Musical spirits in the classroom
Within six weeks, the Pfannenstiel music school developed a film and a teaching unit to present its range of services at elementary school. This was only possible so quickly thanks to a motivated team and an agile way of working. The innovative idea was awarded 2nd prize in the Good Practice competition at the Forum Musikalische Bildung 2023.
How can we reach the children at school? The team at the Pfannenstiel music school in Meilen ZH asked themselves this question in the spring of the second year of the pandemic. "It was clear to us that we needed something new," says principal Kerstin Wiehe. The decision was quickly made to produce a film in the style of a game - a journey through the music school in a virtual world, so to speak. Due to the limited time available, several project teams were formed. One team developed the film, while another worked on a related teaching unit, and a third contacted the elementary school and organized the school visits, etc.. Within a few weeks, a ready-made double lesson was created, including a film, presentation of instruments and a practical sequence with singing and body percussion. For Kerstin Wiehe, this parallel, agile way of working was the key to success. "There was a reciprocal effect," she says, "The different groups were able to make the necessary changes immediately and benefit from each other. That was great fun."
In the first year of implementation in 2021, the resulting project "MUSiK! - Music in the Classroom" with the film "MUSIKGEISTER" reached 75 school classes and 1700 children. In the next school year, enrolment figures at the music school rose by around seven percent, while they continued to fall at other music schools in the area. Kerstin Wiehe clearly attributes this to the project. Not only the teaching unit with the film itself, but also the parallel press work and the recognizability of the music spirits contributed to this. Teachers said that the children could still sing the "Farandole" motif by George Bizet a year later.
The Pfannenstiel music school will continue with the project in the future. Based on the story of the music spirits, a teacher has also developed a computer game for learning sheet music, which will soon be published. "We can well imagine developing further educational material," says Kerstin Wiehe. The team also found that the music ghosts are not only inspiring in terms of content, but also visually and stick in people's minds - this provides a good basis for further digital and analog tools.
Learn more: Pfannenstiel Music School
