This project answers the need to develop collaborative tools, share knowledge and transfer pedagogical innovation in the very specific field of music theory in higher music education institutions throughout Europe by working towards a pedagogical rapprochement. These courses are often the object of pedagogical reflections but there’s a lack of a centralised source and framework to support this reflection by means of cross-disciplinary study at European and international level. A certain pedagogical adaptability must lead teachers to reopen their pedagogical perspective and to teach their students using other methodologies or at least share them. The project intends to tackle the question of the transfer of practices and methodologies between higher music education institutions (HMEI), in particular for music theory courses. Indeed, there is a significant wealth of educational practices from one country to another in this sector, especially in terms of harmonic musical notation and analysis. Nevertheless, HMEI are facing the nonexistence of a European network for pedagogical staff in theoretical subjects such as harmony, musical analysis, ear training, solfeggio, specific to the realities and practices of higher arts schools. University networks exists reserved for university researchers (EUROMAC) while the teachers of theoretical subjects in European HMEI are generally not PhD and even less musicologists. They studied an instrument, or specialized in subjects such as counterpoint, fugue or composition. Musicologists do not practice music and are even for the most part non-instrumentalists. These HMEI, however, have an increased need to develop their internationalisation and therefore to develop a network between teachers to look for other sources and practices and update their own courses content or develop new music theory subjects in their institution.The project, targeting music theory departments' community (institutions, teachers, students and professionals) in HMEI's will pursue the following objectives:- Collect, analyse, share, compare and transfer the pedagogical practices of the music theory courses among HMEI in Europe- Create a meeting and exchange room for teachers of these disciplines in order to encourage the confrontation of practices and the development of joint tools- Create a reference platform for music theory lessons- Maintain and develop the place of music theory courses in the curricula of the various higher education institutions concerned- Maintain, develop, modernise, update and promote music theory courses and their curricula- Develop a network of teachers of theory courses in musical fields- Foster and strengthen the links between higher education institutions, research and professionals musicians in the field of music theory in Europe - Foster and strengthen the internationalisation of higher music education institutionsAs a partnership we aim to develop in this project several outputs and activities to reach results in line with the project’s objectives. We plan to particularly work on innovation in the area of music theory by:-Develop an online exchange platform on harmony and music analysis (IO1)-Develop a dynamic EU bibliography (IO2)-Develop a catalogue of new methodologies and practices (IO3)-Develop a Multi Language terminology dictionary in music theory (IO4)-Organise 1 training for staff and 1 intensive programme for students-Organise 1 dissemination conference and 1 final conference gathering at least 200 participants coming from HMEI across Europe and beyond-Foster transfer of new methodologies and practices into music theory courses-Strengthening the internationalisation of each participating institutionsThe project intends to have a wide impact mainly at national and European level by giving the higher education institutions in Europe providing music theory courses online tools to help the music theory community to find resources, new methodologies and courses content to reinforce the skills of the teaching staff and of the students.Results of the project will be available for free in digital format and integrated into the platform (IO1), to ensure their visibility and a wide exploitation by the institutions organising music theory courses.

Music-making in school education has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. What was formerly among the safest educational and cultural activities has become lethal due to the capacity of singing and many musical instruments to transmit the deadly virus. Moreover, the need for physical distancing and restrictions on indoor gatherings have destroyed the close human proximity that is central to collective music performance. Consequently, students of school education are denied the opportunity to sing in the singing class, to play music in the music class.Research has demonstrated the immense contribution that music education can make to people’s lives. The benefits are artistic, creative, and expressive, but equally important are the effects on personal wellbeing and social integration. Music education influences psychological and general health, inclusion, friendship, and togetherness. Furthermore, music tuition can impact curriculum areas beyond music and thus can make a substantial contribution to the cognitive functions and development of people. All of these benefits have been gravely endangered by the cessation of normal musical activity.Thousands of music teachers have been struggling for the right approach of how to adjust their teaching techniques to the new challenges. There has been unprecedented sharing of ideas online during the pandemic, however the sheer amount of information of variable quality discourages school music teachers, as a great deal of this information is uncurated and lacks sector-specific guidance for this area.The objective of the PRESTO project is to chart a path forward for the continuation of music education through and beyond this crisis, by developing flexible and adaptable solutions for remote or restricted musical activity by schools. Internationally renowned musicians and leaders in their fields have been and will be creating innovative digital resources with expert guidance, specially tailored for all areas of school music education: classroom education, choral education, and instrumental education. Resources include demonstration videos for creative music-teaching approaches, for remote use of the Kodály HUB, the Move mi music application and the Colourstrings instrumental teaching method; creative piano pedagogy, musicianship courses and singing games for children to engage in remotely and in non-contact classroom activities.Prior to the pandemic, choral concerts and music performances marked the major milestones of the academic year in many schools. Now, such important artistic and social activities are impossible. The project will investigate suitable cutting-edge methods for remote concert performance and will provide accessible techniques and resources to bring back these important events in the life of a school. Open-source digital tools for the development of school choir conductors and for independent learning by young singers will be made available along with models of online choir performance and rehearsal, guidance on repertoire selection and new, innovative choral compositions, specially created to overcome the limitations of musical performance via the internet.The consortium comprises a coherent, colorful alliance of music educational institutions: there are two HEIs: Liszt Academy of Music (Hungary), DCU (Ireland); two national choral associations: Sing Ireland, National Youth Choir of Scotland; and a private Finnish enterprise: Caprice Oy, an online education company with significant experience in remote music teaching. The partnership is founded on a firm belief in the values of European cultural heritage and within that the proven educational concept of Hungarian composer and educator Zoltán Kodály, which is a registered Safeguarding Practice by UNESCO. This groundbreaking pedagogical approach places the joyful and active musical experiences (mainly singing) into the centre of music learning and teaching as the most important source for reception and appreciation of musical art. It is the foundation on which the PRESTO partnership is firmly built as all partners have a deep connection with the concept and its implementation in their own countries and around the world.All demonstration videos, open-source tools, practical guidance, and new compositions will be shared globally via the popular Kodály HUB online knowledge centre, www.kodalyhub.com, thus sustaining and enhancing the functionality of this website, which was produced in an earlier Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project. The outputs will be distributed and disseminated through the extensive educational and choral networks of the project partners. The transferability of the digital resources will ensure long-term use in both school-based and independent music learning activities in the uncertain future, and will allow seamless adaptation for educational contexts all over the world for thousands of music teachers delivering the joy of music.

All partners in this project share a firm belief that “music should belong to everyone” - it is crucial that every child (not just the privileged few) should have access to music education from the early years. Why is it important to start music education in early childhood and why should it be for everyone? The key is the proven benefits of music, the so called “musical transfer effect”. If children receive high quality, meaningful music education from a young age it is very likely to have a positive effect in many areas including: Cognitive ability, literacy, numeracy, social and personal skills.It is our united belief, that in order to have high quality music education we first need well trained and highly skilled music teachers. Special emphasis must be placed on music education in the primary schools, particularly for 5 to 10 year-olds, who are in their most susceptible years. However, in the majority of non-specialist educational settings children of this age may only receive one music lesson per week, generally delivered by classroom teachers with no formal music training.As a result, frequently the teacher uses poor quality repertoire.What role should music conservatoires play in addressing these issues? Firstly conservatoires should play a more prominent role in the training of elementary music teachers and it is our firm belief that those experts in conservatoires should support and engage with the school music education system. Consequently, three leading European Higher Education Institutions of music (The Liszt Academy of Music Budapest - the leader of the consortium, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Glasgow and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague- all of whom are known globally) and their local partners from the field of Education and choral work (The Kós primary School from Hungary, and the National Youth Choirs of Scotland and Holland, resp.) have come together to collaborate in this project, with the following aims: - to raise awareness among professional musicians as well as the general public as to the need for quality music education in all schools - to provide guidance for music educators towards a creative music pedagogy inspired by the work of Zoltán Kodály and his Hungarian music pedagogical legacy.The Kodály-based musicianship training puts singing at the heart of the concept, being the most powerful and accessible tool to develop musicianship skills. Singing is free and can be adapted to all areas of teaching and learning music in all settings.The project “Kodály HUB: Sing, Learn, Share,” set 3 key objectives, all of which have been fully achieved and completed:· to create a new curriculum to be used in the teacher training programmes of HEIs. Though the newly formed curriculums are country specific, the core ideas are easily adaptable to other countries as well.· to renew the music repertoire for classroom use and to compile new methodology materials, focusing on how to teach music in a joyful, meaningful and relevant way. All new materials have already been published on the Kodály HUB.· to open an on-line knowledge centre (Kodály HUB - https://kodalyhub.com) for public viewing where a Songbook, a Community, a Calendar, (later a Forum) and further useful resources are available to assist teachers in their everyday work. We hope teachers will also feel encouraged to share their own music, ideas and experiences globally. During the 30-month period of the project we organised three learning weeks, where 10 pre-selected students of each HEI visited the other 2 countries. The purpose of the visit was two-fold: 1) to get a direct insight into the music pedagogy practices, the good examples, the challenges of the given country and 2) to work together (students and experts) on the creation of the HUB. These exchange visits were coupled with the challenging task of producing altogether 900 analysed songs representing each country’s musical heritage. These songs are already uploaded on the Kodály Hub with a range of age appropriate musical activities, an analysis of the song and, where relevant, an accompanying game or movement activity. Users may search the database using a number of essential search criteria. 4 transnational project meetings, 3 major and many more minor multiplier events were organised to promote the truly European values of the project which is to be shared and embedded worldwide. As a result, in 5 months we have reached more than 1500 registered users on the HUB from all over the world. By providing hands-on freely accessible resources to practitioners and by modernizing teacher training programmes, it is hoped that a new generation of teachers with improved musical and teaching skills will emerge. Subsequently, all children will experience joyful participation in music making, which will further enhance the transfer effect and consequently have a strong positive impact on our society worldwide.