Projects
Listen to the music! Orelhudo – a software for musical appreciation in primary schools
Abstract
The educational service of Casa da Música, the main concert hall in Porto, devised specific software with the purpose to introduce musical appreciation in primary schools on a daily basis – the Orelhudo. Since February 2013, 7 schools and 51 classrooms in a total of 979 children have had the software installed in their computers, following a number of workshops with the involved classroom teachers. In September 2013, it is expected that the project will be expanded to more schools and at the end of July 2013 the software’s version for the children will be put on-line with free access. The criteria for the choice of the schools, pointed out to state institutions with children from a socioeconomic and cultural mixed background. The main purpose of this exploratory study is to raise a number of issues related to the implementation of this project in primary schools, taking into account the two types of participants: teachers and pupils. Concerning the teachers, two main questions are raised: How do the primary school’s teachers, include, develop, and take advantage of this software to prepare their lessons? To what extent might they envision it as an opportunity for their own musical development? Concerning the pupils, the study will address 1. aspects of the children’s construction of musical meaning on the basis of the broad musical examples on offer, and 2. the possible consequences of this intervention for musical communication within the child’s enlarged community of family and friends. The methodology combines quantitative and qualitative methods. The whole project will be mapped through the devise of a questionnaire to be sent in September 2013 to all primary music teachers that will be involved in the project. This method will be complemented with two case studies in two schools involved in Orelhudo, using a diversity of methods: classes’ participant observation, semi-structured interviews to the teachers, focus-group with the pupils. It is expected that, given the very short provision of music in primary schools, a deeper understanding of the outreach of the project Orelhudo will open windows of opportunity for introducing music on a more systematic basis in this level of teaching and learning of the Portuguese Educational system.
Research Team
Rui Bessa (Principal Investigator) | Ana Isabel Ferreira | Ana Luísa Setas Veloso | Graça Mota | Jorge Alexandre Costa | Rui Ferreira
Funding Body
CIPEM/IPP
Period
September 2013 to March 2015
Keywords
Musical appreciation, musical meaning, Interdisciplinarity, general education
