-President Jagdeo, at commissioning ceremony
GUYANA’S long elusive quest for a national institution where music can be taught to children became a reality Wednesday when President Bharrat Jagdeo officially unveiled the plaque to commission a spanking new facility at Brickdam and College Road, Georgetown to house the National School of Music. The president said that he is extremely pleased with efforts made by Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport to accomplish the feat.

This institution, the president said, will not only add to the stock of growing cultural assets that Guyana possesses, but will aid in the resurgence of music in the country.
“We think through this school and its outreach programmes we can involve people who never had a chance to study music formally and to be trained to be part of this cultural resurgence that we are having in Guyana,” President Jagdeo said.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, who also addressed the gathering, comprising music teachers, students and members of the music fraternity, said , “It is an historic day for Guyana and its people”.
This elusive dream of such a facility, he said, has come true as a result of several partners who never faltered in realizing the project, including the Guyana Music Teachers Association and the Ministry of Health, through the Health Sector Development Unit.
“The Ministry of Health allowed us to access funds for this magnificent building…if we did not have their support then this would have never been possible,” Minister Anthony said.
The facility, Dr. Anthony said, will serve as Guyana’s premier institution for music education in Guyana.

The school, he added will be a catalyst to propel the next wave of music development in Guyana, and having recognized this, government will be investing in the development of its human resources to meet the capacity to deliver the right practical and theoretical training for prospective students.
Dr Anthony said that Guyana’s musical folk heritage is rich and quite unique, and thus “we need to research it and document it so it can be transferred from one generation to the next”.
Against this background, he said that the school will serve in that capacity, to help convey that musical folk heritage since the country’s music history remains untaught and practically undocumented.
This, he said, will be changing, “as we await the release of Dr. Vibert Cambridge’s book on music in Guyana”.

“Guyana musical history will be taught in the school curriculum…we must tell this generation of Guyanese about those inspirational figures that have really stood up and have made Guyana proud, especially Rudolph Dunbar, a Guyanese who was the first person of African descent to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra,” Minister Anthony informed.
He said there are many other illustrious Guyanese, like Dunbar, who have made a name for themselves and Guyana in the music fraternity.
In addition, Minister Anthony lauded the work of many music educators from the 1980s who laid the foundation for music in Guyana.
Minister Anthony also indicated that he school will be putting in place the necessary logistics for persons to write external examinations, until Guyana can develop its own certificate programme.
The school, he said, will also be facilitating the implementation of a national countrywide music programme, based on the Venezuela module.
The vision of the school is to ensure that every child is able to play a musical instrument. “We will be moving to popularise music in Guyana, since we know its tremendous benefits,” Minister Anthony said.
The school will open new opportunities and thus empower a new generation with the right skills to compose, play and blend new forms of music for all to enjoy.
The school is equipped with modern classrooms and musical instruments.  (GINA)