OPERATION OF MUSIC SCHOOLS (Ministerial Decision 20923/Δ2/23-02-2021)
1. Students, graduates of the Primary Schools of the Prefecture of Thessaloniki, are enrolled in the 1st class of the Music School of Thessaloniki, after selection.
2. Applications usually start at the beginning of May and examinations are held between 15 and 30 June of each school year. In the first half of May, a meeting for parents is held at the MSTH during which information is provided on the procedures for the entrance examinations. Parents/guardians of students wishing to participate in the selection process must submit to the Secretariat of the Thessaloniki Music School:
- the application form for the entrance examinations, and
- a photograph of the candidate.
3. The number of admissions for the Thessaloniki Music School is set at 72 students from the list of the successful candidates who obtained the highest score with a perfect score of 100 and a total of three sections are created in the first grade. The remaining candidates are designated as runners-up. Candidates who do not achieve the minimum overall pass mark of fifty (50) points cannot attend the Thessaloniki Music School.
4. The participation of candidate students in the examinations for the Thessaloniki Music School does not deprive them of the right to apply for participation in the admission procedures of another Standard Experimental High School in the city.
5. For the selection of students, a Selection Committee (SC) is formed for each Music School, which is appointed each year by decision of the relevant Regional Director of Education and with the recommendation of the Artistic Committee of the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs.
6. The subjects in which the candidates are assessed for admission to the first grade of the first year of the Secondary School of Music of Thessaloniki are: rhythm, acoustic ability, vocal ability, discrimination of timbres and optionally a musical instrument (European or traditional), at a level at least equivalent to that of the Lower School.
It is important to emphasize that students need not have any musical knowledge. The music appreciation ability of the students is tested and they are instructed by the Selection Board for each part of the examination and for the procedure of the examination.
In particular, candidates are asked to demonstrate their musical perception skills in the following areas:
Α. Perception of rhythm
1. The examiner will clap a simple, short and very specific rhythmic pattern to the candidate, which the student is asked to repeat. This rhythmic pattern will be played by the examiner twice in succession. The aim of this test is to establish the candidate’s ability to understand and reproduce simple rhythmic structures (i.e. rhythmic units of two and three time signatures and, where appropriate, their simple combinations).
2. In the next phase, the candidate is asked to accompany with clapping, using a fixed rhythmic pattern, the song he/she has chosen to perform (see also C. Vocal ability).
Β. Aural ability
1. The candidate, listening to randomly selected notes played by the examiner on the piano (with which he has no visual contact), is asked to identify the change in pitch and to demonstrate it by moving his hand up or down accordingly.
2. He then reproduces with his voice ascending and descending intervals with a common or different base, short musical phrases or even a whole scale, performed on the piano by the examiner.
3. Finally, in the third part of this examination, the candidate must memorize and repeat on a simple instrument (xylophone or metallophone), which is not familiar to him, short melodic phrases of up to 5 notes and in a range of one octave, which the examiner will play on the piano. The candidate is entitled to request a repetition of the theme, which will be performed without the examinee making eye contact with the keys.
C. Vocal ability
1. The candidate shall be asked to sing before the Commission a song of his/her choice from the tonal base of his/her choice.
2. Then, with the help of the piano played by the examiner, the student’s ability to transfer the song to other nearby tonal bases, his tonal accuracy and the quality of his voice are tested.
D. Distinguishing musical phrases, timbres and musical character (CD listening)
Candidate students, listening to recorded musical examples from a CD, are asked to respond to 4 musical games:
In the 1st game they have to identify how many times a particular melodic phrase (musical theme or motif) is repeated in a piece and mark the number in the corresponding box of the first game. This phrase is initially played in isolation to make it easier for the candidates to identify it. In the second game they have to mark in the corresponding box the number of musical instruments that can be heard in the passage. In the 3rd game they are asked to identify and name the category (Strings, Wind Instruments or Percussion) to which the musical instruments heard on the CD belong. In the 4th game the task is to correctly match musical pieces with given titles. Candidates observe on the special form characteristic track titles next to boxes. These titles are given in random order and correspond to short pieces of music to be played from the CD. Candidates must mark in each box the number of the track to which, in their opinion, the title given next to the box would correspond.
Ε. Performance (optional) of a musical instrument
If the candidate has knowledge of a musical instrument, he/she may optionally perform a piece of music of his/her choice at a level at least equivalent to that of the Lower School.
7. The examination topics for the candidates of students participating in the selection process are prepared under the responsibility of the Artistic Committee of Music Schools of the Ministry of Education and delivered to the President of the N.E. or, if a G.E.E. is formed, to the President of the G.E.E. If a Regional Director of Education has been appointed, they shall be sealed and unsealed by the President of the National Committee or the General Committee in front of all members of the Committee immediately before the start of the selection procedure. Items may also be sent electronically via VBI.
8. At the conclusion of the selection process, the EC or GEC shall meet at the call of the Chairperson and on the basis of the special examination sheets, shall draw up a list of examinees in descending order of marks up to a minimum total score of fifty (50) marks. The above list of examinees shall be posted at the school concerned and forwarded to the relevant Directorate of Secondary Education.