We have made a research about a school orchestra here at Sweden in a school called Ängetskolan. We decided to visit the school (located about 4 miles from here),and there we took some pictures of the orchestra. We also talked to the teacher about the history of the orchestra and what they have done in the past. Here are some of the facts that we found out by asking the teacher.

The size of the orchestra is about 22 persons. All of them play different kinds of instruments. They have worked with their orchestra for about 8 years and they play 2-3 hours a week in school. They play everything from the classic Beethoven to the more rock-like styles of music of today. From time to time they are not just instrumental, they sometimes also sing, while the teacher conducts. The teaching contains much about music. The student´s are not just playing in the orchestra, but also learning about the history of music. They don´t learn about Swedish music only, but about foreign music as well. Most children have their own instruments and also practise at home. That makes them very skilled.

We were very impressed by the sound of the students. Each time that the students play there are two older people playing with them. It is only teachers who play with them though.
The only thing they lacked was space but they seemed to manage. The orchestra had the opportunity to go to Stockholm (the capital of Sweden) in the seventh grade. It is not just Ängetskolan that has a school orchestra, a few other schools in Västernorrland has one too. All the students are in the orchestra from the 4:th grade to the 9:th and all the students get the opportunity to use any instruments they choose and can buy them as well.
The walls in the school are able to hold the "noise" from room to room. We noticed that when the teacher told us that the principal had his office right next door, and he had not complained about any disturbance at all. The teacher even told us that the orchestra perhaps was going to make a demo in the future sometimes. Perhaps that demo could bring the youths of the orchestra to some famous opera hall somewhere....

The good part with this is that the children think that it is interesting or even amusing to play their instrument along with the teachers and see that their work gets them somewhere. The teacher told us that the orchestra played at a local place here in Ornskoldsvik (on some special ocassions), where they made themselves some cash, about 2500 skr.

To have a school orchestra seems to be a very good idea, and it gives the students music education a very good touch. It seems that the students are very positive to play their instruments. So it might bring other positive effects to the most parts of the school.

© 1998 Freeway
Writers: Per Eriksson and Andrè Tellström, SP1A Parkskolan (nv99-33@park.se), (sp00-23@park.se)
HTML by: Filip Fors & Lars Jonsson (nv00-92@park.se) (nv00-95@park.se).