The project E.CH.O. Euopean Choir and Orchestra is a natural continuation of the Comenius project MUSIC which involved two current partners: Italy and the Czech Republic. The other two partners- Greece and Portugal-have adequate capacity to the formation of an orchestra, have excellent technological skills and are turned towards a European perspective. The schools are different in size, one school reaches 2300 students, two of the schools are about 600 pupils and one 500 pupils. In the European orchestra and choir students will discover other countries and will move closer to their cultures. The musical practice is also an educational tool that will give the opportunity to have experience of alternative teaching methods. Since playing together implies effort, discipline, listening skills to achieve the desired harmony, the European orchestra is a tool to develop social and learning skills. In addition, music will allow us to think over the theme of children's rights The project involves the choice by each partner of a song on the theme of children's rights, the four songs will be shared with the partners in the original language and in English, all songs will be arranged for the orchestra by one single arranger, performed and sung during the concerts planned in Portugal and Greece. A new piece for choir and orchestra will be created and performed during the last concert in Italy. At the same time, all partners will identify an outstanding personality of their own culture famous for his/her commitment to the rights of children, each personality will be presented via power point during the meetings. The project will lead to: develop a multicultural learning; increase the interest in other European languages; strengthen the knowledge of the English language; develop creativity; think over social issues; improve computer skills; develop the habit of cooperating and making decisions. The activities that will remain will be the correspondence between students and teachers,the songs learned will be played in future concerts and, hopefully partnerships between schools and between other organizations involved in the area, such as municipalities, local choirs and orchestras will be created.
The project E.CH.O. Euopean Choir and Orchestra is the natural continuation of the Comenius project MUSIC which involved two current partners: Italy and the Czech Republic. The other two partners- Greece and Portugal-have adequate capacity to the formation of an orchestra, have excellent technological skills and are turned towards a European perspective. The schools are different in size, one school reaches 2300 students, two of the schools are about 600 pupils and one 500 pupils. In the European orchestra and choir students have discovered the other countries and have moved closer to their cultures. The musical practice was also an educational tool that gave the opportunity to have experience of alternative teaching methods. since playing together implies effort, discipline, listening skills to achieve the desired harmony, the European orchestra has been a tool to develop social and learning skills. In addition, music has allowed us to think over the theme of children's rights The project involved the choice by each partner of a song on the theme of children's rights, the four songs were shared with the partners in the original language and in English, all songs were arranged for the orchestra, performed and sung during the concerts planned in Portugal, Greece and Italy. A new piece for choir and orchestra was created and performed during the three concerts. At the same time, all partners chose an outstanding person of their own culture famous for his/her commitment to the rights of children, each outstanding person was presented through a power point during the meetings. Local and national organizations involved in the defense of children's rights were directly involved by the individual partners and participated in events, particularly the concerts. There were also artistic productions on the theme, workshops during the meetings and a graffiti which was completed by students from the four countries during the last meeting in Italy. The project has led to: develop a multicultural learning, increase the interest in other European languages, strengthen the knowledge of the English language, create email and letter correspondence among the students, develop creativity, think over social issues, improve computer skills, develop the habit of cooperating and making decisions. The activities that will remain will be the correspondence among students and teachers,the songs which will be played in future concerts and, hopefully, partnerships between schools and between other organizations involved in the area, such as municipalities, local choirs and orchestras.