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EDUCATIONAL
PROGRAMME
The
Educational Programme of the
London Festival of Chamber Music takes chamber music to schools, giving
to children the gift of classical music and building tomorrow's
audience
We have
worked both in primary and
secondary schools, but we now concentrate on primary schools in the
state
funded sector because:
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as
recent reports (Associated Board
of the Royal Schools of Music, July 2000 and 1997; Gulbenkian
Foundation,
1999) have shown, if children do not receive music education when at
primary
school, there is a small and reducing likelihood that after the age of
11 they will either play an instrument or will ever step inside a
classical
concert venue;
-
at
primary school age music has clear
and undisputed benefits far beyond being able to appreciate or perform
a piece of music: it develops social skills of teamwork and
co-operation,
as well as self-discipline and self-esteem, and, as research in the
USA,
Hungary and Scandinavian countries has pointed out, it contributes to
improving
numeracy and literacy.
-
state
funded primary schools have extremely
limited resources for music in general and virtually ignore chamber
music.
 The
schools are given a special programme of about an hour by the English
String Quartet, resident ensemble at the Festival. The
musicians
introduce the instruments and perform music chosen from the mainstream
string quartet repertoire of three centuries, as well as short pieces
written
especially for the occasion. The purpose of the programme is to
make
the children interested in the sound of the instruments and in music
written
by composers from various ages and countries, as well as to stimulate
their
awareness of the basic elements of chamber music: who plays the “tune”,
how this passes from instrument to instrument, how the performers
interact
among themselves and with the listeners. Part of the programme is
interactive, and as many children as possible are invited to put their
hands, for the first time in their life, on string instruments brought
by the Quartet.
 It
is obviously up to the Head Teacher of each school to decide which
classes
should participate, but we stress that the programme is suitable to
primary
schoolchildren of any age. In the 8 schools which we
visited
last year the number of participating children was from a minimum of
100
to a maximum of 400, with a total of over 2000 children.
Quotes
from the letters of two of
the schools visited last year by the English String Quartet:
"Thank
you so much for an entertaining
and extremely appropriate performance at our school. I say
appropriate
because quite often we have visitors who find it very difficult to
pitch
what they want to get across at the children's level and so retain
their
interest for the whole session. The staff and I were most
impressed
at your skill in including so many children in a meaningful way in the
performance. The children were delighted and talked about your
visit
for days afterwards."
 "We
particularly enjoyed the variety of pieces selected and how our pupils
were challenged to listen for various aspects of both playing
techniques
and the pieces themselves. It was also great for some of those
children
who do not yet learn an instrument to be given the opportunity to 'have
a go'."
This year
we are expanding our educational
programme to 16 schools, 2 each in the Boroughs of Barnet, Brent,
Camden,
Enfield, Haringey, Lewisham, Merton and Southwark. Head Teachers
of primary schools (state funded) in these boroughs who would like to
enquire
about the possibility of the English String Quartet coming to your
school,
are welcome to contact us.
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