FourFun

Project

268387

Status

Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS : existing completed examples

Project title

FourFun

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Description

The string quartet is not only a music ensemble, but also an inspiring working group. FourFun is a musical project of conversation concerts based on a direct dialogue between musicians and school students, without the barriers that arise in a concert hall. This allows young participants to get involved and work in a team as in a string quartet. Music becomes a means, not an end, through which spreading the culture of dialogue as noble principle at the basis of society

Where was your project implemented in the EU?

When was your project implemented?

Has your project benefited from EU programmes or funds?

Which programme(s) or fund(s)? Provide the name of the programme(s)/fund(s), the strand/action line as relevant and the year.

Please provide a summary of your project

The string quartet is not only a music ensemble, but also a working group to take some inspiration from. For this reason, FourFun proposes the string quartet as an ideal metaphor for teamwork. FourFun is a musical path, based on a direct dialogue between musicians and school students, without the barriers that often arise in a concert hall. This allows young participants to get involved and work in a team as in a string quartet. A FourFun session includes narrations about the history and peculiarities of the string quartet, music performances, team games and thematic workshops. Music becomes a means, not an end, through which spreading the Culture of Dialogue as a noble principle at the basis of society and educating young students to the profound values of teamwork. The concept of "Education" introduces an ambitious goal: that of a moral and intellectual teaching, emancipating and empowering the youngsters by providing them with autonomous critical thinking and making them become responsible citizens. Every session focuses on the value of collaboration and teamwork, but specific contents are tailored on each class’ needs and characteristics. Four different paths are proposed: 1. The 5 “noble principles” of the string quartet: complete session on teamwork (A.The value of the individual, B.Responsibility and Trust, C.Focus and Coherence, D.Creativity and Dynamism, E. Collaboration and Integration) 2. In-depth exploration of one or two noble principles of the school's choice 3. The repertoire: a journey through the history of string quartet 4. FourEurope: the quartet as a metaphor of democracy (fostering a close and open dialogue through young professional musicians, to introduce shared European values of cooperation, cultural diversity and social cohesion) An important feature of Fourfun is the physical proximity of the students: they sit around the ensemble and are able to grasp the dynamics that give life to music: movements, breaths and looks of the musicians.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met

The key objectives of FourFun are: - making students conscious of the importance of team working, collaboration, mutual listening, respect and trust; these values are fundamental in any society and in any working group - giving students the right instruments to know themselves better as individuals and as part of a community; - getting young students closer to the musical language in a familiar context (i.e. the school); - letting professors get to know better the class group and each student not only inside the school but also as individuals, thanks to activities that let them express themselves and their creativity - finding new working opportunities for young musicians (of the string quartet), who are particularly suffering from the current crisis, not only in the musical sector but also in other fields, making their work an interdisciplinary tool FourFun is also about creating bridges among different actors, promoting the circularity of resources and educating future generations to civic education and to the European values. FourFun education program is created with the aim of setting a creative and stimulating environment that increases involvement and excitement for music and civic education while promoting individual expression in team working. Each program proposed can be tailored on the needs of the specific class, based on the age, on the composition of the class and on the context in which they live. The project aims also at fostering participation of all children in early childhood education, with attention to children with fewer opportunities. A peculiarity of our project is that Le Dimore del Quartetto is a European network of Historic Houses and String Quartets, with around 80 international string quartets and more than 260 Houses. Therefore, we are able to involve in the project string quartets from all over Europe and thus reach schools in every European Country, providing European students with high-quality content in their native language.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met

FourFun involves young professional string quartets in the early phase of their career. This type of ensemble has been chosen for precise reasons. The string quartet is the main ensemble of chamber music that is able to represent all the "musical colors" of an orchestra even if they are only 4 people. The repertoire of the string quartet is very rich and complete. The string quartet has no conductor and, above all, it is an incredible human experience: it is a dialogue between four heads, four voices and four hearts, in which each artistic choice is the result of a long and often complicated mediation. This dynamic is clearly visible if you closely observe a quartet playing. The quartet is a privileged place of profound experience where one can be at times unique and multiple, where fusion and personalization are sought. A place of exchange with infinite possibilities that continuously stimulates the group to raise the level. Within the quartet it is necessary to develop a Culture of Conversation that enhances both expression and listening. The musicians of a string quartet rehearse together for 70-80% of their time without a conductor. The rules that guide them are collaboration, respect for the ideas of the others, responsibility and trust. They interpret four different parts that, through dialogue and continuous common reflections, are integrated into a single sixteen-stringed instrument, without the need of a director external to the group, as it happens instead in an orchestra. The string quartet is the perfect living example of successful team working and collaboration, and its music is the ideal means to teach the values of collaboration to young students. An important feature of FourFun is the physical proximity of the students who are seated around the ensemble and thus are able to grasp the dynamics that give life to music and to the musicians' team work: movements, breaths and looks of the musicians.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion and how these have been met

FourFun is composed of four different paths and each class' professor can choose the one that best suits the whole class group: 1. The 5 “noble principles” of the string quartet: complete session on teamwork 2. In-depth exploration of one or two noble principles of your choice 3. The repertoire: a journey through the history of string quartet 4. FourEurope: the quartet as a metaphor of democracy Each of them has different modules, workshops and musical programs but what characterizes them all are the values: they are all based on collaboration, team work, inclusion, mutual listening and respect. These values are always present and always highlighted. What really makes a String Quartet so unique is the shared leadership: in the string quartet, there is no conductor and there is no musician prevailing over the other; there is no musician taking decisions for the whole group but there is the Quartet as a unique identity, as an instrument made of 16 strings. The leadership shifts from one musician to the other based on the music. As a consequence, the rules that drive the string quartet are collaboration, responsibility, inclusion, respect and integration. In addition, within a team, as in the quartet, it is fundamental to develop a Culture of Dialogue that enhances both the communication and the listening of each member. All the FourFun's workshops are about thinking and operating through a common "music sheet" (metaphorically speaking) where each person has a role essential to the successful "performance" of the whole group. This helps thinking in a circular rather than vertical way, while entering the logic of collaboration and inclusion. In addition, the project aims at fostering participation of all children in early childhood education, with attention to children with fewer opportunities.  

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

This project teaches civic education, literature, history, music and the European values through the work of the String Quartet. The four modules of FourFun can be perfectly adapted to the curricular plan of each class, integrating teachings of different school subjects in every lesson. The repertoire of the string quartet can be easily related to historical facts and periods (for example, in the past events of FourFun in Italy, musics by Shostakovich have been played to talk about dictatorship). When we implemented FourFun in schools, we were all surprised by the impact of the musical language and its ability to teach many different values and subjects to students. The level of interest and concentration has always been really high. A professor of Scuola Media Bettinzoli in Brescia said “For all the students it was a wonderful experience and – I would add – also for my fellow teachers, who were impressed by the fantastic young instrumentalists and the listening and observation skills of our students”. In addition, the model of FourFun can be addressed to very young students of primary schools, to teenagers and also to University students. Not only this: right before the pandemic started, we had organized a conversation-concert based on the model of FourFun at the Prison of the city of Opera; unfortunately, restrictions caused the whole event to be postponed to a date do be defined but this shows how interdisciplinary and educational this model is. In addition, in April 2021, we have been able to present the virtuous work of the string quartet to the European Youth Parliament, on the occasion their 92nd International Session, during a meeting that was specifically made for team building: it has been an inspiring occasion for 60 young university students to get to know the dynamics fundamental to a correct and efficient collaboration.  

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project

By now, we have organized 5 conversation-concerts of FourFun in Italy and one in Qatar. In total, we have reached more than 500 Italian students and around 250 Qatari students of primary school, aged from 6 to 13 years old. 16 professional young musicians (4 string quartets) and more than 30 school teachers have been involved. During every lecture, all the students sit very close to the string quartet and during workshops every student is involved to play in the team. Some examples of workshops are • The Mirror: students are paired off into couples and each student has to listen to a short story of the mate, and vice versa. At the end, each of them has to tell to a group the story of the mate while the latter listens but can't intervene. This workshop helps students' concentration, listening skill, interpretation and empathy. Students step into mate's shoes and learn the value of respect. • One each: it is a group recitation; groups of students are given a popular fairy tale or a poetry they are studying at school and they have to tell a short piece of the story or of the poetry each alternately. A workshop that stimulates collaboration, integration, respect, listening. Before each meeting, there is always a moment of briefing with teachers and with the string quartets, in order to create a program adequate to each class. After the meetings, we always receive feedbacks from the teachers who just got to know the students deeper. We also had the opportunity to receive a few comments from students who took part in FourFun. A young student of Scuola secondaria di primo grado “Virgilio” in the town of Castel Goffredo (Mantova) said “I liked most of all Mozart as he made me think about how music has changed over time up to rap music that we listen to today”. Another student of the same school fell in love with music and said “It’s nice to see the instruments being played. It makes you feel like learning to play, in fact I’m thinking about which instrument to choose”.

Please highlight the innovative character of the project

The innovative character is given by the transferable and dynamic model that has been created: the String Quartet as a metaphor for team working. It took us many months of study of the string quartets' dynamics to create an education model and tool that could be sustainable, replicable and that could meet the needs of young students in school. FourFun brings chamber music in schools, in small rooms, parks, school gyms or school theaters. It gives new working opportunities to young musicians while making young students get in touch with live classical music. It creates bridges between young professional musicians and schools who are usually not able to create such a network unless some teacher personally knows a musician.  Moreover, chamber music has always been seen as an exclusive form of art whereas we have demonstrated that it can be a very inclusive form of art and educational tool. We have made Music become a means, not an end, through which spreading the culture of dialogue as a noble principle at the basis of society. Through the life and work of a young string quartet, we teach values fundamental in a society and in any community or group of people. Our project is innovative because it's not only about music or team working, but also about deepening the curricular program of the school (literature, history, sport, civic education) thanks to the specific modules and workshops.

Please explain how the project led to results or learnings which could be transferred to other interested parties

FourFun has been designed to be sustainable and easily transferable in other fields, in any country. As mentioned before: • FourFun has been implemented in primary schools but it can also work for secondary schools and universities, for example with the module "FourEurope" that opens up to students the unusual world of a string quartet work and life, turning classical music into a language of diplomacy enhancing a shared European sentiment. Its goal is to promote European understanding and to empower young people from all backgrounds to become active European citizens contributing to a pluralistic, democratic society, through the method of peer-to-peer education thanks to under30 musicians. • FourFun, under the name "Fourismore", has also been implemented in companies as a multimedia training and team-building tool that introduces executive boards, project teams and working groups to a higher Culture of Communication through the metaphor of the String Quartet • FourFun has been presented to the European Youth Parliament, to a groupd of 60 delegates coming from all over Europe, on the occasion of the 92nd International Session; it has been an occasion of encounter and reflection on the values of team working. • Finally, FourFun was about to be brought into the prison of the town of Opera thanks to the collaboration with an association already operating at the jail. It was meant to be a team building tool for community outreach, social inclusion and cohesion. FourFun is a very dynamic and interdisciplinary education model that starts from the values and work of a young String Quartet and is able to reach children from 5 years to adults workers, people in need or even the elderly. FourFun is open to collaborations with any art form and in any context or field, both nationally and at European level.

Is an evaluation report or any relevant independent evaluation source available?

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the Awards more than once under the same category and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.