Bringing out the purpose of a music school

Being physically present with someone or a group is not enough to be truly present. To be fully present is to feel inwardly available to allow the relational field to resonate. It is this state of being that influences the quality of exchange and collaboration.

Mindfulness practices respond to a need for lasting change, whatever the field or level of application: the transformation of a profession, a methodology, an organization or an entire sector involving different players. Their effects can be felt on a number of levels: professional posture, team cohesion, listening skills, discernment, body awareness and group regulation, all of which are essential to the development of a dynamic of individual and collective transformation.

By exploring the link with oneself, with others and with the group, and by relying as much on verbal expression as on awareness of feelings and subtle changes in the body, mindfulness practices enable us to better apprehend the emotions involved - voluntarily or otherwise - in the professional field. They have the specificity of dealing with what emerges from the dynamics of the group, in the moment. The experimental framework remains unchanging, but the proposals made to participants adapt to what comes up. These practices have their origins in biodynamic psychology, a post-Reichian body-psychology discipline in which psyche and soma are indivisible. The body, and more specifically the autonomic nervous system, plays a key role in regulating stress and accumulated tension.

A village music school with a membership of around thirty was reflecting on the meaning of its mission at local level. The school's primary vocation was perfectly honored - to teach music and singing to children and adults - but the President felt there was untapped potential in transmitting the festive bonds intrinsic to music.

The full-presence practices helped bring together all the school's players to highlight its raison d'être. What emerged was that bonding and sharing should be at the heart of the musical project.

A new creative impetus - abandoning the quest for perfection in favor of the pleasure of playing together - has enabled this new foundation to take root.

The visibility and influence of the school at local level, with the general public, institutions and businesses, has increased (concerts organized at the market, the media library, the nursery school, for the Telethon...). Open stages have brought together several generations from different social backgrounds, and children's brass bands have forged links between musicians of all levels.