“The quartet took the students so seriously and it was great to be able to reconnect the pulse to the NO lessons!”
Together with us, students will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the various building blocks of music such as: pulse, tempo and note values. They are also allowed to paint the music and their drawings are then interpreted by the musicians in the quartet. We work with traditional notes as well as sounds and symbols. Using graphic scores and sheet music, the children write music that the saxophone quartet then performs. Music has a unique ability to communicate emotions and open up thought. We in the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet wish to awaken children's curiosity about new and unknown music. In a relaxed and educational way, we present a new sound world for children and young people. We want to involve all children and young people in a creative process where we increase their sensitivity by encouraging listening and self-creation. By being part of a joint creation, children are strengthened in their self-confidence but also aware that we need each other to reflect and be mirrored. Daring to affirm and share one's thoughts and ideas also creates trust in classmates and in one's own abilities.
How is it done?
We meet the students in their classroom during a morning when together with the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet they get to listen to music from different parts of the world. We talk about sources of inspiration and different musical aspects such as folk music, rhythmics, symbolism and sounds in nature. We connect the function of musical instruments to the knowledge of nature and talk about how sounds arise from different sources. Based on these conversations, the children are allowed to create a graphic score that they themselves can perform using their voices and bodies. They even get to see what a conductor is doing and try conducting their class. After recess, we talk about sheet music and how these relate to math. The children are allowed to paint to music and tell about their thoughts about the music and their paintings. As a conclusion to this creative morning, the children will be able to use the tools they received during our visit to compose their own music. Here the choice is free whether they want to use graphic notation or traditional notation and no prior knowledge is required. The Saxophone Quartet then performs the children's music pieces in front of the class. Both students and teachers suddenly become very aware that they have made the work themselves and become concerned about keeping the “original”. They are suddenly “originators” and proud of their work. A visit takes between 120 and 150 minutes and includes a break. The activities can also be divided into more short sessions during the semester.
