Title: The Basic Principles and Methods of a New Music Syllabus for General Education Schools Author(s): Dmitry Kabalevsky Source: Kabalevsky, D. (1993, Fall). The basic principles and methods of a new music syllabus for general education schools. The Quarterly, 4(3), pp. 10-22. (Reprinted with permission in Visions of Research in Music Education, 16(4), Autumn, 2010). Retrieved from http://www-usr.rider.edu/~vrme/

It is with pleasure that we inaugurate the reprint of the entire seven volumes of The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning. The journal began in 1990 as The Quarterly. In 1992, with volume 3, the name changed to The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning and continued until 1997. The journal contained articles on issues that were timely when they appeared and are now important for their historical relevance.

For many authors, it was their first major publication. Visions of Research in Music Education will publish facsimiles of each issue as it originally appeared. Each article will be a separate pdf file. Jason D. Vodicka has accepted my invitation to serve as guest editor for

the reprint project and will compose a new editorial to introduce each volume. Chad

Keilman is the production manager. I express deepest thanks to Richard Colwell for granting

VRME permission to re-publish The Quarterly in online format. He has graciously prepared an introduction to the reprint series.

Volume IV, Number 3 9

The Basic Principles AndMethods Of A Ne-w-MusicSyllabus For GeneralEducation Schools

By Dmitry Kabalevsky

Ihave devoted many years of my life toteaching music to school children of allages. Throughout, I sought a pedagogi-cal concept that was derived from music anddeeply rooted in music, one that links musicas an art to music as an educational disci-pline, and music studies at school to life ingeneral. I strove to find principles, methods,and teaching devices that would arousechildren's interest in music and fascinatethem. I tried to bring to children the won-derful art of music with its boundless possi-bilities for spiritually enriching each of theirJives. I endeavored to teach children andteenagers to realize clearly that music, likeother arts, is not merely entertainment, norjust an addition or a "garnish" to life whichone can take or leave at will. Instead, music isan important component of life itself. By this,I mean it is important in the lives of all indi-viduals, including school children.

The principles, methods, and devices that Ideveloped have stood the test of time andwon approval of many music teachers, and,if I may say, have been accepted by schoolchildren as well. These were used for myradio talks on music, which were later re-corded under the title What Music Tells Usand presented in my book About The ThreeV?hales and Many Other Things. Gradually, Icame to the conclusion that these same prin-ciples could become the basis for a new musicsyllabus for the general educational schools.In search of my own methods for teaching

music education, I followed first the views ofAsafiev, who said, "If one looks at music as aschool subject, then, first of all, one must de-cidedly put aside problems of musicology andsay: Music is an art, that is, a certain phenom-enon in the world created by man. It is not abranch of science to be leamed and studied."

Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987) attended theMoscow Conservatory and studied composition.Kabalevsky earned the Doctor of Arts and was amember of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciencesof the USSR. In addition, he established A11 atSchool, the leading music education journal in theformer Soviet Union. The state recognizedKabalevsky's musical achievements by awardinghim the Medal of Honour in 1941.Kabalevsky became concerned with music edu-

cation as a young man. Atage 21, he was teachingpiano (0 young children in a government schooland was struck by the complete lack of very easy,enjoyable piano pieces that would help childrenconquer technical difficulties. He set out to fillthegap himself, and even wrote many essays on thespecial problems of teaching children. His ere-

ative writings and criticism included B. V Asafieu,The Beautiful Inspires the Good, A StOIY of ThreeWhales and Many Other Things, The Music Sylla-bus for General Schools, and more than 500 ar-ticles, many of which were published abroad.

ReferencesAbraham, B. (970) Eight Soviet composers. West

Point, CT: Greenwood Press.Kabalevsky, D. (1988) Music and education: A

composer writes about musical education.London: Jessica Kingsley, in association withthe United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization.

Rodolfo, C. (980) "Kabalevsky, DmitryBorisovich" in The New Grove Dictionary ofMusic and Musicians, ed. by Stanley Sadie.London: MacmilJian Publishers Limited.

10 The Quarterlyfournal of Music Teaching and Learning

Dmitry Kabalevsky, with a young student, photographed in Magnitogorsk, 1986. Photo courtesy of Art atSchool, Moscow.

The Three Whales of MusicAn ancient Russian legend says the Earth

rests upon the backs of three huge whales.Music also rests on three "whales:" song,dance and march, the three main spheres ofmusic. Each sphere may be defined as afield, form, genre, or type, and every musicsyllabus, textbook, and method containsthem. In most, however, the three musicalwhales are treated as examples of the sim-plest music forms, easily comprehensible tochildren at the very first stages of musical de-velopment but gradually replaced by morecomplicated musical forms when their purelydidactic function is outgrown.The incorrect approach to the three whales

can clearly be seen in many songs, dances,and marches that are rich in content and pre-sented as highly developed forms, placingthem in the category of highly sophisticatedmusic works. It is enough to recallMoussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death,Mahler's Songs of the Dead Children,Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Ravel'sLa Valse, the funeral marches fromBeethoven's Third Symphony or Chopin's

Volume IV, Number 3

Second Sonata for Piano, and a great numberof other compositions of equal artistic valueand complexity.And that is not all. Songs, dances, and

marches are the most democratic, populargenres of music. Millions of people in theworld have never heard professional musicand know nothing of musical notation or mu-sic as a profession. Yet one will hardly find asingle person who has never sung a song,never danced, or never marched in a proces-sion to music or to the roll of a drum. Just asthe foundation attaches a house to the ground,so song, dance, and march attach the highlydeveloped edifice of music to the masses ofpeople-the soil from which music springs.A child's first steps to music-at home or at

a kindergarten-s-may be compared to layingthe first stones in a foundation. The child'slessons in first grade may be compared toconstructing not only a good foundation buralso the ground floor of the building. Inthese early music lessons, the child gets toknow the three whales of music consciously,and this is an important step toward con-structing the next floors.

11

[FJirst-graders learn during their first music lessons the mostimportant thing that school can teach them: They must not only

observe phenomena and perceive them with their senses, but alsothink about them. That is, the children learn not only to listen tomusic and hear it, but also to think about it.

As the house goes up story by story, it be-comes clear that the building rests on itsfoundation, but the whole building does notconsist solely of its foundation; so music,while it grows out of songs, dances, andmarches, does not consist only of them. Yet,regardless of what development and enrich-ment the three whales may undergo-becom-ing, perhaps, "songness," "danceness," and"marchness"-no matter how many new shad-ings may be introduced into music throughexpressiveness, descriptiveness, and speechintonations, the three whales will continue as aconstant presence from the earliest music les-sons through the highest stages of musical de-velopment.This is to say nothing of opera, oratorio,

and cantata, which originate in songs and"songness," just as ballet originates in dancesand "danceness." The three whales supporton their backs all classical and modern mu-sic, whether symphonic, chamber, vocal, orinstrumental. Numerous dance pieces occurin the music of Bach and Schubert, Chopinand Grieg, and Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev.Dances and marches are heard in almost allclassical symphonies from Haydn, Mozart,and Beethoven to Shostakovich andMyaskovsky. One hears a dancing characterin many pieces by Ravel, Bartok, andKhachaturian. Even such composers asWagner and Scriabin, who usually avoidedfolk genres, could not avoid the influence ofthe three whales. For instance, there are nu-merous marches and march-like music in al-most all operas written by Wagner, anddance rhythms such as mazurka, waltz, andpolonaise in numerous pieces by Scriabin. Itis difficult to find many pieces without song-like melodies in the entire world of music.Thus, the three genres of music are not

only the simplest and the most easily com-prehensible to children, but they also formthe basis of all music. Song, dance, and

march make it possible to establish a connec-tion between the great art of music and mu-sic lessons at school, while at the same timeensuring close connections between theselessons and life.

Introducing Children to theThree Whales

The use of the three whales proves advan-tageous in the music classroom, beginningwith the child's very first lessons in firstgrade. Before going to school, all children,whether in the kindergarten, at home, or inthe streets of town or country, have repeat-edly heard songs and sung them; hearddance music, observed people dancing, anddanced themselves. The children have seensoldiers and sportsmen march to music, andhave themselves marched to such music. Asa rule, children absorb these universal realexperiences quite unconsciously. When theteacher plays simple songs, dances, andmarches on the piano or some other instru-ment, the children are pleasantly surprised.They already know the foundations of music.During the first lessons, the teacher must

not use the words song, dance, and march.The children will do it themselves. They be-come interested and derive satisfaction fromthe procedure because it seems like a game.Most importantly, the activity fills the chil-dren with confidence in their own abilities("It turns out we know something already"),with self-respect ("We are not so little, afterall") and with trust in the teacher ("All of thisis so clear, and how interesting it is to studywith this teacher"). These successes are veryimportant. All this helps to engage the stu-dents with music lessons; to make the les-sons efficient, logical, and highly emotional;and to create an atmosphere of creativity andpersonal interest.The use of the three whales introduces first

graders to the principal components of musicfrom the start. The students' musical horizon

12 The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning

expands immediately, be-cause they are learning aboutall songs, all dances, and allmarches. This type of musicteaching ismuch broader thanmore traditional approachesto early music teaching, inwhich the students' musicaldevelopment proceeds fromone children's song or simpleinstrumental piece to the nextwithout generalization. Byusing the three whales, anyparticular song, dance, ormarch grows quite naturallyinto the universal, includingall songs, all dances, and allmarches.Music perception immedi-

ately becomes an active andcreative process for the firstgraders, because the teacherinvites them to listen not to asong, a dance, or a march,but to music in general. Thechildren are expected to iden-tify the kind of music playedand to determine to which ofthe three main music fields itbelongs. And they do it!The process of music per-

ception becomes especiallyinteresting when the teacheroffers the students a march-ing song, a song dance, or adance march without tellingthe children beforehand thatsuch combinations exist, thusallowing the students to makethe discovery for themselves.Typically, when a marchingsong is played, half the classwill state definitely that it is asong, while the other halfwill assert that it is a march.The clash of opinions leadsto the discovery of a newtruth, or rather to the realiza-tion that there may be two oreven three whales in onepiece of music.

(Continued on p. 14)

Volume IV; Number 3

Music EducationA.ccording to Kabalevsky-Children should have. no rules or exercises asidefrom involvement with music. Nothing should bern,.emorized or repeated endlessly; instead, the fasci--nating art of music should reign over the entire lesson.--- Students can, of course, memorize practicallyanything in any school subject, but what has beenrnemorized is easily forgotten, as a rule, and leaves notraces in the minds and hearts of the students. Oneremembers only what-has been truly understood.Music and the other arts require even more: Onecanremember6nlywhat has been. both understood andJeZtdeeply.- A. danger accompanies school ..11lusiclessons inimprovisation~ .....It is very easy. to develop in childrenhabits of dilettantism, passive. reproduction of simpleIIlllsical cliches, and the imitation of music banalitiesthat youngsters so often hear in their environmentandremember. To safeguard children against such prob-lems, teachers need highly developed music tastes,rnuch. experience, and theability to approach music

c'-CQrSdollslyand critically.: .~/Teachers must always "run a few steps forward" and.tueh"go back to the material previously learned." For-the teachers, "running forward" reveals the children'sreadiness to assimilate new material. To the children,theleacher's action looks.likea preliminary "looseningof the soil" or a "widening of the field of visiOn;"students become awareofthe direction of the lessons."Goingp~~~" by the teachers shouldne~er.bea mererec~pitul~.tion;instead, it can be comparect!ithalookone castsb~ck~s.~nedimbs a m8ul1~~il1~l1d.reachesanewhe.~?ht,\FrQJ:11there, one cansee.wl)atcouldnotbe seen earlier.- "By.using the three whales, any particulan'scng,dance, or march grows quite naturally into the uriiver-sal,induding all songs, all dances, and all marches:-When a marching song is played, half the classWiUstate~definitely that it is a song, while the other half.willC@s~rtthat it is a march ~0 Tnt: clash of opinions leads~;t9i;tne discovery of a_n~w. truth, or rather to:::tIle:-c~ieaJiiationthat there maybe two or even three whales'_In.~nepiece of music ..

13

In this way, first-graders learn during theirfirst music lessons the most important thingthat school can teach them: They must notonly observe phenomena and perceive themwith their senses, but also think about them.That is, the children learn not only to listen tomusic and hear it, but also to think about it.By proceeding from the three whales, even

the youngest school children can, withoutgreat effort, comprehend any form of music,including complicated works such as an op-era, ballet, symphony, or cantata. When thechildren hear, for example, a song from acantata, a dance from a symphony, or a marchfrom an opera or a ballet, they will meet anold friend-one of the three whales-withoutstopping to think (at least at this time) aboutwhat genre of music they are perceiving.In elementary school lessons, of course,

one can use only fragments from largeworks. This is nothing to fear. Adults, evenprofessional musicians, often extract their fa-vorite melodies from larger musical forms.Why should we deprive children of this right?The teacher needs only to expand from suchfragments to entire large and more complexmusic forms. In this way, children becomeaccustomed to such terms as opera, sym-phony, concerto, cantata, and ballet. Theywill not be intimidated by such forms, unlikemany adults who are afraid now because ofinsufficient music culture. They will alsoknow from experience that the music oflarge compositions is perceptible and closelyconnected with the three whales, as aremany smaller pieces.Song, dance, and march serve as a reliable

bridges by which school children may enterany aspect of the musical art. The childrenspontaneously succeed by relying on auralperception and music making, without goinginto theory and speculation. On the way, thechildren discover that the song turns into"songness," the dance into "danceness," andthe march into "rnarchness."The use of the song, dance, and march

opens up wide perspectives for establishingconnections between music and all aspectsof history studied at school. For instance,folk songs and dances may be compared toan encyclopedia of the life of the peoples ofthe world. This rich possibility can be multi-

plied many times in the works of our ownand foreign composers, past and present.With the help of music, any fact, includinghistorical fact, can be transformed into anemotional experience capable of excitingpeople and leaving a deep impression.In addition, the three whales make it easier

and more natural to expand the content ofmusical studies to include a number of topicsthat gradually widen and deepen the musicalculture of students. Such topics might in-clude musical and colloquial speech; intona-tion in music; development in music; formsof music; and music of the people inhabitingour country.A close connection is established between

music and all other arts, beginning with lit-erature. The purpose of aesthetic educationis combined with humanitarian and historicaleducation. A more detailed treatment of thetopics concerning the multiple connectionsbetween music and life will take place in theintermediate and upper grades, but theteacher should not be afraid of extra-musicalcomparisons beginning in the early grades.For instance, timbres of sounds may be com-pared to different colors on an artist's palette;major keys may be compared to light, brightcolors and minor keys to darker ones.Some notation marks may be compared topunctuation marks such as periods, commas,exclamation, and question marks. Develop-ment in music can be [ux..rtaposed with devel-opment of the words of a song or a story ina programmed composition. Almost everycomposition-with or without words-givesthe teacher the opportunity to link it brieflywith a human feeling or thought, or with afact of life, past or present. The more con-nections are made between music and realityat the lesson, the more clearly the idea of mu-sic as a part of life-as life itself-will bebrought home to the pupils.From the first lesson, first graders discrimi-

nate one whale from the others, judge thedifferences among them, and recognize sev-eral varieties of the same "whale." From thevery beginning, then, the students learn theimportant principle of "difference and simi-larity." This principle will playa decisiverole in all the children's learning activities,beginning with perceiving "constructive" ele-

14 The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning

[A]person unable to hear and respond to music will never be ableto sing, play, or conduct well. Everything such a person learnsregarding the history and theory of music will remain a collection of

hollow, formal facts that cannot lead to an understanding of thegenuine art of music.

ments of music on up to discerning similari-ties and differences in the creative styles ofdifferent composers. This principle isequally important in composing and per-forming music and in music appreciation,and it permeates all spheres of the musicalart, including school music lessons. Practi-cally speaking, the teacher cannot unfold thecontents of any lesson topic without it. The"different/same" principle should be empha-sized as the most important concept for thedevelopment of the music culture of schoolchildren and, moreover, of their abilities toperceive life and give meaning to their expe-riences both in school and out of it.The general theme and goal of my syllabus

is "music and life." This theme cannot besingled out as an independent, more-or-lessseparate unit of the course. The theme mustpervade all lessons at all levels of school,from the first grade to the last one, shapingthe students' world outlook and their stan-dards of morality and nobility of character,like the ideas of patriotism and respect forother people. Music played at the lesson,the teacher's comments, the children's obser-vations and thought-all must help to gradu-ally achieve this goal. Year by year, teachersmust set this task before the students, evermore widely and boldly.In the music classroom, teachers should

allow no empty rhetoric, no standard phras-ing, no "words in general" that are devoid ofconcrete meaning and emotion. I do notdeny the great role played by the teacher'sspeech in instructional and educational work.As Sukhomlinsky noted, the speech of teach-ers "is an irreplaceable means of pedagogicalinfluence over the students' feelings andthoughts. The art of educating children re-quires first of all the skill of appealing to thehuman heart."One or two concise and figurative phrases

said by the teacher in connection with a

Volume IV, Number 3

piece of music will be imprinted in the stu-dents' minds more deeply, and give rise tomore noble thoughts and emotions, than anygeneral statements the teacher might prepare.The words of the song, the music itself, thehistory of the piece, and perhaps some factsabout the lives of the composer and the poetcan inspire the teacher to the neededphrases. In this way, while studying music,children in the first grade will realize they arestudying life, and that music is life itself.

Four ThemesThe arrangement by topics of the new syl-

labus should be emphasized. Each quarterof the school year is assigned a specific topicor general theme. For example, first gradersstudy the following four themes:

1. song, dance and march, the three whaleson which music rests;

2. the content of music;3. where song, dance, and march lead us;

and4. musical idiom.

Lesson by lesson, the topics unfold, be-coming deeper and more complicated gradu-ally and consistently. There is internal conti-nuity in topics between consecutive quartersand school years. All minor themes are stud-ied in connection with one or more of themain topics and with the goal of its realization.Such an arrangement makes assimilation of

learning material more effective. The teacherand the students easily discern main ideasand secondary ones, general points and spe-cific points. The number of pieces, theirtitles, the names of their composers, andother facts usually memorized by studentsbecome relatively unimportant. What be-comes essential is understanding the generaltheme and the individual student's feelingsabout it. Arranging by these broad themesalso leads to the integration of many compo-nents into the whole of the music lesson.This new syllabus proceeds from the study ofdiverse facets of music to an understanding

15

of the whole, and it is contrary to our tradi-tional approach of developing separate com-ponents of students' learning behavior, suchas singing, reading and writing music.The subordination of instructional material

to the general theme of the lesson makes itpossible for the teacher to replace one pieceof music with another without changing artis-tic and pedagogical tasks. It should be em-phasized, however, that the selection of mu-sic for school practice requires great accu-racy. Every piece that is to be played in theclassroom should, as closely as possible,meet the following requirements:

it must have artistic merit and fascinate chil-dren;

it must be pedagogically expedient, ca-pable of teaching students somethingnecessary and useful; and

it must be educational, positively influenc-ing children on an ideological levelwhile meeting their ethnic and aesthetictastes.

Teachers may approach the syllabus cre-atively. Yet they must preserve the thematicarrangement of the syllabus, because the se-quence of gradually unfolding themes is itsvery basis. For better treatment of a topic,teachers suggest to the students the mostnecessary learning activities and bind theseactivities into one thematic unit. In otherwords, everything that sounds and happensat the lesson (music pieces, teachers' remarksand questions, children's answers) is subordi-nate to the four main themes. In this way,the lesson ceases to break into several com-ponents that have little or nothing in com-mon. Any division of the lesson should existonly in the mind of the teacher; ilie childrenshould not know about it. For them, the les-son is to be organized around the single no-tion of music and the art of music.

Freedom from rigid schemes in combiningelements of the lesson permits teachers toinsert any components necessary for sustain-ing students' attention. According to thealertness and mood of class, and taking intoconsideration the many other factors thatmake one lesson unlike any other, theteacher may choose low, quiet, and mournfulmusic, or something vivid, merry and ener-getic. Sometimes teachers may choose to omitsome components of the lesson or some

pieces of music in order to be sure a particulartopic is firmly impressed in the minds of thestudents, and use the omitted material for alater lesson. Teachers become free from anystandard scheme of conducting lessons, butthis does not negate the use of a system inteaching. Freedom in pedagogical creativitydoes not mean arbitrariness or chaos.The task facing teachers is not easy. They

must combine all components of the lesson,subordinate them to the general theme of thelesson, quarter, school year, and full schoolcourse of music while maintaining the logicaldevelopment inherent to each component.The topical arrangement of the syllabus is

advantageous to teachers for two reasons .First, teachers may freely maneuver withinthe framework of the quarter and year sylla-bus and not exceed the limits of the maintopics. Second, teachers receive a "topicalcompass" that assists in evaluating the year'swork and makes it easier to solve one of themost difficult problems in arts education: es-tablishing criteria for grading students.According to the new syllabus, one should

almost completely exclude from the initialstage of music teaching-first grade-whatwe once called the "grammar of music," asimplified course in elementary theory. Veryoften, teaching the grammar of music resultsin an elementary course in music notation.There is something much more importantthen music notation: understanding music,which should not be confused with under-standing notation in music, as is often thecase. Understanding music means possess-ing musical culture; the level of musical cul-ture does not depend on mastering musicnotation, though it includes knowledge of it.Understanding music is

1. the ability to perceive music as a live,figurative art that has been born of lifeitself and is closely connected with it;

2. having a particular "feeling" for music, anemotional perception of pieces, andqualita tive discrimination;

3. the ability to aurally comprehend thecharacter of music and feel the connec-tion between the character of music andthe performance of it; and

4. the ability to identify by ear the composerof an unfamiliar composition if it is typi-cal of his or her pieces.

16 The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning

Even -when the music has stopped, students' hands ought notto be raised. The children must be allo-wed tirrie to feel and to

think the piece over; then the teacher can ask questions. In this-way a concert hall atmosphere is set in the classroom ...

These components form the delicatesphere of musical culture. It takes caution,consistency, and great precision in selectingcomposers and their compositions to bringchildren into this sphere.Experience in listening, which children

gain in first and second grades, makes it pos-sible to teach an understanding of individualstyles of particular composers and to developstudents' abilities to identify a composer'sunfamiliar as well as familiar work. Throughthe use of the new syllabus, Tchaikovsky,Beethoven, Chopin, Prokofiev, Dunajevsky,and Khachaturian become beloved and wellunderstood to young children in primarygrades. Brilliant features of these composers'works are stamped on students' memories.Of course, at the initial stage of developingmusical culture in young children, composersshould be represented only by works that pos-sess the most essential, characteristic, and un-derstandable features of their music. The rep-resentation cannot be, of course, exhaustive.In the eyes of children, Tchaikovsky, first

of all, is understood as a composer wholoved Russian folk songs, nature, and people.He represented his native land in lyrical mu-sic full of poetic beauty and tender melodies.Beethoven will be represented as the com-poser of strong, heroic music that retains thischaracter even in his most lyrical and sorrow-ful compositions. Marching music plays animportant role in his works as well. Youngchildren will remember Chopin as one whoreflected the beauty of Polish folk songs anddances in his music, as well as the spirit ofthe struggle for freedom of the oppressedPolish people. Prokofiev will be perceivedby the children first as a composer who re-flected the world of childhood through suchcompositions as "Peter and the Wolf" and "AChatterbox," and later as one who carried onthe patriotic tradition of Glinka's "IvanSusanin." They will think of his "musicaltongue" as being particularly sharp, and

Volume IV, Number 3

sometimes prickly. Students will see inDunajevsky a composer whose joyous songsfor young people are mostly in march style.Khachaturian composed music in which onecan always hear something Oriental, withspecific curves in melodic lines, an abun-dance of "decorations," temperament, and"danceness" piercing all pieces. In additionto the recommended compositions in the syl-labus, teachers may use other pieces by thesame composers, both in part or in full, andask students to name the composer. Ofcourse, the level of the students' musical de-velopment must be taken into consideration.The elements of music theory should be

included in music lessons with great care,particularly in primary school. The study oftheory is unwise if approached before chil-dren are interested in music like it, beforethey gain skill in aural perception and perfor-mance of music, and before they acquiresome experience in listening.Children should have no rules or exercises

aside from involvement with music. Nothingshould be memorized or repeated endlessly;instead, the fascinating art of music shouldreign over the entire lesson. Students can, ofcourse, memorize practically anything in anyschool subject, but what has been memo-rized is easily forgotten, as a rule, and leavesno traces in the minds and hearts of the stu-dents. One remembers only what has beentruly understood. Music and the other artsrequire even more: One can remember onlywhat has been both understood and feltdeeply. This applies equally to music as wellas to music description, performance, andperception.

PerceptionMusic perception is the basis of music edu-

cation. Only when students hear music inthe right way and contemplate it can theycome to understand music's aesthetic, cogni-tive, and educational functions. More thanthat, a person unable to hear and respond to

17

music will never be able to sing, play, orconduct well. Everything such a personlearns regarding the history and theory ofmusic will remain a collection of hollow, for-mal facts that cannot lead to an understand-ing of the genuine art of music.When one perceives music correctly, feels

it deeply and contemplates it, one learns mu-sic most effectively. There is no music as anart that exists outside a person's perception.Students must learn to hear music at everystage of the lesson-when they sing, playinstruments, or listen to music-with concen-tration and effort. Any fOlm of music behaviorcan teach students to hear music attentivelyand thoughtfully while perfecting their skills.The ability or inability of a student to hear

music properly becomes most obvious ingroup singing. One's ability to hear one'svoice simultaneously with the voices of oth-ers and with the accompaniment, while re-sponding to the style of the composer andthe specific piece, should be fostered in stu-dents by practice in performance. This activ-ity begins in the first grade.There are two kinds of choral singing for

children that differ greatly, although they of-ten coincide:

1. group singing, an important form of activ-ity during music lessons for all schoolchildren; and

2. voluntary participation in a choir outsideof normal lesson times.

These two kinds of group singing correlateto school lessons in literature or drawingwhich are reinforced by children's participa-tion in clubs, where they develop their cre-ative abilities in literature and fine arts.Some artistic level of group singing can beachieved in a general music class if thechildren's performance skill improves fromlesson to lesson and their music culture de-velops gradually. Every class should becomea choir; this is the ideal to be realized.Teachers must begin to shape the

children's ability to hear and contemplatemusic from the first music classes. A strictrule must be established at the very first les-son of the first school year: When music isperformed in the classroom, no student mayraise a hand, even if the teacher is about toask a question and the student feels ready toanswer it. Exceptions are possible but only

occasionally and with specific purpose. Forexample, when the class is listening to asymphonic piece, the teacher may ask thechildren to raise their hands when they hearan instrument or group of instruments enter,or when they hear harmony replace melody.In such cases, the class should be asked tolisten to the music with closed eyes, relyingon their ears and not on seeing othersaround them raise their hands. The teachershould not resort to this technique very often;it is effective when used sparingly. The chil-dren must realize at once that this rule is not amatter of classroom discipline. They ought toobey the rule because music can be perceivedand understood only of one is attentive.Even when the music has stopped, stu-

dents' hands ought not to be raised. Thechildren must be allowed time to feel and tothink the piece over; then the teacher canask questions. In this way a concert-hall at-mosphere is set in the classroom, and chil-dren begin to display habits of attentive lis-tening and a love of music.Teachers should let the children solve the

problems that appear in the lesson instead ofconveying ready-made knowledge for stu-dents to memorize. If teachers ask questionsand immediately answer them as well, theyfollow the path of least resistance. This ap-proach may seem to simplify the teachingtask and save time, but it also reduces theeffectiveness of teaching. In fact, such time-saving is a form of self-deception.New problems in the lesson are better

solved by short, stimulating discussions inwhich both teachers and students participate.These discussions should include three con-nected components:

1. the problem is articulated clearly by theteacher;

2. the gradual solution of the problem is de-veloped by both teacher and students;and

3. the final conclusion is announced, if pos-sible, by the students.

When the majority of the students are readyto answer the teacher's question, it is hardlynecessary to single out one student to an-swer it individually. Rather, it is better tosuggest that all the students answer the ques-tion together-in low voices!-at a sign fromthe teacher's hand. There are two positive

18 The Quarterlyjournal of Music Teaching and Learning

The music teacher must alw ays remember that boredom cannotbe a.llcrwe d at any lesson; it vvcru lcl be a catastrophe in a lessonof arts. The teacher should be serious, but on no accountboring. A smile, a joke, and a sense of humor 'w il.l frequentlyproduce better learning than the most serious reproof or themost thoughtful aphorism.

sides to gaining such collective answers:first, all children ready to answer can do soaloud and thus feel successful; and second,the students who were not apt to answer andhave not raised their hands can take part inthe collective answer silently. They will henceknow the right answer without feeling shy be-cause of their ignorance. In the middle andupper grades, of course, individual answersbegin to become more appropriate.The level of student learning serves as one

of the most important indicators of theteacher's ability. Such learning, however,cannot be measured only by how often, howquickly, and how thoroughly the childrenanswer the teacher's questions. All schoolmusic lessons should emphasize the develop-ment of each child's creative potential andcultivate independent thinking, initiative andself-confidence. An education in the artsshould contribute greatly to the developmentof these abilities and positively influencechildren's other activities and their futurework, regardless of the profession theychoose after leaving school.

CreativityA creative disposition can be seen in school

children even in the first grade. It reveals itself in answers that are both right and original; in students' desire not only to answer theteacher's questions, but to ask questions;

in each child's unique way of looking atproblems of music interpretation; and

in aural perception, which is observable instudents' narrations about the music theyhear outside the school.

The majority of children are drawn towardcreative behavior from earliest childhood,even if they behave in a naive way. It is im-portant for creative music activities to be de-veloped at school both in and outside of class.The methods of teaching music creativity arenow rather vague with us. This is why one

Volume IV; Number 3

can only make generalizations about it here.The lessons of improvisation may contrib-

ute to learning two connected tasks: first, eartraining for melody and mode perception;and, second, developing creative imagina-tion. At such lessons, students are asked tocomplete a melody begun by the teacher.They may also be asked to improvise amelody outside the traditional major-minorsystem and respond to various "interrogative"and "incomplete" intonations. In addition,students may improvise rhythm patterns,change the character of a performance, orchange the tempo and intensity of the sound.According to the syllabus, it is only in the

second grade that children begin to impro-vise music consciously. Children at this levelare generally aware of intonation in music andhow a melody grows out of it. It is possible tostimulate children's creative fantasy and activ-ity as long as the teacher is also ready for cre-ative teaching; that is, success depends on thelevel of the teacher's creative development,music tastes, and theoretical knowledge.Thus, children's music improvisation cannot beregarded as a required part of the syllabus,and the absence of such music behavior on noaccount is a defect in the lesson. No one canblame teachers for this omission, because thepresent music teacher education programs ig-nore methods of teaching creativity.A danger accompanies school music les-

sons in improvisation. It is very easy to de-velop in children habits of dilettantism, pas-sive reproduction of simple musical cliches,and the imitation of music banalities thatyoungsters so often hear in their environ-ment and remember. To safeguard childrenagainst such problems, teachers need highlydeveloped music tastes, much experience,and the ability to approach music con-sciously and critically.

19

In professional music training, all compo-nents of the music curriculum form a numberof more or less independent subjects:solfeggio, music theory, history, music litera-ture, composition, playing instruments, andso on. For the student anticipating entry intothe music profession, these subjects may begrouped into the performing, theoretical, his-torical, and compositional areas of study.General music education in public schools

is quite another matter. There can be neitherareas of study nor independent subjects here.This the most radical difference between theapproaches to teaching music in general edu-cational schools and in music schools. In gen-eral music education, the relative indepen-dence of the music components fades into thebackground. What children must perceive inschool music lessons is the unity of these com-ponents, the internal connection among themthat exists in the very art of music.The method described here proves very

effective for this purpose. Teachers must al-ways "run a few steps forward" and then "goback to the material previously learned." Forthe teachers, "running forward" reveals thechildren's readiness to assimilate new mate-rial. To the children, the teacher's actionlooks like a preliminary "loosening of thesoil" or a "widening of the field of vision;"students become aware of the direction ofthe lessons. "Going back" by the teachersshould never be a mere recapitulation; in-stead, it can be compared with a look onecasts back as one climbs a mountain andreaches a new height. From there, one seeswhat could not be seen earlier.The method is effective when new topics

are to be presented at the lessons. Everynew topic should be introduced by usingmusic and composers already known to thechildren; new material may be used later.There seems to be at least three positive as-pects of this method:

1. Children assimilate new knowledge moreeasily when using material already cov-ered. They focus their attention on thetopic, while new music would distracttheir attention.

2. Reviewing the familiar material in relationto the new topic puts the music on ahigher intellectual level, so it becomesfor the children more complicated and

more meaningful.3. The combination of a new topic with

some familiar music emphasizes theunity and continuity of the process ofmastering music culture. In addition, thestudents come to know that new topics,as a rule, have already been touchedupon earlier, although they have notbeen formulated the way they are now.

This method makes it possible, and evennecessary, for children to listen to the samepieces of music repeatedly. The syllabus rec-ommends for this purpose some of the mostartistically important and educationally valu-able compositions. By way of repeated lis-tening and playing, children memorizepieces, perceive them more deeply and emo-tionally, discover new features of familiarcompositions, ascertain new connectionsamong these and other pieces by the samecomposer, and distinguish this music fromthe music of other composers. In short,children's perceptions are enriched by thisprocess. Repeated singing of familiar andfavorite songs also will improve thechildren's performing skills. Throughout theyears of their schooling, playing and listeningto music repeatedly should become as rou-tine and obligatory for students as readingfamiliar books, seeing familiar works of finearts, and viewing films and plays.Children's music culture and good music

taste can be formed by means of first devel-oping their ability to instantly catch the veryessence of a large number of compositionsafter a single exposure (the accumulation ofhearing experiences); and secondly, of devel-oping their ability to understand deeply afew meaningful compositions through multiplehearings and analysis (refinement of musicalculture). Thus, the method of "running ahead"and "going back" helps the teacher achieveeach higher level of the students' music cultureby building upon the lower levels.What demands does the new syllabus

place on teachers' Experience has proventhat the syllabus can be covered by teacherswho possess very different professionalqualifications, those who have undergoneformal music training to graduates of educa-tional institutions and colleges. In schoolshaving no music specialist-and such schoolsstill exist-the syllabus can help classroom

20 The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning

teachers conduct music lessons. As a rule,however, the best results are obtained byteachers trained in schools of music education.The range of knowledge and skills a quali-

fied music teacher must possess is well-known. He or she must be a professionallytrained teacher. Required skills include play-ing the piano or the accordion and a clearand expressive conducting technique andcompetence in singing. The teacher musthave a good background in music theory andhistory and be able to transpose as well asproduce a simple accompaniment to amelody. In short, a music teacher must be amusically educated pedagogue. Otherwise,the situation would be similar to that of amathematics teacher who is unable to do asum presented to the class.

Playing a musical instrument should besingled out among those skills the musicteacher must possess. Of course, the teachercannot do without tapes and records in theclassroom, particularly when the sound of achoir, orchestra, or opera scene is needed.Tapes and records cannot substitute for liveperformance, however; they should onlyserve as complements to it. The ability toplay an instrument is important for at leastthree reasons:

1. The live performance at the lesson createsa more emotional atmosphere in the classroom.

2. While playing, the teacher can stop at anymoment if need be, repeat a passage or asingle bar, or return to the beginning ofthe pieces, thus enhancing instruction,

Composers Dmitry Kabalevskyand Andrei Petrov during aninterview, February 14, 1987.Credit: Art at School,Moscow.

Kabalevsky's Final Interview

On February 14, 1987, during an international forum "For a Non-Nuclear World, For the Survivalof Humanity," Dmitry Kabalevsky gave a brief, televised interview for "Moscow News." Returninghome from the forum, the composer and teacher suddenly collapsed and died. Here is the text ofKabalevsky's final interview:

Correspondent: \Vhat is the use of exchanging opinions at this forum, and in your view, what canthis exchange introduce into our shared peace movement?

Kabalevsky: From my point of view (very briefly), perhaps millions of people share the ideas ofeach artist. And if an artist, whether a writer, composer, or painter, expresses in creative work ideasto which this forum is devoted, then it means that the artist reflects the opinion of very many people.Here is, it seems to me, the strength of the forum which gathers together artists, and here is alsoa hope that we are going to get certain results, not only opportunities to speak. Let's rememberthe truth: an idea which has seized the masses becomes material power. I think that the idea towhich we dedicate ourselves will become material power.

Volume IV; Number 3 21

3. The teacher playing an instrument and/orsinging sets a good example for the stu-dents and demonstrates how importantand interesting it is to know how to makemusic.

Yet competence in various skills is notenough for the music teachers. They shouldbring to the classroom a love of music as aliving art that brings happiness and excite-ment. We cannot inspire our children tolove something we do not love ourselves,nor can we arouse their enthusiasm forsomething that leaves us unmoved.The music teacher must always remember

that boredom cannot be allowed at any les-son; it would be a catastrophe in a lesson ofarts. The teacher should be serious, but onno account boring. A smile, a joke, and asense of humor will frequently produce bet-ter learning than the most serious reproof orthe most thoughtful aphorism."Music education does not mean educating

a musician-it means educating a human be-ing." This saying by Sukhomlinsky serves asan epigraph to the syllabus and defines itsunderlying theme. The syllabus also notesthat the purpose of music lessons in a gen-eral educational school is "to raise the musi-cal culture of school children as part of their

spiritual culture." These statements embracethe most essential components of the newconcept of music education as reflected inthe new syllabus. Thus, these main prin-ciples and methods are applicable to musiceducation for all children in our multi-na-tional state, for they allow individualizationof the syllabus in different republics to con-form with the history, cultural identity, andmusic of the various peoples. The syllabusmeets all necessary prerequisites.Ushinsky, a great Russian pedagogue, ar-

gued with conviction that pedagogy is not tobe called simply a "science of teaching," but"an art proceeding from the science." Hesaid: "Any activity with the aim of meetingthe highest moral, and, on the whole, spiri-tual requirements of a person ... is an art al-ready." How much more important thesewords become when applied to the peda-gogy of the arts! ~

The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching andLearning is grateful for permission to reprintthis translated and abridged chapter from Musicand Education: A Composer Writes about Mu-sical Education, published by Jessica KingsleyPublishers. UNESCO 1988.

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH

IN SINGING

AND ApPLIED VOCAL PEDAGOGYJUNE 1993 VOLUME XVI, NUMBER 2

Vowel Definition in a Performance of Jussi Bjoerling's Vesti la guibbaBy Richard Miller and Juan Carlos Franco

Biologic Enemies of the Professional VoiceBy Daniel R. Boone, PhD

Positioning the VelumBy Ann Alderson

Fetes Galantes, Set I: Verlaine, Debussy, and the Fusion of the ArtsDaniel Taddie

Checklist of Recent Research

The Journal of Research in Singing and Applied Vocal Pedagogy is the official publication of theInternational Association for Research in Singing. For more information, contact the publication atDepartment of Music; POB 32887; Texas Christian University; Fort Worth, TX 76129 USA.

22 The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning

10-22Vol 4, 3, p. 10-22