New opportunities in Brno: music as a bridge to a stronger social inclusion

A NEW CHOIR: A SPACE WHERE PEOPLE OF ALL AGES AND CULTURAL AND SOCIAL BACKROUNDS CAN MEET AND SHARE FUN THROUGH MUSIC

On the 27th of November, the first session of a Brno newly established choir took place. The choir is organized as a part of the URBACT OnStage project – Music Schools For Social Change, and is the result of a cooperation with the local NGO IQ Roma Servis and the community recording studio Amaro Records. Free of tuition, the choir is open for anybody with or without any music experience who is interested in learning and singing popular songs, gospel and traditional Roma songs. The broad range of repertoire, as well as the no-age restriction (children from the age of six, teenagers and adults) is a promise to create a new space where people from the whole community can share the joy of making music together and get to know the Roma rich musical culture. The choir is lead by Mia Bagárová, a professional singer coming from one of Brno’s most famous family of musicians, who, with the corepetitor Roman Kupčík Horváth, a pianist and an accordionist, are both experienced musicians with passion for Roma music.  

MUSIC FOR THE YOUNGEST

In September 2019 a new kindergarden was opened in one of Brno’s areas targeted as being at risk of social segregation. In a newly renovated building, one of the three classes of the MŠ Sýpka offers a special musical education. In cooperation with URBACT OnStage, different music instruments were purchased so children have the chance to learn basic music skills in group music sessions. Since its beginning, the musical class has been attracting a great interest by the parents' side and it is very popular among children. The school believes that its participation in URBACT OnStage will help raise the attractivity of the school for a broader public so the kindergarden will become a space open to social cohesion for the youngest citizens in Brno’s one of the most deprived districts.

MUSIC FOR THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Brno’s URBACT OnStage's transfer plans include the implemetation of music education programmes within the afternoon school activities of three primary schools located in deprived areas of the city. Since this September, ZŠ náměstí 28. října School has enriched the morning curricular studying programme with two extra music lessons for the 5th to 9th graders. These lessons give students an opportunity to create a deeper connection with music and motivate them to participate in the voluntary afternoon school music activities provided by the school. Hence, three times a week, students can learn to play the violin or violoncello. We hope that, in the future, these afternoon music sessions will lead to a new project – the establishment of a school string orchestra that could perform on various cultural events in Brno.

A similar afternoon programme is being implemented in a second primary school participating in URBACT Onstage project. ZŠ Merhautova School is planning to open a voluntary afternoon music programme offering guitar lessons for the the lower-secondary students.  

Despite a very long and sound tradition of music lessons held on a one-to-one basis, OnStage music programmes are group-based. Within the project, music teachers are learning to use pedagogical model inspired in El Sistema, which has proven to be very successful not only in learning results of the students but also in creating a favourable environment for social cohesion – as shows the Good Practice of the municipal music school EMMCA (Escola Municipal de Música Centre de les Arts) of the URBACT OnStage's leading city partner L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.

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Text by Andrea Barickmanová. For further information please contact her at barickmanova.andrea@brno.cz.

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