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Live Music in the Classroom

‘Live Music in the Classroom’ is the title of a research report which explores the learning that emerged from the Vogler Quartet in Sligo Residency with special emphasis on the Vogler Primary School Curriculum Support Programme.

The report publication was officially launched on 28th April by Mayor Councillor Rosaleen O’Grady in the Sligo Education Centre, Institute of Technology, Sligo. Guest speakers included Olive Braden, Chairperson, The Arts Council of Ireland and Pat McSitric, Assistant Chief Inspector of the Department of Education and Science, Research and Policy Committee. The audience were entertained by performances from the Junior Orchestra of Sligo Academy of Music and traditional songs and music with Colm O’Donnell and his young musical friends.
 
The report was commissioned by The Vogler Partners Steering Group, a group made up of arts and education agencies working at regional and national level. These include Sligo Local Authorities, Music Network, the Arts Council, Mary Immaculate College of Education, University of Limerick and the Department of Education and Science. The group commissioned researcher Orla Moloney who carried out a series of meetings, interviews and school visits in the period April - June 2005.

‘Live Music in the Classroom’ is the title of a research report which explores the learning that emerged from the Vogler Quartet in Sligo Residency with special emphasis on the Vogler Primary School Curriculum Support Programme. The report publication was officially launched on 28th April by Mayor Councillor Rosaleen O’Grady in the Sligo Education Centre, Institute of Technology, Sligo. Guest speakers included Olive Braden, Chairperson, The Arts Council of Ireland and Pat McSitric, Assistant Chief Inspector of the Department of Education and Science, Research and Policy Committee. The audience were entertained by performances from the Junior Orchestra of Sligo Academy of Music and traditional songs and music with Colm O’Donnell and his young musical friends. The report was commissioned by The Vogler Partners Steering Group, a group made up of arts and education agencies working at regional and national level. These include Sligo Local Authorities, Music Network, the Arts Council, Mary Immaculate College of Education, University of Limerick and the Department of Education and Science. The group commissioned researcher Orla Moloney who carried out a series of meetings, interviews and school visits in the period April - June 2005.

The Vogler Quartet in Sligo Residency was an innovative use of an international string quartet as the central resource in a programme of long-term music education and development in Sligo, which took place between 1999 and 2004. In a sense, the residency programme is not yet over, despite the official departure of the quartet over a year and a half ago. This research marks another phase in the long-term developmental approach that conceives an artists’ residency as something that goes beyond the physical presence of the artists, although their sustained participation and collaboration is at its heart.

The Vogler Quartet in Sligo Residency had three main strands: education, instrumental tuition and performance. The primary school programme was an important strand in the residency, which promoted musical capacity building in schools across the county, taking into account the diversity of needs and resources. The residency facilitator, Aileen Donagher McGowan worked with primary school teachers throughout the county. Only a certain percentage of the teachers involved were music teachers.  The aim was to design and deliver training and resources to the teachers to enable them to deliver music workshops in the periods between visits by the Vogler Quartet. As a result of their exposure to the Vogler primary curriculum programme, both the children and the teachers experienced a number of positive changes in their attitudes, knowledge, skills and understanding, not only in the area of classical/ chamber music, but in relation to music in general.

Members of the Vogler Quartet, Tim Vogler, Frank Reinecke, Stephan Forck and Stefan Fehlandt found their attitudes towards music education altered over the course of the residency; they came to see their work in the classroom as an enhancement of their artistic development. By this report, the organising partners intend to channel their enhanced understanding of education and local music development into policy and provision at both local and national level. Anyone involved in music education will find this report informative for all music genres.

For more information please contact the Arts Department on 071 9111980 or log onto www.sligoarts.ie.



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