THE STATE’S Music School in Limassol will officially begin operations next month.
The Education Ministry decided to open the island’s second music school following the success of the first in Nicosia, which opened last February.
The schools will work in the form of an all-day school, with pupils attending normal lyceum classes in the morning and continuing with four hours of music lessons from 2.30pm onwards.
These will include individual lessons for piano and any other musical instrument of their choice.
The aim of the Music School is to prepare and train pupils who wish to follow music as a career, while at the same time not depriving them of a general and complete education.
“We teach anything here, from jazz, to classical music, to Byzantine music,” the Education Ministry’s Maro Skordi, the woman in charge of the project, told the Cyprus Mail.
She said that parents initially appeared hesitant to enrol their kids, mainly because they were afraid of trying something that was so new.
“But we are slowly resolving our problems and parents are becoming more accustomed to the idea,” Skordi pointed out.
“Our aim is to help as many pupils as possible to achieve places in Greek as well as international universities.
“In the future, we would also like to co-operate with other European music schools to plan concerts and other such events.”
An evaluation was carried out to see how successful and effective the first school was in order to move ahead with its operation for a second year.
“You see, each pupil costs the state a lot of money,” Skordi explained. “Each pupil has two individual instrument lessons every school day, piano and any other instrument they choose.
“So for the time being, the state couldn’t fund more than 20 pupils per school.”
But as Skordi pointed out, the state has paid for all of the schools’ equipment.
“The state has bought all the instruments you could imagine and they will be loaned out to pupils.
“It is a complete scholarship for talented children.”
Twenty pupils were chosen for each school, following personal interviews, as well as written and oral exams.
The Nicosia school is based at the Pancyprian Gymnasium, while in Limassol it is based at Lanitio Lyceum A.
The lessons will be offered for free, while pupils’ afternoon schedules will be flexible, meaning they can adjust the times and lessons to suit them.
The school has employed music teachers who specialise on various subjects, such as musical instruments, music theory and traditional music.
All new lessons, except individual instrument lessons, will be held in groups, with emphasis given on the active participation of pupils.
“The children seem to be really excited about attending the school. Despite it being hard work, they are enjoying it,” said Skordi.
Third grade gymnasium pupils should apply for a place in the Music School by the end of May.
