Schools and Music Hubs

A child with speech and language difficulties found it difficult to communicate his thoughts. He now loves the songs and even leads the class during music when we are practising the songs.

-Year 3 Class Teacher from a Hackney Primary School

Each year the Foundation works with primary and secondary schools delivering a range of projects. During the 2024-2025 season we are working with schools in London, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire and Poole delivering a number of projects all of which will culminate in performances with participating schools and the VOCES8 Foundation Singers.

Our partnerships with Hackney Music Service and Tower Hamlets Arts and Music have enabled us to reach thousands of children across Hackney and Tower Hamlets through workshops in schools and specially designed workshops and concerts at the VOCES8 Centre. Projects with primary school children and their teachers include Sing Every Day, Postcard Adventures with Peanut and Butter, Sing Together and our new collaboration with Ensemble Augelletti.

Augelletti’s Aviary

Swallows, robins, cuckoos, hens, peacocks. These are just a few of the birds in Augelletti’s Aviary, our first collaboration with Ensemble Augelletti. Children in year 2 perform songs about these birds with a quartet of VOCES8 Foundation Singers and Ensemble Augelletti. They also learn about the recorder, violin, cello, theorbo and harpsichord. 

‘The fundamental aspect for me is that the children were properly integrated into the music making - they were not an add on, but they were at the heart of it and to be able to experience that with not one, but two professional ensembles was a wonderful thing.  I also really appreciated the attitudes of singers and musicians towards the children- again, open, respectful and taking enjoyment from engaging musically with them.’ 

Year 2 Teacher, Tower Hamlets

Schools participating in Augelletti's Aviary also receive resources created by the Foundation's Education Project Assistant, Laura Gillham.

If you'd like to try your hand at making a peacock's headdress you can find the instructions and template here

Augelletti's Aviary includes a migration story and if you'd like to learn more about migration you can find a fact sheet here

If you'd like to learn more about the long eared owl you can find Laura's information cards here

Sing Together

Sing Together began in 2021 with a pilot project bringing one London primary school class and one elementary school class in Albuquerque New Mexico together through singing. During the 2022-2023 season 4 primary schools and 4 elementary schools will participate in this project working with our singing leaders, sharing songs, and exchanging letters and postcards.

One of our most popular secondary school projects in the Young Leader Programme. Students from secondary schools work with our singing leaders learning how to lead a workshop for primary school children. The young leaders then visit their local primary schools together with our singers where they lead workshops for the primary school children.

We have also set up Music Hubs in the US, find out more here

I have explored new areas of leadership and it helped me step out of my comfort zone.

- London Young Leader, 2022

Photo credit TorbjornHultmark.photography

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