The Winterthur City Council, in collaboration with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), has drawn up a music promotion model for the city on behalf of the Grand Municipal Council. It has been approved by the legislature.
In the consultation process, it was requested several times that the city should enable all children to attend free basic musical education for more than one lesson within the block times.
The city council is seeking to restructure and redistribute funding. Recorder lessons are to be discontinued. The funds thus freed up are to be used more efficiently and effectively. Basic music education in the first primary classes will be extended from the current one to two weekly lessons. In addition, music education projects such as musicals, choir singing and dance performances are to be promoted and supported more in future.
The mission statement explains that traditional recorder lessons no longer correspond to current music education knowledge. Demand has been steadily declining since 2003, with only a minority still taking advantage of the musical offer. In addition, the search for qualified recorder teachers is becoming more difficult, as the Swiss Association for Youth Music (SAJM) only offers very limited training in this area.
The cooperation between the city of Winterthur and the music schools is to be defined by service agreements. These should enable a better and more flexible response to the changing needs of teachers and students at the music schools and the city of Winterthur.
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