Appendix 6 - International Music Council

The University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki offers courses on folk music. Thessaloniki
also has a private music school offering courses in folk music and Ottoman art music.
According to the newspaper Apojevmatini from 10/25/2005 informing about music
education in Greece there are 650 private music schools, 34 sepcial music schools usually
for grades 7 to 12 and some courses on Instrumentenbau and musicology. (Koglin)
EXAMPLE 6: LATVIA
Music teaching in Latvia has a special place because of Latvians are especially proud of
their rich folklore tradition, choir singing, and song festivals; these are all important parts of
Latvian culture and identity.
With the general introduction of new state curricula for subjects of Latvia's schools in the
1990’s music education emphasized a new methodical approach. These curricula
strengthened the understanding of music in the context of culture, drawing attention to
musical phenomena previously ignored, like sacred, popular and traditional music. The new
curriculum emphasizes that in modern life music has not only the 'absolute function' as in
high art; instead music is understood more complex. Musical meaning is bound to a
particular culture, a particular social group, whether it is within a church congregation or
youth group. Therefore, it is important to introduce the students not only to the music in the
form sound recordings, scores, musical instruments, but also to the contexts which gives it
meaning. (Irena Nelsone: Music Education in the various School Systems of Europe.
http://www.mdw.ac.at/eas/english/music/latvia.html)
EXAMPLE 7: RIKSKONSERTENE: NORWEGIAN SCHOOL PROJECTS
Rikskonsertene (http://www.rikskonsertene.no/rk/0109.html), a private concert agency in Norway,
organizes several concerts in schools. Two programs are presented here:
The Klangrikt Felleskab Project (Sonorous Fellowship)
In the 1980s Scandinavia experienced a new right wing movement and racist attacks
against immigrants. In reaction Norway financed several large projects featuring world
music to Norwegian schools. One of the these programs, klangrikt felleskab (sonorous
fellowship) project, took place from 1989 to 1992 and was implemented by
Rikskonsertene.
During a three year period music and dance from Asia, Africa and Latin America was
introduced to 750 school classes at the 4 th grade (age group 10-12) in 18 schools in Oslo.
The clearly defined goal for the project was to change attitudes towards immigrants
amongst the pupils. A comparative evaluation concluded after the project, that the
participating children had a more friendly attitude towards immigrants. The evaluation also
concluded that the amount of ethnic confrontations diminished in the schools taking part.
Additionally, the evaluation demonstrated that the immigrant pupil taking part in the
project had a strengthened sense of their own cultural identity (Ole Reitov "The politics of
world music in Scandinavia: One step forward - two steps backward")
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