North Edinburgh Singing Clubs
Singing Clubs in North Edinburgh Primary Schools
Over the course of this Autumn term, we launched after-school singing clubs – an exciting collaboration between Tinderbox and multiple primary schools in North Edinburgh! Taking place at Pirniehall & St. David’s Primaries on Wednesdays and Forthview Primary on Thursdays, participants in our singing clubs range from P4 – P7, and provide children with the space to express themselves and learn more about music, all while singing the songs that they love!
Throughout this term, we also expanded to include a taster session at Craigroyston Primary on Wednesday afternoons. Our sessions here looked a bit different because, instead of taking place after school, it was incorporated into the school day so that everyone interested in the singing club had a chance to join in and see what it was all about!
An Inside Look
Every session starts with a warm-up to get everyone excited and prepared to sing! Moose, Alpaca was a fan favourite way to start sessions this term as everyone across all the schools loved the hand actions that went along with the song! Since sessions are only an hour long (at most), after warm-ups it’s time to go straight into learning the tune of that week! We would start by introducing the children to the words of the song’s chorus, then slowly start to incorporate other musical elements such as rhythm, the rest of the song’s structure, tempo, and of course, melody!
We started with Don’t Stop Believin’ as our introductory song, but as the term progressed we moved onto other tunes such as Diamonds, Love Story, Flowers in the Water, and Count on Me. Many of our participants enjoy singing so much that they wanted to have an opportunity to sing by themselves! In order to accommodate this, our after-school clubs ended with an open mic segment where anyone interested can sign up at the start of the session and perform a song of their choice.
The highlight of the term was witnessing how everyone’s confidence developed from one week to another. The first open mic started with one person shyly asking to sing, but by the end of the term everyone would be rushing to go first!
Meaningful Collaboration
Another highlight of our singing club journey this term has been developing the relationship between Pirniehall Primary and St. David’s RC Primary! The two schools function independently from one another, but are connected through the same building – a point that emphasises the need for community and connection. Wednesdays with students from both of these schools are always a joy, and we look forward to more future collaboration!
Working alongside each of these wonderful schools has been a pleasure, especially having additional support from the schools’ administration and staff to ensure that each session runs smoothly. We hope to be back soon!
