Expressing feelings with music
The interdisciplinary music theater course at the Conservatoire Populaire de Genève is very popular with the students. It won second prize at the 4th Good Practice Competition.
"The project stems from the desire for music schools to be as accessible as possible," explains Eugénie Grenier Borel, the initiator of the project. The course therefore takes place on site directly after school, which makes it much easier for parents to coordinate their daily lives. The course takes place weekly, lasts two hours and is led by three instrumental teachers and a drama teacher. The aim of the course is to put on a show at the end of the year.
"Theater and music develop several common skills, especially working with nuances and everything that has to do with timing," says Eugénie Grenier Borel. At the beginning, several instruments are suggested to the students so that they have as much choice as possible and get a good insight.
The show takes four to five months to prepare. It is written by the teachers in close collaboration with the students. "It's not musical theater or musical comedy - we're inventing a new form, which is very stimulating," says Eugénie Grenier Borel. "The amazing thing is that children develop the ability to move seamlessly from music to drama. The course develops an enhanced way of expressing an emotion.
The next show, Space Hotel, will take place in a seemingly utopian world. The children will find a creative expression for their doubts, their fears of the future and also their frustration.
