Within the project entitled Pi, pica, picas(so), and for the second year in a row, the Museu Picasso opened its doors one Spring Monday for the boys and girls from the nursery schools of the neighbourhood to offer them a live music concert given by the group Tres & Jazz. The musical proposal was inspired by a selection of five paintings, a piece of pottery by Picasso and some photographs that the children had the chance to look at and observe in detail during the school course.

Children from the neighbourhood in the middle of a concert

The heart and soul of this project is a collaboration between the professionals of the Pedagogical Resource Centre of Ciutat Vella and three professionals from the world of education: Reina Capdevila, Georgina Vila and Roser Ros. Each one from their own discipline (music, language and art), approaching the others and obtaining in this way a common and transversal result.

This result was transmitted to the teachers by means of two training sessions in which they brought materials, didactic resources, methodologies, etc. so that the teachers could work, with musical works and pieces, on various aspects linked to these three fields, and to pass this on to the main receivers: the children. Each teacher did so in his or her own way, but with the same aim in mind and based on the same project.

Reina Capdevila, Georgina Vila and Roser Ros

The proposal ended up by gathering together all the participants in an open-air concert, in the museum’s courtyards.  Therefore, for  this closing session, the children went to the museum accompanied by their teachers to listen to  live versions of the music they had listened to at school, and that had been linked to the  several works of Picasso chosen.

The occasion was very special: more than 450 children in three groups saw the music performed by an ensemble of trumpet, guitar and drums, and were able to sing the songs they had learned, as well as listening to their sounds and melodies while some paintings passed in front of their eyes (unfortunately reproductions, as it was in the open air!) already known to them, that seemed to take on life in the setting of the museum.  In addition to the audio and visual experience, it is worth adding the value of the experience of the trip to the museum, and the possibility of strolling round and inhabiting, for a while, the stones and arches of the magnificent building that is the home to the Museu Picasso.

Musicians, children and educators during the concert

All of this was possible thanks to the collaboration of the teams and people from various cultural, educational and artistic facilities. Thanks a lot to all of you!

Caterina Ferrer and Roser Ros