Search
Avra Pieridou Skoutella
Dr. Avra Pieridou Skoutella is a music educator specializing in early childhood and general music
education, a state-certified trainer for lifelong learning and professional qualifications, an academic
researcher in music education and anthropology of musical childhood, keynote speaker, writer, creator,
and presenter.
Dr Pieridou Skoutella holds a Ph.D. in Music Education from the Institute of Education -University of
London in children’s musical learning and music identities, an MA in Music Education from Reading
University, UK, a Bachelor of Music from Eastman School of Music-University of Rochester, USA, and
Elementary School Teacher Diploma from Cyprus Pedagogical Academy. She has been a Post-Doctoral
Research Scholar at UCL-University of London in the anthropology of musical childhoods and music
education and a full Fulbright scholarship recipient during her musical studies at the Eastman School of
Music, USA.
She founded the independent non-profit academic organization C.C.R.S.M. Cyprus Centre for the
Research and Study of Music www.ccrsm.org.cy (2012). The Centre’s activities, with its Board of
Directors and Global Advisors, aim towards the growth and improvement of (a) music research in
Cyprus and the wider Mediterranean region, (b) bridges of cross and inter-cultural dialogue of music
practices in the Mediterranean, (c) innovative and creative potential among music students,
professionals, and researchers in Cyprus.
Avra is the founder and current chair of the Mediterranean Forum of Musical Childhoods, Education
and Culture http://www.musichildhoodsforum.com/ with the participation of countries bordering the
Mediterranean, and experts from the UK, USA, and Australia. Its inaugural Conference at the European
University of Cyprus 2018 attracted a large number of delegates from the EU, Canada, USA, Australia,
UK, and Arab countries, with subsequent Conferences in Spain and Italy. The Forum is currently
working on a research project on the current situation of music education in primary school systems
around the region, led by Professor Pascal Terrien at the University of Marseille, France.
Her research book Small Musical Worlds in the Mediterranean has been published in London by
Ashgate Press (2015, hardback) and Routledge Press (2020, paperback, e-book). Her research has also
been published in book chapters, and scientific journal articles, in Greek, English, German, and Spanish
and in the International Encyclopaedia of Music and Culture (2019, Sage Publishers USA). She was a
member of the Editorial Board of IJME (ISME) 2014-2020.
Avra has rich teaching experience in all levels of education, initially as an educator in public primary
and secondary schools in Cyprus. She co-designed and defended for accreditation, the curriculum for the
first Bachelor of Music Programme in Cyprus for Arte Music Academy where she taught for 8 years.
She designed and co-authored the training manual for music and disadvantaged youth for the European
Music Council and the online manual for Early Childhood Music Education in the Mediterranean
http://www.ecmeinmediterranean.com/index.php/en/ She also designed the STAMP online webinar
series on music and entrepreneurship for music professionals for the European Music Council. In
2
October 2021, she joined the 5-member team for the design of the music leadership document, National
Standards of Music, and National Music Curriculum of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Avra authored and co-produced the publication Cypriot Traditional Songs for Children; through Music
Education Practices, which includes a series of illustrated Songbooks, a music learning manual, and a
CD with Cypriot children’s traditional singing from the east coast of the island. The Ministry of
Education in Cyprus accredited it and equipped all public schools with it (pre-primary and primary
levels). Cypriot enterprises sponsored its production. The publication was featured in national
broadcasts, by the main news broadcast of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, and by all country
newspapers. It led to the revival of Cypriot musical heritage for children.
Avra designs, coordinates, and participates in European-funded transnational projects for music
education. The Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Early Childhood Music Education in the Mediterranean
which she designed and coordinated, was selected as a best practice project for the 30 years of the
Erasmus funding scheme on behalf of Cyprus and was presented at the Celebration Conference in Bonn,
Germany (2017). Currently, she designs and authors along with an international creative team the
MusiChild™ Publication Series of European shared musical heritage for children. She just completed a
collaboration with a symphony orchestra in Prague and she is working towards the outcome publication
and marketing process.
Dr. Pieridou Skoutella is frequently invited for keynote speeches and workshops at academic
conferences. In May 2021 she delivered the opening keynote address at the 3rd ‘International Congress
of Innovation and Inclusion in Culture and Music’, in Spain; and in January 2019 she was a keynote
speaker at the International Symposium of Music Education and Didactic Materials, by IARTEM
International Association for Research on Textbooks and Educational Media, and University of Santiago
di Compostela, Spain. With the edition ‘Mediterranean Musical Cradle’ and the MusiChild™ Project,
she represented Cyprus at the European Conference "Common Cultural Heritage and European
Citizenship" in Palermo, Sicily (2018). She was also a keynote speaker at the Modus-Modi-Modality
International Conference of the International Musicological Society (IMS) for the Balkans and the
Mediterranean, at the Arab Academy of Music’s International Music Education Convention, Lebanon,
and others.
