BLENDED MOBILITY OF PARTICIPANTS OF AN INTERNATIONAL PROJECT „Active Seniors Educations without Barriers“

    BLENDED MOBILITY OF PARTICIPANTS OF AN INTERNATIONAL PROJECT „Active Seniors Educations without Barriers“

    Faculty of Healthcare of the Catholic University in Ružomberok cooperate since 2020 with Faculty of Paedagogy, Department of Music, at the international project Active Seniors Educations without Barriers. As a part of this project, from 3rd of September till 11th of September a blended mobility of J.Husarčíková (from Faculty of Healthcare), Z. Zahradníková and J. Bednáriková (from Faculty of Paedagogy) was realized in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. The aim of this meeting was the final preparation and also realization of the collective concert, which became reality on 10th of September 2022 in Concert Hall of New Adalbertin in Hradec Králové. Participants of this unique concert were the elderly from three countries, 10 seniors from Universidade Sénior de Ferreira do Zêzere, 10 seniors from the University of the third age from Ostrava University and 10 seniors from Andrej choir in Ružomberok.

    The blended mobility program as well as the concert itself was based on an international songbook created specifically for this occasion. The songbook consists of a selection of 30 mostly folk songs from all participating countries, with which the seniors gradually became familiar as part of the planned educational activities of the project. During the one-week blended mobility, the selected songs were practiced together and unified, especially in terms of phonetics. The main output of the ASEB project – Concert of International Senior Choirs was opened by the spiritual polyphonic composition of the contemporary author Vlastimil Dufka Nech nás žehná Pán, which already won the hearts of Portuguese and Czech seniors during the preparation. Czech, Portuguese and Slovak folk songs followed, which were interestingly supplemented by the playing of several musical instruments: the dominant instrument was the ukulele and its predecessor the cavaquinho, guitars, recorder and piano. Two blocks of folk songs interpreted by a unique international senior choir were enriched by 4 adaptations of Czech folk songs performed by the Collegium Bonum choir from Ostrava and later by a captivating lullaby performed by Portuguese teachers and artists from the Senior University in Ferreira do Zêzer: Márcia Cabrala, José Rebolu and Ruben André Antunes Gonçalves. The whole concert was interestingly moderated by Jan Mlčoch, who together with Eva Polášková, Zuzana Zahradníková and Márcio Cabral conducted individual compositions and songs. It was a unique concert performance, which, with its varied international composition, content and performance, won not only the hearts of the audience, but also of all the participating actors. Proof of this is the spontaneously agreed reprise of the concert, which will take place on December 9, 2022 in Ostrava. It is also appropriate to thank the main researcher of the project, Dr. Zdeňka Telnarová, who in cooperation with Bc. Pavlou Janoschová prepared amazing and literally barrier-free conditions for both the seniors - participants of the project, as well as for all components involved in the successful course of blended mobility and the concert itself.

    In conclusion, it is only necessary to add that the project Active barrier-free education of seniors through information technology and especially through music is successfully fulfilling its goals. In one of the most striking outputs of the project – in blended mobility and especially in a unique concert, he confirmed the knowledge gained about the cultural heritage of three nations, which were the subject of education through online courses. At the same time, he created new international relations and friendships between managers, experts and project participants, and through the publication of an original songbook, he created the possibility of further dissemination of beautiful and typical songs from Slovakia, Bohemia and Portugal.