Music and Creativity as Educational Strategies for Sociability. Group Dynamics with Students Pursuing Educational Degrees from the Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid

Abstract

This research work deals with making use of resources related to musical instruction in order to generate strategies for achieving the following objectives: 1) establishing group interaction where cooperative relationships are defined and the roles and forms of leadership are distributed under the logic of group dynamics; 2) stimulating creativity related to musical improvisation based on producing simple sound and rhythmic structures; 3) achieving a state when students are capable of acquiring a musical experience, regardless of whether they have any academic training in conservatories or music schools. In order to achieve these objectives, we have applied such musical resources as percussion instruments (triangles, metallophones, tambourines, Chinese boxes, tom-toms...), proposed unconventional forms of musical notation and resorted to the use of percussion instruments from the Afro-Caribbean region (bongos, congas and timbales) as means for improvisation. In the latter instance, the aim is to generate group dynamics by use of resources linked to the art of sound. Stemming from a group vision of university education, the experience of a methodology centred on music is proposed as a means of provoking and arousing the dynamics of sociability, which is necessary for achieving integral formation for students. Keywords: innovation; dialogical practices; methodology of teaching.