The Music Workshop Company Blog

Each month the Music Workshop Company publishes two blogs. One blog, written by the MWC team addresses a key issue in Music Education or gives information about a particular genre or period of music. The other blog is written by a guest writer, highlighting good practice or key events in Music Education. We hope you enjoy reading the blogs.

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To contribute as a guest writer please email Maria@music-workshop.co.uk

Posts tagged “MUSIC FOR CHILDREN”

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Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival

Posted on 31st May 2024 at 11:21

Each year, the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival takes place in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The event features book seller and publisher stands as well as a range of activities and talks for children, families and parents spanning all types of culture, from music to animation. This year, the Music Workshop Company’s Artistic Director, Maria Thomas, was there delivering music workshops. In this post, she reflects on her experience of the festival.

Image: Maria prepares to deliver a workshop at the festival's School of Talents.

Finding the magic in classical music through storytelling

Posted on 27th July 2020 at 14:59

The Music Workshop chats to Matt Parry, creator of The Opus Pocus on how to get kids to discover the magic of classical music.

What is out there to help kids discover classical music? Especially at the moment with dedicated performances, workshops and group lessons so frustratingly put on hold?

Of course you can just play this music to children, but getting them to listen to an entire symphony, for example, can be a bit tricky given its length and complexity.

Easy Music Games For Parents With Young Children

Posted on 19th May 2020 at 16:35

If you’re looking for some fresh ideas to engage your children with music as lockdown continues, there are hundreds of wonderful free and paid resources online.

This month, we thought it would be fun to share some ideas from our own Early Years Resources.

These games are aimed at young children, and are for parents who may be struggling to keep their toddlers busy.

They can also be used with primary-age children, and even played with the whole family.

We hope you enjoy them!

How Should we Sing these Songs?

Posted on 17th April 2018 at 15:00

While planning a recent singing workshop, MWC’s Artistic Director, Maria, had cause to reflect on the names and lyrics of songs, how the meaning of some words has changed, becoming sensitive, controversial or unacceptable, and how some aspects of music might impact workshop participants.

Myths, Fairytales and Musical Inspiration

Posted on 15th March 2017 at 14:30

The fairytale, a story featuring fantasy creatures such as goblins, mermaids and witches, often with an element of magical enchantment, derives from different stories passed down through the oral tradition in European cultures. As a literary genre, it was first identified by Renaissance writers such as Giambattista Basile, who collected and studied tales ‘from court to forest,’ published posthumously as Il Pentamerone, heavily baroque and metaphorical, and collector and writer of short stories, Giovanni Francesco Straparola. This idea of anthologies of stories followed in later collections such as the Brothers Grimm and One Thousand and One Nights.

Fantasy stories became increasingly popular during the 19th century, with authors such as George MacDonald writing tales of goblins and princesses for children, whose literature had previously featured heavily moralistic, didactic information.

Concerts for Babies: Music Without Rules

Posted on 30th May 2016 at 14:30

This week the Ulster Orchestra announced a decision to grant free entry to under 16’s to their season concerts. This decision was shared on social-media site Facebook alongside a post describing one parent’s experience of taking her child to performances: That she’d had complaints her little girl was distracting other audience members.