A Froebel Trust grant was awarded to develop musicality and musicianship at a Froebelian primary school.
Children and practitioners worked together to experience and learn to recognise the elements of music, developing their knowledge, understanding and control.
Project Summary
Annan School is a Froebelian independent kindergarten and primary school in East Sussex.
The purpose of this project was to support practitioners to see the musical attributes of young children and to offer ideas for how they can support and nurture children’s musical development by offering broad musical experiences.
The project employed a music specialist for one day per week to work with children and practitioners.
The aim was to support the development of Musicality and Musicianship, cultivating musical instincts, natural expression and playfulness, while also developing skills and learning concepts. Children and practitioners worked together to experience and learn to recognize the elements of music, developing their knowledge, understanding and control.
In early stages this is predominantly through singing and percussion, in a vocal-aural approach where the individual is the first instrument. Topic-related investigations allowed children to explore the music of different cultures and times. This way children have been introduced to the world of music, meet great composers, learn to recognize and appreciate a wide range of musical genres and discover possibilities in a connected way.
The project also stimulated further investigation the Froebel Mother Songs looking at how these link with the Froebelian ethos of the school.
