About

What is Sing Out With Strings?

The Irish Chamber Orchestra’s innovative Sing Out with Strings programme has been providing free weekly music sessions for children in Limerick’s inner city since 2008. Evolving from a creative response to the City’s Regeneration programme and inspired by the El Sistema programmes, Sing Out with Strings collaborates with national schools to provide over one hundred hours of weekly singing, song-writing and string instrumental sessions for every child to experience as part of the school curriculum.

Now in its 13^th year, the programme teaches 300 children every week; it has seen over 1000 children write their own songs, perform at events in prestigious venues and festivals around the county and beyond making music an integral part of their lives. View our Sing Out With String’s funders here.

Sing Out with Strings aims to continue to expand, strengthening communities within Limerick and inspiring a new generation of children to discover the transformative power of music.

What is Sing Out with Strings Online?

‘Sing Out with Strings Online’ presents a series of flexible, engaging and accessible resources for teachers and learners to enjoy at school or at home.

With generous support from AIB and KKR, we have created and developed this website which is completely free to access. We want to offer every child the opportunity to learn music and to benefit from the expertise of ICO’s professional musicians. We hope teachers and students alike will be inspired by our site’s repertoire and ideas.

What resources are available?

• Performances by members of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, filmed using three different camera angles which enables a broad level of visual detail to enhance learning.
• Various levels of difficulty ranging from open stringed parts to basic position changes.
• Sheet music which is downloadable.
• Each orchestral part is available for all string instruments, making it ideal for a wide variety of learning situations and ensembles.

Other features include Irish Chamber Orchestra players answering frequently asked questions about their instruments.  They also demonstrate ways to extend learning and make each arrangement your own.