The European Union faces great challenges and problems. Through music, performance and cultural cooperation E+motion aims to empower and educate students with different backgrounds and origin in the fields of creativity, musical and intercultural competence. During the project period students as well as teachers from the partner countries of Germany, Austria, Italy, France and Estonia will work together and collectively compile music of the most different genres which allows for an action- and experience-oriented, creative handling of music. In this connection, a second aspect will be the cooperation with local, extracurricular cultural partners (e.g. a capella choirs, music clubs and music schools etc., e.g. "www.choriosity.de"). Partnerships between education and cultural partners on a national and transnational level will strengthen the consciousness of a European cooperation. As a EU-ambassador school we have the aim to educate our students to responsible citizens - our project E+motion makes the contribution for that. In the course of the project period the participating schools will visit each other and, together with their cultural partners, they will prepare the programme of the final performance which constitutes the goal of the musical work. A total number of four mobilities will occur in our Erasmus+ project. Each school will send 20 students for the performances, the a capella choir and for the concerts, so that our music project consists of a total of 5 x 20 students = 100 students. That is an enormous number, but it is necessary for a choir. This aspect is exciting and it is a challenge, too, but it is important for us and for our project and we get the attention we want to have througout the project. Already during the project, while visiting the different countries, the students will develope and carry out smaller performances which will then lead to a final performance in Germany. These performances will be documented. By rehearsing and discovering the local cultural sector the students will learn about musical professions and gather experiences with the economic factor of music. Furthermore a placing in homstay families allows a view in everyday life and makes connections beyond the period of the project possible. An intercultural consciousness will be created through the interaction within the European partnerships. Keycompetences like social and personal competence, cultural consciousness and cultural expressiveness of all partners will be strengthened. A foundation for the consciousness of a common identity is to be created by makeing music together which will allow for the developement of a sense of unity without language barriers. Moreover, it will simulaneously promote respect and esteem for diversity, openness towards other people as well as in terms of social and cultural questions. In addition, encountering other countries and cultures will demand social perceptive faculties of the students. They learn to listen to each other, to adjust communication and action as well as to establish and maintain contacts. Aspects of personality developement like self-regulation, motivation, perserverance, creativity and many more will be promoted through actively organising and experiencing music. Our Erasmus+ project E+motion will end with a grand slam - the big "European concert" - in Ulm / Germany.
The Aim of E+motion was to strengthen and train students of different backgrounds through music, performances and cultural cooperation in the fields of creativity, musical and intercultural competences. During the project period, students and teachers from the partner countries Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Estonia worked closely together, producing and making music of a wide variety of genres, thus enabling an action- and experience-oriented, creative approach to music. The activities described in the project application were also carried out in the same way. As an EU ambassador school, we aim to educate our students to become mature EU citizens – E+motion made an important contribution here. During the project phase, the participating schools of the partner countries visited each other and, together with their cultural partners, prepared the programme of concert performances, which was the aim of the musical work. A total of four mobility events took place in our Erasmus+ project. Each school dispatched approx. 20 students, so that a total of 5 x 20 students = 100 students took part in our music project. This very high number of students contributed significantly to the success of the project. It was a unique project! However, it was also a logistical challenge. This number of students was necessary for a regular A-Capella chorus. In addition, this challenge was an exciting project point that secured us a supra-regional focus. We were in TV shows and in the TV news (Estonia); the press was on the spot (Italy); we met with Arvo Pärt (Estonia); got the chance to sing in the Upper Church of San Francesco in Assisi (Italy); we were allowed to discuss with a Franciscan monk (Italy); we were able to perform a political flashmob against Antisemitism, Hate and Intolerance in Vienna (Austria); in Lens, we were confronted with our shared history, and we experienced the tremendous suffering that the First and Second World Wars brought to our peoples. During this visit, we learned how important friendship is and how important the EU is for us! E+Motion made a big contribution here! The final concerts and flashmobs unfolded, especially due to the high number of students, their full effect in all countries. A big problem was the accommodation of the students in host families! We have only partially achieved this goal. We failed because of the high number of students, which could not be accommodated in families completely! The goals of gaining an insight into everyday life and of coming into direct contact with the people and culture of the host country were only partially achieved. However, the interaction in the European partnerships has generated intercultural awareness. Key competences such as social and personal competences, cultural awareness and cultural expressiveness were strengthened among all participants. This has strengthened European cooperation and understanding of the EU, both in and outside school. The making of music together, which created a special sense of feeling, without language barriers, has created the basis for the consciousness of a common identity. E+Motion promoted respect, tolerance and respect for diversity, openness to other people, social and cultural issues. The pupils were given the opportunity to gain experience and show commitment in Europe by gaining their learning experience outside their familiar surroundings, which are also important for their further professional life. Through the active design and experience of music, personality-building aspects such as self-regulation, motivation, endurance and creativity were promoted. During the project, the students worked out smaller performances and concerts during their visits to the different countries. Unfortunately, the last big performance and the final performance, with the planned “European Concert” in Ulm / Germany, had to be cancelled due to COVID 19 (the Coronakrise). We had already planned, prepared and organized everything. This fact hurts us very much and we were all very disappointed, because in Ulm the big finale should have taken place. E+Motion was simply a great and extraordinary project. We hope that we will be able to finish this project some day in Ulm. We will definitely stay in touch with our friends and hope for our chance in Ulm. At our school a fixed school choir has been formed, through E+Motion, which in future also wants to perform outside of our school.