Immersing educators in the experience of PaPI Opus 8.z: Stimulating senses and artistry through an online music-theatre piece

Companhia de Música Teatral (CMT)’s arTsTc-educaTve constellaTons model has linked educaTon and arTsTc pracTce. The need for immersive training experiences based on the concept of communicaTve musicality is advocated in this model. That was accomplished in the GermInArte project (2015-2018) and pollinated for the Mil Pássaros project (Thousand Birds). It comprises the musical-theatre piece PaPI-Opus 8.z. shared with educators, parents, and children and conceived to be performed by zoom to family audiences during pandemics. PaPI (Portable Play to Play) is the designaTon given to a set of small musical- theatre pieces that involve a high degree of interacTon between performers and audiences.
Thirty online performances were presented between 2020 and 2022 to families with babies and children, kindergarten classes and educators, primary school classes, and children at the hospital. There were spectators from Portugal, Brazil, the USA, Israel, and Spain.
The piece is part of Zooming 1000 Birds, an online training program in arts for childhood viewing training as a holisTc process that includes the fruiTon and deconstrucTon of arTsTc experiences, such as PaPI- Opus 8.z. The program aims to demonstrate ways to provide educators and teachers with a vivid way to engage in arts during training courses and lifelong learning.
Recorded video excerpts that might catalyze educators’ involvement in arts for childhood and their arTstry are presented. They illustrate how PaPI-Opus 8.z emphasizes communicaTon experiences. It is possible to relate the overall approach with mother-infant interacTons, arguing that arts provide a special a_achment and collecTve intersubjecTvity. We deconstruct the piece reflecTng on the common ground between art and playfulness in a conTnuum that involves all senses (despite PaPI-Opus 8. z being presented in zoom), which is a strong focus in the SenseSquared project.
The Zooming 1000 Birds training program is being improved and expanded in the scope of the SenseSquared project. Future work involves searching for ways to help educators and teachers feed their communicaTve impulses and “open the gates of their inner musicality.” We argue that educators must have first-person experiences and feel the arts’ benefits. Then they will be ready to share their own experience with children and families.