Here you’ll find the current workshop offerings for students at the UdK Berlin.

Workshops by Christina Fassbender:

• November 27, 2026 “The Musician’s Performance as a Reflection of Personality”
• December 11, 2026 “Breath, Movement, and Interpretation”
• January 29, 2027 “Methodological Work Focusing on Breathing Techniques for Woodwind Players”

Please register at: kbb@udk-berlin.de

As musicians, how do we address the issues of motivation, pressure to perform, rivalry, and competition—which are an inevitable part of a musical career, often beginning at a young age? In any case, learning and teaching mean guiding students toward insight and experience on an artistic level.

The development of personality and the personal expression that goes hand in hand with it requires support for inner balance—a path to authenticity through the element that connects us all and everything within us: the breath!

This workshop aims to provide insight into experiential work with one’s own breath and to establish a connection to our daily activities. Breathwork can be seen as balancing and harmonizing for both the teacher and the learner; it can motivate, stimulate, and relax, bring joy, and immediately transform the sound.

Topics such as performance anxiety, nervousness, and difficulty concentrating will be addressed.

Comfortable clothing and wool socks are recommended.

When? November 27, 2026, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.
Where? Carl-Flesch-Saal, Bundesallee 1–12, 10719 Berlin

Drawing on my training as a breath therapist in the Ilse Middendorf method and my decades of experience as a performer and teacher, I would like to highlight the fundamentals of breathwork for your own performance and teaching. Exercises for reflexive breathing, for opening the lower respiratory space, for releasing blockages in the upper respiratory space, and for strengthening the exhalation without effort will be demonstrated and tried out together.

How do I respond to the student—or to myself—in the moment, without drifting too much into verbal explanations, while at the same time making good use of the lesson or practice time?
In this context, the path through breath and movement is a path to holistic growth and inner balance for both the person and the musician. Aspects of a code of conduct regarding physical proximity and respectful communication will be integrated.

Comfortable clothing and wool socks are recommended.

When? January 29, 2027, 3:00–5:00 p.m.

Where? Carl-Flesch-Saal, Bundesallee 1-12, 10719 Berlin

How does one arrive, based on the text and incorporating the musical elements of meter, harmony, and melody, at an interpretation in which what is read and felt is reflected in the sound?
Making music is a holistic process that nurtures and challenges the mind, soul, and body in equal measure.

This workshop aims to outline a path from reading and understanding (with reference to historical sources) a musical text, through emotional perception, to its physical realization in sound. By differentiating the roles of various parts of the body—both methodologically and in relation to the musical text—we can achieve healthy music-making and an interpretation that is both faithful to the original work and authentic.

Comfortable clothing and wool socks are recommended.

When? December 11, 2026, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.
Where? Carl-Flesch-Saal, Bundesallee 1–12, 10719 Berlin