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Gift of unprecedented access to online music learning will be offered free to over 40 million people
Calgary, Alta., December 6, 2017 – The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) has entered into a unique partnership with the French web-based music-learning platform, Meludia. Starting on December 6, 2017 and for a period of one year, unlimited access to the Meludia web platform of 625 interactive music learning exercises will be made available free of charge to every resident and visitor in Canada, a gift to the nation by the CPO and its Music Director, Rune Bergmann, who have made it their mission to encourage and nurture music literacy in Canada. The CPO wants to enrich the concert experience for all Canadians by fostering deeper engagement in music.
“Music is a universal language that knows no boundaries,” said The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage. “I am delighted that Canadians of all ages and backgrounds will have access to this magnificent gift. This is sure to add a sweet note as we cap off this celebratory Canada 150 year.”
When CPO Music Director Rune Bergmann first discovered Meludia he was inspired by its strong pedagogic qualities and novel, cutting-edge approach to developing music perception, auditory skills and acquiring the fundamentals of music.
“It was clear to me that Meludia was the ideal tool to bring music literacy not just to our audiences in Calgary, but to every resident in Canada,” said Bergmann. He brought the project to the attention of Paul Dornian, President & CEO of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, who agreed to this initiative for a nationwide deployment to celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary, an end-of-year musical gift to the nation from one of its leading orchestras.
“When Rune first logged me into the Meludia platform, I was impressed at how intuitively interactive and fun it was,” said Paul Dornian. “Meludia takes musical education to a new level and thanks to this partnership and the support of a number of CPO donors, I am thrilled that we can make Meludia available to Canadians and visitors to Canada who want to boost their musical education or start from scratch.”
Starting today, anyone with a Canadian IP address can log into meludia.com and enter the program free of charge until December 5, 2018. Canadians will benefit from the fun and interactive learning exercises offered on the platform. By using the platform just 15-minutes a day four days per week, a beginner should complete the ‘Discovery’ module in three months, the ‘Intermediate’ module in six months, and the ‘Advanced’ module in 12 months.
In connection with the launch and throughout 2018, a Meludia team from Paris will spend several weeks visiting all regions of Canada, from the Northwest Territories to the Maritimes, introducing the Meludia platform in schools, universities, community centres, retirement homes, Alzheimer and Dementia centres, hospitals, and prisons. This roadshow aims to raise public awareness of the importance of music literacy and the beneficial effects that learning music has upon society, benefits which have been well documented in numerous studies. The intention is to introduce the Meludia platform and its colourful and engaging exercises to as many Canadians and visitors as possible.
Meludia CEO Bastien Sannac said, “We are extremely grateful to Maestro Rune Bergmann and
Paul Dornian of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra for having the vision and determination to bring this project to fruition. An initiative such as this, on such a large scale, by a major Canadian orchestra, will certainly raise global attention to the importance of offering music education to all.”
Meludia Vice President Kevin Kleinmann said, “We look forward to the series of Canadian roadshows that we will be undertaking throughout 2018, to bring music learning and awareness to as many communities in Canada as possible, in partnership with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. At Meludia, we believe that music literacy is a basic and fundamental human right, no different than the right to read, the right to write or the right to speak a language. We believe that a musically literate society is a happier, more harmonious and better society.”
ABOUT THE CALGARY PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra is a cornerstone of Calgary’s multi-faceted arts community and since 1955, has grown to be one of North America’s finest and most versatile live music ensembles. A repertoire that is extensive and broad in scope consistently attracts acclaimed guest artists and conductors. The CPO offers an average of 80 concerts per Season designed to fit all musical tastes. At the start of the 2017/2018 Season, the CPO welcomed a new era of leadership with Norwegian Maestro Rune Bergmann stepping into the role as Music Director.
The Paris-based French company Meludia began operations in 2012 and has since received many prestigious awards, among them, the Gold Medal at the 2014 International Concours Lépine for Innovation, as well as placing as finalist for best music innovator at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas in 2015. Meludia’s revolutionary approach to music learning has been recognized and endorsed by a growing number of world-famous institutions, ensembles, musicians and educators, including the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, the El Sistema program and professors at MIT in Boston and the Sorbonne University in Paris. Among the many world-renowned artists who support Meludia are Nicola Benedetti, Joseph Calleja, Leonard Elschenbroich, Thomas Hampson, the duo Igudesman and Joo, Julian Rachlin and Linus Roth.
Based on 30 years of research, the ‘Meludia Method’ was conceived and developed by the French educator and composer Vincent Chaintrier. The method focuses on inculcating and developing sensorial and emotional responses to music. Meludia reinforces and complements all other methods, whether they are traditional or more recent methods, such as Orff, Willems, Dalcroze, Kodály and Martenot. Meludia exercises use recent advances in cognitive science, including reinforcement learning and implicit learning. By developing the capacity to better understand and appreciate the language of music, the Meludia method naturally raises the level of involvement and motivation in connection with learning music. It accelerates progress in playing an instrument, in improvisation, in composition, or in just having a better understanding and a heightened level of enjoyment when listening to music. The Meludia platform is exceptional in how it works as an interactive tool, being progressive and fun and in the way that it adapts to each individual user’s level.
Meludia is used by over 1,500 universities, music schools and conservatories worldwide and by individual users in 168 countries. In February 2016, Meludia entered into an agreement with the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia who, after testing the platform during one year, decided to offer it to every student and faculty member.
Meludia has already attracted international media attention through its large-scale national deployment projects. In 2015, the government of the Republic of Estonia selected Meludia for its entire population of 1.3 million, offering access to music education to every man, woman and child in the nation. In 2016 the Prime Minister of the Republic of Malta, Dr. Joseph Muscat, together with the renowned tenor Joseph Calleja, selected Meludia for a three-year nationwide deployment, bringing free access to music education to every resident and visitor in the Mediterranean island nation.
ASSOCIATED LINKS
Meludia Platform: meludia.com
A video presenting Meludia: youtube.com/watch?v=FTTgrz5GRuY
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra: calgaryphil.com
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