Felix Schlarmann

Netherlands (residence), Germany (citizenship) °1982
en

Felix Schlarmann teaches jazz drums at the Royal Conservatoire. As a performing jazz musician, he is part of leading Dutch ensembles. His work focuses on the field of tension between jazz, world music and electronics. In addition to this he is the director and artistic director of Jazzfest Amsterdam, curates a monthly jazz series and is part of Splendor, a collective of musicians, composers and artists.
In his research 'Crossing Borders', Felix looks for new forms of cross-departmental cross-genre activities and their impact on conservatoire students' motivation, creativity and artistry. By conducting and analysing a series of case studies around creative semi-formal student-centred projects, Felix hopes to obtain more insight in the opportunities offered by cross-genre activities, but also into what desires and motivations students have around this topic and what challenges lie in the feasibility of various concepts.

 

This year's work build up on the work of 2021, where Felix was working in a collaboration with Susan Williams on the research project ‘Learning Pods: Harnessing Peer-learning and collective processes in Conservatoires’, an exploratory investigation into how we can set up semi-formal peer learning groups in a conservatoire setting and what the outcomes and effects on the participants would be. 


www.felixschlarmann.com 

research

research expositions

  • Crossing Borders (last edited: 2023) author(s): Felix Schlarmann connected to: KC Research Portal This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
    Crossing borders – supporting ‘beyond genre’ artistic exchange by creating models for interdepartmental collaborative learning environments in a conservatoire. Open creative spaces that offer freedom for artistic collaboration, inspiration and creation between music students are still rare in conservatoires. Meanwhile these students, coming from all departments, show a deep interest in creative activities based on collaborating with and learning from peers from other genres and departments. But there are too many obstacles still occuring like busy schedules, the fear of the unknown or being afraid to improvise. The models and the communication around it need to be more clear, inviting and stimulating. In this research Felix Schlarmann investigates on new formats of inter-departmental cross-genre activities and their impact on conservatoire students' motivation, creativity and artistry. By conducting and analysing a series of case studies around creative semi-formal student-centred projects, Felix hopes to obtain more insight in the opportunities offered by cross-genre activities, but also into what desires and motivations students have around this topic and what challenges lie in the feasibility of various concepts.
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research expositions (collaborated)

  • Learning Pods (last edited: 2022) author(s): Susan Williams, Felix Schlarmann connected to: KC Research Portal This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
    One of the most powerful and effective sources of learning for music students is the other students: learning from and with each other. Peer learning occurs in every conservatoire but usually informally. The aim of the design of the learning pods was to enhance motivation: specifically autonomy (students formulate their own goals and strategies), competence (learning outcomes facilitated by structured framework, creative methods and reflective documentation) and relatedness (it is done by and for groups of students who share their outcomes with other groups). In this research two semi-structured learning groups (pods) were formed that were steered and assessed by the students themselves. One pod focused on performance preparation and the other on creative collaboration. Students were coached on how to formulate goals and give and receive feedback in a respectful way and were required to document their process. Data was collected through questionnaires, logbooks, workshop session video recordings, as well as performance video recordings (in the case of the creative pod). Results found that both pods had a positive effect on motivation (autonomy, competence and relatedness) and confidence.
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