Music School for Disadvantaged Children of Tor Pignattara Rome, Italy

Project location: Italy, Rome
Project start date: June 2012 - Project end date: This project covers various years
Project number: 2012-009
Beneficiary: Associazione Culturale Musica e altre cose

  [2014-037]

In the project's third year the association is planning to expand and deepen the previous work by engaging in the project the so-called second generation immigrants with particular attention to children with psycho-social problems, very often linked to family difficulties: the so-called "youth at risk".

The association is planning to intensify the music workshops to at least two meetings a week and set up a sort of permanent laboratory directly related to the activities of the orchestra. The workshop will be a sort of "gym" where the new entries will have the chance to get trained before joining the team. In the laboratory (as in the orchestra), the boys will always assisted by a psychologist/social mediator and by a musician who will prepare them, trying to understand their potential and their limits.
An integral part of the project will be the preparation of a big final concert (at the end of the project) and some concerts activity during the year (to give to the kids the possibility to confront themselves with audience and stage) and the production of a CD, played by the orchestra entirely.

The project will start with the research and the identification of young people (between 12 and 17 years) potentially interested in taking part in the project and their insertion at first only in the workshop activities more closely and then when you create the ideal conditions, in the tests of the orchestra. The guys who are already part of the orchestra will be the basis on which the association will work to extend it to others.
The new ones will be selected from among those who already play an instrument or sing, representing the different migrant communities. The boys will be selected not only for their musical qualities, but above all on the basis of their motivation. Research and monitoring of their inclusion will be managed by the project team that will be composed also by a developmental psychologist, experienced in working with adolescents and management of projects of social integration. It will work in this direction in network with the social services of the Municipality, the projects of the Social Area Plan, associations, co-operatives and social projects in general socio/cultural heritage.

All participants will contribute in creating the music of the orchestra bringing their background and will be called upon to play an active role in the music and themes. The children will be even more involved in the choice of themes and music, and just to search for a language as close as possible to them, and at the same time motivate them to greater participation and commitment to the project resulting, in the next annuity the orchestra will work primarily on rap, language very close to the young people. Rap will be played, of course, on an "orchestral" base. So far the idea of only rapper on stage with an adjusted basis, in fact you intend to use the language of rap mixing it with instrumental accompaniment and ethnic played by the whole orchestra.
The musical director will be, as last year, Pino Pecorelli, founder and director of the "Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio" and "Todos" (multi-ethnic orchestra of Portugal).
The project aims therefore to provide the music workshops with at least two meetings a week aimed at young people aged between 12 and 17 musicians directed by and with the support of professional psychologists and social mediators. The ultimate goal of these meetings is not only the ability to play an instrument, but to give an opportunity for growth through music, integration and dialogue to the boys.
The meetings will be designed and directed by a team of co-ordination, with the weekly meetings, the work schedule, monitor the progress of the project, the gradual insertion of the guys in the lab, their passage in the orchestra, the management emergencies and critical situations.

The Nando Peretti Foundation has awarded a grant for this project (third year). The association Musica e altre cose has experienced how important could be a project like this in a neighborhood like Tor Pignattara and that music, culture and art in many ways contribute to the generation of self-awareness and to the development of a greater sensitivity that are useful elements to prevent many guys to go down those bad and dangerous paths. Musical education would become, in this case, an opportunity for cultural growth and, at the same time, the "ransom" for a group of young people. What is most important is the fact that such an experience will allow participants to feel part of a community. In addition, here is worth reminding how the guys may be in some cases, the first cultural mediator for the family, transferring to the latter the values acquired.
The project will bring different results, summarized on two levels: an "internal" level - in relation to children and young people who participate actively in the classes - and a "external" level - tied to those who will benefit indirectly.

Internally:
- the participants will improve their musical skills and learn to play together under the guidance of professional teachers (which would not be able to do without such an occasion);
- the participants develop a greater sensitivity and learn to know and respect different cultures
- the participants be engaged through music, preventing them to go down bad paths
- kids with uneasiness will have a great opportunity to work on their problem through the art
- the workshop will be an extraordinary land on which to build a path to self-awareness, to help the troubled teens to find their own dimension and out of the discomfort.
- we must not overlook the fact that practicing music also means learning method, discipline, and playing in an orchestra means learning to listen to yourself and others, it means learning the waiting their turn, measure the expression, learn how to make a group, to think together, to respect the roles and timing.
Externally, the orchestra:
- will testify through its activities that the from the encounter between differences can born art and poetry, and that diversity can help the dialogue.
- is yet a model of work through the music and with this new edition will be inspire other measures like this;
- will reach more people than now and will give more possibility to participate to the activity.
- will be a great instruments to prevent bigger problem before that they explode and guide their psycho-social development in bad direction;
- will be a tangible sign of dialogue between cultures (migrants and residents).
The project aims to change the weaknesses into opportunities and aims to become a reference point of the whole Roman community: a model from the point of view of social and civic music. Through its influence on the social fabric wants to be a tool for a district and a city in constant transformation, a tangible sign of inclusion and a possible dialogue between cultures that inhabit it. The music, in this way, becomes an opportunity for integration, cultural growth, inclusion and, at the same time, of "redemption". It should be recalled that music, culture and art in many ways contribute to the generation of a self-awareness and the development of greater sensitivity, all of which are useful for preventing acts of deviance and separation.


Associazione Culturale Musica e altre cose
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