LOVA It is a project of the SaludArte Foundation, the Royal Theater and the Friends of the Opera of Madrid. LÓVA organizes a seminar on the methodology that turns the creation of an opera in a great educational tool. They have an active group on Facebook where you can find more information although to start we bring Peques and More to Pedro Sarmiento, LÓVA coordinator, who knows the project, has worked with teachers who have already applied it, with arts professionals who have collaborated with schools, with education experts, with parents of students, with sponsors, with those responsible for educational centers and with many more people who contribute to enrich the project. Pedro is jazz pianist, has had different responsibilities in the educational project management of a very diverse nature and coordinates LÓVA since 2008.
What is the LÓVA project and what is its origin
It is a project carried out by teachers who turn their class into an opera company. It has its origin in the United States, where it reached a great expansion under the name of Creating Original Opera.
What functions do you perform as coordinator in the LÓVA project?
Teacher training, sponsorship, collaboration with institutions, creation of related projects, dissemination, activation of the network of participating teachers and timely help in some centers.
How is the creative experience with LÓVA, how many projects are in progress, how many have been released?
One hundred and twenty projects have been created since 2007-08, which are one hundred and twenty opera companies that have released an entirely original opera. During the 2013-14 academic year, thirty-six operas were created.
What are the main lessons learned in this project, especially by children
The main one is that they feel an imperative need to learn. They assume responsibilities, overcome challenges, work as a team and demonstrate to themselves and others that they can do things that adults thought they could not do.
It is practically impossible to carry out such a project without the students learning important things about the curriculum and life
How teachers integrate the use of music and opera in learning
The project allows working more than fifty percent of the evaluable learning standards set by the LOMCE. It also does so with students as the main accomplice. Music is one of the many disciplines that are practiced. In addition to music there is budget management, manufacturing of spotlights or scenic elements, costume making, dramatic writing, acting and a long performance. Maybe we could turn the question around and say that it is practically impossible to carry out such a project without the students learning important things about the curriculum and life.
How much it costs teachers to learn to manage all the information related to the creation of an opera and take advantage of the lessons
Very little. Keep in mind that we only work with teachers who fervently wish to make the project their way of teaching. That is why they teach us more than the opposite. They are teachers in the broadest sense of the word. They are experts in education and they demonstrate it by far. In your hands the project makes sense and becomes a transformative experience.
How parents collaborate to know and practice with opera
Each center raises the relationship and collaboration with families differently. There is no pre-established guideline, but the project allows for a greater involvement of families and external collaborators than is usually seen in many educational centers.
What successful experiences exist outside of Spain about the creation of an opera
Creating Original Opera and Opera by Children in the US, Write an Opera in England and surely many more of which we have no news, although we would love to.
What are the professional skills that will be demanded in the future and how can music and opera help to achieve them?
I don't know what will be demanded in the future and I think there is a certain obsession with professional skills. Education deals with much more important things than professional qualification that is nothing compared to training for the advancement of a society. Professional qualification is part of education, but the important thing in education is the training of free and responsible citizens.
Teachers show that LÓVA works from the third child (5-6 years) to adults
What is the recommended age for children to get to know and participate in the creation of an opera
Teachers who have done LÓVA have shown us that from third of childhood (5-6 years) to adults, it is possible.
What do the sponsors contribute to the LÓVA project?
Money, resources and the finding that it is the whole society and not just a general direction of an education counseling who supports the work of teachers and who values learning methods based on trust and respect.
And here the interview with Pedro Sarmiento de LÓVA. Thank you very much for the collaboration and attention explaining the project and we hope that your expectations will continue to be fulfilled. The LÓVA project is very interesting and very intense, so the kids who participate in it are guaranteed to live many extraordinary experiences with music as an excuse and with the commitment and dedication of the teachers.
