Integrative teaching of music and mathematics

The results of the first phase of the project "European Music Portfolio: Sounding Ways into Mathematics (EMP-P)" will be presented on 16 April in London, in a symposium led by the UAB and the UCL Institute of Education (IoE), within the framework of the prestigious conference Research in Music Education (RIME, 2015).

15/04/2015

Several music and math teachers from the Barcelona area collaborated in the project and their centres served as pilot schools.

In the symposium the researchers will expose their project and discuss the subject of using an integrative teaching method for music and mathematics in European schools, especially in countries such as Spain, England, Switzerland and Romania. With regard to Catalonia, some of the results were already published in December 2014 in the journal LEEME (Lista Europea Electrónica de Música en la Educación; European Electronic List of Music in Education).

From 27 to 20 January, the UAB played host to professors of different European universities participating in the project of education innovation which aims to help primary education pupils discover their mathematical and musical skills. Channel TV3, belonging to Catalonia's public broadcaster TVC, offered a special report on the subject after visiting two of the pilot schools participating in the project.

ONE PROJECT TO ACQUIRE TWO SKILLS AT THE SAME TIME
The project Comenius - part of the Lifelong Learning Programme - lasts three years, began in December 2013 and includes the participation of eight centres from seven different countries (England, Spain, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, Romania and Greece), and includes the UAB. The project is led by the Fachhochschule Nordwestschwiez (FHNW) in Switzerland and receives the majority of its funding from the European Commission.

The project focuses on two aspects within the context of primary education: a set of mathematical and musical skills from the perspective of competences; and the promotion of creativity among teachers as a way to favour a more cross-curricular approach to teaching.

Representation of the UAB is led by Laia Viladot and Albert Casals from the Department of Musical , Artistic and Corporal Expression Teaching. Other members of the work group include Núria Gorgorió and Montserrat Prat from the Department of Teaching Mathematics and Experimental Sciences, and university professors from UIC, UB and UPC (Carme Carrillo, Cristina González-Martín and Jesús Fernández-Sánchez).

The project is run by an interdisciplinary work group and includes the collaboration of several music and math teachers from teaching centres in Barcelona and surrounding cities, which act as pilot schools by implementing activities and materials which integrate the areas of music and mathematics.

During the meeting, researchers and teachers were able to make progress on the conceptualisation of the theoretical framework and design of the training courses needed for teachers. The project is developing materials which will be used in education centres and pilot programmes are being carried out.

A work group entitled Musicomàtics was created as part of the project as well. In November this work group organised a workshop for teacher and professors which included activities such as measuring musical phrases; dance and geometry; body percussion and minimum multiple common; musical interpretation and creation and probabilities and statistics, etc.