“In music, you can’t be more or less. You have to do well the first time, you have to know how to wait, control anxiety, ”adds Jorge Campos, the pedagogical director of the São Teotónio School of Music.
It is also for this reason, due to the much that is demanded of the students, that music cannot be seen as a panacea capable of solving the problem of school failure, says Rui Paiva. “When we talk about music from specialized artistic education, we cannot have the illusion that it can reach everyone. It would be unthinkable to envisage artistic education for an entire population ”, he argues. Another thing, quite different, is the work done outside a conservatory, where music can be seen with a playful character and be integrated into the general curriculum.
“When a child is learning the flute or piano, he insists and makes mistakes, he insists and makes mistakes. And he hears the teacher tell him that he is not there yet. Not all students resist this type of demand ”, says the director of Santa Cecília, remembering that in his academy, as in others, the students’ path is to train a professional musician.
Knowing the difficulties of this path, Santa Cecília has a unique characteristic among music schools – it has an alternative curriculum for those who cannot successfully attend the specialized curriculum. “The path of music is not for everyone, nor can it be demanded of everyone. That is why this model was designed to be flexible ”, details Rui Paiva.
When they reach the end of the course, only about half of the students remain in specialized education. The others went to the alternative. “This way, they are not excluded from the school, and they often remain even in the same class and with the same students, but without the disciplines of music”, says the director.
“Plato already said that music is a more powerful educational instrument than any other. It develops both sides of the brain, stimulates language and develops mathematical skills ”, defends Lilian Kopke, director of the Artistic School of Music at the National Conservatory, in Lisbon.
If the ancient Greek philosopher believed that man was not complete without music, modern studies show that professional musicians use the two hemispheres of the brain simultaneously, unlike the others, who favor one of them. Logic, left side. Emotion, right side.
Whether for that reason or for any other reason, it is certain that conservatories are recognized for the excellent academic results that their students obtain in general subjects. And a question arises: is it music that makes good students or is it good students who study music?
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