Local Cultural Heritage Usage in Music Studies in South-eastern Estonian Schools

Abstract

This article focuses on the use of locality-related tradition in music lessons in the second stage of study (grades 4-6) in south-eastern Estonian schools. The objective of the research is to document the experiences of music teachers in using locality-related tradition in music lessons in the second stage of study in south-eastern Estonian schools. As the main research problem, the question was posed: how and to what extent do teachers use their locality-related traditions in music lessons at the second stage of study? The research questions developed to solve the problem aimed to find out how music teachers define the concept of locality-related tradition and whether and how they utilize locality-related tradition in music lessons.To find an answer to the research question, a survey in questionnaire form was conducted among 55 music teachers. The results of the survey questions showed that teachers define the meaning of locality-related tradition in quite different ways and that they themselves consider their knowledge of locality-related tradition as average or better than average. The survey also found that the ideas of Zoltán Kodaly, which have been used in music instruction for decades in Estonia, have laid a foundation where locality-related tradition and its different forms (such as songs, customs and games characteristic to a particular locality) are quite widely in use in music lessons. Music teachers were also of the opinion that use of locality-related tradition influences the identity, thinking and development of social experience among schoolchildren.