Learning & Outreach
The Mozartists run an ambitious outreach programme, which seeks to make classical music accessible to children across Ealing. To date we have worked with over 1200 children, including pupils in ARP schools through a new strand of SEND workshops. Alongside our education partner, Ealing Music Service, we engage with students and teachers across the borough, inspiring them through Mozart’s music, getting them participating directly in their own music-making and fuelling their creativity.
“It was great for their wellbeing. They were also able to listen to a wider range of music than they are normally exposed to. Fantastic workshop! Children and staff thoroughly enjoyed. Great CPD.” PARTICIPATING TEACHER (2022)
Our animateurs work for a range of leading outreach programmes at various companies, including The Royal Opera House, ENO, Streetwise Opera and English Touring Opera. Our participating players have significant experience in the classroom setting, but also work as professional musicians at the highest level, performing internationally on their period instruments. Teachers with whom we have worked in previous years have commented that they have found the project life-changing, and they have noticed a positive impact on the children who have taken part, who develop increased confidence, self-esteem and concentration.
“I was blown away by how involved and engaged the children were! We are so pleased to have been able to give the children the opportunity.”
PARTICIPATING TEACHER (2023)
MOZART 250 DISCOVERY PROJECT
This series of 4 music workshops, plus a hat design workshop, and a final showcase, introduces children to some of Mozart’s childhood music, placing it in the context of 18th century history. Students will learn about Mozart’s life and the society that he inhabited, in addition to taking part in singing workshops that will include 18th century musical influences as well as drawing on contemporary genres that the children might be more familiar with. The children will create their own musical composition to present to colleagues or parents in a sharing session, either face-to-face or online.
Musical Workshop 1
An initial singing workshop with our animateurs and keyboard player to break the ice, introduce the project and get the children singing.
Musical Workshops 2-4
Our animateurs and keyboard player will be joined by additional instrumentalists, playing on period instruments like the ones that Mozart would have written for. The children will learn some of Mozart’s music and take part in creative singing and drama activities, looking at story-telling through music and composing their own piece of music to perform at the showcase.
Hat-making Workshop
This will take place with one of our lead animateurs and a professional milliner. It is a creative session in which the children will make hats for the showcase, helping them to ‘tell the story’ that they are communicating through their composition.
Showcase
The final showcase is envisaged as a sharing assembly for other class groups or parents, details to be agreed with the school.
SEND SERIES
We are offering six three-hour interactive workshops for SEND children in ARP schools, led by our experienced animateurs. Our creative team will work with students to deliver these sessions, engaging with the participants through interactive and fun music-making sessions which build morale, confidence, and self-esteem.
Outline
This immersive musical project will be tailored to your individual group of children, led by musicians highly experienced in working with children with additional needs. Over six sessions, each group will compose their own ‘micro opera’ inspired by themes from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. Using voice, percussion, and through the children directing our instrumentalists, they will come up with six pieces of music that tell a story they have helped to write. We will record their opera so each child can listen to it and share their music with their families. We will also create storyboards and big colourful pictures with different textures, to accompany the music.
There is also the option to tie the project into obtaining an ‘Arts Award Discover’ qualification for the children. This is a flexible and low-pressure award where children explore a particular art form, logging their findings in whatever format works best for them (eg, written, digitally or visually). This is then assessed by our trained Arts Award Advisor, and children receive a certificate.
Our six-part SEND series dates for 2023/24 are now confirmed. Teachers are welcome to contact us directly to apply or register interest.
Primary Taster Sessions
Primary schools across Ealing are invited to apply for a half-day workshop with our team of skilled animateurs. The sessions will incorporate singing and drama exercises, led by our experienced animateurs and orchestral musicians, playing on high-quality period instruments. These sessions are fantastic as one-off sessions or can serve as a taster for schools might be interested in applying for our MOZART 250 Discovery Programme in future years.
Renowned as a child prodigy of exceptional talent, Mozart composed his first symphony at the age of eight, and his first opera aged just eleven. Taking Mozart’s fascinating story as a starting point, these half-day sessions encourage pupils to express themselves creatively, to take risks in a supportive environment, and to develop their creativity and collaboration skills and develop confidence through performing.
Our half-day workshops in 2023/24 are now available. Teachers are welcome to contact the company directly to register interest or apply.
SEND Taster Sessions
Alongside our extended six-part SEND workshop series, we are able to offer half-day taster workshops for ARP primary schools across Ealing.
These interactive, relaxed workshops introduce the figure of Mozart and his opera The Magic Flute. Children then use this as inspiration to create their own music about instruments with super powers. Along the way they learn about many instruments; listening to the cello or flute, and getting hands on with the steel tongue drum and many more magical sounding percussion instruments.
These sessions build confidence, team work and communication skills, exploring movement, imagination, singing and listening. They are accessible for verbal and non verbal children, with short activities to accommodate the attention span of the participants. The workshops are versatile, with the leaders ready to go with the flow and adapt material for individual groups.
Our half-day workshops in 2023/24 are now available. Teachers are welcome to contact the company directly to register interest or apply.
SINGING & STAGECRAFT: Workshops for Secondary Pupils
These half-day workshops for secondary schools are delivered by one of our lead animateurs (an opera singer in his own right), joined by an emerging young singer and keyboard player (we can provide a keyboard if that is helpful). Participants will have the opportunity to develop their musical awareness and dramatic story-telling skills and ask questions about the artists’ career paths. The workshops include a short performance (for example, one aria), an informal conversation with the artists, and the bulk of the session is dedicated to an interactive workshop where students will sing, participate in drama exercises, and explore the process of directing and story-telling through music.
Our half-day workshops in 2023/24 are now available. Teachers are welcome to contact the company directly to register interest or apply.
In addition to this, we offer special discounts for school children and teachers who would like to attend our public performances.
Outreach work is especially crucial at a time when budgets for music in schools are shrinking. To discover more about our education projects or to find out how you can support our work, please contact us on 020 8846 9744 or email [email protected].
The Mozartists is very grateful to all the Trusts and organisations that support our education work, with special thanks to our core partners John Lyon’s Charity and Ealing Music Service.
