Since Hammarkullen’s Sistema programme started in 2010, Teresa Hedborg has been an integral part of its pre-school classes. Together with Lina Molander Ekström, she has developed a unique methodology for teaching social action music programmes to pre-school children, drawing on inspiration from El Sistema, Malaguzzi’s Reggio Emilia approach, the Suzuki method and the teachers' own experiences.

Last autumn, Teresa and El Sistema Sweden’s central team in Gothenburg started to work more closely together, looking to help share her and Lina Molander Ekström’s experiences in Hammarkullen with other pre-school teachers throughout Sweden. And, now, a condensed version of her key best practice tips has been brought online for everyone to access in the form of El Sistema Play – Step 3.

Consisting of four videos, the latest edition of El Sistema Play provides advice on how to work with our very youngest students, focussing on the importance of atmosphere, impression and interaction.

The videos from El Sistema Play - Step 3, click here to go to the El Sistema Play website & see them in context

Setting the mood

In the first video of this third El Sistema Play series, Teresa Hedborg describes how to set the mood when working with pre-school children. Focussing on the transition as the children come into the classroom, Teresa shows us how she builds up a calm, magical, immersive, inclusive atmosphere. For example, Theresa uses a large hoop to produce a gateway into the classroom and a passageway into another world. Similarly, while the vast majority of the class takes place in Swedish, the exercises also see the introduction of basic counting in other languages, establishing a pluralistic approach to culture from the very start.

The White Hands initiative covered in the second video continues this approach to inclusion. Originally created in Venezuela in 1995, the initial El Coro de Manos Blancas (literally, the White Hands Choir) was specifically founded to integrate children and young adults with special physical/cognitive requirements into the everyday life and artistic activities of El Sistema. And, in Sweden, this tradition has been greeted with open arms, with the White Hands Choir incorporating children of all abilities in an environment of active visual stimulants. This both creates a lively environment which activates more of the children’s senses and helps to overcome linguistic differences amongst the diverse groups with which El Sistema Sweden programmes typically work.

Preparation, motivation – focus!

In Step 3’s third video, Teresa talks about the importance of preparation and focus, emphasising the need to have everything perfectly organised before the children arrive, so as to ensure that they are the centre of attention during the class. Teresa also states that is important to motivate the children and to encourage them by constantly providing praise and enthusiasm.

The togetherness of the children is also actively promoted through their early introduction to orchestral circumstances, with the children, for example, being handed flutes at the tender age of four. Teresa jokes that it might be good to start off with earplugs, but is quick to add that the children very quickly become used to their instruments and are able to judge the correct pace and rhythm and to play together as they would in any other orchestra within the space of a year.

In keeping with the importance allocated to other aspects of organisation and pre-planning, Teresa also ensures that the children’s future musical development and the later integration of different sections is taken into account from the very start. Planning several steps ahead she contemplates how to start teaching her groups by thinking about how the contingents will develop down the years and harmonises her classes and their repertoires, so as to provide the groundwork for their future compatibility. This approach to teaching pre-school contingents both lays the foundations for future cooperation and ensures a feeling of belonging and camaraderie when the different groups join up to play familiar pieces together later on.

Enchantment and fascination

In the fourth and final video of Step 3, Teresa stresses the importance of introducing an air of magic and enchantment to classes. Talking about the need to think up creative strategies to capture the children’s curiosity, she shows how teachers can adopt simple but effective strategies, such as, for example, blowing bubbles – an activity which is easy to replicate, yet which intrigues the children and helps foster their engagement.

To ensure that classes become havens of calm for the children, Theresa also advises not to raise your voice when teaching young children and to encourage customisation and creativity in the child’s engagement in the class. One way of doing this so as to simultaneously increase the magic of the involvement is by letting the children design the elements they interact with in the class in a fashion that fits into the grand scheme of things and promotes the atmosphere. For example, Theresa gets her children to paint the sticks they tap together in exercises with fluorescent, glow-in-the-dark colours.

Incorporating flowing, translucent fabrics into exercises is another approach that Teresa has designed to stimulate multiple senses and to increase the child’s sense of immersion and enjoyment. And, the last part of the fourth video sees the impact that these approaches can achieve when successfully applied, with a large, colourful, glowing ball being employed to a very clearly enthusiastic reception from the awestruck class.

Step 4 & keeping in touch with El Sistema Sweden and Teresa

We hope you have enjoyed this third edition of El Sistema Play and we will be sure to return with the fourth edition on working with children with special needs later this summer. If you want to follow El Sistema Sweden’s many activities in the meantime (Side by Side in June and some big upcoming Europe Day celebrations in May) or look back at some of the previous editions of El Sistema Play, then we encourage you to make use of the following links:

http://www.elsistema.se/om-el-sistema/in-englishelsistema.se
https://www.facebook.com/ElSistemaSwedenfacebook.com/ElSistemaSweden
https://www.instagram.com/elsistemaswedeninstagram.com/elsistemasweden
http://play.elsistema.seplay.elsistema.se

And, if you would like to find out more about Teresa and Lina’s work with pre-school children or perhaps approach them about putting on a workshop for your children, then you can find contact details for the El Sistema Hammarkullen team via the following link (at the bottom of the page):

contact details for Teresa Hedborg & Lina Molander Ekströmcontact the Hammarkullen team