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The Idea of Beauty in the Piano Cycle “Childhood Birds” by Konstantin Iliev
Krasimira Georgieva Fileva-Ruseva
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
1-7
Received:
28 July 2014
Accepted:
12 August 2014
Published:
26 August 2014
Abstract: There is beauty everywhere in nature. Sometimes even creatures, that we are used to consider unsightly, burst with it. Looking more closely, ignoring the traditional view, we find colour combinations, proportions, movements that get surprisingly beautiful as soon as we realize it. In art the depiction of beauty could take different forms as well as it could take most unexpected characters for its prototypes. Such kind of beauty reveals to us the small gallery of characters – the piano cycle “Childhood Birds” by the Bulgarian composer Konstantin Iliev. It is comprised of six plays. In this piano cycle I analyze the beauty of the characters – for example the little sweet-voiced nightingale, where the beauty lies in its skilful singing, i.e. in what it can do; unlike the rose, on which the bird is perched, where the beauty lies in its symmetry, proportionality and grace – in being what it is. The swallows are beautiful with the audacity to struggle with the fierce mighty wind. An example of the beauty of the construction is the classical regularity of the built-up musical forms; the slight diversions from which are prompted by the specific representational tasks in each play. The beauty of depiction lies in the outspoken and compelling description of all the images by means of ingeniously found and utmost concise means. The cycle as a whole is an example of yet another type of beauty – the beauty of invention, of creativeness, of discovering a wonderful in its clarity and brevity way of recreating a character so that it can be perfectly recognized, to breath life into it, to give it emotions and meaning, the beauty of an artist to “dare” to materialize through sound the elusive immateriality of a dream, the beauty to challenge the imagination of the performer and make the listener soar, the beauty of the mind.
Abstract: There is beauty everywhere in nature. Sometimes even creatures, that we are used to consider unsightly, burst with it. Looking more closely, ignoring the traditional view, we find colour combinations, proportions, movements that get surprisingly beautiful as soon as we realize it. In art the depiction of beauty could take different forms as well as...
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A First Person View on Absolute Musical Pitch
Krasimira Georgieva Fileva-Ruseva
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
8-13
Received:
28 July 2014
Accepted:
12 August 2014
Published:
26 August 2014
Abstract: Absolute musical pitch is an inborn talent which allows the people, endowed with it to identify the exact pitch of a specific tone without using a predefined reference point, regardless of the timbre of the source of the sound and of whether they are hearing a single tone, a logically organized melodic sequence, a succession of tones not following a definite logic, harmonic intervals or assonances. This type of pitch cannot be achieved through pedagogical influence. The people, gifted with absolute pitch, can hear the names of the tones simultaneously with the very sounding of the tones. Among the advantages of absolute pitch are the following: The fast and accurate identification of the tone names is useful to composers who, in their artistic project, have posed onomatopoeic tasks. Due to the fact that a person with absolute pitch does not need to use as a reference point the identification of modal functions to be able to recognize the tones of a melody, he/she is in a “more favorable” position, compared to the one, who has gained relative pitch, through working with musical pieces, in which there is no tonal organization. This is extremely valuable for performers and conductors. The speed, accuracy and confidence in hearing the tone names by the people with absolute pitch allows for some unexpected intonation movements to be exactly and easily identified right at the moment they are being heard. This is very useful, for instance, when collecting and writing down folk songs. The people with absolute pitch are faced with some problems, as well, like: The tolerance, related to absolute pitch (the ability, which allows, for example, to recognize a range of frequencies around 440 Hertz as “a”), and the absence of need for education, which would include the intonationally correct memorization of interval-templates to use later as reference points, are reasons that could explain the inaccurate pitch intonation in singing often seen in musicians with absolute pitch. The tolerance, related to absolute pitch, could become the reason for it to be lost. The ones, who possess absolute pitch, hear tone names, together with sounds that have not been produced by a musical instrument or a voice, but by other sound sources. The tone names coming from every direction – letters or syllables (depending on whether the musician is more used to the letter or the syllable names of tones), from which different words can be formed or which can lead the perceiver to associations in an unexpected direction, distract the mind.
Abstract: Absolute musical pitch is an inborn talent which allows the people, endowed with it to identify the exact pitch of a specific tone without using a predefined reference point, regardless of the timbre of the source of the sound and of whether they are hearing a single tone, a logically organized melodic sequence, a succession of tones not following ...
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Teaching the Rondo and Variation Form in the Textbook of Music for the 5th Grade of the Bulgarian General Education Schools
Krasimira Georgieva Fileva-Ruseva
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
14-19
Received:
30 July 2014
Accepted:
12 August 2014
Published:
26 August 2014
Abstract: The responsibility of producing educated listeners of music with a positive attitude and interest towards the valuable phenomena in the tonal art falls mainly on the general education school. For this reason, in the textbooks of music by the publishing houses “Riva” and “Azbuki-Prosveta” in Bulgaria (the author collective is the same) special attention is given to criteria, such as presenting the information in an intriguing way, the inclusion of creative tasks, exemplification; rich, aesthetically pleasing and clear illustrative material. In order to justify these statements, I will discuss examples from the textbook of music for the 5th grade by the “Riva” Publishing House [2]. In one of the exercises on the subject of the musical form “Rondo”, where four distiches on the theme “Autumn” are included (the theme “Rondo” is taught in the autumn), the students are asked to point out how the distiches have to be arranged so that they result in a structure corresponding to the “Rondo” form; which distich is most suitable for the theme and which of them will be used as episodes. In order to make the decision, the pupils have to take into account that the laconic first distich in duple meter is clearly divergent from all the others, which are more descriptive, i.e. it is in a distinct contrast with the other three. This makes it suitable for a Rondo theme, which, in the same way, is in a relation of contrast with the episodes. Consequently, the students have to speak out loud and rhythmically the poetic text and to compose for it an appropriate for the character of the verses accompaniment on percussion musical instruments for children. In this textbook: The definitions are not provided without any effort required, but have to be reached through observation. This gives place to a certain discovering. The exercises, accompanying and facilitating the learning of the information being taught, are focused on: stimulating creativity through changing the conditions, in which the new information functions; creating a new product; providing models of anaxiomatization, whose structure is applicable to future mental operations. The illustrative material has several functions it provides additional information, related to the lesson; facilitates grasping the character of the music, heard during a specific class session, through the emotional impact of the images; it provides creative methods of encoding information, which the students can use as a model in their future work.
Abstract: The responsibility of producing educated listeners of music with a positive attitude and interest towards the valuable phenomena in the tonal art falls mainly on the general education school. For this reason, in the textbooks of music by the publishing houses “Riva” and “Azbuki-Prosveta” in Bulgaria (the author collective is the same) special atten...
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The Responsibility of the Teacher to the Student Performer
Krasimira Georgieva Fileva-Ruseva
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
20-24
Received:
30 July 2014
Accepted:
12 August 2014
Published:
26 August 2014
Abstract: The responsibility of the musical instrument teachers to their students is manifold. It includes the initial assessment of the abilities of the child, the development of the professional qualities, skills and dexterity of the student, the building of a stock of knowledge (basic note cognition, the fundamentals of the musical theoretical knowledge, general musical and stylistic culture), the responsibility to build up a strong motivation for playing a musical instrument, to develop determination and precise control over one’s own performance and to promote a level of self-confidence, adequate to the abilities of the student. Whereas you may come across some publications about the first enumerated responsibilities, the topic about the needed self-confidence of the performer is usually neglected by the authors of methodical studies. The self-confidence of the musician - interpreter should not be either excessive or unduly low, because they both could be an obstacle as to the successful performance before listeners, so to the professional and even the life fulfilment of the instrumentalist.
Abstract: The responsibility of the musical instrument teachers to their students is manifold. It includes the initial assessment of the abilities of the child, the development of the professional qualities, skills and dexterity of the student, the building of a stock of knowledge (basic note cognition, the fundamentals of the musical theoretical knowledge, ...
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Increasing the Quality and Enhancing Musical Auditory Notions through Professional Training in Piano
Krasimira Georgieva Fileva-Ruseva
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
25-32
Received:
30 July 2014
Accepted:
26 August 2014
Published:
26 August 2014
Abstract: One of the areas of art, where specific abilities are combined and their maximal and balanced development is required, is the activity of piano performance. For this reason, at the first place among the responsible tasks of the piano pedagogue (who teaches the future interpreters) is the development of the musical abilities of the student – the mode sense, methro-rhythmic sense and musical auditory notions. Musical auditory notions allow for sound impressions of varied musical sequences to be stored in the individual’s memory pool. The musical auditory experience, containing the gathered musical auditory notions, facilitates each tonal perception through identification and differentiation of the familiar, common (already stored in the memory), from the new, different, which is to be imprinted in the mind and on its turn used as a basis for future perception. The richer, more detailed, well comprehend and easily activated the musical auditory notions of the student, the more facilitated and of more quality will be the process of comprehension, learning and artistic performance of the tonal art. The professional training in piano is aimed mainly at improving the instrumental skills, development of a repertoire and building a style and general musical culture. Among the reasons for the insufficient attention of piano pedagogues on the balanced development of the musical abilities of their students, is the limited time frame of the piano lesson, as well as the requirements for the pedagogue to sent the largest possible number of prominent students to as many as possible competitions for pianists, auditions, youth festivals and concerts. The pianist being held continuously in their everyday activities on the same and only concert or competition program for reasons of assuring the maximal quality of its performance on a specific forum, leads to the creations of a relatively sparse pool of musical auditory notions. From the supplementary activities in piano training, related to the process of creation and actualization of musical auditory notions are mainly the following: reading at first glance, playing by ear, recreation from memory of works that have not been performed recently. More connected to the accumulation of a pool of musical auditory notions is the schematic learning; to the particularization and comprehension of the musical memory image, introduced in the pool of musical auditory notions through its multiple actualizations, is related the analysis of the musical work of art with the purpose of memorization and clarification of the interpreter’s conception.
Abstract: One of the areas of art, where specific abilities are combined and their maximal and balanced development is required, is the activity of piano performance. For this reason, at the first place among the responsible tasks of the piano pedagogue (who teaches the future interpreters) is the development of the musical abilities of the student – the mod...
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Characteristics of Bulgarian Folk Music
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
33-41
Received:
12 September 2014
Accepted:
17 September 2014
Published:
23 September 2014
Abstract: This paper presents the unique richness and diversity of the Bulgarian folk music. It discusses its modal specificity – the widespread use of old modal structures and chromatic sound lines, the metrorhytmical diversity; indicates some features such as the non-measured song. The most commonly used modal structures and the most widespread metrums are highlighted. A special focus is the successional bond of the native folklore and the professional Bulgarian musical works.
Abstract: This paper presents the unique richness and diversity of the Bulgarian folk music. It discusses its modal specificity – the widespread use of old modal structures and chromatic sound lines, the metrorhytmical diversity; indicates some features such as the non-measured song. The most commonly used modal structures and the most widespread metrums are...
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Methodological Principles of Piano Technique in the Stages of Development
Rumyana Stoyanova Zhekova-Stoynova
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
42-48
Received:
12 September 2014
Accepted:
17 September 2014
Published:
23 September 2014
Abstract: The technique of the performer’s movements is determinant to the quality of keyboard performance. The performer’s motor development is achieved, in accordance with the stages of age development. The author of this article presents the methodological principles of work in mastering the keyboard movements. Motor skills have age defined characteristics. They functions in a relation to the anatomic and psychophysiological profile of the performer. Their comprising components have different indexes in the separate stages of individual development, which is a direct requirement for a change in the methodological approaches. The piano pedagogue needs to find opportunities to influence the biopsychological potential of the students for processing motor information, to activate it to the maximum extent with the purpose of achieving a quality musical activity as an interpreter. The pedagogic selection of models for motor development should be based on the current profile of the student and should reflect the hierarchical principle of building complex movements. The refinement of methods for pedagogical influence aims at achieving optimal pianist movements with a free command of the body; realization of the interrelation between the state of the piano playing apparatus and the qualities of the achieved sound result; mastering of the motor parameters – strength, temporal and spatial; building skills for constructing motor programs, which correspond to the semantic purposes and achieve a logical and vivid interpretation of the work; improving the sensory-motor coordination during the performance of the motor programs.
Abstract: The technique of the performer’s movements is determinant to the quality of keyboard performance. The performer’s motor development is achieved, in accordance with the stages of age development. The author of this article presents the methodological principles of work in mastering the keyboard movements. Motor skills have age defined characteristic...
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Technological Model for Composing Accompaniment to a Melody in Teaching Accordion
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
49-55
Received:
26 August 2014
Accepted:
2 September 2014
Published:
30 September 2014
Abstract: This paper is motivated by the need to optimize the conditions of active teaching, i.e. for a very short period the students must develop an ear for music and musical skills – these students are future music teachers in kindergartens and elementary schools and they must acquire basic music reading skills in playing easy plays and songs with accompaniment, learning and mastering the basic means of expression in music and in particular – polyphony, forming a sense of adequate perception and evaluation of polyphony, i.e. mastering a system necessary for practical activities. Each of these, examined separately, is directly related to the development of the sense of polyphony. The composition of elementary chord accompaniments to melodies is widely used in everyday pedagogical practice of kindergarten and elementary-school teachers and developing a purposeful pedagogical technology is of great importance for the future professional realization of students. Music classes place an special emphasis on the application and significance of music accompaniment; students are also acquainted with the prerequisites for successful work. In the referred article, the instrumental accompaniment is reviewed only for educational purposes. Building up skills for combination of such accompaniments is related to searching and finding various pedagogical approaches and technologies for the development of the sense of polyphony. The tasks are structured in a set algorithm. The presented pedagogical approaches clearly show that musical, theoretical and instrumental teaching is carried out. The transfer of knowledge and skills contributes to permanent and effective learning of the necessary theoretical knowledge and practical skills which, in its turn, helps to reach an accord between theory and practice. The system of technologies offered is comprehensive – it contains basic principles for composition of chord accompaniment as well as specific ones – applicable only for teaching accordion. The developed preliminary model of pedagogical approaches is successfully confirmed by a pedagogical experiment held with 76 students – future kindergarten and elementary-school teachers. This confirmed the purpose of the study, namely, by influencing their ear for music to teach and master in students differential perception of polyphonic music and form, on this basis, skills for composition of elementary chord accompaniments to melodies.
Abstract: This paper is motivated by the need to optimize the conditions of active teaching, i.e. for a very short period the students must develop an ear for music and musical skills – these students are future music teachers in kindergartens and elementary schools and they must acquire basic music reading skills in playing easy plays and songs with accomp...
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The Music Lesson in the Progress Socializing the Growing Generation
Galina Krasteva Georgieva
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
56-60
Received:
23 September 2014
Accepted:
26 September 2014
Published:
30 September 2014
Abstract: This paper presents the major opportunities provided by the subject Music at comprehensive school in the formation and development of skills for social contacts . Based on her own teaching experience , the author offers multiple tasks within established core activities in the music lessons: performing music; perception of music and composing music. Present and stimulating thinking tasks, proceeding from the assumption that practicing music influences improving concentration and mental activity, sharpening the observation, promotion of artistic culture, which respectively affects the intellectual development of adolescents. An emphasis in this type of activities is teamwork as the most powerful tool for building social skills and culture. In conclusion, the effect of the direct impact of art and participation in the creative process is highlights, thus adolescents are taught a number of qualities that form them as individuals and prepare them for their future career in life.
Abstract: This paper presents the major opportunities provided by the subject Music at comprehensive school in the formation and development of skills for social contacts . Based on her own teaching experience , the author offers multiple tasks within established core activities in the music lessons: performing music; perception of music and composing music....
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Principles of Form Construction and their Dialectical Relation in the Musical Styles
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
61-64
Received:
24 September 2014
Accepted:
26 September 2014
Published:
7 October 2014
Abstract: Objects of the study are the two basic principles of the multi-voice thinking - the polyphonic - linear and the homophonic - vertical. Their effect is discussed in the various styles. The different meaning of the two main qualities of the chord is also clarified - phonism and functionality and their manifestation in the types of multi-voice musical thinking.
Abstract: Objects of the study are the two basic principles of the multi-voice thinking - the polyphonic - linear and the homophonic - vertical. Their effect is discussed in the various styles. The different meaning of the two main qualities of the chord is also clarified - phonism and functionality and their manifestation in the types of multi-voice musical...
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Music Comprehension in the Light of Some Ideas of Hermeneutic Theory
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
65-69
Received:
7 August 2014
Accepted:
14 August 2014
Published:
16 October 2014
Abstract: The paper examines some philosophical and psychological aspects of the understanding of music. The approach of hermeneutics to the problems of understanding gives reasons to connect the specific act of understanding music with the general theory of understanding. The current paper is an attempt to find the points of contact between “the commonly accepted rules” of the understanding and the understanding of music.
Abstract: The paper examines some philosophical and psychological aspects of the understanding of music. The approach of hermeneutics to the problems of understanding gives reasons to connect the specific act of understanding music with the general theory of understanding. The current paper is an attempt to find the points of contact between “the commonly ac...
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Interpretation Issues in the Polyphonic Repertoire of the Students from Musical Performance Classes in the Universities
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
70-76
Received:
26 August 2014
Accepted:
12 September 2014
Published:
16 October 2014
Abstract: The study is oriented towards one of the most disputable, and least explored and clarified up to now issues in the methodology of teaching the accordion and in the theory of the performing art, namely - the position of the accordionist regarding the selection of means of expression, in his capacity of an interpreter of adapted (not original) pieces - of which consist the most part of the polyphonic works of the repertoire of the students from performance classes in the Universities. The focus is placed on the major and basic issue of performance of polyphonic music, related to the specifics of sound-forming and sound-shaping with the accordion, namely: how should the theme be outlined in a distinct manner, how should a certain motive be emphasized or how should a particular voice stand out in the polyphonic texture, provided the air-flow is being directed equally to all open resonator valves. Two opposite concepts of articulation are presented - both being incorporated in the practice of performance and teaching of the accordionists - the dispute between which still remains open. By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of these concepts, an attempt is made to extend and deepen the knowledge towards finding an adequate solution to the problem of the solo interpretation of polyphonic transcription with the means of expression of the accordion. The issues described that are placed theoretically for the first time in Bulgaria provide guidelines for certain future more detailed and extensive research in the field of methodology of teaching the accordion and the accordion performance art.
Abstract: The study is oriented towards one of the most disputable, and least explored and clarified up to now issues in the methodology of teaching the accordion and in the theory of the performing art, namely - the position of the accordionist regarding the selection of means of expression, in his capacity of an interpreter of adapted (not original) pieces...
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The Phenomenon “Emotional Thinking”
Valentina Bozhinova Manolova
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
77-83
Received:
25 September 2014
Accepted:
29 September 2014
Published:
16 October 2014
Abstract: In the article, on the basis of an extensive analysis of the views of renowned scientists regarding emotions and thinking, conclusions are made about the essence, measurability and personal needs for emotional thinking. Among these conclusions are: 1. Emotional thinking can be measured through the EQ-i. But the difference between cognitive intellect, in which the highest levels are in the age of 17-18 years, after which its levels undergo minimal changes during the course of the whole active life of the individual and only in the elderliness it starts to decline; emotional EQ-i can change and increase in every age, depending on the acquired life experience. 2. The higher level of emotional thinking expands also the general level of intellect. 3. There is enough evidence to assume that it is possible to improve the level of emotional intelligence. 4. Emotional thinking is defined by the specific characteristics, which are needed in education and in work. Knowing and understanding its essence affects the level of learning the knowledge.
Abstract: In the article, on the basis of an extensive analysis of the views of renowned scientists regarding emotions and thinking, conclusions are made about the essence, measurability and personal needs for emotional thinking. Among these conclusions are: 1. Emotional thinking can be measured through the EQ-i. But the difference between cognitive intellec...
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On Properties of Harmonic Intervals: Sonance, Acousticity, Phonism
Miroslav Kirilov Nedyalkov
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
84-87
Received:
18 September 2014
Accepted:
22 September 2014
Published:
17 October 2014
Abstract: This research synthesizes concepts derived from previous studies of the author regarding sonance [1], acousticity and phonism [2] that affect the properties of harmonic intervals and vertical sound complexes. The classification of texture “with and without an expressed bass” [3], which had its place in the textbook that was published later, is important in the context as well [4]. The dual nature of the fourth and tritone, and the significant differences in the perception of other intervals, depending on their placement in musical space, inevitably raise the question - can all these phenomena be explained with the approved terms consonance and dissonance. The physical basis of all vertical sound complexes is the harmonic series, but the plays of the author,’ indicate how this order forms the concept of sonance and acousticity. The definition of these terms is only the beginning of future research on phonetic properties of harmonic intervals and harmonies to achieve a qualitatively new classification of acoustic characteristics.
Abstract: This research synthesizes concepts derived from previous studies of the author regarding sonance [1], acousticity and phonism [2] that affect the properties of harmonic intervals and vertical sound complexes. The classification of texture “with and without an expressed bass” [3], which had its place in the textbook that was published later, is impo...
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An Opportunity to Provoke Students’ Interest in “Serious” Music
Issue:
Volume 2, Issue 5-1, October 2014
Pages:
88-92
Received:
25 September 2014
Accepted:
29 September 2014
Published:
6 November 2014
Abstract: I present my pedagogical experience in optimizing the activity of perceiving the music in class by demonstrating variants of basic thematic material in a musical work (for the goals of the experiment there were developed variants of the main themes in Part I of Piano concerto d moll by W. A. Mozart), aiming at better understanding of its emotional content. The results of the experiment were confirmed through a test directed to check the recognition of the themes and the pupils’ interest in the musical piece.
Abstract: I present my pedagogical experience in optimizing the activity of perceiving the music in class by demonstrating variants of basic thematic material in a musical work (for the goals of the experiment there were developed variants of the main themes in Part I of Piano concerto d moll by W. A. Mozart), aiming at better understanding of its emotional ...
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