Integrating the Preparation for an Educational Concert Into the School Curriculum

Abstract

We present our experience with designing and implementing the preparation of a class of fifth-grade students prior to attending an educational concert within the requirements of the official school curriculum. Based on the scientific evidence regarding preference and familiarity with music, the rationale for the lesson plans was to increase the familiarity of the students with the music they would hear in the concert through a variety of activities which met with requirement of the set curriculum. We present key points from our lesson plans as well as the reaction of the students to the lessons. With a background in both music education and mediation, we planned the lessons and created our own materials for the preparation, based on: a) analysis of the repertoire of the educational concert by a woodwind quintet; b) analysis of the requirement of the school curriculum of the Romanian Ministry of Education in the subject Musical education for schools teaching in Hungarian language; c) analysis of some resource materials for teachers, prepared by symphony orchestras for concerts with similar repertoire. Keywords: music education in schools, educational concerts, familiarity