- Musicmatters on their new scholarship programme and the potential of music therapy
The power of music is undeniable. As a creator, it is an incredibly powerful form of expression, and as a listener, music has the power to harness emotion – to calm, to heal, to make or break a moment.
Music is inherently a human-centric, creative, fun, and performance-driven exercise, and while there are many qualifications one can achieve when studying music, sometimes approaching music from a strictly academic perspective can be limiting, which is where other forms of learning must come into play.
Musicmatters is one such music school that takes a non-academic approach to music education for all ages. Founded 12 years ago by a pair of talented musicians, Musicmatters is a collective of musicians committed to developing a platform for music beyond the mainstream in Sri Lanka.
“One of the key motives of Musicmatters was to provide a creative space to offer kids lots of opportunities to perform and develop their skills without the specific academic goals that the majority of western music education in Sri Lanka is heavily rooted towards,” shared Musicmatters Founder Sumudi Suraweera.
Musicmatters has been providing uniquely structured, performance-driven, high-quality music education for over 10 years to students of all ages in Colombo and more recently, to those living abroad. 2022 sees Musicmatters launch an intensive scholarship programme aimed at musically engaging children and teenagers, and giving them a chance to connect and develop musically.
“In keeping with our core beliefs which are grounded in being a provider of quality musical education to the musically oriented, our school has instituted a brand new scholarship fund to serve the needs of potential students,” Suraweera explained. “The Dharman Jayasinghe Musicmatters Scholarship Fund is made possible by an endowment by the late Mr. Dharman Jayasinghe, an entrepreneur who wished his Singapore estate to be utilised for the education of Sri Lankan children. It was established by his family to honour the memory of the late Mr. Dharman Sathanath Jayasinghe and his sons the late Hiran Jayasinghe and the late Ashan Jayasinghe.”
The scholarship, which covers an educational journey of five or six years (which Suraweera explained is the optimum amount of time for someone to properly grasp music and an instrument), will follow Musicmatters’ general practice of musical education with three key components – individual tutoring, ear training (Musicmatters’ take on music theory which has a heavy practical emphasis), and ensemble learning, where students get to make music with each other.
Through the scholarship fund, Musicmatters hopes to allow up to 75 children and teenagers to study and engage with music. “The purpose of this scholarship fund is to provide scholarships to deserving students between the ages of eight and 16 years who have shown exceptional interest or skill in music and have fulfilled the necessary criteria. With this, recipients will gain access to a high standard of musical education and resources through a six-year programme,” Suraweera explained, adding: “Whether it be to follow a tertiary musical education or pursue a career in music, the objective of the scholarship is to equip students with the right tools to face their future and create a generation of passionate and talented musicians. The programme is done mainly in Sinhala and English (mostly in Sinhala). We wanted to make it trilingual but are limited for the moment in terms of staff who can communicate in Tamil.”
The scholarship fund formally began recruiting students in February this year, and, so far, counts approximately 25 students from communities like Mattakkuliya, Panchikawatta, and Rodney Street within its ranks, all of whom have shown the greatest interest and potential in learning music through other community-based projects with Musicmatters.
Given the nature of learning music and the amount of time it takes for someone to master the skill, Suraweera explained that Musicmatters is being selective about admission to the programme. However, there is no prior skill or musical experience needed for one to be considered. “With a skill like music, it’s hard to become proficient unless you keep at it for a good five or six years, and so, this is the only commitment we ask from the parents and families of prospective students.”
Moving beyond the scholarship fund, Suraweera also gave Brunch a glimpse of what else Musicmatters is going to be working on in the near future – an entirely new frontier for Musicmatters – The Musicmatters Music Therapy Programme.
The power music has to heal and soothe is what forms the basis of this newest form of music education. Music therapy, as the name suggests, is an evidence-based therapeutic technique that involves using music to promote psychological healing and relief to individuals with diverse cognitive, behavioural, emotional, and physical symptoms.
Aimed primarily at kids with disabilities, the music therapy programme will see activities such as listening, playing music, songwriting, and movement used to engage children in the therapeutic process. After an initial period of observation and assessment, one-to-one sessions will be conducted by a facilitator, tailored to each child depending on their abilities and objectives for healing and growth. The resource team will also include a qualified music therapist from New Zealand who will periodically observe and assess the quality of the programme.
As this is a new and, as of yet, unexplored and unregulated form of therapy, at this introductory stage, Musicmatters is offering music therapy completely free of charge, for individuals between the ages of six and 18 years who might benefit from this type of intervention. The Musicmatters Music Therapy Programme is also made possible by an endowment by the late Dharman Jayasinghe, and is currently in its early stages, with the team at Musicmatters currently focusing on recruiting potential students.
“There’s no specific age limit, but there is an informal interview process for us to gauge and select people so that we don’t stretch ourselves in terms of the range of behaviour and type of disability we work with,” Suraweera said, adding: “From what I’ve gathered from speaking to people in the medical practice, there is a big need for music therapy, and it is something to be discovered.”
To apply for the Dharman Jayasinghe Musicmatters Scholarship Fund or to be considered for The Musicmatters Music Therapy Programme, please contact Musicmatters:
Telephone: 94 (77) 285 4606
