URBAN MUSIC OF ALEXANDRAPOLE AND KOMITAS

The ašugh society in Alexandrapol (now Gyumri) emerged and developed under the immediate effect of historical-cul­tural processes. This society carried out an important mission with the public acknowledgment it possessed. It was an embodiment of the new qualities in the Armenian national thought in all the spheres of the ašugh school: ideological, propagandistic, music-poetic, etc.Among the songs leaning towards the Near East ašugh traditions that constituted the huge heritage of about forty ašułs, the songs based on Armenian verses display the modal, prosodic and stylis­tic features of Armenian monodic music. My paper presents the criteria in the song-creation of the ašugh society of Al­exandrapol, which are fully in line with Komitas’s fundamental principles of Ar­menian national song art.

The technology of creating an art project in the activities of the manager sociocultural sphere

The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze the technology of creating an art project as a strategic tool that can provide an effective process of implementing the activities of the manager of the socio-cultural sphere. Methodology of the study is the principles of dialectics, systemic, socio-cultural, and historical approaches, fundamental provisions of the theory of culture. The general scientific and interdisciplinary research methods are used: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, comparison. The scientific novelty of the obtained results is to identify the characteristic features of urban music culture that distinguish it from other manifestations of musical culture; providing characteristics of the cultural space of the city as an environment for the realization of urban musical culture; determining the place of the script approach in the life of the representatives of urban music culture. Conclusion. Urban music culture is a complex and multi-vector phenomenon that characterizes the realization of music culture in the form of creating, performing, and listening to music in an urban environment. It demonstrates the attitude of members of the urban community to music and its role in the life and evolution of the urban social and cultural environment demonstrates a public interest in its manifestations through a desire to listen to music, to make music, or to produce works that are well-received by the urban society. The realization of the city's musical culture, its embodiment occurs by performing its basic functions, among which the most important are: axiological, cognitive, educational, communicative, semiotic, relaxation

Successful urban elementary music educators : a phenomenological investigation

The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics and experiences of teachers who have been successful in urban elementary music classrooms. I aimed to garner an authentic picture and capture the essence of what it means to be a successful urban elementary music educator. This hermeneutic phenomenology was guided by two research questions: (1) What are the lived experiences of urban music educators who have been successful in teaching music at the elementary level? (2) What are the pedagogical approaches used by elementary music educators in urban contexts? The related sub-questions were as follows: (1) What characterizes success in the urban elementary music classroom? (2) What are characteristics of these educators (e.g., personal, educational, interpersonal)? Data collection included approximately 60-minute semi-structured interviews from eight participants. A constant comparative method was utilized to examine the coded transcripts. Trustworthiness was established through data triangulation, participant checking, and peer checking. Through the three-part analysis, six themes emerged: (a) relationships are key; (b) understanding how music functions for students; (c) willingness to perform unofficial job duties; (d) concerns about urban teacher preparation; (e) curricular and pedagogical decisions; and (f) urban music teacher characteristics. The findings of this study, as well as that of other scholars in music education, suggest that being a successful urban elementary music educator is the result of a composite set of skills. The teachers who participated in this study use creativity when making curricular and pedagogical decisions, possess a complex knowledge and understanding of their students, their students' families, and their students' community, and have a deep affection for what they do and whom they serve. Successful urban elementary music educators can serve as valuable resources to provide understanding and offer suggestions for improving urban music education, including ways to nurture and develop the next wave of music educators.

Curating the urban music festival: Festivalisation, the ‘shuffle’ logic, and digitally-shaped music consumption

In recent years, music festivals have grown in significance within local cultural policy, city branding and tourism agendas. Taking the Mexefest festival in Lisbon as a case in point, this article asks how, in the digital streaming era, music festivals in urban environments are framed, curated and experienced. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, our analysis examines how music festival programmers curate the urban festival experience, for both locals and tourists alike. First, we identify the emergence of urban music festivals in recent decades, and how modern festival programmes have adopted the cultural technique of the ‘shuffle mode’ as an influential principle. Second, we investigate the work of festival programmers through the lens of ‘cultural intermediaries’, and ask how their programming strategies, particularly through digital mobile media (such as music playlists), contribute to an aestheticised experience of the city during the festival. Third, we focus on how the Mexefest festival events are staged in tandem with brand activation by sponsors like mobile phone company Vodafone and their radio station Vodafone FM. In doing so, we highlight the participation of festival-goers through their embodied engagements with digital media, music listening and urban space, and evaluate the heuristic value of ‘shuffle curation’ as a tool for the understanding of music festivals as a distinctly global and networked form of leisure consumption in urban culture.