Last weeks, all teachers from the schools entering our Discover the Orchestra curriculum this year literally had to 'get down to business'! They attended a hands-on workshop to experience what their students will experience in the coming years, and each of them conducted a piece from Bizet's Overture "Carmen" and rehearsed various play-along parts.

This year three new schools are starting our Ontdek het Orkest learning line, a learning line for groups 6 to 8 of primary education. We welcome SBO De Haagse Beek, Basisschool De Elout and Basisschool De Parkiet to Ontdek het Orkest. Ruth van de Putte and Marieke Meliesie (from our education department), together with an ensemble of three musicians from the orchestra, gave an introductory workshop at all three schools. The teachers learned about the curriculum and got to work with the program for grade 7 (playing along with instruments and bodysounds) and the program for grade 8 (conducting). All the teachers went full steam ahead and they all dared to conduct the live ensemble. At the end of the workshop, everyone came together to combine conducting and bodysounds as a finale. All three teacher teams found this workshop to be very valuable, special and super fun! A great start to the school year and a great start to participation in Discover the Orchestra.