We live in a world full of sounds, rhythms, tones and melodies. It is said that listening to, participating in and producing musical expressions are innate abilities and that music can develop all human dimensions. And music – and the musicality of language – are at the center of the Musicalita project, born from the union between music and Italian (Musical-Ita) and the result of a fruitful collaboration between the Department of Education and Learning / University of Teacher Education of SUPSI and two other pedagogical schools, the Pädagogische Hochschule Schwyz and the Pädagogische Hochschule Graubünden. An initiative designed and realized by many hands, which saw the involvement of a diverse group of creatives, composed of singer-songwriters, artists and two illustrators.

The project, conceived primarily as a teaching resource for teachers of Italian as a foreign language in primary schools (and not only), but also for teachers who wish to use songs from Italian-speaking Switzerland during their music lessons, aims to create an initial collection of songs that will further enrich the already rich musical and cultural landscape of the Canton, while at the same time renewing the teaching of foreign languages through the integration of local music and culture.

Sources of inspiration for this endeavor are ten new songs, composed by songwriters from Ticino and characterized by a natural Italian prosody that favors the learning and acquisition of the Italian language. Sometimes characterized by funny and amusing stories, others by messages of hope, the songs follow different rhythms and melodies that can act as stimuli to movement and support for better understanding and perceiving silences and intervals during class work.

The content is mainly linked to the culture of Italian-speaking Switzerland and is aligned with the various topics proposed by the teaching material (discovery and learning activities complementary to the teaching of Italian as a foreign language), which accompanies each song.

All the materials (songs and teaching content) can be listened to and downloaded free of charge from the website of the resource www.musicalita.ch.

The project was realized thanks to the support of the Federal Office of Culture and the Canton of Uri.