Implementation

Day 1 – Sunday, 5 April 2026

The first day of the project, taking place at Hylatio Tourist Village, the day began with introductions by the team of ACPELIA. With Evangelia Nikolaou being the project manager, Nikolas Nikolaou being the president of the organization, and the trainers Filippos Polykarpou, Emmeleia Perikleous and support by youth worker Boghos (Bobbie) Avetikian. After introductions to the group we jumped straight into ice-breaking and teambuilding activities.

Starting strong with the theme, the first activity focused on a name game, using melody and rhythm, where in a circle every participant went through their name in a melodic manner, thus including both participants who may know about music, and those who are newcomers, yet want to learn how to use these techniques for youth work.

Jumping straight to Erasmus staples, to get to know each other, we hosted the face portrait game. For this we passed around a paper with the shape of our face, and every time the music stopped, we filled in a different part of the body, such as one eye, an ear or the mouth! This was then posted on the wall, along with an envelope, where participants can drop gifts and more to other participants. While humorous, the portraits were close enough to participants actual look, allowing for easily understanding who's who, important for the whole week for mixed group activities.

The next short activity was human bingo, where participants had to go around, with a piece of paper and find facts about other participants that fit in the bingo. Terms including things such as "a person who loves dancing" or "a person who hates pizza". This allowed participants to easily learn about each other. This was followed by a speed dating activity, in groups, based on different topics of opinion.

After coffee break, we went straight how the program works, useful especially for persons new to projects, the 9 key YOCOMO competencies. Updated from last year, these are –

• Facilitating Learning

• Supporting Learning

• Designing Programs

• Managing Resources

• Communicating

• Working with Groups

• Networking

• Displaying Intercultural Sensitivity

• Developing Self / Reflective Practice

With 9 mini stations all around the room, with their own mini-activities, participants in mixed groups completed the tasks and received stamps for each Youthpass competency they completed.

This allowed participants to understand how to grade themselves throughout the entire PDA, and just as importantly, how to implement new practices in their youth work related to youth work.

After agreeing on the rules of the project, such as respect, being on time and more, we then focused on fears, contributions and expectations, where participants reflected and showcase their thoughts on these three categories, so the trainers are better aware on how to ensure participants receive the best possible experience at the project.

The afternoon focused on more teambuilding and exploration of Pissouri, thus understand the local area. As such we had a trip to Pissouri square for exploration activities with images.

Check out the entire activity here! https://harmony-in-diversity5.webnode.page/tasks-in-pissouri/ 

At night, we stayed at the square of Pissouri, for an icebreaking dinner!

Day 2 – Monday, 6 April 2026

Day two of the project, which began in the activity room, with more voice-based exercises. Building up on the same activity as on Day 1, participants practiced a second step of the name game, this time focusing on the rhythm and fitting names in 4 chords.

To get inspired for the rest of the project, we had a hiking trip at the trail of Pissouri with facilitator Xenia Nikolaou leading the hike. It was a beautiful experience. Check out a full clip of this activity below!

Returning to the activity room, trainer Emmeleia introduced participants to the concepts of choir more importantly polyphony. Polyphony means musical texture where two or more independent melodies are sung or played at the same time, each maintaining its own distinct line.

Emmeleia also explained the concepts of

Soprano: The highest vocal range, typically sung by women or children, known for bright and soaring melodies.

Alto: A lower female vocal range with a warmer, richer tone that often supports harmony.

Tenor: The highest male vocal range, often carrying strong, expressive lead parts.

Bass: The lowest male vocal range, providing deep, resonant foundation to the music.

Trainers Emmeleia and Fillipos then devided the group into two, then for, to directly test out the divisions of soprano, alto, tenor and base. This was done using Maroon 5's song Memories, a simple yet powerful song for such an activity

For the next activity we combined the concepts of identity and music by using the concept of "Music, Identity and Emotions Wheel".

This was done, on a piece of paper, by drawing a circle, with a participants name in the middle. One circle outside focused on concepts that their favorite song has such a friends, nature, family, while the fully out outer layer focuses on concepts such as emotions that this song gives to them.

This activity was ultimately based on –

• Music or sounds from childhood

• Memories deemed important to participants

• Perhaps places that represent one's culture

• Place

• People

• Or ultimately everyday life

After participants reflected on their favorite songs, and the why, we used to speaker to present 30 second sound bites of this song and each participants explained their reasonings behind the choice of song.

After coffee break, trainers Fillipos and Emmeleia divided participants into their mixed groups for the upcoming song preparation. This also gave participants time to discuss, in their national groups, which songs they will present to others, and the best way to explain the impact of these national songs to others.

As for night, the first cultural night, with the starts being Poland, Croatia and North Macedonia. Poland showcased Poland in a humor way and tongue twisters, Croatia hosted a music-based guessing game, and North Macedonia showcased all the beautiful sites North Macedonia had to offer. All 3 groups had snacks and showcased dances.

Day 3 – Tuesday, 7 April 2026

Day 4 – Wednesday, 8 April 2026

Yet, this activity missed out a crucial and important point that many such events, including Erasmus+ project miss out, this being how to directly teach others how songs, regardless of language are taught.

As such, after coffee break trainer Emmeleia did just that, by using a Cypriot song called Agia Marina.

Important advice Emmeleia gave included the fact that lyrics should always be written in written, and as such, the chorus of Agia Marina was written in latin on the song. The important part is to focus on difficulties of the language, specifically because what each letter means. For example, the letter j, in many languages sound different than the English j, such as it being the same sound as y in other languages. Emmeleia explained that this should be directly noted on written text, just like she did on the board.

Emmeleia then divided the women and men in the activity room to sing different parts of the song, as taught the day before. Men took care of bass, while soprano was taken care of the women in the room. Just as importantly, certain parts under the lyrics were underline, to know which part of the room was singing. This is a simple method, that avoids anyone singing to know anything about the reading music in its entirety. One team ultimately has to create a form of musical carpet for the other team to walk on. The participants ultimately learned this Cypriot song, and were prepared to do the same after lunch!

As such, after participants returned to the activity room, each national team used the same techniques as Emmeleia showcased previously, using latin characters exclusively (such as Polish avoiding sz and ś and switching to just sh) or Macedonian being written in latin (similar to Croatian), lines to showcase which team sings what to showcase simple yet memorable songs.

After the final coffee break, participants once again return to the activity room, for a more visual method when it comes to sound. With the activity being called "Sound and Movement – Draw a Story" each team had to

1 – choose a song

2 – listen carefully and interpret a story of out it

3 – transport sound and its movement to a visual form

And ultimately turn it into a drawing. This activity took place until the end of the workshop, with participants returning to reflect on it on the following day.

Day 5 – Thursday, 9 April 2026

Yet for the following activity, participants went to the next step, by removing the visual stimuli in its entirety. As such, trainer Filippos introduced an activity named "The Sound Mapping Walk"

For this activity, in mixed groups, participants were tasks to walk around the accommodation with the following tasks

• To stop at several points around the accommodation

• With closed eyes, to listen carefully for 1-2 minutes

• To write down what they hear or draw

• To describe the qualities of the audio (loud, soft, distant, close etc.)

• To describe how this makes them feel

A stimulating activity, because participants are rarely encouraged to consciously focus on listening in such a deliberate and mindful way. By removing visual distractions, they were able to heighten their awareness of the surrounding environment and engage more deeply with sound as a primary source of information and inspiration. The connection of emotions, perceptions and personal memories were a key aspect of this activity, because the activity asks you to focus on things you normally overlook.

After returning to the activity room participants presented their findings, which directly served as inspirating for the songwriting and rehearsing sessions for the mini-concert of the following day.

After coffee break, trainer Emmeleia went over the song Agia Marina one last time, deliberately to showcase exactly how to rehearse, and to divide the members of each group for the concert into, at minimum, the bass and soprano groups, or at maximum alto, tenor, bass and soprano.

After lunch, participants were given the opportunity to rehearse, with specific timeslots calling trainers Emmeleia and Fillipos to assist. As such, after coffee break, Emmeleia showcased Cypriot instruments of Bouzouki, Laouto and works by Stephanos Pelekanis. This showcased modernization techniques using instruments seen as "traditional", a concept that the groups will be directly using on the following day.

As for the last activity of the day, supporting trainer Bobbie went over Erasmus+ opportunities, where Bobbie went over every single type of opportunity offers, useful especially for those participants who haven't been to a lot of projects as well as newcomers. This included Youth Exchanges, Training Courses, KA2 projects, the youth card, DiscoveryEU and more.

This night also marked the second and final cultural night, with Cyprus, Lithuania and Portugal presiding, their traditions, dances, with quizzes, presentations and tons of yummy snacks.

Day 6 Friday, 10 April 2026

Showtime!

After one last short rehearsal, in each of the teams, the stage was set! Outside of the main activity room, the table, synthesizer, speaker, guitar and more were brought outside, ready for each group to present their creations.

With many different songs focused on different topics, such as love, unity, cooperation created, using all the techniques participants learned in the previous days, our mini-concerts took place!

In the afternoon, Evangelia came to showcase what comes next in the project, such as follow-up activities, just as importantly how to present their learnings further in order to do the most about of impact in the countries of Poland, Portugal, Croatia, North Macedonia, Lithuania and of course Cyprus.

Following-up with evaluations of the whole project, this was of course followed by the Youthpass ceremony!