Template for Activities/Workshops in Ireland:

As a workshop leader please

·         do not print this out but fill it in digitally

·         use the present tense in descriptions

·         make sure you fill in as many answers as possible

·         please replace the boxes p with an X

·         send the filled-in description of activity to Thomas at:
Berger@inter-research.de

Some of the blanks can be filled in later, please regard this as the “growing ID-Card” of the activities. After the excursion we will use these to help with the final report

Title[1] of Activity

Instrumental Music Workshop

Description[2]

The main idea of this workshop is to connect a small group of 5 international participants from our excursion with a couple of Achill inhabitants through music.

At the beginning we discuss the cliché „music connects people“ and try to figure out which elements of music (group experience, producing something?) create this effect which we try to aim at during our workshop. These elements are integrated into the workshop.

In the internationally mixed group we work on the roots of music in the different countries, but in particular in Ireland (for this we need at least 2 Achill participants!)

We share presentations of different kinds of national music styles with our instruments, working on songs including explanations of them. There will be connections to the parallel Singing Workshop as we want to present the results of the two workshops together at the farewell gathering on Friday night. One of the joint results is a song written especially for this project which will contain typical musical styles of the participating countries. This piece of music will be dedicated to the inhabitants of Achill.

Subtitle[3]

Music connects people on the Achill Project

Leader[4]

Silvia Klewer         silvia.klewer@gmx.de

Assistant[5]

looking for a non-German assistant! Please contact me!

Workshop specialist[6]

looking for specialists from Achill (fiddle?)

Time[7]

Mon/Tue/Thur 14:30-17:30

(Dress Rehearsal with Singing Workshop on Friday 14:30)

Place

Hostel room or private (Achill-People?)

Materials needed

Instruments of the participants in general (do not bring any expensive instruments!), small Instruments for rhythm, copies, music pieces

category I   SMALL INTERCULTURAL TEAMS

1.       no more than 6 participants?

yes p

If we have 4 people of our participants and two of Achill in our workshop we will be 6 participants

2.       at least 3 nationalities

yes X

this is regulated during enrolment

3.       at least from 3 stations

yes X

this is regulated during enrolment

Participants

- Gerlinde Kühn

- Ulrike Mayn

-Benjamin Muschko

-

-

-

4.       which activities facilitate intercultural communication?

describe: musical styles of every paticipating country are presented and we work work together on them. The participants get to know more about other countries in this way and there is a starting point for cultural discussions on the basis of the music experience

category II CONNECTION TO THE WEB STORY

1.       activity is already included in web stories

yes p

      no X

describe where:

2.       results will be included in web stories

yes X

no p

describe where: The instrumental and the singing workshop will get in touch with the web story team during the train journey Dublin-Westport. Together they will  identify places in the stories where the „Achill Song“ which will be written could play an essential role (hub) linking stories which are not interlinked yet (like the „announcement“ in the Love Train stories). The stories will influence the writing of the song and the song will influence the the development of the stories.

Also it would be desirable if a group of musicians joined the virtual train.

3.       is extra technical support needed?

yes X

no p

describe which: We need Web-help to publish our Achill Song on the Internet, take photos

category III CREATIVE USE OF NEW MEDIA

1.       will the new media be used in a creative way?

    yes X

no p

describe how: The Achill Song should be published on the net (for Achill fans) with a little interactive mail window that allows users to suggest changes to the song (different lines or rhymes). Maybe we could go high-tech and include a video clip of us performing it at farewell gathering?

If possible we can do Internet-Research for special intercultural music-groups all over the world, who meet in different countries a few times during the year. We will collect „mission statements“ of international music festivals and work on our own.

2.       are they essential to the activity?

yes X

no p

describe why: Interactive window for changing the lyrics of the song. Video Clip of the performance? What kinds of  music do we find on the internet in the different countries! (participants are not necessarily experts!)

3.       will the participants learn to use the new media?

     yes X

no p

describe how: If they have not worked with the Internet before they get to know it. Participants will learn to make a basic web page and to do research on the net. However, the interactive window and the video clip cannot be done by the participants.

4.       do participants learn s.th. about the notion of new media?

     yes X

no p

describe what: Through splitting the music workshop in two (instrumental and singing) but working on a joint product we try to illustrate the idea of „distributed work groups“ and explain which functions of the internet can be used for this.

The interactive window for suggesting new versions of the song will illustrate the idea of „user participation“ on the internet.

category IV ACTIVE EXPLORATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

1.       will participants explore in an active and creative way?

yes X

no p

describe how: The participants will bring their own instruments along and they must  take an active part in the workshop telling us more about their music-styles in their home countries. They will be creative in working on unknown music-pieces and creating the Achill Song

2.       are they sensitized to parallels to their own home country?

     yes X

no p

describe how: Everybody will be asked to tell us about music images of their own countries, bring music pieces along which should underline it, useful backbround information

3.       are there any innovative forms of experiencing culture (as opposed to conventional “guided tour”)?

     yes X

no p

describe how: Different countries have different music styles and to bring these together (work on it) is an innovative form of experiencing culture. You can make out different kinds of rhythms and you have to develop a feeling for it. This is very different from a passive visit to a concert in a foreign country or from listening to a talk about the music of a certain country. Active participation in the production of music will create a higher awareness of different national styles

category V BENEFIT TO THE COMMUNITY

1.       will the participants share their own specialist/cultural backgrounds?

     yes X

no p

describe how:  Every participant should bring background information of music along and everybody should open their minds for it. This will be shared with the participants from Achill and will facilitate cultural understanding.

2.       will there be a clear benefit for the community?

yes X

no p

describe how:  We will present our work with a special song for the Achill-Project during the farewell gathering on the last evening. If there is extra time on a few evenings we can come together for music with all patricipants to relax with our work. We have facilitated contact with musical groups on the island through a newspaper article explaining this workshop

3.       is the value of the benefit in relation of the learning experience of the participants?

yes X

no p

describe how: We are trying to communicate national differences in Music during our stay. Getting to know about other countries music we broaden our horizon, build up connections for later friendships within the group but above all with musicians on Achill and entertain the community with some of our music (maybe also in the pub?).

If an activity does not meet all criteria, this does not mean it cannot be done, of course. Activities should “largely meet the criteria”. Often other participants have good ideas how to include further aspects which are still missing.

Good luck

Laurence



[1] should be a gripping marketing title (no more than 5 words)

[2] no more than 200 words

[3] can be a longer, more academic and descriptive title

[4] any participant can be leader of a workshop

[5] assistant must be from a group/nationality different from the leader

[6] e.g. the photographer in the photo workshop (external specialists)

[7] regular times at the moment are either Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri 10-13 or Mon/Tue/Thur 14:30-17:30 or Wed all day