E poi... le parole: Inclusion

If it feels all right when you close your eyes, then it’s also all right when you open them.

Dinant Krouwel, Sheet music shop manager, Broekmans & van Poppel, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

IFCM was started in 1982 with the intent of building bridges between cultures, using choral music as the catalyst. From the beginning, there were no constraints—everyone was welcome. This is, and has been, vital to world peace, now more than ever.

Michael J Anderson, Past IFCM President, Chicago, IL, USA.

Each voice is included in a chorus; each chorus makes music; music is part of society.  So when we sing, we are closely connected to our society. Life, love, health, hope, connectedness, and peace – these can all be messages for our society, as well as motivations for singing.

Tsutomu Matsumura, Conductor, Yokohama City, Japan.

For us, integration is synonymous with education, with building one’s life’s work, with creating a common cultural and social life.  Integration is sharing a concern for the common good.  

Henri Mandeng, Association “Amis du Chœur Madrigal du Cameroun”, (“Friends of the Madrigal Choir of Cameroon”), France/Cameroun.

We view intergration as the mixture that comes from different groups interacting with and being transformed by each other. The final result is one group formed out of the strengths of the two principal components.

Mamie-Wivine Kabengele, director of the Bel Canto vocal ensemble, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Edited by Anita Shaperd, USA