Page 23 - 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. 23
Ana Èoriæ, DEVELOPING COMMUNITY MUSIC ACTIVITIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION...
In order to expand their role in the local community, musicians have to create the space
and conditions for meaningful musicking2 in various, mostly non-formal contexts in the
community. Koopman (2007) describes three main characteristics of all community music
programs (although there are numerous possibilities and forms): participative
collaborative music-making, wellbeing and community development and personal
growth. The flexibility of the format can be seen in several ways. First of all, it usually
includes going to the places in the local community not typical for concerts and
music-making in general. Second, it usually includes using various types of music; usually
it is more likely to be popular and traditional, but the classical is very welcomed. It is very
often connected to marginalized groups of the society. According to Higgins (2012a and
2012b), what matters the most is a safe, supporting and welcoming environment and
invitation, as well as meaningful connections between the people.
Research on community music activity Notes of love
Notes of Love are a community music program developed at the beginning of academic
year 2017/2018 as an initiative of the non-governmental organization Smile for Everyone,
whose volunteer Ana Èoriæ was asked to expand her volunteering practice beyond reading
bedtime stories in children’s hospitals to reading stories with sound to the residents of
Center for Education of the Visually Impaired Children Vinko Bek. As a university
assistant at the Music Education Department, Academy of Music, Unversity of Zagreb,
she decided to include her students in the process, offering them a pedagogical practice
with children with special needs not provided in their regular curriculum. Furthermore, it
was a good chance to develop the idea of ‘sounded’ stories that will be performed in the
stereo space, where sounds come from various sources in the room so that visually
impaired children can enjoy the full surrounding of the story. Each workshop of the
program consists of two parts. First one is the story performance (20-25 min), which is
usually very interactive and it tries to stimulate different senses. The second part is a
follow-up part, usually made of several different activities, depending on the audience.
The obligatory part is to teach children to sing song from the story, which is usually
combined with playing Orff instruments, while with audiences who can see activities
sometimes include visual arts.
Students who want to enrol in the program are aware that it is a task which will not give
them grades. Officially, it is not related to any subject in their curriculums, but basically, it
is related to everything they learn as a theory at music pedagogy subjects, and usually have
no chance to experience in the pedagogical practice (especially working with children
with special needs). The only official ‘award’ they get are volunteer hours from the NGO.
In June 2018, after only 8 months of workshops, the program got the University Rector’s
Award for ‘valuable work in the community, as well as in the academic society’.
Since the very beginning, the program has no funding, which makes a big challenge and
often a barrier to any further growth. All the instruments used in the program are either
personal or in the ownership of Vinko Bek Center. Several guest workshops organized
2 According to Small (1998), musicking is a term which describes participation in any way of musical
performance – through the performance itself, or active listening, dancing, composing, etc. It observes the
term ‘music’ as a verb (‘to music’).
21
In order to expand their role in the local community, musicians have to create the space
and conditions for meaningful musicking2 in various, mostly non-formal contexts in the
community. Koopman (2007) describes three main characteristics of all community music
programs (although there are numerous possibilities and forms): participative
collaborative music-making, wellbeing and community development and personal
growth. The flexibility of the format can be seen in several ways. First of all, it usually
includes going to the places in the local community not typical for concerts and
music-making in general. Second, it usually includes using various types of music; usually
it is more likely to be popular and traditional, but the classical is very welcomed. It is very
often connected to marginalized groups of the society. According to Higgins (2012a and
2012b), what matters the most is a safe, supporting and welcoming environment and
invitation, as well as meaningful connections between the people.
Research on community music activity Notes of love
Notes of Love are a community music program developed at the beginning of academic
year 2017/2018 as an initiative of the non-governmental organization Smile for Everyone,
whose volunteer Ana Èoriæ was asked to expand her volunteering practice beyond reading
bedtime stories in children’s hospitals to reading stories with sound to the residents of
Center for Education of the Visually Impaired Children Vinko Bek. As a university
assistant at the Music Education Department, Academy of Music, Unversity of Zagreb,
she decided to include her students in the process, offering them a pedagogical practice
with children with special needs not provided in their regular curriculum. Furthermore, it
was a good chance to develop the idea of ‘sounded’ stories that will be performed in the
stereo space, where sounds come from various sources in the room so that visually
impaired children can enjoy the full surrounding of the story. Each workshop of the
program consists of two parts. First one is the story performance (20-25 min), which is
usually very interactive and it tries to stimulate different senses. The second part is a
follow-up part, usually made of several different activities, depending on the audience.
The obligatory part is to teach children to sing song from the story, which is usually
combined with playing Orff instruments, while with audiences who can see activities
sometimes include visual arts.
Students who want to enrol in the program are aware that it is a task which will not give
them grades. Officially, it is not related to any subject in their curriculums, but basically, it
is related to everything they learn as a theory at music pedagogy subjects, and usually have
no chance to experience in the pedagogical practice (especially working with children
with special needs). The only official ‘award’ they get are volunteer hours from the NGO.
In June 2018, after only 8 months of workshops, the program got the University Rector’s
Award for ‘valuable work in the community, as well as in the academic society’.
Since the very beginning, the program has no funding, which makes a big challenge and
often a barrier to any further growth. All the instruments used in the program are either
personal or in the ownership of Vinko Bek Center. Several guest workshops organized
2 According to Small (1998), musicking is a term which describes participation in any way of musical
performance – through the performance itself, or active listening, dancing, composing, etc. It observes the
term ‘music’ as a verb (‘to music’).
21
