Music industry stakeholders in Tanzania have called for a standardized music syllabus to be incorporated into the country’s Amali vocational and practical skills education stream to equip learners with creative economy career skills, The Citizen reported.
The proposal was raised at a Dar es Salaam meeting involving Yamaha Music Gulf and its local partner, Topshop Music Limited. Yamaha Music Gulf’s Sub-Saharan Africa sales and marketing in-charge Moses Mbogo said the company developed a music curriculum that ordinary classroom teachers can deliver without specialized instrumental instructors. The curriculum has been introduced in Egypt and Singapore, with adoption preparations under way in Kenya, according to Mbogo. The company seeks Tanzanian government cooperation to introduce it in local schools.
The programme would use electronic keyboards with built-in learning features to teach basic music theory and performance. Yamaha also plans to collaborate with Tanzanian producers, composers and sound engineers to develop instrumental sounds and rhythms reflecting local genres including Bongo Flava, Taarab and Singeli.
Topshop Music chief executive Aminmohamed Janmohamed said formal music education could help young people develop skills needed to support industry growth and reach wider markets, adding that a structured syllabus would give learners professional skills from an early age. Shifa Hospital Dar es Salaam chief executive Bashir Haroon said early exposure to music education could create career opportunities in audio engineering, live performance and commercial composition.
Stakeholders say integrating music into formal education could help develop local talent, strengthen technical capacity and create youth employment opportunities.
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