The main aim of the project is to exchange experiences in social, cultural and LLL activation of adults and seniors by singing in amateur choirs. Participation in choir rehearsals and concerts is a proven method of social and cultural inclusion of people from different age and social groups. Through these activities - building social capital. It is also a very good method of LLL realization, because during rehearsals adults and seniors learn new songs, get to know singing techniques: voice emission, breathing; get to know music or folk songs, which are often part of the European cultural heritage, get to know their history and cultural context; exercise memory, concentration of attention, and breathing exercises contribute to improve their physical condition, especially of seniors; participation in vocal workshops contributes to stimulate the creativity and creative skills of participants. Through systematic rehearsal meetings, all participants develop their social competences: communication, conflict resolution, assertiveness, empathy and emotional intelligence. The target group consists of amateur choir conductors for seniors and intergenerational choirs and choir coordinators: 5 conductors or choir leaders, 5 choir coordinators. An intermediate group consists of choir members: about 100 people. Conductors and managers of amateur choirs, as adult educators, still have to improve their skills in working with such ensembles, learn about effective methods, train their workshop. This project will help to collect such proven methods of working with adults, seniors, intergenerational choirs and perhaps develop new ones. It will allow for practical exchange of experiences between choir conductors, comparison of working methods in different countries, intercultural exchange. These methods will be collected in the form of a brochure and made available free of charge on the websites of the partner institutions as a PDF file, in English and in the languages of the partner institutions (Polish, Hungarian, Dutch, Croatian, Slovenian). It will also be sent by e-mail to community centres and similar institutions where amateur adult or senior citizens' choirs operate, as well as to all interested parties. The international partnership guarantees an opportunity to exchange experiences, taking into account cultural differences and singing traditions. The following activities will be implemented under the project: - 5 international meetings whose main aim is to exchange experiences between conductors, managers and coordinators of amateur choirs; - vocal workshops, conducted by conductors or choir leaders from individual partner institutions, for adults, seniors or intergenerational choirs; the workshops will take place once a week, 2h each rehearsal, from January 2021 to June 2022; - online concert - the final concert performed by all amateur choirs involved in the project; the concert will take place on the same day and at the same time in the five partner countries and will be transmitted online, using a sterling application; individual choirs will perform 3-4 songs (selected during rehearsals, songs from individual partner countries in the original languages), and at the end, "Ode to Joy" by Frederick Schiller, with music by Ludvig van Beethoven will be performed together; deadline - June 2022; - developing a set of best practices and methods in working with amateur choirs, activating adults and seniors to participate in this type of cultural activity, counteracting the social exclusion of these groups; publishing a brochure in PDF format. Results: - implementation of 5 international meetings in subsequent partner institutions; - exchange of experience and best practices, during international meetings and videoconferences; - implementation of choir workshops, in five partner institutions, in the period from January 2021 to June 2022; - realization of the final concert broadcasted online, in June 2022; - collecting and developing, in the form of a brochure, examples of best practices and methods of working with amateur intergenerational choirs, choirs consisting of seniors and adults (activation of seniors and adults; methods of teaching voice emission; exercises shaping correct breathing technique; exercises in the field of ear training and shaping the sense of rhythm; exercises shaping the habits of correct voice impostion); the brochure will be made available as a PDF file on the websites of partner institutions and will be sent by e-mail to all interested persons and institutions, such as community centres etc. , in which there are amateur choirs; - acquiring new skills and developing the professional competence of conductors, choir leaders and coordinators; - gaining knowledge and skills in the organisation and performance of an online concert.
The main objective of the project was to exchange experiences between partner institutions and conductors on social, cultural and LLL activation of adults and seniors through singing in choirs. This objective fits perfectly with the horizontal priority: social inclusion. Developing a set of methods for working with senior and intergenerational choirs, methods of activating them, as participation in choir rehearsals and concerts is a proven method of social and cultural inclusion for people from different age and social groups, and through these activities - building social capital. It is also a very good method of realising LLL, because during rehearsals, adults, senior citizens learn new songs, they learn singing techniques; they get to know musical pieces or folk songs, which are often part of the European cultural heritage, they get to know their history and cultural context; they practice memory, concentration of attention, and breathing exercises contribute to improving their physical condition, especially for seniors. Through systematic rehearsal meetings, all participants also develop their social competences. It is mainly these goals that we wanted to achieve through the SingingCom project.
Activating seniors and adults, encouraging their active social, cultural and LLL participation, is one of the most important tasks facing all partner institutions involved in this project, especially given demographic trends. Directly related to it is the need to develop conducting skills, especially those related to the ability to work with seniors and intergenerational ensembles, methods of activating them, how to conduct rehearsals, how to communicate and prepare rehearsals, how to select repertoire. We were told about these challenges by conductors leading such ensembles, and always working in an international project and being able to exchange experiences, knowledge and skills makes it possible to meet these needs.