Music practice has been the focus of music education in many international curricula in recent years. “Practice before theory” is considered a didactic principle. Accordingly, many educational institutions have more and more established corresponding courses in the curricula of teacher training and further education. At the same time, numerous publishers offer a variety of publications and materials especially for classroom music. The following basic problems usually arise for class music practice: Pupils are very often only equipped with modest musical skills and little previous experience. On the one hand such arrangements therefore need to consist of very basic elements but on the other hand this should not be at the expense of musical quality or style. The publication “Classic crossover” of the presenter tries to meet this requirement. The concept is based on well-known works from jazz, pop and classical music. Specific stylistic features in terms of rhythm, melody or harmony provided the author with impulses for the composition of musical homages and metamorphoses for classroom music lessons in secondary education. All arrangements included go by the principle of inner differentiation, meaning the individual voices take into account the heterogeneous musical abilities within the class group.

The arrangements created in the classroom can obviously then be compared to the corresponding original classical pieces. In this workshop the speaker presents some arrangements and works with the participants musically. Basic instruments (percussion, body percussion, boomwhackers, keyboards ...) as well as voice and singing will be used.

The workshop promotes democratic participation by actively involving all students—regardless of their musical background—in making music together. Through stylistic diversity and internal differentiation, diversity is valued and used as a creative resource. This creates a musical togetherness that strengthens social cohesion and makes the foundations of democracy tangible in the classroom.