Ham’avaaz - Music Pedagogy in Basic Education and Language Learning
The Ham’avaaz partnership brought together institutions offering adult education and training, including language and basic skills classes for learners facing discrimination. Using music as a learning tool, the project made education more inclusive and creative, producing practical resources like music-based teaching guides, training workshops for educators, and new methods to boost memory, confidence, and social connection.
| Countries | Austria, Spain |
|---|---|
| Period | 2022-24 |
| Funding | €60,000 |
| Type | Small-scale partnership |
Background
The Ham'avaaz project began with a simple idea: music can be much more than a fun addition to learning. It can help people remember information, express themselves, connect with others and build confidence.
The partnership brought together institutions that offer various programmes for adults and/or trainers, including language classes and basic education for learners facing different forms of educational or social disadvantage. While music was already being used occasionally in their classes, the partners wanted to take an in-depth look at the benefits of music in educational work.
The project aimed to fill a gap in existing teaching resources by developing music-based activities specifically suited to educationally disadvantaged adult learners. It focused on creating an inclusive learning environment in which diverse groups of learners work together on songs, lyrics, melodies and rhythms from different cultural backgrounds.
How the Project Worked
Ham'avaaz officially kicked off with a transnational meeting in Vienna in May 2022. A survey of 105 trainers gave the partners an understanding of how music was already being used in adult education and what kinds of resources teachers needed.
Learners were integral to the process. During 2022, they were invited to share their ideas and multilingual songs and talk about how they would like to learn through music. Their contributions helped shape the project's main resource, the Music Box.
The partners continued to test and improve their ideas throughout the project. In September 2023, trainers from the partner organisations came together in Teruel, Spain, for a train-the-trainer workshop. They tried out activities, shared feedback and helped refine the materials before they were piloted.
At the beginning of 2024, the Music Box was tested with 8 trainers and 127 learners, providing an opportunity to see how the activities worked in real learning environments.
Results and Impact
The project produced a wide range of practical resources. The central result was the 90-page Music Box, containing 53 teaching ideas across 20 teaching units. Its five chapters cover everything from musical warm-ups and instruments to second-language learning, transcultural communication, storytelling, movement and body percussion.
The project also produced a 20-page methodology explaining the wider benefits of music-based learning, including its potential to support concentration, body awareness, resilience and language acquisition. A YouTube channel featuring 38 videos and tutorials gave trainers additional support, including exercises, demonstrations and playlists for English, Spanish and German language classes.
For learners, the impact went beyond learning vocabulary or practising language structures. Music-based activities created opportunities to work together, share cultural experiences and express feelings, opinions and attitudes. Using songs and music from different backgrounds also encouraged participants to see multilingualism and cultural diversity as strengths rather than barriers. In addition, the wide range of music and methods used provided strategies to help learners memorise language structures;
The project specifically aimed to build resilience by helping learners recognise their existing skills and resources. Creativity played an important role here: participants were encouraged to experiment, find different ways of expressing themselves and build on what they already knew.
Sharing the Learning
Ham'avaaz also focused strongly on making its results accessible beyond the partnership. The project website brought together the resources and activities, while a Discord forum provided trainers with a space to exchange ideas and share useful music-based approaches.
The results were presented and promoted on more than 80 occasions, helping spread the project's approach to a wider audience. At the final multiplier event in February 2024, 23 stakeholders from Spain and Austria explored the results through an interactive session.
Overall, Ham'avaaz showed how music can become a practical teaching tool, helping educators expand their methods while giving learners more creative, inclusive and meaningful ways to learn, communicate and connect.