Leerorkest

The Leerorkest is an innovative form of music education in which all children have the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument at school, during school hours, and make music together.

Music has a lot to offer children. Not only is it great fun to make music, but music has also been proven to be good for children's overall development. Making music makes them smart, social and happy. Yet not all children in the Netherlands get the chance to play a musical instrument. Music education is often highly accessible and expensive. The Leerorkest wants to change this. With a Leerorkest at school, every child gets the chance to make music. The more children make music, the more beautiful the Netherlands sounds!

The Leerorkest Foundation organizes the Leerorkest in Amsterdam. There are now more than 30 Leerorkesten in Amsterdam schools, in all corners of the city: Noord, Oost, Nieuw-West and Zuidoost. About 10% of elementary school in Amsterdam participate. The Leerorkest reaches about 5,000 children in the capital alone.

Since 2014, the national Instrument depot Leerorkest has been active with the aim of providing Leerorkests and similar initiatives in the Netherlands with musical instruments. The Instrument depot Leerorkest is housed in the Indische Buurt in Amsterdam East next to the NedPhO Dome, home of the Netherlands Philharmonic & Netherlands Chamber Orchestra.