MUSIGA Gears Up For MUSIGA Academy

The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) is feverishly preparing for the take-off of the long awaited MUSIGA Academy.

As part of the preparation, the Union has held a training of trainers workshop, a validation workshop and pre-testing exercises for the 10 modules to be used by the academy.

The modules are in music studio specialisation, traditional instruments specialisation, western instruments specialisation, centre stage grooming, music business management, copyright and publishing and music theory and musicianship. Others are song writing, composition and arrangement, ICT for music career development and survey of music in Ghana.The training of trainers, validation and pre-testing exercises took place in Winneba and they featured industry practitioners, representatives of the School of Performing Arts (S.P.A), University of Ghana, Legon, as well as some students and lecturers of the University of Education, Winneba.The various exercises involved a select team from the School of Performing Arts led by Dr Joshua Amuah, Head of the Music Department of the School, Timothy
Andoh and Eric Fiagbedzi. Others included Kofi Asamoah, a leading vocal coach and former faculty member of the Music Department of the University of Education and representatives of MUSIGA.

As part of the validation exercise, a number of academics and industry persons reviewed the manuals and made their contributions. These included Prof Linus Abraham, rector of the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) who are collaborating with MUSIGA on the academy project, Prof John Collins of the Bookor African Music Foundation (BAPMAF), a former lecturer of the S.P.A, Charles Amoah, a renowned musician and Jonathan Cudjoe, a legal practitioner with extensive copyright experience and Mohammed Kolan, a music teacher.

On the heels of the validation exercise was the pre-testing exercise led by Eric Fiagbedzi of the S.P.A which involved students of the University of Education, Winneba led by Big Fish, a lecturer. The students critiqued the manuals and gave insightful feedback.

The training of trainers workshop involved leading industry figures like Zapp Mallet, Aka Blay, Willie Roi, Celestine Donkor, Kofi Asamoah and Dela Jackson. Others included Baba Ahmed, Cosmos Agya Kojo, Bessa Simons, Verus Nartey and Paa Kay.