Road Trip Juni / Juli 2019

Road Trip June/July 2019 / Music School BFT, Kigali

Education I

This two-week road trip was dedicated to the first teacher training of our five current instrumental and theory teachers at the Music School BFT.
Our team, consisting of Isa Halme (violin), Tiina Sinkkonen (vocals), Dominik Brühwiler (piano) and Letizia Walser (music theory and lecturer), was very curious to see how this first part of the teacher training will interpretated by the participants.
The Music School BFT opened its doors in March 2019 and it was very important to us to educate all teachers as soon as possible in the basics of teaching and on their respective instruments.

The training program
The morning program consisted of three parts. The first part was singing together and we exchanged views on a chosen topic of life and faith. This part was a wonderful start into the day and was much appreciated.
In a second part each teacher got individual lessons on his instrument. In general, it is very important to us that every teacher can develop in his technical and artistic skills and thus stay musically up to date.

In a third part our team leader Letizia Walser taught the teachers as a group on the different basics of teaching. In these interesting and entertaining prepared lessons Letizia Walser introduced the teachers to various topics of instrumental teaching. The teachers were constantly challenged as a whole group or in small groups to independently develop and explain the topic-related questions and basics. It was a pleasure to see with how much interest and acuteness the faculty was able to solve and present the given tasks independently.

The shared lunch
After this morning training program, we had lunch together. This was another important point to get to know each other better and to cultivate community, to exchange personal thoughts, to laugh together or even to celebrate a birthday.

Lesson with the teachers
The morning training program took place in the premises of the Music School BFT. It was also possible for our team to visit the teachers in the afternoon with their students.
Through these classroom visits, the respective team members were able to pass on feedback and practical tips to the teachers afterwards. We were happy to see that the teachers already tried out to use ideas and possibilities they learned in the morning teachers education.
The final concert (to the gallery) (link in «Galleries» with «Road Trip June/July 2019»)
At the end of this training period, we organized a final concert together. Students, teachers and team members performed together. The high-contrast program included solo songs, choral songs, solo pieces of various instruments, a wonderful performance by the Violin Kids and the guitar ensemble. Classical music, Pop music as well as Finnish and Rwandan folk songs were performed. Through the great work of the teachers with their students, the concert became the highlight of our joint training period and at the same time the unforgettable end of our road trip!

Conclusion
The feedback from the faculty on this first training was consistently positive and filled with gratitude. At the end of this first training program, there was a final test with an internal diploma about what every teacher had learned. All teachers passed the exam. Congratulations!

We can gratefully look back on a fulfilled and successful road trip! This first training program also motivated and strengthened us as a team. We are now looking forward to planning another road trip for the beginning of January 2020 with another teacher training part.
In the meantime teachers are regularly updated on their instruments via Skype lessons by the appropriate team teachers. So we can deepen the existing relationships without interruption.