Beneficios del canto coralMúsica alcamesa (Sicilia) para los evangelios apócrifos. Proyecto de intervención educativa en el aula

Abstract

The present Doctoral Thesis aims to demonstrate, through an original research path and by means of a complete and scientifically contrasted study, as far as possible, the benefits of choral singing on people's health. In this sense, this Doctoral Thesis is a precursor of further lines of research aimed at investigating the Sicilian popular devotional folklore, starting from the songs that have been recovered, reconstructed and transcribed musically. Its purpose is to preserve a musical heritage, at the same time that it can become a cultural, pedagogical and scientific resource. The originality of the research lies precisely in the work carried out to preserve and donate all those popular melodies of the Sicilian tradition of the town of Alcamo, transmitted orally and never documented, which would have been lost in the absence of written documentation. On the other hand, preserving the richness of the texts of the cantinelle helps to save the Alcamese dialectal language and its artistic-literary heritage. They are pieces that contain fragments of stories taken from the Apocryphal Gospels, little known, with characters from the Christian tradition, but narrated in a completely different way from that expressed in the canonical Gospels. Consequently, the melodies and their lyrics are part of the cultural heritage of the music of the area of Alcamo, on the island of Sicily. The texts and chants have been successfully used in experimental projects with local choirs. Experimentation with the repertoire we have chosen covers about thirty traditional songs. With these pieces, performed in various concerts and live performances, we have been able to demonstrate how this music can have healing effects, improve mood, reduce stress, release fears and anger, and promote joy in those who interpret and sing them. Expanding and spreading the practice of music through choral singing is one of the highest artistic expressions that help to communicate, express and heal. Both for adults and children, choral singing helps to express oneself with empathy with others, highlights emotions such as joy, pain, frustration, serenity and, in addition, performs -perhaps unconsciously- a playful action common to all. The choir can represent a valuable tool to channel the positive energy of ensemble music, through its expressive, communicative, aggregative and cooperative potential. The specific objectives of the research are: Acquiring awareness of their voice as a musical instrument; correctly intoning monodic and polyphonic songs in choral singing by imitation; reproducing the basic rhythms of music when singing; adapting the vocal register according to the needs of the choir; memorizing texts in different languages in choral singing; collaborating with fellow choir members; concertizing pieces of various genres and repertoires for choir; performing musical performances; interpreting folk songs from the Alcamese territory and texts taken from the Apocryphal Gospels; developing interest in stories from the Apocryphal Gospels; expressing the peculiarities of characters from these Apocryphal Gospels; reducing stress and anxiety to lower levels through the practice of choral singing; increasing well-being through the practice of choral singing; developing curiosity and self-esteem; recognizing and expressing their emotions.