Piano Playing at the Ernst Zinna School

At the Ernst Zinna School in Leipzig, children and young people with significant individual support needs are taught in smaller classes. Music plays a central role in their daily school life.
Making music together, in particular, helps the students experience a sense of self-efficacy, joy, and inclusion. For a long time, they had to rely on an outdated grand piano that was barely playable. When the 8th Elementary School, located in the same building, decided it no longer wanted to use its piano—which had been provided by the Carl Bechstein Foundation—the Ernst Zinna School applied for it. The piano was eventually moved to the new premises.

The school now has a high-quality instrument and the opportunity to significantly enhance music instruction as well as school events such as choir projects, music enrichment programs, and concerts.

In addition, the nonprofit music school TonArt—with which the school has been successfully collaborating for some time—holds classes on the premises, so students who wish to study the piano more intensively no longer have to leave the school building.