Singing is a universal past-time. Every human feels the desire to sing at some point in their life. Some of us just can’t stop singing! However, not everyone is born with a pop star’s voice… but everyone has an instrument that can make beautiful music. Children are the luckiest – their capacity to learn new things and quickly overcome insecurities is their greatest asset. Music often has a profound impact on kids, facilitating cognitive development and creative self-expression. Playing music has been shown to increase intellectual capacity and assist with memorisation and general mental focus. The research speaks for itself! In this 4-day summer camp at Instituto Cervantes, your kids can have the life-changing experience of making music with others – all through Spanish!

In the Coro Infantil Cervantes this July, the activities will focus on accessibility, developing musicality, and – most of all – having fun! No previous musical experience is required whatsoever. The activities will be led in a way that encourages organic play, embraces mistakes, and uses them to create new musical ideas. Each day of the camp will be full of games – physical games, vocal games, rhythm games, etc. All of these playful activities serve to build a sense of teamwork and unity within the group. Having established trust amongst the group of kids on the camp, this will be transferred into the choral activities.

The kids in the summer camp will learn a wide variety of music, including songs from Central America, South America and Spain. All songs will be sung in Spanish. Exploring language through lyrical material is a rich and rewarding experience for people of all ages, especially for children. The songs will be taught in a way that kids with less proficient use of Spanish may as well participate and contribute. The music will be taught using keyboard and guitar, and will not be limited to melody either – singers will also learn rounds/canons, harmony parts and a little bit of choreography too! The songs include Argentinian rock’n’roll, Latin Pop, Cuban jazz, Chilean Nueva canción, Mexican folksong, Spanish Sephardic music, etc. So the summer camp could be their start in real music education!

The camp is directed by Dónal Kearney, co-founder of Fingal Academy of Music and manager of Fingal Choral programme. Dónal has worked with young people of all ages across the UK and Ireland, and he is a certified Community Music Leader with international humanitarian charity Musicians Without Borders. As section coach with National Choirs of Great Britain (NYCGB) and Ulster Youth Training Choir (UYTC), he coaches some of the most gifted young singers on these islands. He is a Choral Facilitator with the Song-Seeking project, a music programme for singers living in direct provision and performed in the National Concert Hall in June 2019. He was recently recognised for this work with an invitation to Árás an Uachtaráin to meet President Michael D Higgins. As a professional performer, Dónal tours with Northern Ireland folk trio TRÚ and he has recorded as a soloist for Nintendo, Beats by Dre and World of Warcraft.

6 to 10 years old
1st to 4th July, from 9.30am to 12.30pm (Monday to Thursday)
More info:
Ready, set, go! Choir for Children in Spanish | ¡Preparados, listos, ya! Coro para niños en español
BOOK ON-LINE.

11 to 15 years old  
9th to 12th July, from 9.30am to 12.30pm (Tuesday to Friday)
More info:
Ready, set, go! Choir for Children in Spanish | ¡Preparados, listos, ya! Coro para niños en español
BOOK ON-LINE.

Place Instituto Cervantes’ Auditorium, Lincoln Hs, Lincoln Pl, D2
Registration FEE €100 (each workshop will need a minimum of 8 children to go ahead).
CONTACT US bookings.dublin@cervantes.es | 01 631 1500/33