1 – Music Bootcamps

Goal: Present bootcamps as a state of art event model for the development of several exemplary methodologies in the music and youth training areas. Understand several fundamental aspects of a music bootcamp organization and development  process, covering topics like initial planning and production, basic communication strategy, planning of activities and other essential elements to the success of the event. 

UNIT I: How to set up a bootcamp 

UNIT II: Essential activities for music bootcamps

UNIT III: Motivation and well-being for musicians 

Cluster Summer Camp – Music Bootcamp in Aosta (Italy)

2 – Band Acceleration, Management and Entrepreneurship

Goal: Show the benefits of Band acceleration and management programs that help youngsters to professionalize their projects at an early stage of career. Understand a set of tools that can help emerging artists take their band or music project further, like how to communicate the project, how to do a technical rider and other fundamental knowledge. 

UNIT I: How to promote your band

UNIT II: How to promote your band on social media

UNIT III: How to do a technical and hospitality rider

Band residency programme – School of Rock Paredes de Coura (Portugal)

3 –  Music and Community

Goal: Help Youth Workers and Trainers to look at their projects and activities as an opportunity to include different audiences and age groups, extending the benefits of music to various sectors of the population, and give some ideas and insights on how to do it. 

UNIT I: Activities with experimental and improvised music

UNIT II: Basic recycled instruments

UNIT III: Music for change

Musical Camp Tomiño – Agrupación Musical de Goián (Galicia, Spain)

These materials are available at Play2Grow Hub, a Collaborative Knowledge Exchange Tool for dynamic learning and interaction of free registration. The project outputs also include a section of Case Studies, composed of a set of best practices recommended by the partners to inspire other related projects, and a section with other useful external resources mentioned at the training resources, both available on the website.  

These series of innovative training resources were developed for Youth Workers / Trainers of music schools or other cultural related activities, so that they can improve the provision of key skills and values such as respect, creativity, communication, teamwork and so on in their respective classrooms under a music-based approach. All the materials were produced in several languages (English, Spanish, Galician, Italian and Portuguese) and written with an accessible language and design to reach a wider target audience, including students and younger generations interested in music learning and teaching. 

Some of the PLAY2GROW good practices were included in School of Rock’s activity plan, like activities available in the Units Motivation and well-being for musicians and Essential activities for music bootcamps, such as warm-up exercises before music practice, artistic workshops to create merchandising and a movie session, among others.

Warm-up exercises based on the PLAY2GROW Unit Motivation and well-being for musicians (from the Music Bootcamps Module)

Merchandising production Workshop based on the PLAY2GROW Unit Essential Activities for Music Bootcamps (from the Music Bootcamps Module)

After lunch time, there was a presentation of the project open to the Paredes de Coura community and the students of School of Rock, which explained the project goals and the work developed so far, explaining how the Training Kit developed by the project partners can be useful to anyone in Portugal or abroad. Among other aspects, the presentation highlighted the resources available in the Band Acceleration, Management and Entrepreneurship Module, due to its usefulness for music students and youngsters with independent music projects, and also highlighted some activities hosted by the several Play2Grow partners, in order to show the possibilities of international exchange available in the music education field. 

PLAY2GROW public presentation

During the presentation, some of the YOUth Grow participants’ testimonies were also exhibited. YOUth Grow was one of PLAY2GROW international events, designed exclusively for youngsters from several countries, and two of the Portuguese participants gave their testimonies live, talking about the learnings and added value they take from their participation in this project. 

YOUth Grow testimonies screening

Laura and João, two portuguese YOUth Grow participants, talking about their experience on the project

This was the last PLAY2GROW Multiplier Event. These events held in Spain, Italy and Portugal aimed to present the PLAY2GROW project results to the general public and to promote the good practices mapped during this Erasmus+ project. 

Play2Grow participants talking about their experience during the project international activities

A round table provided a very interesting discussion between music teachers and socio-educational animators about the theme ‘Music and freedom: how music can make us free’. Many useful insights emerged from this discussion and at the same time there were rehearsals of a music workshop about ‘Creation of film music’, oriented by Space Ensemble, another Play2Grow partner. In this workshop, students of trumpet, saxophone, violin, guitar, keyboards, bass and drums engaged in refining the repertoire prepared for the final concert, which then took place at the end of the day.

Activity with teachers and trainers about the Play2Grow project

After lunch break, SFOM teachers who were involved in the PLAY2GROW! project gave a lecture about how the project was carried out and described the results achieved, showing photos, videos and parts of the PLAY2GROW hub.

The intervention of some students who participated directly in the project were very heartfelt. They said ‘it was very nice and stimulating to be with young people from other European countries to share music and different cultures’, and that although they did not speak the same language, after a few days ‘this barrier no longer existed’. ‘It was as if the music had united us and brought us closer with a common language, they said. They also highlighted ‘it would be nice to have more experiences of this kind’.

Workshop Creation of Music For Films

Goián Music School’ members giving their testimony

The mayoress of Tomiño, Sandra González, closed the event by thanking “the willingness and good work of the participants” and expressing her “satisfaction with the positive result of this initiative of international cooperation in the field of music aimed specifically at young people.”

Members of the Goián Band and School of Music participating in the project expressed their joy at having “the opportunity to exchange knowledge and practices with musicians from other countries, cultures and musical genres“, emphasizing the value of music as a common language among all. All participants expressed their desire to continue these experiences of exchange and joint work.

Workshop Music for Films, by Space Ensemble

The event coincided with rehearsals shared throughout the weekend between musicians from the Portuguese band Space Ensemble and members of the Goián Band and School of Music with the aim of learning about the process of making live music for films, working on improvisation and creativity. More than ten hours of rehearsals to combine, among others, the sound of clarinets, percussion, keyboards and electric guitars with the images of different films.

The dissemination of the project results continued on Saturday, November 27, during a concert of Goián Music Band which was an absolute success, with a very positive and enthusiastic reception by the public.

Goián Music Band concert, November 27

Vinyl-shaped project information leaflet

During one week and surrounded by one of the most beautiful landscapes in North of Portugal, 15 youngsters from Italy, Spain and Portugal got together at CEIA – Centre for Environmental Education and Interpretation of Corno do Bico Protected Landscape, from September 6 to 10, to spend an unforgettable week exchanging experiences and enjoying several trainings and workshops related to music, which aimed to work on the development of some key skills such as communication, teamwork, self-confidence and creativity through music. 

Musician’s health – Warm up exercises

Through an innovative approach, these youngsters learned to play live music for silent films with the musicians and trainers of Space Ensemble, one of the project partners, approaching improvisation techniques in music and other practices that helped them explore sounds and abilities that they don’t usually have the opportunity to explore in regular music education. They also had the opportunity to create a song together, taking advantage of the knowledge that each member of the group had to offer.

YOUth Grow training

Directed improvisation

During the week, they had the opportunity to visit the village centre of Paredes de Coura, passing by places like the Toy Box and the Music Box, where School of Rock from Paredes de Coura usually rehearses and where they had the opportunity to listen to a rehearsal of the choir Coura Voce. They also visited the Cultural Centre and, as it could not be otherwise, they went to the site of one of the biggest music festivals in Portugal, the emblematic Vodafone Paredes de Coura Festival, in a guided tour that took them to the most beautiful spots of the Fluvial Beach of Taboão and Coura River.

Visit to the place where Vodafone Paredes de Coura Festival happens

Walk by Coura River

This event was hosted by the Municipality of Paredes de Coura, and its Mayor Vítor Paulo Pereira commented the following regarding this event:

“Paredes de Coura invests a lot in the formation through art, in this case, through music, which is part of our identity. This international event is a good way to deepen the relations between countries and to reinforce the idea of a Cultural Europe that passes through the sharing of good projects”.

YOUth Grow training

The week was not only about music. In addition to the exchange of experiences and knowledge, the participants highlighted that the international environment, with people from various countries, helped them to open their horizons and practice languages other than their own. EOSA, one of the project partners, completed the activities with a training about EUROPASS and its benefits for young people.

The week ended with the certainty that, despite the distance, all these youngsters will meet again, united by the friendship they created in Paredes de Coura, whose main link was music, an art much cherished and valued in this village, which once again proved to be the basis for providing unforgettable experiences. 

YOUth Grow Final Presentation

This event was hosted by Scuola di Formazione e Orientamento Musicale (SFOM), the local Italian partner of the project, which proved to be a doubly effective host: providing the best working conditions and guaranteeing absolute comfort and richness to the whole stay. The aim of this meeting was to take stock of the project, to assess the results achieved so far and the objectives still to be conquered. 

The arrival in Valle d’Aosta took place in the afternoon of 31 August, after crossing the impressive Mont Blanc Tunnel.

On the morning of the 1st day, the meeting began at Spazio Associativo of the Citadella dei Giovanni, in Aosta, an infrastructure dedicated to young people and run by three cultural institutions, one of which is SFOM. Partners witnessed a very stimulating environment, with rooms dedicated to theatre, music, digital arts, exhibitions and a cafeteria, all around an outdoor courtyard just watched over by the mountain peaks that surround the town. The partners also visited the facilities of SFOM.

Spazio Associativo of the Citadella dei Giovanni, in Aosta

Visit to SFOM

On day 2, after the meeting’s objectives had been met, the project partners visited the nearby Municipality of Cogne, part of the Gran Paradiso Natural Park, where Cluster Summer Camp was taking place since the beginning of the week, destined for music students and organised by SFOM. This music summer camp is one of the best practices and case studies of the Play2Grow project – an intensive music practice event, in a natural surrounding environment, with a good balance between outdoor activities and musical work. It is a residency for teachers and students, in which a composer is invited to develop a performance of a dozen themes of his or her authorship with the participants. This year the invited composer was Natalio Luis Mangalavite, an Argentinean pianist and arranger, who brought to the Italian Alps his music at the crossroads of 20th century Argentine music and jazz, in honour of the centenary of Astor Piazzolla’s birth, a very important composer and bandoneon player.

Cluster Summer Camp, in Cogne

So far, the balance of the project is quite positive and the partners believe they are making a difference to revolutionise music teaching practices in several countries, helping young people from different backgrounds to grow and acquire fundamental skills such as communication, teamwork and self-confidence through this artistic practice.

Play2Grow Meeting at Spazio Associativo of the Citadella dei Giovanni, in Aosta

Delivery of the Transnational Meeting 2 Certificates

YOUth Grow is an event for youngsters that will take place on September 6 to 10, at CEIA (Center for Environmental Education and Interpretation of the Protected Landscape of Corno de Bico), in one of Paredes de Coura villages. 

This event is organized under the Play2Grow project and aims to test the training modules that are being developed by the project partners (Municipality of Paredes de Coura, Municipality of Tomiño, SFOM – Scuola di Formazione e Orientamento Musicale, EOSA and Space Ensemble).

YOUth Grow will work with youngsters from different nationalities, selected by the project partners, to help them acquire fundamental skills related to music through a series of good practices to teach in this artistic area, developed in several countries. 

The idea is to do what the organization believes to be a perfect music bootcamp during one week. Surrounded by one of the most beautiful landscapes in the north of Portugal, 15 youngsters (five from each partner country) will work with Play2Grow’s youth workers and music teachers, from Paredes de Coura (Portugal), Tomiño (Spain), and Aosta (Italy), learning about musical projects and methods developed in these countries and other examples worldwide. 

They will be able to enjoy workshops and leisure activities, meet students from other places and exchange experiences between them about how music is lived and experienced in their countries.

Play2Grow continues its goal to investigate and disseminate the best practices in music teaching! 

Photo © Paulo Pinto / School of Rock Paredes de Coura

After a long period of absence from face-to-face meetings and events, one of Play2Grow’s case studies, School of Rock Paredes de Coura, will finally be back from July 18th to 23rd, with a lot of new activities and desire to “rock” the village. This year, the capacity of the musical residency is reduced to the participation of 25 students, instead of the usual 50, but that will not make it less fun or unmissable. 

School of Rock has a new image and many new features to announce in the 2021 edition, held under the scope of Rock com Todos (Rock with Everyone), a new social inclusion project, also run by the Municipality of Paredes de Coura, that aims to extend the positive impact of music to more sectors of the population. Besides the usual activities like music workshops, jam sessions, concerts, among others, it is already confirmed a radio workshop and several creative actions to make a stop motion videoclip for one of the musics that will be worked by the students during the residency. In this edition it will also be possible to validate some of the training modules developed by the Play2Grow partners. 

School of Rock also works as a band incubator, promoting a Program for Residency of Bands which invests in musical creation and production, boosting the appearance of new bands in the national scene and giving them the opportunity to record a professional single with a renowned producer.

After this intensive week, a tour will take place from 27th to 30th of July, in unprecedented conditions for the students of the school, who will have the opportunity to perform on a mobile stage truck, like professional musicians. 

Stay tuned! Play2Grow will keep telling you all about the best practices in the music teaching field.

The different interventions of the experts are now online. You can access here to the videos, also available on a specific playlist of our Play2Grow YouTube channel.

The event, part of the Education Week that organises Tomiño’s municipal youth information office (OMIX),  will take place at 19h CET via ZOOM and it will be conducted by Almudena González, Advanced Professor of Violoncello and Chamber Music. Registration is free.

The event will explore the interrelation between neuroscientific and musical knowledge, as the union between these two fields of knowledge opens up new possible paths both in the classroom and in the family environment.

More information and registrations here.