From our School: Celebrating the Class of 2015!

 The MUSON School of Music in partnership with the MTN Foundation just recently graduated 22 musicians who have received professional training in the general art/performance of music. This Class is the 8th, under this scheme. A series of events were lined up to commemorate the occasion. The festivity started off with the Band & Orchestra Concert followed by the Opera Scenes and then the concert. Sponsors, families and friends cheered all through. They obviously felt proud of the students who gave good accounts of themselves.
The MUSON School of Music is an outreach of the society set up to promote music education. In order for MUSON to meet its objective of educating children in the
performance and theory of music, the Society started a music school in 1989 as an institution to train school aged children and members of the general public interested in learning how to play a musical instrument. The school ran on a part time basis with part time staff drawn from local universities and schools.

The school was granted permission from the ministry of Education in 2002 to award Diploma in Music. The Diploma Department is full time post secondary institution, which started September 2006 with twenty one students. The requirements for entry into this course are similar to those for university entrance with the addition of music theory and performance which are assessed in a rigorous interview and audition.
The course is performance based, so each student is required to perform both in chamber music ensembles and solo recitals.  In recognition of the high standards of MUSON students, MTN Foundation has granted each of them full tuition and book scholarships in addition to a 6 day travel allowance for each student.
At present, the MUSON school of Music is in two sections, the Basic section and the Diploma section.
The school is directed by Mrs. Marion Akpata. She is an epitome of excellence and perfection.
Mrs. Akpata is a 53 year veteran in music education, with a B.S. degree in Music Education from the Crane School of Music of the State University of New York, Potsdam and a Masters in Music (Performance) from Michigan State University.  This American trained musician and teacher first worked in Nigeria in Bukuru and Jos in 1966.  She returned to New York where she taught music until being appointed Principal of Idia College in Benin City in 1974.  In 1976 she moved to Lagos and assumed duty as a Principal Education Officer (music) at Queens College where she stayed for 6 years and rose to the post of Assistant Chief Education Officer (music).  She then moved on to open her own studio, teaching piano and theory.  From 1989 Mrs. Akpata accompanied her husband on his UN assignments as Resident Representative and Resident Coordinator in Swaziland, Ghana and then back to UN Headquarters in New York.  She resumed her teaching career there.  In July 2005 she assumed duty as the Director of the MUSON School of Music with the task of starting the Diploma programme. The Diploma section of the MUSON School has grown and set the highest standards of music educations during her tenure.
For more info on the School, please visit www.muson.org