Overview This Panel session explores aspects of pedagogy in the primary classroom that relate vocal experience to the acquisition of aural and musicianship skills. It also considers the creative response of children, and the role of teachers in developing their approach to classroom activities. Panel Paper 1 Alfonso J. Elorriaga Llor, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Manuel Borguñó's School Choral Work: music education for all in Spain in the 20th century M. Borguñó (1886-1973) was a prominent Spanish music educator who tried to bring music education (based upon learning to sing) to all the national school system in Spain from 1920 until his death. His method, based upon the French Maurice Chevais's work, remains today unpublished (the last version is around 1970) and included the use of his melodic phonemics (hand signs), rhythmic finger exercises, as well as some other ways of notating and representing vocal music, to help children focus first on singing correctly. This didactic method is divided into two main sections: an introductory one and an advanced one. Both contain several auditory, rhythmic, and sight-seeing exercises, most of which are focused on singing. Borguñó himself wrote a lot of progressive songs (from one to several parts) to be practised, full of beautiful lyrics and melodies. He also included specific vocal and breathing exercises, melodic chants, and a few popular songs for primary and secondary school. Borguñó made some demonstrations of his method throughout his life in Spain, but his position after the Spanish Civil War prevented him from succeeding during the Franco Regime. Borguñó was the first Spaniard and the only one to participate in the founding of ISME in Brussels in 1953, and he also attended the Moscow ISME Conference in 1970, invited personally by D. Kabalevsky. Panel Paper 2 Eirimas Velička, Vilnius University, Lithuania Singing Against Harmony: A Case of Lithuanian Traditional 'Sutartinės' Polyphony Lithuanian polyphonic songs ‘Sutartinės’ are one of the most unique examples of archaic polyphony. They are characterized by a distinctive, unusual musical language: narrow-range melodies, frequent dissonant second intervals between voices, rhythmic syncopation, complementary rhythms and cross-rhythms. Archaic forms of polyphony are used: call-and-response, heterophony, paraphony, "walking" drone, and canon. The performance of sutartinės is characterized by the interplay of music, words, and movement. ‘Sutartinės’ challenge the widely held belief that harmonic singing is the foundation of polyphony, and offer a compelling alternative. The case of these songs clearly demonstrates that harmonic singing is not a universal phenomenon, but rather a culturally determined one. Today, sutartinės are experiencing a cultural revival in Lithuania: they are widely used in music education programs. In various musical projects, they are combined with jazz, rock, and electronic music. Panel Paper 3 Nicholas Bannan, Honorary Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia Kodály, Dalcroze, Fux and Schenker in the Primary Classroom Harmony is often treated as a complex matter dependent for its experience on the use of notation or of instruments capable of playing chords such as the piano or guitar. Building on the pedagogical foundations of gestural expression provided by Dalcroze and Kodály, and combining these with the approach to harmonic function and voice leading derived from Fux and Schenker, harmonisation can be taught creatively through signs for chords that children can contribute to and control through group singing from the age of about seven onwards. The simple repertoire of symmetrical signs and movements that achieve this will be demonstrated, and evaluation of their success in harnessing children’s participation provided. Responses and Discussion Discussion of the three short papers and their contribution to the overall topic will be Chaired by Lily Chen-Hafteck, University of California Los Angeles, with the intention of responding to the themes: primary age children’s musical development as a consequence of aural and musicianship pedagogy; and teachers’ development of the skills necessary to achieve optimum outcomes in this field.