VIOLANET: EUROPEAN VIOLA DA GAMBA NETWORK Erasmus Project

Project Title

VIOLANET: EUROPEAN VIOLA DA GAMBA NETWORK

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Research and innovation; Recognition (non-formal and informal learning/credits); New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The project VIOLANET – European Viola da Gamba Network was born to create a network between all those who study and teach the Viola da Gamba at an academic level. The Viola da Gamba, which in many conservatories has only recently been able to gain a fully recognised place, suffers from an isolation that urgently needed to be overcome. The experience of the “Giornata italiana della viola da gamba” promoted by the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole showed how much the need for meetings, exchanges and comparisons between all those involved with the instrument is felt and how fruitful these can be in increasing its teaching and performance quality. The ultimate goal of the project was therefore to lay the foundations for a lasting collaboration between all those who deal with the Viola da Gamba professionally.
Six universities and institutes of higher education that had already distinguished themselves for innovative didactics and for particular activities around the Viola da Gamba were chosen as partners: the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole as the lead institution, the University Mozarteum of Salzburg (Austria), the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon (France), the Conservatorio Superior de Música of Vigo (Spain), the Koninklijk Conservatorium of The Hague (The Netherlands), and the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt of Weimar (Germany). These institutions involved teachers and students of Viola da Gamba, teachers and students of other instruments and subjects, including those outside the early music departments, and the staff of the Erasmus and International Relations offices; from outside collaborated specialised luthiers, musicologists, teachers and students from other institutions, etc.
The project included a variety of activities, all characterised by a concrete involvement in musical and didactic life. Many of these activities took place during the five teacher-student meetings: transnational masterclasses, conferences, luthiers’ exhibitions, ensemble music, dell’European Union Youth Viol Consort (EUYVC) rehearsals and concerts, student and teacher concerts, experimental teaching workshops, teacher exchanges.
Other activities planned and carried out were
IO1: Design of European Guidelines for Viola da Gamba high educational pathways.
IO2: Specialisation workshops of 150 hours within the university curricula with subsequent recognition of ECTS credits. Their overall objective, beyond the beneficial effects of the individual activities, was to implement and modernise the viola da gamba curriculum, making it better suited to the professional world through innovative teaching proposals.
IO3 Creation of a European Union Youth Viol Consort (EUYVC), composed of students from Violanet institutions, and its concert activity.
IO4: Creation of a digital resource centre as a common platform for students and teachers, with documents, teaching tools, methods, research tools and a virtual meeting space.
All these activities planned by the initial project have been fully realised and implemented, in many cases exceeding initial expectations; they promise to have positive effects well beyond the end of the project. The transnational meetings and mobilities have created strong professional links, which are already materialising in new inter-European proposals and activities. Particularly beneficial in this respect has been the creation of the EUYVC, which has been noted for the quality of its musical proposal and which has experimented with unusual formations and repertoires that will remain as a reference. The specialisation workshops have proved to be so fruitful and useful that most of them will be continued in the years to come; they have created innovative methodologies whose benefits the teachers involved will hardly want to do without in their future teaching. The digital resource centre not only includes – as planned – the “Catalogue of solo and chamber music for viola da gamba” and numerous teaching and research materials, but is already considered a place where it is a privilege to be invited to publish musical and research material. The platform will therefore certainly be expanded further in the future. The work on the “Guidelines for a European academic curriculum for viola da gamba” has produced a text published on the web and appreciated and debated by viola da gamba teachers from all over the world; it has also been an opportunity for teachers to exchange ideas and discuss teaching methods.

Project Website

https://www.scuolamusicafiesole.it/en/violanet

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 368506,5 Eur

Project Coordinator

FONDAZIONE SCUOLA DI MUSICA DI FIESOLE ONLUS & Country: IT

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITAT MOZARTEUM SALZBURG
• Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris
• Hochschule fuer Musik Franz Liszt Weimar
• CONSERVATORIO SUPERIOR DE MÚSICA DE VIGO
• STICHTING HOGESCHOOL DER KUNSTEN DEN HAAG
• Prague Baroque Centre
• CONSERVATOIRE NATIONAL SUPERIEUR DE MUSIQUE ET DE DANSE DE LYON