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Tjut Nyak Deviana Daudsjah:
JP/Tertiani ZB SimanjuntakWhile the Indonesian music industry is slowly gaining momentum on the international stage, the development of music education at home is left wanting
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JP/Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak
While the Indonesian music industry is slowly gaining momentum on the international stage, the development of music education at home is left wanting.
But Tjut Nyak Deviana Daudsjah wanted to change that.
Deviana was the first Asian music professor to head the academic and artistic directorate of the Jazz & Rockschule Freiburg in Germany and its examination board.
Back home, Deviana and the late legendary pianist Nick Mamahit established the Institut Musik Daya Indonesia (IMDI) in 2000 to provide advanced music education to young talent.
Among the few people who believe talent alone is not enough, Deviana instilled discipline, strong will and a different way of thinking into the minds of the young.
'At first they came to me in a mess,' she said. 'But as they have progressed through their studies they have changed and progressed. Their minds have been broadened; they have compassion and have learned to be humble.'
On Wednesday evening at the campus on Jl. Ampera Raya, South Jakarta ' a homely premises with a garden, porch, swimming pool and three small dogs ' students were rehearsing for a performance at the Galeri Indonesia Kaya on Sunday.
They started and ended the rehearsal with prayers that encompassed all religions and showed maturity when listening to and applying constructive criticism directed at their performances.
The institute is very selective. Since its establishment, only 35 have graduated and most of them returned to be lecturers at the institute and are now involved in the Lembaga Sertifikasi Kompetensi Musik (National Certification Institute for Music Competencies, LSKM), which Deviana started in 2010 with a license from the Education and Culture Ministry.
'The [graduates] wanted to transfer their own knowledge to ensure the standardization of the profession for their fellow musicians,' Deviana said.
Widely acclaimed actress and musician Titi Rajo Bintang is a graduate who called Deviana Hitler due to her strict teaching style.
'But she thanked me later and now promotes IMDI,' Deviana said.
Born in Jakarta on Feb. 13, 1958, Deviana lived and worked in Europe, particularly in Germany and Switzerland, for 36 years. She took formal music studies and had a career as composer, arranger, music director and all-round performer.
She authored the curriculum, validated by the German government, for modern music study by combining classical and jazz music and was appointed German representative during the initiation of European Union Music Schools Network between 1992 and 1995.
Deviana was also professor for ensemble, piano, vocal (classic and jazz), vocal improvisation and choir and ear-training at the Music Academy Basel's jazz department in Switzerland, where she designed the curriculum for modern vocal study and vocal improvisation, validated by the Swiss Association of Music Educators and the Swiss government.
An educator at heart, she joined the Education Ministry's music consortium and was involved in standardizing the national curriculum.
The certification of musicians acknowledges the profession, thus, protects their right to better wages.
In 2011, Deviana received the Music Therapist Award from the School of Nursing and Medicine at the University of Indonesia and Nursing School at Maranatha University in Bandung, West Java.
The Health Ministry has also used her curriculum and guidelines to teach music therapy for children with special needs.
Her musical work in Europe and the US includes various international jazz festivals.
The energetic 56-year-old continued to support the national jazz scene, a music genre she said 'had much to offer'.
Together with singer Tompi, she produced a catchy jazz-pop album called The Doctor and the Professor.
'Real jazz is not known here. People either love it or hate it,' she said, adding that she, her colleagues and pupils at IMDI are on a mission to make Indonesians 'jazz literate'.
Her upcoming project Torang Pe Jazz (Our Jazz), a collaboration with the North Sulawesi administration ' the hometown of her Manadonese mother, will be performed at the By the Sea Festival, slated for May 14 and 15.
The lineup includes Veronica Nunn, who is the singer for Michael Franks; Margie Segers; Benny Likumahuwa and his son Barry; Ermy Kullit; Cornelia Agatha; and Indro Hardjodikoro & Friends.
The event is part of the World Coral Reef Conference in Manado.
'The tourism industry there, and nationwide, needs an international exposure and international level of attractions to become major tourism destinations. The festival is suitable for the purpose while setting an example of what jazz is.'
