Leeds Lieder are offering exciting opportunities for young people across Leeds to broaden their cultural horizons, explore their talents, and develop their voices through two education projects funded in part by Leeds Music Education Partnership: Discovering Lieder (KS2) and Cool Lieder (KS3).

The award winning Discovering Lieder Project introduces KS2 children to the world of Art Song and the joys of attending a classical concert. The project takes place over one week in which the Lieder visit each participating school for an hour long workshop during the week, and then see everyone at the culmination concert at 2pm on the Friday.

In the workshop, the Lieder’s team of three professional musicians and educators (two singers and a pianist) sing songs in several languages and workshop the themes of the poetry along with discussing the ins and outs of attending a concert of classical song. There are plenty of opportunities for the children (and teachers) to sing in the workshop session and everyone works together at the end to compose a special verse to a song by Schubert. The concert on Friday is an exciting hour of Art Song in several languages, and a finale in which each class stands to sing their very own verse!

The project is for one group of year 3, 4, 5 or 6 children.

The Cool Lieder Project works with KS3 children and takes place over three weeks with a culmination concert on the last Friday of the project.

The project involves three professional animateurs; a singer, pianist and another artist (often a storyteller, poet or composer), making three visits into school. They will deliver three one-hour workshops to introduce students to the sound of the projected singing voice; encourage them to see classical music as an enjoyable and relevant art form; and offer some quality vocal training and cross-curricular links. Working together on songs by composers from Schubert to Britten, the sessions focus on confident, expressive and healthy singing. Everybody is then invited down to a concert of songs performed by the participants and all woven together by the animateurs who take the student’s reactions to the music as their inspiration.

The project is for one class of Year 7, 8 or 9 children, or a group of around 30 pupils from these years specially selected for their love of singing and performance.

Leeds Lieder run their projects twice per year in both the Spring and Autumn terms, fundraising tirelessly so that their projects are completely free to schools. Leeds Lieder are funded by the Arts Council England, LMEP, Sir George Martin Trust and the Jean Meikle Music Trust and supported by Northern Ballet and Leeds Town Hall.

A brand new video showcasing Leeds Lieder’s work is available to view on their website: www.leedslieder.org.uk/learning. For more information about Leeds Lieder projects or if you would like to get involved, please contact Phil Wilcox.

How about an end of term seasonal concert ? Your school children could join in with the Christmas theme and have some fun at the same time. Download our seasonal leaflet here.

Comments from schools who have enjoyed recent workshops include:

“…our children were engaged from the start and thoroughly enjoyed their performances – a real treat for them! Thank you.”

“It was so wonderful for the children to experience a quality live music act”

The meeting is an opportunity to meet other Music Leaders and explore current issues in Music Education both through discussion and in a practical way.

At the last meeting we looked at singing in schools and identified some areas in which schools would like to develop their provision.  We’ll be looking at two of those areas in our session on the 8^th – developing choirs and discovering what outstanding provision in whole school singing assemblies looks like.

If you would like to join us at this session or any of our upcoming CPD sessions this term (5^th June Charanga; 6^th June Bringing Literacy to life with Music) then simply book via www.leedsforlearning.co.uk.  All of our courses and meetings are free of charge for Schools and Academies in Leeds, and schools can book places for up to two colleagues at each event.

This two-day accredited course in Philosophy for Children (P4C) will introduce the basics of P4C and give you the tools to get you started practicing P4C with your students. The course will be delivered by Grace Robinson from Thinking Space – a social enterprise that creates interesting and inclusive spaces for people of all ages to think philosophically together.

The course will take place over two days- Wednesday 18th January 2017 & Thursday 2nd March 2017, 9am – 4pm

For more information please see the SAPERE Accredited Level 1 Course in Philosophy for Children Flyer

With a rapidly changing demographic in Leeds, how can you make the most of this rich and exciting starting point for writing and discussion?

Katy Massey, founder of the Tangled Roots website and book, will take you through an interesting and relevant session exploring how life writing can be a powerful catalyst for teaching and learning.  For further information please visit the Leeds for Learning website