”Ouço, ouço, ouço vento 

Ouço e vejo grandes sonhos 

Onde irá me levar? 

Sinto, sinto, sinto o vento 

Sinto e espero grandes sonhos 

Onde irá nos levar? 

Voe 

Leve 

Voe 

Leve” 

FEEDBACK FROM ONE OF THE ORGANIZERS;

”Amo o que a música me ensina, ela me ensinasobrediversidade, sobreunião, sobreharmonia, sobrea alegria, sobrebeleza, ensinasobre a vida. Aoouvir a música da Tuuli, fiqueipensando o que significa o vento? E respondi: suave, arrebatador, encontraseuspróprioscaminhos e nãotêmfronteiras. Ninguém é dono do vento, ele é livre. Todos e todaspodemaprender com o vento, podemos ser livres, amar e sonharsemfronteiras. Ontem meu coraçãobateuquentinho, percebi que agora meu instrumentopredileto, o violoncelo, e todasuafamilia (violas, violinos e contrabaixos) vieramfazervibraroscoraçãosinsuficientes. Sópossodizer que sorrisos, lágrimas, coraçãosaltitante e umalistainfinita de emoçõestomaramconta de mim.” 

“I love what music teaches me, including diversity, unity, harmony, joy, beauty, and about life. Listening to Tuuli’s music, made me wonder what the wind can mean? I answered to myself, it’s gentle, rapturous, it finds its own ways and has no boundaries. No one owns the wind, it is free. Everyone can learn from the wind, we can be free, love and dream without boundaries. Yesterday my heart beat warm, I realized now that my favorite instrument, cello, andit’s family (violas, violins and double bass) came to make insufficient hearts vibrate. I can only say that smiles, tears, a bouncing heart and an endless list of emotions have taken hold of me.” (translated by me with the help of Google translate). 

Three weeks later I travelled to Caico to meet the groups and make a video recording of the song. I arrived from Natal to Caico early in the morning and was taken to a local church where the groups from Caico and Jucurutu were already preparing for the recording. 

The groups had been practicing the song and the new Portuguese lyrics with the instructors, but still needed some practice. We started by rehearsing the song while the technicians were setting up, and as soon as everything was ready, we started videoing. It was a warm day, with heat close to 40 degrees, and the many ventilators on the church walls turned out to be necessary. While recording and videoing though, those fans had to be turned off, and naturally that turned out to be a challenge. 

After the first take the group already seemed exhausted from the heat, but because of videoing, more takes were needed. In a way it was good that we got new takes, because some mistakes here and there could be fixed. I added some signs to help the group remember the lyrics but noticed that I as well as the girls were feeling exhaustedfrom the heat.  

During the recording and afterwards, I was thinking about wishing to have been able to cheer up the mood better. I had tried to bring positivity in by starting to cheer and clap together after each take. I also encouraged the girls to support each other by giving high-fives again, hoping that enhancing interaction could help.  

Huhtinen-Hildén and Pitt (2018, 195) describe music pedagogy as a creative instrument, that should be taken care of in order to be able to enhance creative thinking and facilitating multimodal learning environments. During this experience I felt that as a pedagogue my most important skillsincluded the ability improvise, adapt to unexpected situations, and be present in the interaction with the students. At the same time, my pedagogical skills have never before been challenged to this extent, and I see this as a valuable possibility to learn and develop both as a musician and a pedagogue. According to Huhtinen-Hildén and Pitt (2018, 196) reflection is an important part of the ongoing process of developing and learning as a pedagogue. Because of the many unexpected approaches of this project, I noticed that I had a need to reflect on my experiences throughout the process. It was surprising to me, how much I enjoyed and felt excitement in the unclear conditions, and I also noticed, that as the process went on, it became easier and easier to feel comfortable with the unexpectedness of the process. 

G (I): 3rd string for all the instruments 

C (IV): 4th string for everyone 

D (V): 2nd string for everyone 

D/C: 4th string for cellos and violas, 2nd string for violins. 

We learnt the chords by ear and I showed them which strings to play using my fingers. The violin players were following my left hand and the viola- and cello players were following my right hand. The strings created a flowing accompaniment to the song, which had no specific rhythm, but an on-going bowing. 

After that we continued with creating a wind-soundscape by asking the students:”How does the wind sound? How could you play that on your instrument?”. I wanted to engage the students as much as possible and encourage them to be creative in a playful way. This part of the song gave all the students an equal possibility to be creative in their own way. I encouraged the students to experiment, and emphasized that in creativity there is no right and wrong. According to Huhtinen-Hildén and Pitt (2018) it is vital for participatory learning processes, that all learner’s ideas and capacities are respected. Being creative and learning by ear was something new for the group, but the students learned really fast and seemed to be also enjoying it. 

According to Muhonen (2014) creative collaboration can strengthen the learners’ agency and belief in their capacities. Individually meaningful learning can happen, when participants are encouraged to take part, make a difference, and navigate together (Hietanen-Hildén and Pitt, 2018, pp. 149).  

We were practicing the soundscape by playing wind-sounds in changing dynamics. I was showing the students the dynamic changes with my open hands (five fingers), moving up (higher dynamic) and down (lower dynamic). Huhtinen-Hildén and Pitt (2018, pp. 156) list tips for facilitating and shaping improvisation including instructions through signs and graphical notations. I decided to use sign language to support the creativity, but using signs also helped me with communicating with the group despite the language barrier between us. 

I had previous experience of using handsignals in the context of vocal painting, which I learned the basics ina Global choir leadership -course held by Merzi Rajala. Vocal painting is a collection of 75 specific hand signals, that aim toward interactive and creative communication within choirs (The intelligent choir website). Even tough I was not using the specific hand signals from Vocal painting, having experienced this kind of non-verbal communication before, was definitely a big help.   

Next it was time to play and sing the melody together with the soundscape. My original idea was to combine just these two parts, but on the spot new ideas started to emerge and I decided to try adding two more elements to the song. Higgins (2008, pp. 334) encourages workshops facilitators to embrace this kind of openness towards the unconditional possibilities within the practical limits and restrictions of the workshop event. In this case, I had noticed that the group seemed motivated and excited about the creative parts, so it felt right to add elements that engage the students in new creative ways. First we added a tremolo in the transition between the song and the soundscape. After that we practiced percussive sounds, by encouraging the students look for the sounds from their instrument and using body-percussion. Last I added a sign to show silence and a sing for only singing without accompaniment. These were all new techniques for the students, and I felt happy that our short session could provide new and fun ideas and techniques of learning and engaging in music together. 

For the rest of the session we practiced combining all these elements we had learnt, and even though the soundscapes had no fixed length a fixed form started to merge: 

Percussive soundscape - wind-soundscape - only singing - singing with accompaniment - wind-soundscape - singing with accompaniment - soundscape - percussive soundscape. 

HAND SIGNALS:

1. Number of fingers: showing what chords to play (the violins followed the left arm, and the cellos + violas followed the left arm)  

2. Moving open hands/5 fingers: wind-soundscape 

3. Knocking sign with hands: percussive soundscape  

4. Hands going up and down: dynamics  

5. Acting to play the violin with my hands: tremolo  

6. Hand under jaw: only sing  

7. Hands closed: silence

The third day (8.10.2022) of the project was the concert day. Before the concert we had a rehearsal together with both of the groups from Caico and Jucurutu at the Music-center in Caico, which was the same place as on the first day. 

This was an important day for the group, since it was the first time they were performing with their instruments. I could sense nervousness in the air and put effort to encourage the students in a positive and playful way.  

I encouraged the students to remember to enjoy by practicing smiling together, and also asked them to give each other high-fives. Huhtinen-Hildén and Pitt (2018, pp. 165) encourage pedagogues to put attention on engendering enjoyment, fun, achievement, and motivation as an important part of learner-centered support of young students learning to play instruments in a group. The socio-cultural aspect encourages the participants to come to realizations by themselves, in which the teacher’s role is to try support that (Kurki, 2008, pp. 137). My aim in asking the students to encourage each other, was to make them realize both the joy of being supported and the joy of supporting. 

In the performance, I spontaneously invited the audience to take part in the soundscape, and the outcome of the performing group and the whole audience creating a soundscape was one of the most memorable moments of this project. By taking the audience as a part of the performance spontaneously, I hope to have succeeded in underlining the joyful possibilities of creative and collaborative music making. I was happy about how this turned out and about all the feedback that we got from it. One of the organizers wrote in her social media, how she had experienced the concert, and the piece we created with the students. Her reaction and interpretation was so beautiful, I also want to share it with you. What a great reminder it is, about how music can move us. 

IN CAICO AND JUCURUTU

My first day in this project took place in Caico in a music-center a few kilometers away from where I was staying. One of the teachers on the project, a violin player and a music pedagogue, met me 6th of October earlyon the morning and we drove the music-center. 

At the front yard of the music school, there were about 30 girls waiting for us when we arrived. By then I had realized that my lack of skills in Portuguese language was a challenge, but I was surprised to notice how warmly welcomed and integrated I felt despite the language barrier.  

I had planned to start with a warmup-session, but when we got the to the practice hall, the group started with practicing another program for the concert led by the other teachers in the project. It was eye-opening to follow their working methods, and to follow how the group is used to working.  

When it was my turn to come stand in front of the orchestra, there was one hour left for me to spend with the group. I introduced the name and topic of the song (Unelmat saa lentää korkella = Sonhos podem voar alto = Dreams can fly high) with the help of one of the teachers translating. I had not gotten a schedule or clear plan of the project in advance, so I was prepared and ready to adapt to the changing situations. Huhtinen-Hildén and Pitt (2018) emphasize, that in leaner-centered pedagogy, this kind of flexibility is needed and careful preparations and reflection-in-action support pedagogical improvisation.  

Being in a new and unpredictable surrounding, feelings of insecurity and uncertainty merged, but my main focus was in the students and on being open-minded and curious to find out how everything would turn out. According to Huhtinen-Hildén and Pitt (2018, pp. 31) working as a facilitator in a group setting requires willingness to the feelings of insecurity and curiousness.  

We started with learning the lyrics and melody by ear, using a call-and-response technique. Singing a new song in a new language acquires a lot of repetitionand a slow pace, and this is where I found it especially valuable that I had had the possibility to compose this song designed especially for this group.  

After learning the melody and lyrics, we learnt the chord progression of the song. The progression was ins G-major, using chord degrees I(G), IV(C), V(D) and a slash-chord D/C. All these chords were played without the third note of the chords (as power chords) by open strings of the violins, violas and cellos. 

The second day of this project (7.10.2022) took place in Jucurutu about 50 kilometers away from Caico. We travelled there by bus through a beautiful mountain landscape with three other teachers from the project. 

In Jucurutu, there was a similar group of 10-15 year old students playing violin, viola and cello. Again the other teachers had their session first and I had my session after them. I taught the same song to this group as in Caico, but decided to change the order, starting from playing with the soundscapes. and moving from there towards learning the signals and then the singing. Instructing felt easier this time, since I had experience from the previous day and I had also had time to learn some new Portuguese words and plan my communication. 

What was the outcome of my participation in this project? 

Concrete outcomes of my participation in this project included the workshops, the performance and the livevideorecording. Based on discussions I had with the teachers and organizers of the project, the methods I was using gave inspiration both to the teachers and the students of the project. Based on the questions I was asked, I experienced that they were curious to hear thoughts behind the pedagogical methods and also hoping to look into implementing them into their own practice as I also got an inquiry to compile a material bank based on these approaches for local instructors of such projects to use. I experienced that the thoughts of learner-based teaching were especially appreciated and valued, and it was explained to me that, these aspects were experienced to be lacking in the local pedagogical approaches. Although it made me feel like I, together with the group, had conveyed something meaningful, I think it is important to realize, that these ideas can’t be generalized without further research. It would be interesting to get a deeper understanding of the pedagogical approaches and methods of practice in the area, to have a deeper understanding of the similarities and differences in pedagogical approaches and practices.  

How could the method be developed? 

As my participation in this project was so short, I reflected on how this approach could be developed further after the project, as I had another opportunity to implement these ideas in another social project in Brazil. The data and outcomes of the second project were originally supposed to be a part of this research, but as the writing process went on, I decided to save those discoveries for later development.  

I would suggest developing the piece we created with the group, with small steps. It could mean taking a focus on rhythm first for example. By starting with rhythmic improvisation games, the rhythms could be transferred to the instruments and with this song, work on making the flowing accompaniment rhythmic. Levels of rhythmic elements could be played with as we played with dynamics, where the teacher could be showing the amount of rhythmiclayers and encouraging the students towards experimenting and exploring. 

Other possible focus points could be improvising on a scale or a few chosen tones. First the group could learn the scale slowly with numbers, for example the pentatonic scale with numbers 1-5. These tones could be played focusing first on the rhythm and slowly proceeding towards creating melodies. These numbers could be written on a board, or papers, which could be put in varying orders by the teacher or the students creating melodic patterns from the numbers. From there the group could try collective improvisation on the scale and after that try improvising in smaller groups, in pairs or even soloistic improvising if the students are motivated and comfortable to try. The students could be also encouraged to play with characteristics of the created melodies and rhythms.  

As well as these techniques, I have experienced that writing lyrics and songwriting is an easily applicable way to enhance creativity with all kinds of groups and learners. With the group in Natal, we wrote a song together with a fun and easy technique. First the students drew each other’s hands in pairs. Next they got a task to find out five dreams of their pair and write them on the papers next to each of the fingers. After that we listed all the dreams, with the aim of making a text that rhymes. That required inventing some additional words and sentences, that the students came up with collectively. When the text was ready, we first started to create the rhythm of the words by speaking and rapping them. After that we came up with a chord progression, by me suggesting options and the students choosing from those. When the chord progression was ready, we could look for the melody of the song by singing on top of the chord progression. When we got the song ready, we added a body-percussion part, and there it was, a song with two parts to play around with.  

I intend to continue developing methods like these in the future and hope to continue researching the impacts of these processes as part of future socially engaged music making projects.