Music School in Árbær Who are we? (Well, my name is Stefán Stefánsson and I’m the headmaster)

Music Education for: Mostly children from the ages of 6 to 18 Beginners to advanced Most students are from the Árbær district which is one of Reykjaviks suburbs. Some come from other towns and neighbourhoods around the Reykjavik area.

Where are we? Based in our own facilities in Fylkisvegur. Also working inside the public school: Ingunnarskóli, where students go in between and from other lessons to go for music lessons. This happens inside a normal school day. A project of ensemble teaching inside the public school Fossvogsskóli.

How many? There are 177 students in Arbæjar-district 27 students in other projects. Age distribution of our students? Let’s see...

What do we teach? Private lessons on all the major instruments Theory –Music Theory –Ear Training –Music History and appreciation –Composition Ensemble

Concerts Two concerts every semester with attendance of family and friends Many small recitals inside the school Christmas and spring concert in the local church in Árbær Our goal is that every student performs at least once every semester.

What is a typical schedule for a 10 year old? Possible scenario: –Private lessons half an hour two times a week. –Music Theory once a week. 1 hour –Possibly ensemble participation once a week 1 hour.

What are our goals? To make our students active musicians within their community. That they may be able to enjoy the participation in music, alone or with others. To prepare them technically and intelectually for future studies at conservatories or other advanced studies. To teach our students to learn to enjoy the world of music regardless of style, origin, culture or what have you.

Special project “Let’s play together” a ensemble project inside a public school: Fossvogsskóli. About 25 students participate in two orchestras during school hours. Teachers from Tónlistarskóli Árbæjar come and teach them to play together, rehearsals 3 times a week, as well as the basics for the instruments: Flute, clarinet, saxophone, drums, bass, guitar and piano. Students can be complete beginners. The main object is to make music together. This project was sponsored specially by Reykjavik City. Is it working? Our two weeks of work are very promising!

The use of information technology Online video and multimedia for theory. –A part of our school program. How does that work? Let’s see…

Student goes online and whatches the lesson from our website The student prints out assignments. Returns it to his teacher in his next lesson. Lesson is corrected, documented and returned with comments. Student goes on to next assignment...

Is this working? Yes, works better every year. But it is surprising how many printers break down in Reykjavik!

We also use for teaching in the classroom an icelandic music education website: Which is run in collaboration with Reykjavik city. All students in Reykjavik’s grunnskóli have access to this site.

And we record our students and publish online Please enjoy an excerpt of a piece of original music by Viktor Jóhann Hafþórsson – pianoplayer

Tusen takk og ha en fin dag! (Hope that’s norwegian…any questions?)