Carmen Heß

Prof. Dr. Carmen Heß serves as Professor of Instrumental and Vocal Pedagogy at Cologne University of Music and Dance's Wuppertal campus and holds the position of deputy program director for Instrumental and Vocal Pedagogy. Appointed to a visiting professorship in 2018 and promoted to full professorship in 2019, she bridges academic scholarship with active musical performance.

Her educational trajectory began with horn studies during pre-college training (Jungstudium), followed by formal education in music education and instrumental pedagogy (Lehramt). She earned her PhD in Music Education in 2016 with a dissertation analyzing conceptual tensions in wind instrument classroom music settings.

Research focuses on resolving divergent pedagogical goals in ensemble contexts, particularly examining wind instrument instruction within classroom environments. Her work integrates horn pedagogy with broader vocal and instrumental teaching methodologies, addressing implementation challenges in institutional music education frameworks. This scholarship directly informs contemporary practices in music teacher training.

Artistically, she maintains an active performance career through concert engagements and studio productions with her band, demonstrating the integration of scholarly research and practical musicianship.