Page 166 - Glasbenopedagoški zbornik Akademije za glasbo v Ljubljani / The Journal of Music Education of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana: Mostovi med formalnim in neformalnim glasbenim izobraževanjem, leto 15, zvezek 31 / Year 15, Issue 31, 2019
P. 166
SBENOPEDAGOŠKI ZBORNIK, 31. zvezek
Vida Matjan paid special attention to working with the youngest in preparatory class. This
class was based on creation of visual impressions by using cutout figures on flannelgraph
as didactic tool and followed by specific music examples. This is how in 1962, in
cooperation with Miloš Miloševiæ, Muzièka poèetnica – the first methodological
handbook for music teachers in Montenegro was developed (Markoviæ, Æoso Pamer,
2017).
In celebration of 60 years of the foundation of Kotor’s School for Elementary and
Secondary Music Education, it was decided that the school be named after her. In this way
the town of Kotor and the community of music pedagogues paid due respect to the
pedagogue who dedicated almost entire of her life to music life and culture of Kotor.
Vida Matjan received numerous awards and honors during her life. She died in 1993, aged
96 and was buried in Kotor.
Music Fairytales
In addition to her pedagogical work, Vida Matjan created music. While working with
children of different age, she felt that dealing with music exclusively through playing a
certain instrument did not entirely correspond to development of children’s imagination
and psyche, so she started to seek new solutions. That is how she came to an idea to create
music fairytales – musical-stage pieces to be performed by students, which comprised
playing, singing, acting and dancing. Technical requirements in terms of performance
were entirely adapted to students’ performing abilities. The performing of these fairytales
affected the emotional experience of different music content which was ultimately Vida
Matjan’s objective. We know today how very important is to link singing and playing with
body movements in music pedagogy, which tells us that Vida Matjan was a visionary who
more than 50 years ago employed such an innovative approach in music education.
Reflecting on her pedagogical approach and the ways she designed lessons, Vida herself
said:
I started with education lessons, age-adapted, covering the topics such as: house, school,
street, relations with friends, relations with parents. I dealt with nature and animals,
travels, personal hygiene (…) I was doing it gradually often making the accompanying
drawings. Lectures were followed by learning of nice walk. I focused on rhythmic games,
small-scale recitals that were often followed by music and acting. Frequent contacts with
parents and teachers and my everlasting work with children enabled me to get a clear
picture on how to compose for children. It was a beginning of my personal development
phase too which brought me to this point of dealing with this kind of education work
(Matjan, 1993, according to Debi anoviæ, 2018, p. 67).
Already from the school year 1948/49 Vida Matjan began her work on musical stage
adaptations. First in line was a musical fairytale Forest Fairytale. Images from Children’s
Stories was created in the school year 1950/51 followed by Hedgehog’s Cottage in
1951/52 based on Branko Æopiæ’s verses. In the school year 1952/53 Little Castle was
created based on a one-act drama by S. Marshak and followed by piano while in 1966 it
was orchestrated. Finally, in the school year 1955/56, Vida Matjan’s workshop produced
dolls and staged a puppet show Straw Runt, based on Ivan Minatti’s work, focusing on
164
Vida Matjan paid special attention to working with the youngest in preparatory class. This
class was based on creation of visual impressions by using cutout figures on flannelgraph
as didactic tool and followed by specific music examples. This is how in 1962, in
cooperation with Miloš Miloševiæ, Muzièka poèetnica – the first methodological
handbook for music teachers in Montenegro was developed (Markoviæ, Æoso Pamer,
2017).
In celebration of 60 years of the foundation of Kotor’s School for Elementary and
Secondary Music Education, it was decided that the school be named after her. In this way
the town of Kotor and the community of music pedagogues paid due respect to the
pedagogue who dedicated almost entire of her life to music life and culture of Kotor.
Vida Matjan received numerous awards and honors during her life. She died in 1993, aged
96 and was buried in Kotor.
Music Fairytales
In addition to her pedagogical work, Vida Matjan created music. While working with
children of different age, she felt that dealing with music exclusively through playing a
certain instrument did not entirely correspond to development of children’s imagination
and psyche, so she started to seek new solutions. That is how she came to an idea to create
music fairytales – musical-stage pieces to be performed by students, which comprised
playing, singing, acting and dancing. Technical requirements in terms of performance
were entirely adapted to students’ performing abilities. The performing of these fairytales
affected the emotional experience of different music content which was ultimately Vida
Matjan’s objective. We know today how very important is to link singing and playing with
body movements in music pedagogy, which tells us that Vida Matjan was a visionary who
more than 50 years ago employed such an innovative approach in music education.
Reflecting on her pedagogical approach and the ways she designed lessons, Vida herself
said:
I started with education lessons, age-adapted, covering the topics such as: house, school,
street, relations with friends, relations with parents. I dealt with nature and animals,
travels, personal hygiene (…) I was doing it gradually often making the accompanying
drawings. Lectures were followed by learning of nice walk. I focused on rhythmic games,
small-scale recitals that were often followed by music and acting. Frequent contacts with
parents and teachers and my everlasting work with children enabled me to get a clear
picture on how to compose for children. It was a beginning of my personal development
phase too which brought me to this point of dealing with this kind of education work
(Matjan, 1993, according to Debi anoviæ, 2018, p. 67).
Already from the school year 1948/49 Vida Matjan began her work on musical stage
adaptations. First in line was a musical fairytale Forest Fairytale. Images from Children’s
Stories was created in the school year 1950/51 followed by Hedgehog’s Cottage in
1951/52 based on Branko Æopiæ’s verses. In the school year 1952/53 Little Castle was
created based on a one-act drama by S. Marshak and followed by piano while in 1966 it
was orchestrated. Finally, in the school year 1955/56, Vida Matjan’s workshop produced
dolls and staged a puppet show Straw Runt, based on Ivan Minatti’s work, focusing on
164
