Spread the word, sing with us was a youth exchange activity centered around music and creativity. This was the first international activity organized by react with the goal to further explore the potential of music in youth work. In simple words, to tackle the use of music as a tool for young people to gain self confidence, express their ideas and boost their creativity. This youth exchange happened 3-13 march 2018.
’Spread the word, Sing with us’ has been a unique multicultural experience focused on the power of music. The goal was to use music as a communication channel to share the thoughts, feelings and ideas of young Europeans. This youth exchange involved 35 people from 7 different countries (Luxembourg, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Italy, Spain, Estonia).
Testimonial by one of the participants:
“This project was an amazing place to learn, the most supportive and ready-to-share atmosphere I have ever experienced” – Ksenija Germ
The project started by getting to know each other activities, name games and energizers. The participants introduced team-building activities through which they started to become a whole. These activities contributed towards gradual creation of the dynamics within the group. The Erasmus+ programme was discussed, with a strong accent on KA1 mobility of young people (youth exchanges, training course and EVS opportunities). The first evening was dedicated to gastronomic cultural exchange where the participants shared typical food and drinks of their country.
The participants presented workshops that they had prepared before coming to the project. The first one was done by the Slovak team that gave a presentation about what ‘a cover version of a song’ is and how it relates to composing and songwriting. Next workshop was led by the Italian team that presented the basis of composing and songwriting in details. The Romanians held a discussion about how music has changed from past to present and they introduced an online simulator which could reproduce music over time and different geo-location. How music affects us in our daily life was revealed by the team from Estonia. The activity contained a yoga-based simulation exercise. As the program of the project advanced, the Spanish team presented the making of handcrafted instruments. The whole group then created instruments from items that could be found around the household and used the created instruments to perform in plenary.
The participants of the project were divided according to their interest. This was done by letting participants choose the musical genre that fit them the most. In this way, the three international bands were created.During the following days, the bands had the challenge to brainstorm, discuss and compose. The bands did a lot of rehearsals in this part of the exchange. The rehearsals took place in the accommodation venue ‘chalet d’Geisserei’ and in the rehearsal rooms in the youth houses in Hesperange and Clausen. The process of creating, composing and rehearsing together included reflection times where the members of the bands got to know each other better. The reflection times were crucial for the success of the final performance.
Each band composed their own author song and prepared two cover versions of popular songs. The participants in their international bands performed the compositions and the covers that they prepared. The performance happened during the final event that took place in ‘Rocas café-theatre’ in the center of Luxembourg city. The performance was of an open character.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.