JAZZ WITHOUT BORDERS KA229 – School Exchange Partnerships
“Jazz without borders” involves students and teachers of the schools of the partnership in activities aimed at promoting musical culture and in particular jazz music. The students of Liceo Passaglia are almost two hundred and, with their teachers, they form several ensemble music groups and play a lot of performances during festivals and events.. In the last two years the jazz orchestra stood out for its high motivation and excellent results. The Vaskivuori Big Band has been active within the Vaskivuoren Lukio school in Vantaa for years and has numerous concerts and participations in international festivals to its credit. The main objective is to enhance and promote musical culture through a shared heritage within the European community. In fact, there are many jazz experiences that cross the various countries, contaminate local musical cultures and give life to new forms and original styles of making music. The comparison with other European realities allows the exchange of knowledge, skills, repertoires and also increases young musicians’ awareness of belonging to a wider community than the one they are accustomed to live in and study; this stimulates boys and girls to undertake new linguistic, musical and human experiences. With this activity we want to develop the skills to play together on a professional level, to create musical performances through exchange and sharing. Through comparison with other realities, students increase what basic skills of a musician/citizen are.
The activities that took place :
- analysis of repertoires and scores; their re-elaboration and arrangement;
- seminars, meetings, online forums between teachers and students;
- orchestral rehearsals and concerts in prestigious locations;
- group activities with laboratory teaching;
- jazz improvisation and arrangement seminars;
- implementation of new technologies, recording and multimedia;
- exchange of good practices and teaching methodologies;
- visits to places of musical, cultural and historical interest.
The methodology was centered on the enhancement of the students’ creativity and skills through laboratory-type teaching.
The concrete products were:
- professional quality performances in concert halls and public squares;
- high quality videos and recordings of the two orchestras virtually joined and live performances
The project allowed the participants to improve their professional skills in music, interpersonal and linguistic skills, particularly in the more fluent use of the English language, and the specific musical language. The participants in the project have established solid bonds that will certainly lead to the development of new projects both in school life and in the professional music field. Thanks to the extended participation in the project activities, it is possible to include the activities and products created in the curriculum of the schools. The involvement in the project of the musical realities and entities present in the two cities makes it possible to reproduce the results in theaters and events in the area to spread, in addition to good music, the reality of Erasmus both in Finland and in Italy.
