Teaching

In his teaching and musical education work, Mehyar Abboud responds to the realities of contemporary Germany as an immigration society, where intercultural exchange and mutual understanding are increasingly central educational challenges. He sees music lessons as an especially powerful space for cultural encounter and for supporting children’s personal development. Building on his dual perspective as practitioner and researcher, Abboud is focused on the question of how Arabic music can be developed as a structured learning offer and meaningfully embedded in the music curriculum in Germany.

Drawing on his expertise and professional experience as a music educator in Berlin, he examines the gap between interest in intercultural music teaching and the structural, cultural, social, and political barriers that often prevent implementation. His work addresses practical questions: how can teachers without prior knowledge learn Arabic music responsibly, what challenges arise from different music systems (especially microtonality), and what conditions help educators teach interculturally with confidence? Through practice-based workshops and designing a step-by-step workbook, he highlights both the strong openness among teachers-in-training and the need for sustained institutional support. In this manner, intercultural music education avoids the traps of “othering” by treating cultural knowledge not as tied to origin, but as a shared, learnable space for everyone. Learn more about projects here.