Magdalena Severin’s final lesson of the day has just ended, and her students are still leaving the classroom as she sits down to talk with mdw Magazine. Here at the Döblinger Gymnasium (BG19), an academic secondary school, she’s now spending Monday through Thursday teaching students of various ages. Originally hired to teach music here, she recently added German—her second teaching subject.

Wilfried Aigner, a senior scientist at the Department of Music Education Research, Music Didactics and Elementary Music Education, talks about music education’s status, lobbying work for the arts, and music teaching in times of crisis and beyond.