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POLY-VOCAL SINGING AND ITS INTENTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN SLOVAK SCHOOLS

M. Strenacikova, D. Strmenova

Abstract

From ancient times, the poly-vocal singing, as one of the manifestations of music production in various forms, has been accompanying the life of the Slovak people. It has become a part of the Slovak musical culture and of the national cultural heritage as well. Despite its long tradition, it is currently slowly disappearing from daily life in our families. Therefore, it is important that we ensure the conditions for its preservation and development, by supporting a singing culture in Slovak schools. Our long-term goal is to support the development of vocal expression of school-age children, their vocal culture and feeling for harmony so that they are able to sing poly-vocally as their ancestors. In order to complete this task, music teachers working in primary and secondary schools need to be prepared in advance. In our paper, we analyze the position of poly-vocal singing in primary and secondary schools in Slovakia. We pay attention to the compulsory subject Music Education at primary schools, for which the state educational program provides a weekly subsidy of only one lesson per week (not in all grades) and the subject Art and Culture at secondary general education schools - grammar schools/gymnasiums. The basic method of obtaining information is the study of school documents. Our goal is to briefly describe the current situation, and to provide some advice for the teachers involved in the development of vocal skills among pupils and students. Based on our own experience, we want to emphasize that supporting the development of pupils? poly-vocal expression is a challenging task that requires detailed preparation and training of the music teacher and the development of his music-theoretical and music-practical professional competencies. These include building the foundation techniques, warm-up and breathing exercises, cultivating the voice of students and teachers, developing a tonal awareness, emotional approach to pupils / students, influencing the student's emotional memory thoughtfully, creating a safe creative climate in the classroom, etc. We understand that the cultivated vocal expression of the individual is the basis for the development of a poly-vocal singing. Nowadays, technological development affects the musical world very intensively and exposes everyone to indirectly reproduced music. As a result, direct individual reproduction of music falls behind, and people sing and play less than in the past. Pupils' singing is not as natural as it was a few decades ago and therefore it is necessary to cultivate music abilities that condition poly-vocal singing development systematically, and to lead the young generation for them to keep the tradition of Slovak poly-vocal singing alive. This challenging task is largely in the hands of teachers, who should be well prepared in advance.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sws.iscah.2020.7.1/s23.10

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