European Rhapsody. A musical learning journey through the European Union.

ongoing

European Rhapsody is a three-act project imbued with the spirit of ancient Greece. Conceived as an idea that evokes the conception of Europe, its concept is directly inspired by the freedom and the inclusion of certain elements which are characteristic of a rhapsody. They are mainly known for its varied style, mixing canon with the unknown. Originating from Homer’s epic poems, the term has been adopted by the field of music, where it is used for exploring different styles and topics, therefore creating sound amalgams. Rhapsody is used here as a metaphor including three layers or perspectives: -the multidisciplinary, by connecting several fields of knowledge, -the inclusive, by merging various elements, -and the emotional, through literature and music. The three aforementioned acts make reference to the three school years we have ahead of us to carry out this project. Thus, the term rhapsody proves itself useful to create a format where our activities fit in perfectly. Such a framework makes use of music as a motivating component to closely introduce the EU values and goals to our students. Many of them come from low-income and low-educational-level backgrounds, apart from the fact that a large number comes from non-EU countries. Hence, the European Union might be unknown to them. Thanks to the Erasmus+ program, in which the school has been participating for two years now, interest is growing from one school year to the next one. Yet, being privy that there is still a long way to walk in, with its challenges and lessons, we are eager to take advantage of music as a very powerful and close channel for transmitting information. Likewise, we are looking forward to approaching some of SDGs set by the UN and promoted by the European Union, emphasizing the key values of peace, solidarity, cooperation and democracy that characterize this groups of nations. These ideas gravitate around our proposals and define our roadmap.