Developing quality singing in Primary Schools

We know that singing in school is tough at the moment and we want to help you to develop quality, quiet (therefore COVID-safer) singing.

With this in mind, we have asked *Friday Afternoons’ Ambassador, Charlotte Brosnan, to share some ways to improve the quality of singing in school.  We all want to develop our young singers’ talents and enthusiasm, but how can we do that whilst building in quality and avoiding shouting?

Charlotte will be running an online CPD session for primary school music leaders and class teachers who are interested in developing singing in their schools.

She will be using materials from Friday Afternoons, which is freely available to all primary schools.  Starting with a bank of songs written by Benjamin Britten for primary-aged voices, Friday Afternoons have developed a bank of contemporary classical and folk music for children.  There are songs in the repertoire that are easily accessible for primary-aged children and others that will challenge more competent singers.

Charlotte Brosnan is a professional singer, conductor and workshop leader with a wealth of teaching experience who until recently sung full time with Apollo5, a professional vocal group that perform all around the world each year, mixing classical music with jazz, pop and contemporary composition.

In January 2017 she took up the position of Choral Director at the City of London School for Girls and she enjoys a wide variety of teaching and workshop roles for various schools and national organisations namely The National Youth Choir Kenya, she is also an ambassador for Friday Afternoons. Charlotte is a Musical Director for Monumental Choir and Landmark Sound and is in demand as workshop leader adjudicator.

Charlotte Brosnan Charlotte is currently studying with Ben Johnson. She has been a soloist in many of the World’s prestigious concert venues including The Albert Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral, St Marks (Venice), Disney Hall (LA), National Concert Hall (Taipei) and has sung at the FA Cup final and Six Nations rugby games. Charlotte has recorded the Grammy Award winning Album, ‘Light and Gold,’ with the world-renowned composer Eric Whitacre.

*Friday Afternoons is a year-round singing initiative inspired by Benjamin Britten, encouraging quality in singing with young people. Every year Snape Maltings commissions a new set of songs for the Friday Afternoons project, which are sung by young people at events around the world. Alongside providing fantastic new resources, Snape Maltings supports leaders at all levels to ensure their skills continue to develop.