European Music Portfolio – Maths: Theoretical and Practical Contributions in the Catalan and Spanish Context

Music and mathematics have a very close relationship and over the years many professionals from these and other scientific fields have underscored the numerous connections between the two disciplines. Nonetheless, few contributions have been made as yet on a scientific and educational level with the aim of promoting a more integrated approach to learning music and mathematics, especially in the Spanish context. In order to cover this shortfall and, ultimately, to contribute to a more integrated and holistic kind of education, the implementation of the European Music Portfolio: Sounding Ways into Mathematics (EMP-M) project began in Spain and the other European countries involved in 2013. This paper is intended to summarise some of the most important contributions made by the EMP-M in the Catalan and Spanish panorama. To this end, we present the state of affairs of the current relationship between music and mathematics in education, first referring to the international perspective, then focusing on the Spanish context and later describing training strategies and transfer activities that have been carried out to enhance integrated work in both subjects among Catalan primary school teachers. This paper concludes with a reflection on how the EMP-M is helping to address the challenges of the Spanish educational landscape, not only with respect to music and mathematics education but also the process of change and educational improvement needed overall.