ECCO’S EXISTING PROGRAMS
MUSIC TRAINING COURSES
ECCO is arranging student training courses in West African traditional music. The student coming to our project in The Gambia are mainly students of higher music education in Europe and the teachers are West African traditional musicians so called Griots. The music is being taught from generation to generation and the courses we arrange give the student a unique opportunity to get an insight in this old and still living tradition. For our partners the courses are seen as a module in Non-European music in their curriculum.
INTRODUCTION COURSES
The courses are two to three weeks long for groups of 10-14 students. The students are being introduced to four different cultures and music traditions from the region: Wolof, Fula, Mandinka and Susu. The students live in camps built, owned and run by local communities.
ROVING COURSES
This course is based on the idea of visiting Griots and culture groups in their own villages. The length of the course is 1-2 weeks and the size of the groups are 10-14 students.
IN-DEPT STUDIES
After the introduction courses or the roving courses, students are invited to attend studies over a longer period of time where they focus on one or two music traditions and become trainees of a Griot. These courses or studies are suitable for single students with a time frame of 1-3 months.
All the courses have a performance aspect, where the idea is to transform the music taught into own instruments and to produce a piece of new music together as artists.
ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE
The artist in residence project gives West African traditional musicians an opportunity to study and give workshops at institutions of higher music education in Europe. This is to strengthen the skills and knowledge of the West African musicians connected to ECCO in European music traditions and techniques. The idea is to build a bridge between Non- European and European music and to prepare the musicians for meeting their European students and their demands during student training courses in The Gambia.
WORKSHOPS & CONCERTS
The West African Musicians connected to ECCO are giving workshops and concerts arranged in collaboration with the Institutions of higher music education in Europe. The musicians play traditional West African music and represent a variety of West African music cultures. Their workshops vary from pure Wollof-, Mandinka-, Fula- or Susu- themes or a combination of some or all.
ARTISTS AS STUDENTS
The West African musicians connected to ECCO can be invited as students of an Institution of Higher Music Education to study European music, it’s theory and practice. The studies length can vary from one month to one year. Important here is that the musicians come back to their fellow musicians and share their information and newly obtained knowledge, and try to transform the information into important tools for the student training courses in The Gambia.