The module serves to:

• Deepen our awareness of the complexities of Psychosocial (PS) Music Intervention project management and of the numerous variables (anticipated and not) to be considered;
• Support the development of a PS Music Intervention Presentation for potential stakeholders;
• Support the development of criteria and guidelines for carrying out a Needs Analysis prior to project planning.

Creating musical structures and sound objects/instruments

The module serves to:

• Introduce students to the idea of structure within music: its purpose and uses within group music-making which will facilitate psycho-social aims such as interaction with moments of individual expression;
• Critically analyse two different uses of musical structures specifically within every day group music-making – discuss their potential and consider the limitations/challenges of these to deepening our awareness of the possibilities in implementing musical structures within our own group music-making;
• Consider the affordances/opportunities of creating a sound object or musical instrument from everyday materials and what this can potential offer as a shared experience within psycho-social practice.

The module serves to:

• Deepen knowledge and understanding of the transient experiences of disrupted, marginalized and deprived communities;
• Increase awareness and knowledge of the possible biological, emotional, psychological and social consequences of extreme and constant stress factors;
• Promote a basic understanding relevant psychopathology.

The module serves to inform how MARS interventions are structured on the basis of 4 topical dimensions:

• Critical ethnocentrism: becoming aware of our individual and collective positioning within social and cultural frameworks on the basis that understanding ourselves and others is inseparable; and considering the links between healthcare, self care and critical ethnocentrism;
• The geopolitical and historical contexts within which MARS work is embedded: local, EU and global frameworks of power, identity, legislation, and human rights;
• Music as a Tool for Active Listening to both Needs and Resources respecting the complexities of the past and the transient present; and forging shared narratives that embody reciprocity and belonging in times of transition;
• Music as a tool for taking care of the relationships of power and identity and belonging between facilitators and beneficiaries; and within the wider organisational contexts.

Vocal  activities and repertoire

This module aims to:

• Develop, improve competences and experiment with elements of good practice around the role of the facilitator in the context of “using the voice as a group”;
• Spark a critical reflection on your own competences and opinions, starting from your practice; 
• Elaborate, and reflect on the specificity of “MARSian (choral) conductor”: the profile, the competences, the challenges.

General objectives, theoretical underpinning, frameworks of thinking

The module aims to:

• refresh and reinforce knowledge and understanding of the concept of Community, its characteristics and needs;
• raise knowledge about the 'community-based' approach in target areas;
• increase knowledge about the issue of 'crisis', the importance of psychosocial support and the skills of service providers;
• expose the different models of psychosocial support, and the challenges and opportunities offered by each of these models.

Instrumental activities and repertoire

The starting point for Module 7 is the idea that through the process of learning musical and instrumental skills (both expressive and technical), especially in a group situation, we can develop capacities that are also useful in coping in individual and social contexts. Creative problem solving, social interaction, expressive capacities can all be enhanced through a music formation.

This module focuses on the facilitation of groups using music, developing strategies to enable this, as well as exploring the idea of reflection, considering why and how music can affect groups of people.

The module will involve documenting and analysing aspects of group facilitation through music that you are currently undertaking in your own practice. However, the module also hopes to promote and foster a “facilitating and sharing” culture within the MARS group, considering the idea of facilitation and support, not only as something that we ‘do’ to others in practice, but something that we also practice within the groups we are personally part of.

Project planning, monitoring, evaluation and assessment.

Offering a Stance: An indigenous Celebratory Narrative.

We explore Planning, Monitoring, Evaluating and Assessment (PMEA) as evidence-based celebration of MARS practice and praxis. A celebratory narrative is not simply a series of self-congratulatory statements. On the contrary, this is a bold narrative that engages with change, with crises and mistakes, and with the learnings that have emerged from any of these – as part of an action learning cycle that is ongoing.

In this module, you will be invited to plan for such a narrative.

The final module of the MARS pilot training course focuses on your fieldwork experience, which each of you will have organised individually, and which should be a minimum of 80 hours.

With regard to this active experience, the module aims to:

• provide you with an opportunity for putting into practice the knowledge and techniques you have gained through the other modules;
• encourage you to use your abilities for analysis and insight, with respect to the situation you work in;
• promote your abilities for self-reflection on how the fieldwork affects you;
• provide you with a practical application of MARS engagement, to share eventually online with, and beyond the MARS community.