"¡Me toca!", the social project that brings music to children in Barcelona, Madrid and Seville

With the ¡Me toca! project the Fundación Jesús Serra and the International Maria Canals Competition grant a scholarship to one child from each of the first-year primary school classes in the participating schools. Students who become part of the initiative receive a weekly piano class in their own schools.

The initiative is launched at the beginning of the school year, when a grand piano is placed a busy place in the mentioned districts. Public schools are encouraged to visit with their first-year primary school classes to learn, listen and, above all, play on this instrument, bringing them closer to this type of culture. In a coordinated effort with the schools, first-year students are selected from each of the centres, and these children receive piano classes for the entire school year. At the end of the school year, a grand piano is placed in the street so that the children who received the scholarships can play the pieces they have learned, showing their classmates and neighbours how they have progressed.

The collaboration between the Fundación Jesús Serra and the International Maria Canals Music Competition includes providing instruments for the classes, as well as the teachers responsible for informative sessions and classes for the piano students.

This programme began its pilot project in 2015, in the neighbourhoods of La Verneda-La Pau and Ciutat Meridiana, when it offered scholarships to 18 children. Four years later, this figure has grown exponentially and, in the 2018-19 academic year, 104 students received piano classes. The number of schools involved has increased from 12 in the pilot project to a current total of 19.

¡Me toca! programme for the 2018-19 academic year