Composition learning at a music school on the example of the School Composers’ Club at the K. Szymanowski Primary and Secondary Music Schools in Wrocław

It is no use looking for the educated musicians who were given a chance to come into longer contact with composition as a school subject being part of their formal education. Meanwhile, fascination with an act of creation and willingness to get familiar with music “from the inside” accompany school-age people. It is then that first, bashful compositional attempts are made. Over time, pupils search for new sounds on their instruments, improvise, experiment, get familiar with music literature. Such attempts should not go unnoticed – an observant pedagogue will easily notice creative predispositions in their pupils. In this article, the author shares his pedagogical experiences gained while giving composition classes at the K. Szymanowski Comprehensive Primary and Secondary Music Schools in Wrocław. The idea of promoting the art of composition was fully implemented in the form of the School Composers’ Club, founded in the school year of 2016/2017, the activity of which is based on the author’s original school curriculum, a system of individualized education and various forms of young composers’ presentations. The Club’s activity assumes, on the one hand, preparing pupils to take up compositional studies and, on the other one, fostering their general musical development enriched with creative competences.

Group classes and the development of individualities of students from the specializations of choreography and musical

The article signals the problem an academic teacher must face while teaching a group class in artistic fields of study. The development of artistic individuality and awareness is a long and complex process, heavily influenced by the relation between a teacher’s and student’s personality, as well as the use of relevant to the situation, motivational tools. Is such a process likely to be observed while giving classes to a group of students? What factors does it depend on? What does the process of a student’s self-discovery rely on in this situation? The author presents her reflections based on the experience gained while working with choreography and musical students at the Academy of Music in Łódź.

A ‘tailor-made’ ensemble – an outline of ensemble music-making at a primary music school

Music-making in ensembles at a primary music school is an invariably current topic, though still discussed definitely too rarely. Pedagogues teaching both the youngest and a little older pupils recognize the value of collective singing, playing or moving to music. They indicate a number of benefits drawn from ensemble music-making. In this article, the Author, who is an experienced teacher conducting school ensembles for many years, based on her own pedagogical experience, outlines the potential behind non-standard solutions as regards line-ups of children’s ensembles. She also discusses the question of repertoire for unconventional ensembles, indicating selected options of sourcing the pieces.

“Singing” in a primary school of the interwar period in the context of nationwide educational-ideological conceptions – source analysis

One of the first objectives of the Polish state, restored after the period of partitions, was to develop a new, standardized and nationwide system of public education. During the interwar period, school curricula objectives were affected by changing political powers and reflected the government’s pursuits and ideas. In the first years after regaining independence, the focus was placed on the idea of national education and the development of good morals, alumni’s independence, as well as the necessity of learning through hands-on experience. The May Coup changed rules of the political system and, as a result, led to the formulation of an educational ideal emphasizing the concept of a state and the cult of the marshal Piłsudski’s figure. The article analyses assumptions of the “Singing” program so as to find an answer to the question of how the state’s political ideas were implemented on the grounds of general music education. A pedagogical-historical perspective, providing the context for musical issues, was adopted. An in-depth analysis of sources, such as legal acts, school curricula and pedagogical journals from the period of 1918-1939, showed that the leading role in delivering pedagogical-ideological objectives belonged to the teaching of singing as a form of education, and to a school song with patriotic, religious or ludic topics, which formed the rudiments of education and music pedagogy. Research findings indicate a relation between a political idea and content-related, methodological matters regarding education and music pedagogy.

What musician would you like to be? The psychological flexibility model at the service of musicians – introduction

Musical education and development are connected with numerous challenges, such as great expectations, repertoire requirements, or consistent practice. At the same time, a destructive role of assessment, comparisons and expectations does not influence solely the effectiveness and quality of concerts, or auditions. Musicians experience various obstacles, including doubts, self-criticism, lack of self-confidence; they also experience anxiety and depression more frequently than the rest of the population. Going through such psychological hardships has an impact on their professional life and the quality of life in general. Over the course of music education, it is worth striving for the development of working methods regarding the prophylaxis of mental health and maintenance of mental well-being, which could be introduced as part of systemic programs offering psychological help. What may potentially be used here is a model of psychological flexibility, equipped with firm empirical foundations and covering processes that are tailor-made for the needs of the musical community. Formal and informal exercises in mindfulness, value recognition, or setting goals based on values, applied as part of work within the psychological flexibility model, result directly in, for instance, mindful, dedicated preparation and performances, as well as in enhanced self-confidence indirectly. For musicians this may be of a particular importance, as it has impact on better management of workload and preparations, despite experienced pressure of achieving perfection, on a higher quality of performance, enabling to experience ultimate and mindful performance, and first of all – on a sense of meaning and fulfillment.

Emisja głosu w przestrzeni edukacyjnej, artystycznej i terapeutycznej (recenzja książki)

Emisja głosu w przestrzeni edukacyjnej, artystycznej i terapeutycznej redakcja naukowa Lidia Kataryńczuk-Mania Wydział Pedagogiki, Psychologii i Socjologii Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego Zielona Góra 2020 s. 324, ISBN: 978-83-945714-5-0

The importance of Emil Jaques-Dalcroze’s solfeggio to the development of musicality and creative skills in the 1st-3rd-graders of an elementary music school in the light of the authors’ research

The authors of the article present findings of their own pilot study regarding the use of Emil Jaques-Dalcroze’s solfeggio in the development of musicality and creative skills in the 1st-3rd-graders of an elementary music school. The experiment was carried out in the elementary music school in Sucha Beskidzka, based on an original school curriculum encompassing the subjects of “eurhythmics” and “aural training” taught integrally. The aim of the study was to determine efficiency of aural training taught in line with Dalcroze’s method. The research procedure involved the authors’ original test of musical skills, checking the level of tonal sense development, intonation, sense of timing, as well as musical memory, aural-motor coordination, movement expression and creative skills. It aimed to answer the question regarding the extent to which Dalcroze’s exercises, integrating aural, vocal and motor activities, can develop a pupil’s acuity of noticing musical phenomena and improve their musical competences.

Statistics regarding music education in Poland in the interwar period

Statistical issues regarding music education in the 2nd Republic of Poland have not been discussed thoroughly so far. This article attempts to do so. The source material comprises statistical data from the Ministry of Art and Culture, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education, as well as articles published in music literature of the interwar period. Presented statistics cover music schools, solo singing schools, schools for organists, schools of eurhythmics and art dance, as well as drama schools. Music was taught in all the aforementioned institutions, therefore reports treated all these schools en bloc. Existing sources enumerate schools, their managerial staff and the establishments’ addresses. Preserved statistical data also enabled a more detailed analysis, such as, for instance, recognition of pupils’ preferences as regards their choice of instruments, as well as music education accessibility in various parts of the country. The preserved statistical source material is probably incomplete, does not show a full picture of the then music education. It presents, however, with great accuracy, the figures regarding this type of education. Statistical information was collected truly meticulously by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education, particularly in the late 1920s and in the 1930s. Along with primary and secondary education, music education became an important element of the overall education system in the interwar period.

The role of transcription in a didactic process on the examples of chamber works scored for piano for four hands and for two pianos

The aim of the article is to demonstrate the need for employing transcriptions of well-known musical works in the teaching of piano performance for four hands and for two pianos. The origins of the concept of transcription is presented, development of transcription in the context of the history of musical forms is traced back, as well as performance-related aspects of a transcription are analysed. The article shows advantages of a transcription as an arrangement developing the pianist’s technique and art of interpretation. The publication also includes a list of the transcribed pieces available from the Petrucci Online Library, as well as a list of original transcriptions of the 19th-century Polish composers scored for four hands. The article also features a link to the recordings of selected transcriptions of popular operatic, symphonic and chamber works, made by the author of the article together with Agata Kalińska-Bonińska.

Note from the Editor

Note from the Editor