Music Art Project's mission
Music Art Project (MAP) was founded in 2010 with the goal of using qualitative and innovative music education programmes to contribute towards the long-term development of society and culture in Serbia. MAP aims to make quality music education available to all children, regardless of their socio-economic status, and to thus provide everyone with the necessary pre-conditions for their own growth and development. Creating a decent future in which we all have an equal chance of success in all areas, MAP raises new generations of creative leaders who have faith in both their own abilities and the people around them.
Music Art Project uses music as a means to foster the overall personal growth and development of children and young people, and not just the development of their musical skills. MAP believes that music education helps children achieve these goals through the joy of music-making and socialising by developing:
- creativity, curiosity, responsibility and persistence;
- self-confidence and self-esteem;
- better personal relationships within their families and, later, the wider community;
- social responsibility, a sense of community and belonging, team spirit and empathy;
- the motivation to strive for and achieve success through personal commitment and effort;
- the capacity for critical and analytical thinking;
- and the ability to actively listen, give and receive constructive criticism and respect the opinions and diversity of others.
Why music?
"Where words fail, music speaks" said H. K. Andersen, best describing the power of music as a means of communication amongst people. This universal language enables the human heart to express everything that is inexpressible in words - emotions, desires, aspirations, fears and hopes. Creating music at such a high level thus requires a significant amount of courage and self-acceptance, because the music we create reveals everything about us, yet it also allows its listeners the opportunity to find out a lot about themselves - if they choose to listen.
There are numerous studies that speak of the positive impact of music on the development of children. Just listening to a particular type of music contributes to the enhancement of a wide range of cognitive and emotional abilities as well as to a reduction in stress levels, while the development of specific musical skills can have a far greater and more comprehensive impact on the development of a child's potential.
Live instrumental performance is one of the most complex psychophysical activities. The playing of an instrument requires simultaneous sensory-motor accuracy, with the coordination of movement taking place at the same time as a number of emotional and thought processes. Therefore, MAP pays special attention to the harmonious development of both children’s personal capacities and their musical abilities, since these two aspects of a child’s development are closely entwined during musical performances.
Group music-making plays a significant role in music’s development of the personal and, above all, social capacities of an individual. Playing together within an orchestra or singing together within a choir gives children the opportunity to socialise and share common goals and interests with their peers. Orchestras and choirs are microcosms of our wider societies. Within them, each individual contributes to the creation of perfect harmony, using its own unique strengths and abilities to compliment the strengths and abilities of a greater group in the pursuit of a common goal.