Music to their ears – Donegal teens jam with Dutch and Polish peers with Erasmus+

Over 150 students from eight schools made new friends locally and internationally and become musical wizards thanks to an Erasmus+ programme led by Inishowen Development Partnership.

The project exceeded its goals and was “an apex experience” in the lives of the students, according to one facilitator. The final report, just published, is overwhelmingly positive.

Over the two years up to May 30 of this year, 76 jam sessions took place, 11 tunes and songs were written, six bands were formed, and three international exchange visits took place involving teenagers from Ireland, Poland and Holland. 40 virtual jam sessions were also held, as Covid showed everyone how to link up musically online.

In the project’s first year, transition year students from secondary schools in Moville and Carndonagh, County Donegal, took part.

Throughout the project’s second school year, students from Scoil Mhuire and Crana College, both in Buncrana, rehearsed with musical facilitator Seamus Devenney. Their hard work paid off with a stunning performance in The Glassworks in Derry in March.

(You can watch videos of StagePass performances on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stagepasseu/)

Young people attending the nearby schools in Buncrana didn’t actually know each other much better than the students they met from Holland and Poland.

Scoil Mhuire student Kayla and Crana College student Jade both said they loved meeting people from the other schools.

“We go to school minutes apart, but we didn’t know each other or speak to each other. Now we are all so close,” said Kayla.

“The students worked so well together and Seamus really brought out the best in them,” said Katrina McGonigle, programme co-ordinator at Scoil Mhuire. She said it was “fantastic”.

“We are appreciative to IDP for giving us this opportunity,” she added.

Musical facilitator Seamus Devenney from Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, said, “It has been an amazing experience and the concept of this project is reaching far beyond its original goal.

“It will continue to have a profound effect on these young people’s future – it is an apex moment in their development into adulthood and will help shape the adults they will become in the future,” he added.

IDP’s StagePass co-ordinator Tracey McRory said IDP were delighted to again have the opportunity of collaborating with European partners. However, it was the students and the music they made that delighted her the most.

“They were up every day for rehearsals, no complaining, they are amazing ambassadors for their schools and their communities. Seeing their smiling faces and music in their hearts every day was just amazing,” she said.

“StagePass is a lot of work and even though it is ending for now, the future of creativity and music in Inishowen is safe in the hands of our schoolkids,” said McRory.

StagePass

StagePass aimed “to develop their core competencies and skills through the medium of music and in line with entrepreneurship education and performing arts”.

The exchanges involved visits to Gdynia in Poland, Leeuwarden in Holland and Derry.
W: https://stagepassmusic.eu/about-stagepass/

Erasmus+

The StagePass project was funded under ERASMUS+ through Key Action 2 which supports strategic partnerships in the field of education, training and youth.

According to Erasmus+, projects funded under ‘Key Action 2 – Co-operation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices’ should result in the development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices at organisational, local, regional, national or European levels.

W: https://www.iky.gr/en/erasmus-plus-ka2eng