This video shows the most significant moments of the pilot scheme of the Educational Project developed at the Calvet de Estrella primary school in Sabadell (February 2009), under the direction of Michael Spencer, and with the participation of volunteer musicians from the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès

• Why an educational project?

“The objective of a school is to create a balance between the heart, the mind and the body. Of all of these, it is the heart that suffers most, so the education of the heart is vital.” 

At the beginning of the year a disquieting study appeared. The discoveries of a neuroscientist, Baroness Susan Greenfield, director of the Royal Institute, showed that the continuous playing of computer games produces an excess of the secretion of dopamine in the brain. This hormone is related to reward mechanisms.

According to the research, it can also be responsible for the lack of capability to establish relationships with others. The increase in violence between young people in our countries, and especially of violent crime, along with the unconscious way in which it seems to me that this is happening, leads me to think that we are facing a worrying situation.

On the other hand, another study, of the treatment of rhythm and melody in infants speaks of a natural affinity and of the pleasure provoked by music which infants feel, which increases their abilities and which can be used as a therapeutic and educative tool”. 

Art can also show unique situations which are as important for young people as they are for adults.

The possibilities technology offers us include many benefits, but can also result in people not using their critical faculties, and lead them to substitute real experiences for unreal ones. For this reason, one of the principal tasks of an educator is to provide real experiences.

We can approach these experiences in a passive way, as for example, attending a concert which can stimulate more profound levels of thought and commitment. Alternatively we can take part in an investigation of the creative processes from which they come, and this is truly the territory of artistic teaching. Learning through participation allows us a higher level of understanding and appreciation.