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How the Private Music School “EVA Music” was created
The international music school “Eva” was established in March 2016, with the desire to offer Belgrade something new, something it wasn’t in the city until then – a systematized international music education.
What did it take? First of all, to approach music in a systematized way for the first time with a new program, which until then was not well known in Belgrade, neither to the audience nor to colleagues. It is the ABRSM program, the oldest music education system in the world, spread over more than 100 countries. In addition to systematization and methodology, he also introduced standardized exams. What does this mean? That our children were never evaluated by us, but by a completely objective committee from Great Britain, whose decision we could never influence.
What has this brought us? A great burden that we chose and that we carry to this day. First of all, the burden of educating the market about something new: a system in which solfeggio does not exist as a separate subject, and generations of parents are used to it in the Balkans. Then, the fact that there are three and not five grades, and therefore the highest grade is not as common as we had learned until then. And in order to prepare the children well for those exams, we needed a special system for that – with which we guided (and still guide students today) to the goal.
This system includes, in addition to two individual instrument lessons per week, also four public performances per year. We are the only school in the region, and perhaps in the world, where all students perform at all concerts, and you can find all those recordings on our YouTube channel. This brings us to the vision of our school: to get the most out of every child.
In order to achieve all this, we need professional staff, who, in addition to the profession, also possess new methodologies in pedagogical work. First of all, the ability to approach each child in a unique way, and to find that magical motivation that will make the child fall in love with music and the process of playing. That magic is, first of all, love for music, and our vocation as pedagogues.
Our goal is to make children independent, and that after two to three years they can do and learn a lot by themselves, and not that they forever need a teacher or the help of someone from the outside.
In addition to children, our school is known for its large community of adult students. We are here to fulfill unfulfilled childhood wishes and we must say that working with adults is a special joy. They have stable motivation, they know what they are there for and it is wonderful to see how they open up and develop something new within themselves with our help and support.
“Eva” turns ten years old today, and we are proud that from the start, in March 2016, we had a clear vision of what it would be like today, and that we never gave up on quality.
A place where children develop talent, confidence and love for music
Just as some new parenting is popular today, which builds new generations of children, it is also necessary to adapt the methodology and pedagogy to the new generations.
Today, we have generations that do not tolerate authority just like that, but need to constantly prove that authority. Authority is proven by presence, accessibility, willingness to approach the same problem in different ways and to look at each student from a special angle, because each is an individual for himself. Authority is proven by constantly showing that we are ready to learn from our students too. But, we also really love music and the instrument we teach, and we are very happy to stand on the podium together with them.
We talk openly with the students about stage fright, about the fear of public speaking, we are also open to telling personal stories in order to share personal experiences with them and encourage them on their journey.
The atmosphere in the school is creative, because only such can lead us to the goal, and the goal is for the children to love music, but also the work process, and to later transfer it to all spheres of life. When we work on art, the person across from us opens up and becomes vulnerable, but opens up and becomes vulnerable and a mentor, and it’s a special exchange of energy and emotion. Of all the arts, music perhaps has that magic the most, because it contains no words. “Where words stop, music begins”.
Lessons of music and instruments that inspire
The path of our offer is very interesting, above all in the opening part of the modern section (rock section, electric and bass guitar, and drums).
We started with classical instruments, from piano and guitar, which are always the most requested in all music schools and all countries of the world. Today, after 10 years, we offer literally all classical musical instruments except the harp: piano, guitar, flute, clarinet, saxophone, singing, violin, viola and cello.
When the market needed to open a modern department, we tried with professors who either graduated from modern music colleges, or simply came from rock bands. However, over time, we quickly realized that it was difficult for them to follow the standard of our methodology, and we left – a step back!
Today, in our school, modern music is very successfully taught by classically educated professors. And that turned out to be ideal for our vision and standards.
In addition to the classical and rock program, which we offer to everyone from 7 to 107 years old, we also have a musical entertainment center, which was also created due to market needs – a musical entertainment center called “Mala Eva”.
And “Mala Eva” is led by a flute teacher, who loves working with younger age groups and groups, and who expanded her education using the De la Crona methodology and has been successfully transferring that methodology to our students for years.
We also held master classes of world-famous musicians, with the desire to contribute from the private sector to the state, and to be a neutral oasis of musical encounters, which we succeeded in doing.
And this year we are organizing the third open international competition “Play Your Dreams”, for all instruments. Most of the competition takes place in the premises of our school, and one part is online – competitors from all over the world register and send videos.
What did we want to achieve and contribute with this competition? First of all, to connect the private and state sectors, to meet children from all over the country on one neutral ground, whether they study according to the international or national method, whether they are in school or have private lessons at home. To exchange experience, obstacles and solutions in work with teachers, as well as musical notes.
The number of candidates increases from year to year, as well as the number of cities and villages where young musicians come from, which tells us that there is a need for this kind of competition.
Numerous performances, competitions and successes that marked the first 10 years
Our greatest success and joy are our students, above all those who have been growing with us for years, and there are many of them. Every day we are grateful from the bottom of our hearts for the trust our parents give us, and every day we try to surpass ourselves and to maintain or even increase our work criteria, if possible.
Some students have really grown with us in these ten years, some of them are already professional musicians and colleagues today, and what is perhaps the most important – all those who learn to play a musical instrument with us, when they go further into the world – continue to play.
We consider the fact that we transferred their love for music to be our greatest success.
Vision for the future
We are aware that we have set high standards when it comes to music education in the country and the region, and we are ready to continue setting a good example.
In the future, we all want art and classical music to be as widespread as possible, to be an integral part of the culture of our country. To increase the awareness of the importance of playing music, and therefore the need. Because when a child grows up with art, he grows into a more concentrated, emotionally stable but also empathetic person, who will become an example of a good person in our society.
If we help to reach this goal even a little, our mission has succeeded.
