Page 34 - 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. 34
SBENOPEDAGOŠKI ZBORNIK, 31. zvezek
every workshop and who will graduate very soon – hopefully, sharing this idea in their
communities. The stories we did deserve much more performances and workshops to keep
them ‘alive’. Each new workshop and rehearsal makes a significant work on the quality of
performance, both in musical and in acting way. Since acting and speech itself is
something unfamiliar to most musicians, thinking about further work on that might be a
significant step to quality enhancement.
Challenges that always happen in the extracurricular activities with no grades are
numerous, but it doesn’t mean it can stop the realization of the initial idea. For example, in
the service- learning/volunteer work,9 there is always a question of motivation of students,
as well as finding the time and adjusting schedules for workshops and rehearsals that fits
everybody. The schedule is the reason why most students who want to join the program
have to quit at the beginning because the rehearsals can’t be fixed in the initial schedule of
the university. Also, in some attempts to mix people from the NGO with the students from
the Academy, we had a similar problem. Another thing we noticed as extremely useful for
all the students and teachers who join in the future is a database of stories that we make
since the very beginning because each story deserves a ‘proper life’ and a chance to be
performed numerous times. Besides that, the process of reviving the old story is much
easier and faster than going from the very beginning.
Conclusion
As a general conclusion of the paper, I would like to encourage all university teachers who
would like to start community music activities with their students, with several practical
advice:
a) start with simple action and enthusiasm;
b) always plan and reflect;
c) planning is great, but prepare students to be flexible and able to improvise;
d) it is an organic process, so go step by step (and build each level slowly);
e) connect the same workshop (story) in different contexts (in the pedagogical
sense, so that students can see how to adapt the same material with various
audiences);
f) as a university teacher, be part of the process (facilitator, not just an observer);
g) through the program prepare your students for all aspects of community music
programs (organization, artistic work, follow-up activities, different audiences,
etc.);
h) make a network of experts from various fields, institutions, NGOs and students
(sharing knowledge and experiences as critical friends);
i) with each new workshop explore something new;
j) find financial resources for workshop materials and instruments.
Besides these suggestions, I would like to encourage university teachers to develop more
interdisciplinary programs in the community and follow the process with some of the
practice-based research methods in order to maintain the quality of the program and share
9 Although in the theoretical part there is a clear distinction between service-learning and volunteering, in
the research part of the paper the term ‘volunteering’ is used just because we get volunteer hours for the
workshops, as well as that we use that term in our everyday communication.
32
every workshop and who will graduate very soon – hopefully, sharing this idea in their
communities. The stories we did deserve much more performances and workshops to keep
them ‘alive’. Each new workshop and rehearsal makes a significant work on the quality of
performance, both in musical and in acting way. Since acting and speech itself is
something unfamiliar to most musicians, thinking about further work on that might be a
significant step to quality enhancement.
Challenges that always happen in the extracurricular activities with no grades are
numerous, but it doesn’t mean it can stop the realization of the initial idea. For example, in
the service- learning/volunteer work,9 there is always a question of motivation of students,
as well as finding the time and adjusting schedules for workshops and rehearsals that fits
everybody. The schedule is the reason why most students who want to join the program
have to quit at the beginning because the rehearsals can’t be fixed in the initial schedule of
the university. Also, in some attempts to mix people from the NGO with the students from
the Academy, we had a similar problem. Another thing we noticed as extremely useful for
all the students and teachers who join in the future is a database of stories that we make
since the very beginning because each story deserves a ‘proper life’ and a chance to be
performed numerous times. Besides that, the process of reviving the old story is much
easier and faster than going from the very beginning.
Conclusion
As a general conclusion of the paper, I would like to encourage all university teachers who
would like to start community music activities with their students, with several practical
advice:
a) start with simple action and enthusiasm;
b) always plan and reflect;
c) planning is great, but prepare students to be flexible and able to improvise;
d) it is an organic process, so go step by step (and build each level slowly);
e) connect the same workshop (story) in different contexts (in the pedagogical
sense, so that students can see how to adapt the same material with various
audiences);
f) as a university teacher, be part of the process (facilitator, not just an observer);
g) through the program prepare your students for all aspects of community music
programs (organization, artistic work, follow-up activities, different audiences,
etc.);
h) make a network of experts from various fields, institutions, NGOs and students
(sharing knowledge and experiences as critical friends);
i) with each new workshop explore something new;
j) find financial resources for workshop materials and instruments.
Besides these suggestions, I would like to encourage university teachers to develop more
interdisciplinary programs in the community and follow the process with some of the
practice-based research methods in order to maintain the quality of the program and share
9 Although in the theoretical part there is a clear distinction between service-learning and volunteering, in
the research part of the paper the term ‘volunteering’ is used just because we get volunteer hours for the
workshops, as well as that we use that term in our everyday communication.
32
