Singing with children has undergone a veritable boom in the last few years. School choirs, music school choirs, singing school choirs, project choirs – children have the opportunity to sing with others and develop their voices in many places. The “CAS Conducting Children’s Choirs” aims to further encourage this positive development, as a variety of skills from the teaching and artistic field are required to conduct a children’s choir. The “CAS Conducting Children’s Choirs” provides a good basis to establish and conduct a choir for children aged between 7 and 12.

→ This degree programme is taught exclusively in German.

The CAS degree programme comprises classroom teaching as well as individual (project) work.

Subjects studied:

– Didactics/methodology
– Voice training with children
– Vocal conducting and conducting
– Movement and scenography
– Literature studies and stylistics/song analysis
– Piano accompaniment/vocal conducting with the piano
– Management and development
– Netzwerk Kinderchorszene, Switzerland

Individual work:

– Weekly conducting of a choir group organized by the student
– Planning, implementation and documentation of a project in the role of project manager
– Students with limited pre-existing knowledge are advised to undertake additional piano and/or singing tuition (subject to a charge)

Structure of the study program

– 1.5-day introductory module (Friday evening/Saturday)
– 10 course days (usually Saturday or Friday evening/Saturday)
– Baustein "Singen bewegt"
– Participation in the Swiss Children's and Youth Choir Festival (SKJF)
– 10 work experience placements of choice (dates by individual arrangement)
– 3 hours supervision/mentoring (dates by individual arrangement)
– Individual work: weekly conducting of a choir group organized by the student; planning, implementation and documentation of a project in the role of project manager
– Possible additional piano/singing tuition (dates by individual arrangement)

Teaching objectives

– Didactic skills (appropriate goal-setting, programming and rehearsal planning)– Methodological skills (implementation of the objective planning)
– Basic knowledge of the vocal functions as well as voice training and vocal heath in children
– Knowledge of a large, varied repertoire of songs for children aged 7 to 12
– Planning and implementation of an age-appropriate, target-oriented warm-up
– Good self-observation and self-assessment skills

Musical objectives

– Familiarity with one’s own voice in terms of function, sound and intonation
– Aural training in choral sounds and children’s voices
– Expressive gestures and effective conducting technique
– Basic knowledge of music style questions, different singing cultures and song analysis as well as the function, care and training of children’s voices
– Basic skills in piano playing for vocal conducting from the piano as well as for song accompaniment for rehearsal purposes

Organizational objectives

– Basic management and organizational skills in the area of establishing a choir, independently or as part of an institution.

The degree programme is aimed at singing and instrumental teachers, teachers of basic music education, teachers of music and movement, and school music teachers. Teachers from the primary school and kindergarten level will also be admitted if they have suitable prior music knowledge.

The requirements for admission to the programme are as follows:

– Successful completion of a university degree in music or an equivalent qualification
– Previous professional experience
– Conducts a children's choir/a singing class independently, or intends to do so from the beginning of the studies
– Positive outcome to the admission interview/assessment

Special admission (“sur dossier”) is also possible in justified cases. The Head of Programme and the Head of Continuing Education Music decide on admission.

→ This degree programme is taught exclusively in German.