Musikk i Skolen - 'Music in Schools'

According to the results of international PISA-survey, the field of arts’ education has deteriorated dramatically in the last decade. Hence, our main goal is to support music education and arts in schools, to reposition the creative and artistic subjects at the core of the Norwegian education system, as well as making politicians and local school authorities appreciate the value of the arts in learning.

We aim to achieve our goal by engaging in political processes and contributing to the public discourse through publications and events. We design and host seminars, webinars, experiences and conferences for teachers and schools, and offer teaching material that can inspire teachers and faculties in their daily work with children.

Our main initiatives and programs

Singing Schools

‘The Singing Schools’ is an educational program targeting children in Norwegian elementary school, inspired by the British program ‘SingUp’. ‘The Singing Schools’ seek to create a positive learning environment through song. We want to make students, teachers, other staff and parents sing more and better in the hopes that more singing within the school will lead to more singing in the local community. ‘The Singing Schools’ is one of five steps in the Norwegian national program ‘Krafttak for sang’ whose vision is a singing society where everyone can experience joy, creativity, identity, good health and self-development through song. For more information: www.syngendeskole.no.

Schools’ day of Song

Schools’ day of Song is an initiative developed by MiS in collaboration with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra - a spectacular annual event in the Oslo Philharmonic Concert Hall with more than a thousand singing children in attendance. The concert is streamed to hundreds of schools all over the country, and the repertoire features specifically arranged music for vocals and orchestra in addition to well-known classical orchestral pieces. The children in the concert hall and in the schools rehearse the songs and dance movements in advance and watch big screens to sing along during the live concert in Oslo Concert Hall. In this way, we create the country's largest choir!

Music Teachers' Day

The Music Teachers' Day was first arranged in 2015 with the aim of creating a shared professional meeting place for music teachers from all over the country. The event has been hosted in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim, and in 2020 we came together on an online platform due to the Corona pandemic. The idea is to uplift and boost knowledge through inspirational lectures, practical workshops, panel discussions and experience sharing. Crucially, this event offers music educators the opportunity to make new acquaintances and build strong professional networks within the framework of current curricula.

The MiS Online Resource Collection

A central part of our web solution offers access to multiple collections of teaching material, ideas, song repertoire and methodological tips for teaching music. Our modules include:

'The Music Palette' - a digital resource bank with specifically designed programs for teaching music to grades 1-10 in primary school. The programs target the core elements of the music curriculum.

'The Song Bank' - a wide repertoire of songs that will appeal to children of all ages, much of which will also work well for young people and adults.

'Video courses' - aimed at inspiring teachers, our video courses teach a wide variety of topics, ranging from songwriting to gumboot dancing to simple strategies for getting started with playing instruments in class.

The Schools’ Music Award

- a national prize to honour schools that focus on music.

In 2016, this prize was established to highlight and motivate music teachers in their professional role and increase the visibility and status of the subject. The award is now being expanded to promote and honour schools, which, together with their music teachers, prioritise music as a strong and integrated part of everyday school life.