Czech Republic

• University: Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of Music Education, Brno
• School: Jaromír Hlubík’s Elementary and Nursery School, Lipov
• Ensemble: Horňácko’s Dulcimer Band of Petr Galečka, Lipov
• Concept: The Development of Creativity through Traditional Czech Folk Music

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University: Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of Music Education, Brno 

The Department of Music Education (Masaryk University, Brno) has been a part of the Faculty of Education established in 1946. The institution currently offers the Bachelors and Masters study programmes for teacher of music for lower and upper secondary schools, specialized study of piano playing and solo singing and the doctoral programme Specialization in pedagogy – Theory and Teaching of Music. Students complete e.g. courses in harmony, history of music, basic training in leading a choir, playing an instrument, voice training, music pedagogy, didactics, music aesthetics, theory of art, multimedia computer applications, ethnomusicology, popular music etc. Affiliated to the department is a string orchestra and also choir representing the whole university.

Publication activities of the members of the department focus, apart from writing materials for studies, textbooks and monographs, on the area of axiology of music, aesthetics, semiotics, didactics, ethnomusicology, and they strive through specific empirical research in all fields of music and musical culture to portray the dynamism of transformations of social functions of music in the present-day world and in the life of a young person. The department´s profile is formed considerably by rich artistic activity focused on composition and interpretation of contemporary music and on authentic interpretation of old music. An important activity of the department with a tradition going back to the 1960´s is regular international music and pedagogical conferences known as Musica viva in schola.

The Participants in the Erasmus Musik kreativ+ project (from the Masaryk University):

• Doc. PhDr. Judita Kučerová, Ph.D.: coordinator, development of the Czech project conception, ensuring cooperation between national and international partner institutions, developing curricula, search music materials, involving university students and musicians in the program, organizing of project work and international project meetings, editing work, elaboration of documents and reports to the EU, dissemination of information about the project.
• PhDr. Blanka Knopová, CSc.: developing curricula, verification of educational ideas in practice, involving university students in the program, search educational materials, cooperation with the basic school teachers, pupils and musicians.
• Doc. PhDr. Marek Sedláček, Ph.D.: taking photo, shooting video materials, elaboration of document processing, editing work, dissemination of information about the project, translation activities.
• Mgr. Hana Havelková: developing curricula, verification of educational ideas in practice, search educational materials, cooperation with the basic school teachers, pupils and musicians, translation and interpreting activities.
• Mgr. Ondřej Musil: taking photo, shooting video materials, elaboration of document processing, cooperation with the basic school teachers, pupils and musicians, translation and interpreting activities.
• Mgr. Radka Hladilová, DiS.: cooperation with the basic school teachers, pupils and musicians, translation and interpreting activities.

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School: Jaromír Hlubík’s  Elementary and Nursery School, Lipov

Jaromír Hlubík’s  Elementary and Nursery School in Lipov is in the village in the foothills of the White Carpathian Mountains in south-east Moravia. This region is typical of live tradition of folklore culture. Roughly 1500 people live here. The founder of the school which includes an elementary and nursery school, after-school club and canteen, is the Village of Lipov. At the present, there are 147 pupils in nine classes (years) from the villages of Lipov and Louka. The children take part in various knowledge and sports competitions; especially in sport they gain good results. Within the Association of School Sports Club, the pupils were in the third place out of all 69 elementary schools from the region of Hodonín in sports competitions which took place throughout the whole year (floorball, basketball, foot tennis, swimming, table tennis, football, athletics etc.). More than the third of the pupils do folklore activities. The child folklore ensemble Lipovjánek is active here which comprises of three children groups according to their age. They learn here to know and maintain folklore music and traditions of their region by singing, dancing and playing in a dulcimer band. They often represent the school at cultural performances in the town and surroundings, take part in folklore festivals etc. The school is called after Jaromír Hlubík, the Czech patriot and teacher, who taught here.

The Participants in the Erasmus Musik kreativ+ project (from the School):

• Mgr. Petr Galečka: organization of the work with children, cooperation with the basic school teachers, pupils and musicians, search musical materials, songs instrumentation, preparation of children in a cimbalom band, taking photo, shooting video materials, elaboration of document processing, elaboration of documents and reports to the EU.
• Mgr. Jarmila Kopuncová: work with children in music education, search and verification of educational topics, work with children at international meetings, taking photo, shooting video.
• Mgr. Lenka Ňorková: work with children in art education, search and verification of educational topics.

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Ensemble: Horňácko’s Dulcimer Band of Petr Galečka, Lipov

Horňácko’s Dulcimer Band of Petr Galečka from Lipov focuses on the folklore heritage from the Horňácko Region, a small area situated in south-east Moravia in the Czech Republic on the border with Slovakia. The ensemble originated in 1993, in cooperation with the Lipovjan dance ensemble. The repertoire of the band is primarily based on the folk music from the own region, but not only that. The band is formed by 8 musicians (string instruments, clarinet, dulcimer). They have played at many festivals abroad, in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Slovakia and realized many performances in Czech towns. When the Czech Republic joined the European Union, they also played in Brussels. The ensemble has made five music recordings. The musicians have worked with children singers for a long time in different public competitions. Within the project Musik kreativ+, they participated in the preparation of the music samples. They harmonized the chosen songs, took part in instrumentation, they accompanied the pupils from elementary school during singing, dance, children games etc.

The participants of the ensemble in the Erasmus Musik kreativ+ project:

• Mgr. Petr Galečka, violin (first violin, head of the band)
• Petr Hlahůlek, violin
• Ing. Josef Staša, violin
• Ing. Milan Červenka, clarinet
• PhDr. Vít Trachtulec, dulcimer
• MUDr. Jiří Ovečka, double bass
• Ing. Josef Karásek, viola
• Ing. Zdeněk Maňák, viola

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Concept: The Development of Creativity through Traditional Czech Folk Music

This general introduction relates to modules: Inspiration by the Rhythm of a Folk Dance Song, Inspiration by Folk Traditions and Ceremonial Folklore and Inspiration by the Sounds of Nature.

The Care of Musically-Folklore Heritage

The traditional culture of village classes attracted significantly the European society, especially during the Enlightenment and romanticism. Under the influence of economic-social changes at the turn of 18^th and 19^th century connected with migrating processes, there were the first manifestations of shifting folk culture from the original environment to the environment of a different context (Pavlicová & Uhlíková 1997). The folk poetry, song, music and dance became thanks to its aesthetic value inspirational sources in different artistic areas. A hundred years later, due to transformation of culturally social conditions of life, the change of traditional folk culture was even faster. Thanks to the representatives of intellectual classes of society who realized some cultural values were fading away and who tried to maintain them, many manifestations of folk tradition were kept on the basis of outer stimuli. Folk song and music became the part of a well-kept cultural heritage of the nation (Pavlicová & Uhlíková 1997).

Thanks to a written record of the manifestations in collections, selective anthologies or song books the folklore material was stored, at the same time there were changes in spontaneous spreading of the phenomena. The knowledge and popularity of folklore songs started to decrease sharply in last decades of the 19^th century. The importance of school and family education in presenting folk songs was mentioned by many Czech writers (Bartoš 1874, 1890, Neruda 1891), music composers (Janáček 1890), scientists (Hostinský 1906, Helfert 1925) and many others. The music scientist Bedřich Václavek (1930/40) significantly specified the requirement for a practical care of a folk song and folk art at that time. He emphasized that it would not be right to fall into romantic admiration for traditional folk culture, nevertheless, it was necessary to use its manifestations for further creative activities. Václavek’s thoughts, aimed mainly at school education, were further developed by other researchers (Sirovátka 1973, Holý 1979, Sirovátka – Holý 1985).

Folk Song, Instrumental Music and Dance at School

Folk songs represent in Czech schools a traditional starting point for the development of music abilities and skills of children. It is an irreplaceable part of the education process (Sedláček 1999), especially at elementary grade of children development (Jurkovič 1997). It penetrates Czech musical-educational systems and didactic materials of the last century in different forms; most significantly especially in the last forty years (Sedlák 1977, 1979, 1985). In the conditions of the current social development typical of multiplicity and multi-layer of cultural phenomena provided by technical media, it is necessary to count with the changes of attitudes to traditional life phenomena especially in the youth, thus also to musical folklore area of music. Although this area comprises a significant part of cultural heritage, without a purposeful education it is receding the perception of the youth with its content and poetic (sometimes also music) means (Kučerová 2011). Especially teenagers have a priori negative attitude to the activities from the area of folk music, some teachers succumb to the pressure from them and include folklore genres to lessons only exceptionally. If we are to follow cultural and educational heritage of our ancestors and use it fully in rational and emotional maturing of the youth, we must search ways of introducing traditional phenomena, even if in updated contexts, so that they attract current and future young generations (Kučerová 2011).

The folk song, instrumental music and dance might be used at school for the application of educational aims and means. In accessible form, they enable active music (self)-realization and experience which is an important impulse of creative attitude in pupil’s manifestation. The various potential of traditional folk music offers employment in interpretational and perceptive activities and these manifestations at the same time offer topics for creative activities realization. Creative stimuli might be in melodic-rhythmical and poetic file of the song melody and its instrumental accompaniment, musically movement expression, dance or drama manifestations. In creative process, there is the reflection of the given aspect coming from music and non-music character of the song and its gradual transformation into a new shape. Creative situations go through various phases – from varying, imitation of the given folklore patterns, searching for parallels in different artistic areas and cultural connections, to own manifestations of children music production. The pupils take part in music activities according to their abilities and skills in the form of collective, group or individual work; the folklore structure might be successfully used in elementary playful activities with a song and also with more creative tasks. With the development of interpretational skills and listening experience, the music memory, thinking, fantasy, general imagination, will, stamina and other psychological file, child personality are strengthen at the same time.

The following didactic topics show the possibilities of work with music and verbal parts of Czech folk songs, regional types of melodies, dances, ways of instrumental accompaniment. The stimuli to creative activities of pupils might be aspects reflecting functionality of folklore structures, relations to both common and festive moments in man’s life which comprise the file of out-of music impulses. It is e. g. about connection with work activities, annual and family habits, folk faith, superstitious practices and general aesthetic and ethic features of the given manifestation.

References