A Limerick musician has set up songwriting classes with primary schoolchildren as part of their introduction to the new curriculum on music.
Mr Austin Durack, who is pursuing a master's degree in community music at the World Music Centre in the University of Limerick, said the focus of his course was to take music to the community, introducing it to schools, hospitals, prisons and hospices.
"Because I am a songwriter, I have homed in to the whole area of composition. The primary school curriculum has included composition on it," he said.
His weekly sessions with the third-class pupils of Gaelscoil Sairs eal in Limerick have led to the evolution of a series of songs, in Irish and English, through the joint efforts of the teacher and student.
"I am facilitating songs that are coming from the kids themselves. They can come from anything, from a melodic suggestion or from a phrase," he said.
A radio producer with the Clare FM radio station, Mr Durack has also worked in primary schools in Clondalkin, Co Dublin, through Music Network, in conjunction with Mr Paul Roe, a clarinet player with the National Symphony Orchestra.
After discovering there was not a single song about Clondalkin, the children in Clonburris, Gaelscoil na Camoige and St Joseph's set about writing a song about their home area,
Mr Durack says he treats the 10-year-olds as equals, asking them to help him finish off songs or getting them to compose, in rhyme, what they like about school. "I think it does a whole lot for their confidence. It probably depends on how you facilitate them."
Ms Edel Nic Eanaigh, the third-class teacher at Gaelscoil Sairs eal, said it was the first time schoolchildren had gone into the area of music composition. "They are certainly much more enthusiastic about it. They feel it is their own composition. It is not just something out of a book. They love it."