The Da Capo Music Foundation, a UK music education charity, has announced a partnership with a Dutch scheme that will bring its Kodály-based teaching method to the Benelux region of Europe. Starting on 26 November, children at 20 primary schools in north Amsterdam will be offered the foundation’s early years programme, while professional Dutch musicians will be able to train towards a Da Capo teaching certificate.
‘The aim of both schemes is to bring top-class performers into schools,’ said cellist and Da Capo principal Jane Cutler. ‘With Dutch orchestral musicians increasingly being encouraged to teach, this gives an opportunity for them to gain hands-on experience in the classroom.’
Under the terms of the agreement, Da Capo teachers will visit the Netherlands three times per academic year for training sessions, with an assessment at the end of the year.
The initiative is a partnership with Dutch music programme Hallo Muziek, created by Erik van Deuren, artistic director of the Holland Symfonia. ‘This is high-level education that we don?t usually have in the Netherlands,’ said van Deuren, expressing the hope that it would also be brought to Belgium and Luxembourg. The aim of both initiatives is to bring professional musicians and teachers into contact with toddlers, teenagers and adult learners.
Founded in 1992 as a small Saturday morning music school, Da Capo is a music teaching method based on Kodály and Dalcroze principles. The sessions always take place in a circle and do not use the conventional method of directed learning: instead there is a sense of shared exploration and an emphasis on creative contribution from every participant.
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