out-of-school optional course Wereldcultuur (World Culture). A guest teacher comes, for example, we go to theatre and dance shows, go on a city walk through neighbourhoods where the pupils would be less likely to go to themselves or look at a film from the Arab Film Festival.”

How has COVID-19 affected your work?
“It is difficult to teach music online. The strength of our subject lies in making music with real instruments in a group and that came to a halt. Our final examination pupils choose to do music in order to be able to play together at a certain level. We normally have about five concerts per year, and this year only the final examination and Christmas concert were streamed. One advantage, however, is that you can reach a wider audience with such a stream. We’re currently working with groups half the size, but I hope that we will have full classes again in September. It was nice that this work didn’t stop in a financial sense.”

Were you able to continue with your teaching practice at home?
“I stopped the lessons at the beginning of the crisis. After that, I taught online for a while, at half-price. That was not so smart in a business sense. I thought that would end after a few weeks, but I couldn’t go back on that anymore, of course. I don’t think those online lessons work so well. I have lots of young students and then you’re sitting there screaming ‘not that key, yes that key!’ through the telephone. So, when they could return to school, I let them come to my home again. It’s handy to be able to demonstrate things with those young kids.

In 2016, you said: ‘Music is not the goal, but a means of creating special moments together.’ How do you see that now?
“We have a lot of musical talent at the Vossius. Coincidentally, I have four pupils who are all going to the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and who do the Junior Jazz College there. I was never under the illusion that that was down to me. I facilitate a class with supervision and feedback, and ensure that students are given the space to improve themselves. Collaborating, setting up a concert together, trying out instruments and discovering new songs are all things they do under my supervision, but they really do that themselves too. In that sense, music education still feels like a means and not the goal.”

“I also hope that it shakes off the stigma of being a subject you do purely for fun. I still have to fight against the prejudices of people who think that we only hit triangles a bit. Because there’s no doubt that it’s a genuinely difficult subject in upper secondary education, with music theory, music history and creating your own compositions. I wanted to come to this school because music is taken seriously here. We’re in a luxury position because music is the subject which many pupils choose to come to Vossius for, due to the long musical tradition.”

“During the last lesson, my final examination students came to bring me a present and a card with the text: ‘music is the only thing that made school bearable.’ I think it’s special that the subject I teach can contribute so much to their time at school. As far as that’s concerned, I also see it as an important mission to ensure that music education remains in schools.”

What do you enjoy about your work?
“The contact with the students. That I can go to the Concertgebouw with them, for example, and that we can all go out for something to eat beforehand, and that I can have nice conversations with them then. I also enjoy working towards concerts with students. And when I teach a lesson that makes them happy and me too.”

What are you proud of?
“That the students appreciate me and that they like coming to my lessons. And that I’m a key player in arts and culture at school.”

Which teaching experience would you like to share with those at the start of their careers?
“For newly qualified music teachers: don’t start working in permanent employment at a school too quickly. Spend a few years gaining some experience with projects first and look at various places. Don’t assume as standard: I’m a music teacher, so I have to end up at a primary school or secondary school. Above all, continue performing yourself as a music teacher. By doing that, I think that you will remain inspired to teach.”

“And if you start doing the Master of Education in Arts, don’t do that immediately after the Music in Education programme preferably. I think that it’s important that you first have a few years’ experience with projects in the professional practice, so that you have a greater sense of direction.”

Where do you see yourself in the future?
“For the time being, I still see myself at this school. I have the impression that there’s enough to challenge me. I may also want to become a care coordinator at some point. But I will continue teaching in any case and continue making music.”

18 March 2016