Vigdís Gígja Ingimundardóttir

Live music in a live school society

Iceland Airwaves Off Venue in the Waldorfschool Sólstafir

The project was about hosting a two day concert in the Waldorfschool Sólstafir in collaboration with the music festival, Iceland Airwaves, as a part of the Off Venue program, 1st. And 2nd. Of November 2017. Off Venue concerts are outside of the main program of Iceland Airwaves, advertised on behalf of the festival and open to everyone.

The purpose of the project was to create a venue where students could learn about music in a varied way, where they would get the chance to experience and take part in a music performance, introduce their own material, and connect themselves to a living, thriving, music scene, with participation in a contemporary international music event.

Students were introduced to various musical instruments, music styles and professional people, and experienced the atmosphere and excitement that is involved in a festival of this kind. It was planned that students would take part in the preperation and in performance, both with rehearsed material and in an open free flow session. With the project, students were given the opportunity to take part in and experience an international music festival, instead of just reading about it or hearing about it.

The strenght of hosting an international event in a primary school, was that music teaching was strenghtened within the school, the cultural life of the school got stronger and connections were made with people working in the music field, locally and internationally. There was a chance to go outside the box and try something new in a traditional festival life of the school, which now is a vision to do yearly.

The Waldorfschool Sólstafir wants to put greater weight on music teaching in the future and by creating a space where music artists can connect to the school, a cooperation is made that will strenghten the musiclife of the school and the school´s culture.