Between 13 and 17 February, our colleagues Carmen Carreiras, Ángel Montes and Virginia Lis visited the Uppsala Kulturskola to carry out the activities of learning by observation programmed in the Erasmus+ project of the current academic year.
Monday 13th February was the beginning of the adventure for the three companions of CMUS Professional Vigo. Angus Keay, the head of international relations and coordinator of the Erasmus+ programme of our host school, was waiting for them in Uppsala, who, in addition to organising our agenda in detail, has been accompanying us the whole day.
The activities included in the job-shadowing tasks ranged from attending instrument classes (mainly in the specialities of the visiting teachers: piano, clarinet and trombone), group theory classes, general music classes in the surrounding schools, ensemble, jazz band, ethnomusicology and, of course, several meetings with the management team and various heads of department (e.g. piano accompanist) to gain a better understanding of the bureaucratic, economic and personal management of the centre.
One of the most striking activities was the attendance at a large morning concert, with 4 performances on the same day, which was attended by more than 4000 children from schools in the city of Uppsala, including those located in the most disadvantaged areas of the city.
In those parts of the city where the population has fewer possibilities and resources, the Kulturskola has implemented the “El Sistema” programme based on the social action programme created in Venezuela a few decades ago to promote the inclusion of the most disadvantaged children.
The Kulturskola, in addition to music classes, also offers classes in other arts: painting, dance, theatre, and creative writing, specialities in which we have also had the pleasure of participating.
We leave Uppsala with many unforgettable experiences, many examples of good practices to apply in our future teaching work, as well as a great motivation to carry out collaborative projects with various institutions involving students from other arts schools and, above all, we take with us new Nordic friends whom we look forward to meeting here at CMUS Professional Vigo. Thank you Angus Keay for your great dedication and thank you to everyone else for your warm welcome!
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