A music project run by Schüler.Bilden.Zukunft in cooperation with the chair in music education and music teaching at Otto Friedrich University Bamberg, implemented at Bamberg’s Gangolf Elementary School.

Aiming at improving the opportunities for integration and participation for students experiencing language barriers by offering them additional music lessons while at the same time preparing future music teachers for their careers in a practical manner, this music project comprising three modules overall commenced in the 2015/20016 winter term with module I as part of a seminar offered by the chair for music education and teaching of music.

Students’ responsibilities in module I included, besides fundamentals in music education, the development of lesson plans as well as organizing and holding a closing event with the students on university premises. In module II, all students had the opportunity to develop their individual lesson plans and evaluate them critically together with the instructor before teaching lessons according to the plan with three different groups. For purposes of quality assurance, supervisory sessions led by the instructor were held with every teaching student upon completion of the three lessons. Module III gave students even more responsibility for planning and implementing their lessons. All students developed both an elementary and a consolidation lesson, which were once again taught with three different groups with subsequent supervisory sessions.

96 children from four different classes and 14 different countries made music and danced together in intensive music lessons offering a wide variety of teaching methods. Both the children and the teaching students were filled with joy and energy. Students displayed the greatest enthusiasm when actively making music with instruments, some of which they had never encountered before, when they were given the opportunity to make their own instruments, and when they were asked to create the soundtrack to an animated film. Throughout the entire project, tasks varied between very open and more narrowly defined, allowing children to have a definite say and to shape the lesson according to their own desires. The many activity-oriented and very physical class contents, such as body percussion, dance, or playing the cajon were perfectly attuned to children’s need to be active. In addition, children trained their hearing, their singing voice and their sense of rhythm. By mastering different challenges either with their whole class or in small groups, all children expanded and improved both their ability to express themselves personally and artistically and their skills at interacting with their individual social environments.

I thought I couldn’t do it, but then I went and did it anyway“ (Turkish student at the module I closing event).

Feedback from teachers was universally positive, and attested to a clear added value both for the students as well as the teachers’ lessons.

„The children retain a lot; the topics are taken up again in the regular lessons and developed further. For example, we performed the song again at our Christmas party“ (feedback from a teacher following module III).

„This kind of music lessons doesn’t happen in routine teaching – it would require far too much effort! The project offers students the chance to consolidate what they have learnt in music lessons at school” (feedback from a teacher following module III).

Since the project was integrated into the regular teaching hours as part of the music lessons, the classroom teachers were always present, making use of these lessons to observe their students from an entirely different perspective. The positive results of these observations were often also noted in the teachers’ comments on students’ report cards.

„As teachers, we were able to see our students from a different vantage point, for a change“ (feedback from a teacher following module III).

The teaching students gained intensive practical experience through the project. They were closely mentored by their supervisors and were able to discuss their experiences from teaching, evaluate them, improve their work and gain confidence. All the feedback we received from students stressed how very much the project profited their personal and professional developments, and that they would definitely recommend participating in the project to their fellow students. “Overcoming borders and forging connections through music“ helped the future teachers prepare themselves for the new realities of school life, reduce their anxieties about interacting with students and gave them the tools to navigate teaching work. They felt better prepared for their professional lives after the seminar and came to regard children with a less firm grasp of German as adding value to their lessons.

“It’s a great project that allows students to try out teaching and gain experience. The fact that there are three consecutive lessons in particular is what facilitates learning about teaching practice, and children experience a great feeling of communality without language“ (feedback from a student following module II).

“The model in which students cooperate with a school with a large intake of students with migration experience in their families results in fantastic intercultural encounters. I think it is meaningful and necessary“(feedback from a student following module II).

“The concept of having students gain school experience is very sensible, since practical experience is often given too little space at university. Thank you for the great experience and the chance to reflect on it” (feedback from a student following module III).

“The project allows us to gain great experiences and take lots on board for our later teaching careers, improve what we do, and learn.“ (feedback from a student following module II).

Promoting children’s musicality and creativity increases their opportunities to participate in cultural activities and integrate. Due to the many language-free elements of the project content, children less assured at speaking German were equally able to participate in lessons to native speakers. Many students at Gangolf school come from educationally deprived families which set little store on making music. For those children in particular, the project has been a rewarding and joyful experience. Making music together and the integrative power of music also greatly benefited cohesion within the classes.

“Everyone was able to join in, all of them made music together, all had fun together. Can you speak German, can’t you speak German, are you Muslim, are you Christian – all these questions were no longer important. Instead, we did something together, learned something together“ (feedback from the teacher after the closing event).

“Teaching students and pupils sharing a stage was in fact intergenerational learning. The children benefited from the grownups, but the grownups also did so from the children“ (feedback from main instructor Michael Forster).

In order to ensure the project is sustainable and enables the teachers to apply the insights gained to their own lessons, the sheet music and songbooks used in the lessons were made available to the teachers to enable them to continue where the project left off in future. The music project was presented on March 02, 2016 in the Bavarian State Parliament by Prof. Hörman as one of seven best-practice projects on the occasion of an information event convened by the Bavarian Music Council entitled “Integration through Music”, and on July 25, 2016 at the Academy for Continuing Education of Teachers and HR Management in Dillingen by Prof Hörman and the lecturer, Michael Forster, at a teacher training event for music consultants for primary schools.

Enquiries from all of Bamberg’s elementary schools who asked for the project to include them in the next school year are clear evidence of the need for the project, and of its success.

We thank the Hans Thomann Foundation sincerely for donating the required instruments..