A few words about the project · Singing greek with Mariza Koch's songs

A few words about the project

The project “Singing Greek with Mariza Koch’s songs” was created and implemented by the Department of Music Studies, Ionian University, utilizing songs composed by Mariza Koch. The research team designed this prototype material for the purpose of teaching the Greek language and culture through music. Throughout this project, songs are used as a teaching resource and tool for the learning of Greek as second/foreign and heritage language, as well as a means for the understanding of Greek culture and civilization.

Recognizing the desire of educators for access to modern teaching material, we strongly believe that this website repository is useful not only for schools within Greece, but also for the Greek and Hellenic societies abroad, as well as for whoever desires to learn Greek.

The material

The material comprises of 90 carefully selected songs. Some of the songs are released on CDs, and some remain unreleased. More analytically, the site contains free access to:

α) Scores (sheet music) of the songs (in musescore and pdf form)
β) Commentary and recommendations (teaching ideas) for the teaching of music
γ) Commentary and recommendations (teaching ideas) for the teaching of the Greek language and greek culture/civilization, and
δ) Recordings of the songs.

The music education material of the platform is based on contemporary pedagogical-linguistic and socio-linguistic data for the teaching of Greek as a second/foreign language and heritage language, as well as on contemporary music education trends for interartistic, multimodal, and intercultural teaching practices. The material is organized into categories that refer to:

α) The phonetics of the Greek accent,
β) The understanding and encouragement for the production of spoken word (language),
γ) Musical activities, and
δ) Activities for intercurricular connections in relation with Greek culture and civilization.

The inspiration for the creation of the project

Mariza Koch composed and distributed an extensive number of songs for children of preschool and of school age. The lyrics of her song “My homeland I’ve learned through songs” inspired our project to enhance the global awareness and knowledge of Greece, its heritage, culture and language and to expose children from all over the world to Greece via the songs of Mariza Koch.

Sole owner of the copyright of the songs included in this website is their creator, Mariza Koch. The copyright of the songs belong to their creator Mariza Koch, which has provided the right of use of the material to the Ionian University, Department of Music Studies and to the Greek Society for Music Education (G.S.M.E.). The copyright of the metadata of the site archive belongs to the Scientific Research Team of the project.