Mozart effect or Szymański effect? Small Children and Contemporary Classical Music International Festival of Contemporary Music Warsaw Autumn

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Mozart effect or Szymański effect? Small Children and Contemporary Classical Music
online discussion panel

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Mozart effect or Szymański effect? Small Children and Contemporary Classical Music
online discussion panel

Discussion participants include:
Viola Łabanow sociocultural animator, culture activist, author of Smykofonia children’s concerts series, President of the Music is for Everyone Foundation
Agnieszka Widlarz teacher, educator, and composer, working at the Chopin University of Music and the Karol Szymanowski State Music School Complex no. 4 in Warsaw
Malina Sarnowska educator, music event organiser, Sinfonia Varsovia programme department
Anna Szawiel sociocultural animator and director, author of events for families with small children
Dagna Sadkowska violinist, music event organiser, curator of music programmes for children
Anna Kwiatkowska violinist, music teacher and educator
Wojciech Ziemowit Zych composer
Marianna Kłosińska educational activist, founder of democratic schools in Poland
Jerzy Kornowicz Director of the Warsaw Autumn Festival
Anna Kierkosz, Aleksandra Bilińska event moderators

A Little Warsaw Autumn fringe event with the participation of educators, music event organisers, music teachers, contemporary music composers, and parents.

Among events targeting very small children or addressed to families of such children, contemporary classical music plays a rather marginal role. The view still persists that contemporary music is too di cult if not incomprehensible for the youngest audience, frequently also for parents, guardians, or those who choose the music children have contact with.
On the other hand, though, the experiences and observations of the audience and participants of such cycles as Little Warsaw Autumn Smykowizje (U-jazdowski), and other events programmed or held by individual educators / curators such as Dagna Sadkowska and Anna Kwiatkowska prove that contemporary music offers an excellent platform for communication with the youngest audience and for developing aural perception from the earliest years. Are their observations correct? And if they are, what triggers such success?
During our discussion, we will attempt to discover the reasons why people astonishingly distance themselves so greatly from contemporary music. We will also look for ways to popularise that music more effectively through education and active learning projects addressed to the youngest children.

Organised by Warsaw Autumn, ”Muzyka jest dla wszystkich” Foundation, ”Dzieci mają głos” Foundation, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art