Music Institutions Research Articles

Mahler's Music in Hungary, 1920–1956: Performance, Reception, Politics

AbstractThe music of Gustav Mahler was almost completely excluded from Budapest's concert halls between 1938 and 1945, and again between 1952 and 1957. Its position within the Hungarian public sphere was, however, definitely strengthened in the period from the early 1920s to the mid-1930s, and stabilized again from 1958. Chronological correlations between performance and political history highlight the destructive influence of anti-Semitic discrimination elevated to the level of government policy and of the Stalinist political course on the presence of Mahler's music. From 1921 until 1937, Gustav Mahler's music was performed on a regular basis in the concert halls of the Hungarian capital. During that decade and a half, the majority of Mahler's works were present in Budapest, and, in 1935, even the unfinished Symphony no. 10 was premiered in the city. In the interwar period, the framework of Hungarian social and political life was a conservative parliamentary system with authoritarian elements. However, the public sphere under that regime was, at least until the late thirties, multipolar both in cultural and ideological sense, and it had a pluralistic structure. Mahler's music had conservative as well as left-wing and modernist adherents, while his art was rejected by representatives of folkloristic neo-classicism, by Zoltán Kodály and musicologists belonging to his inner circle. Mahler's music was performed in Budapest owing to the efforts of Hungarian and German-Austrian conductors, who formed a heterogeneous group in terms of socio-cultural background and political orientation. Following the war, the Holocaust and the wave of emigration, Mahler's works were performed again by a largely different group of musicians. But the relative boom of a few years was soon interrupted, and Mahler interpretation in Hungary withered away. The Mahler Renaissance, which took off in 1960, arrived from the Western centers to Hungary, where it produced not insignificant, but typically peripherial results. In my paper, I would like to position the situation of Mahler's music in Budapest within the context of the global reception of the composer. Furthermore, I will also attempt to answer the question to what extent Mahler's personal relationship with Hungarian musical institutions and with the musical elite in Budapest determined the posthumous reception of his music in Hungary.

MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WESTERN FLUTE INTEGRATION INTO CHINESE MUSIC: A FOCUS ON LITTLE FISH PINK CHEEKS SONG

This study explores the integration of the Western flute into Chinese folk music, focusing on the composition Little Fish Pink Cheeks by Dinghe Zhang. The objective is to analyze how Western flute techniques are adapted to fit Chinese music's modal, rhythmic, and melodic structures, particularly in the context of cross-cultural musical fusion. The research was conducted at music institutions in China, including the Northwest University for Nationalities, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and the Sichuan Conservatory of Music. Two Key informants included prominent flutists and composers. A qualitative approach, combining musicological analysis, interviews, and performance observation, was used to assess this integration's musical characteristics and cultural implications. The results show that the Western flute can enhance the expressiveness of Chinese folk music while preserving its cultural identity, though challenges remain in replicating microtonal subtleties. Suggestions include expanding research to other Western instruments, enhancing microtonal adaptability, incorporating cross-cultural music into education, and conducting longitudinal studies on evolving integrations. This study contributes to the broader understanding of cross-cultural musicology and the blending of Eastern and Western musical traditions.

ФОНЕТИЧЕСКАЯ ИНТЕРФЕРЕНЦИЯ КАК ЛИНГВОМЕТОДИЧЕСКАЯ ПРОБЛЕМА ПРЕПОДАВАНИЯ РУССКОГО ЯЗЫКА КАК ИНОСТРАННОГО В КОНСЕРВАТОРИИ

The article is devoted to the problems associated with the interfering influence of the native (Chinese) language in mastering Russian language by students receiving vocal education at Russian Conservatory. The relevance of the research topic is due to the large number of students from China studying in Russia in the field of vocal art. Having chosen phonetic interference as a priority aspect and relying on studies of this process conducted by linguists over the years, the authors propose special methodological techniques that take into account professional specifics of the contingent of trainees. The article emphasizes an important role of the correct selection of didactic material in the organization of the educational process. The authors illustrate their suggestions on ways to overcome phonetic interference with examples and analyze in detail the phonetic features of the texts of vocal works included in the repertoire of Chinese vocalists of the first academic year. The article notes the importance of interaction between teachers of Russian as a foreign language and vocal teachers in the process of working on the elimination of pronouncing defects at the stage of the introductory phonetic course. The materials of the article can be used by specialists of higher educational musical institutions working with Chinese students whose goal is to receive vocal education.

A Polish Patriot in Paris: Albert Sowiński, Essayist, Anthologist and Lexicographer

If there was one musician in mid-nineteenth-century Paris who diligently promoted Polish accomplishments, it was Albert Sowinski (Wojciech Sowiński). From his arrival in France in 1828 until his death in 1880, he championed the Polish cause as a performer, composer and scholar. Sowinski was a prolific writer, but with the exception of his Les musiciens polonais et slaves, anciens et modernes, Dictionnaire (1857), his studies of Polish repertoire rarely receive more than passing attention in modern scholarship. In this essay, I investigate Sowinski’s developing paradigms of Polish nationalism and Polish identity across the entirety of his major writings about and collections of Polish music: Chants polonais nationaux et populaires (1830), Chants de la révolution du 29 novembre 1830 (1830), Mélodies polonaises album lyrique (1833), ‘Chants populaires de l’Ukraine’ (1842), ‘De l’état actuel de la musique en Pologne’ (1842), Dictionnaire (1857) and Chants religieux de la Pologne, Op. 93 (1859). The four works from the 1830s, which focused on Polish folk music and revolutionary songs, were closely tied to Sowinski’s work with Léonard Chodzko (Leonard Chodźko) and his circle in Paris. Especially in the Chants polonais, Sowinski followed Chodzko and Joachim Lelewel in emphasising the exceptional geographic, linguistic and even ethnic diversity of the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, viewing this diversity as the basis for a glorious musical and political future. By contrast, in his critical writings of the 1840s, Sowinski interpreted Ukraine’s folk traditions as speaking largely to regional experience; he cast Warsaw and its musical institutions as the basis for a modern Polish musical identity. By the time of his Dictionnaire and Chants religieux de la Pologne, Sowinski de-emphasised Poland’s musical exceptionality in favour of delineating its long tradition of exchange with Western Europe, facilitated particularly through courts and the Roman Catholic Church.

The pearls of Ukrainian vocal lyrics in a contemporary tenor singer’s work (the performer’s auto-comment)

Statement of the problem. The cultural and stylistic landscape in the musical art of the 21st century is marked by the active entry of Ukrainian culture and its vocal and performance component into the world space. Therefore, for young Ukrainian singers, the task of rethinking the significance of the “golden fund” of domestic vocal lyrics of the 19th and 20th centuries and reproducing it in their own performance art becomes more urgent than ever. However, the realities of the concert life of a modern tenor singer testify otherwise: the “golden pages” of chamber-vocal lyrics, created for a high male voice, are mostly unknown and not studied on a systematic basis in higher music institutions. This prompts us to fill this “gap” within the capabilities of a concert vocalist, which enriches the scientific component of vocal art and makes the topic of the article relevant. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the article is to determine the historically established mental qualities of Ukrainian vocal music, as its appear in the compositions of the 19th– 20st centuries and actualize in the contemporary creative practice of the singertenor. The research material consists of solos and arias created by Ukrainian classical composers (M. Lysenko, Ya. Stepovy, K. Stetsenko, M. Verykivsky, L. Revutsky, H. Veriovka). The concept of the article is based on the works of Ukrainian musicologists devoted to M. Lysenko (L. Arkhimovych, T. Bulat & T. Filenko; the history of Ukrainian music (M. Zaiko, T. Medetska, L. Parkhomenko, T. Bulat); vocal music (N. Govorukhina, T. Madysheva, O. Torba). Research methods, such as historical and stylistic, genre, stylistic, performance, together contribute to studying the composers’ thinking and formulating the author’s practical recommendations as a concerting singer. The novelty of the obtained results lies in the introduction into the scientific and concert circulation of pearls of Ukrainian vocal lyrics on the basis of interpretative and stylistic analysis. Research results and conclusion. On the basis of the analyzed works of Ukrainian composers, the fundamental principles of the reproduction of the lyrical genre of art in tenor performance are defined. 1) Ukrainian romanticism is characterized by «cordocentrism» (according to H. Skovoroda’s philosophy); hence sincerity, soulfulness, openness, sentimental tone, unique cantilena, wide breathing. 2) A characteristic feature of Ukrainian romantic art is the absence of dichotomy: in M. Lysenko’s music we observe the peace of mind and do not see the conflict that prevents the hero from feeling unity with the world, as was the case in F. Schubert’s songs. 3) Synthesis of poetry and the Ukrainian national “musical intonation of speech” (according to O. Kozarenko, 2000), which developed precisely in M. Lysenko’s work. Vocal lyrics of Ukrainian composers is unique, as it is not autobiographical, but objective, universal. The value priorities of the tenor repertoire are represented not only by the cultural traditions of Ukrainian music, but also by the entire context of the world artistic space-time with which this or that singer is in contact. The exploration of it provides a perspective for the further study of the tenor repertoire as a component of the cultural and stylistic landscape of modern art.

A Theoretical Review Towards a Conceptual Framework for Creating ‘Neoclassic Big-Band Highlife Music’

It is a truism that highlife, Ghana’s first acculturated popular music, presents various styles employing various musical ensembles and playing to different audiences. However, the diverse highlife stylistic trends have declined in musical works recently due to generational differences and tastes. As a result, modern-day recorded highlife compositions sound similar and, in some cases, the same. Despite its iconicity in Ghanaian popular music, it is also quite surprising that highlife music still struggles for compositional and theoretical relevance in Ghanaian academic programmes of schools, colleges and universities. This paper, therefore, presents a characterisation of the diverse highlife music trends as an attempt to develop a conceptual framework for creating ‘neoclassic big-band highlife music’ that transcends diverse styles and generational tastes. Drawing on my experience as a highlife practitioner and music educator, I reviewed theories, concepts, and literature relevant to highlife music to conceptualise a framework for creating works that transcend the generational differences and tastes of highlife music. This paper expands the frontiers of highlife music practice and scholarship. Therefore, it is not just a recommendation but a call to action for Music composition professors to adopt this conceptual framework as a blueprint to begin a taught course on ‘Highlife Music Composition’ in music institutions. The involvement of Music composition professors in this process is crucial to enhancing the structural and theoretical trajectory of highlife music.

Genre and species characteristics of musical and performing interpretation

The relevance of the publication lies in the importance and necessity of determining the influence of genre and species characteristics on musical and performance interpretation. So, the main purposes of this article are to identify the main factors that influence the development of interpreting skills, analyse how students of higher music institutions have evaluated their own musical interpretation skills, provide an assessment analysis of how independent music experts have evaluated students' musical interpretation skills, provide a comparative analysis of these assessments, provide rationale for the importance of musical and performing interpretation skills regardless of the music genre, and provide recommendations for the development of musical performance interpretation skills for teachers of higher music institutions. While considering the issue of genre and species characteristics of musical and performing interpretation, the methods of this scientific work were applied: the deductive method, method of argumentation, method of matching, methods of combination and differentiation, method of categorisation, method of questionnaire survey, and systematic analysis, which provided an opportunity to link all the research results together. The study suggests the outcome of the research conducted, discovers the key peculiarities of the art process that influence the development of interpretation skills, analyses the results of self-assessment by students of higher music institutions, provides a comparative analysis with the assessments of independent experts, substantiates the need for closer attention to the development of musical and performing interpretation skills for musicians of all genres, both instrumentalists and vocalists, and provides recommendations for developing the musical and performing interpretation skills of future musicians. The practical value of the study lies in the fact that its results can be used both in the concert activity of musicians and in the process of mastering the performing disciplines by students of colleges and higher educational institutions related to the art of music.

Особенности культурной интеграции китайских студентов музыкантов-исполнителей в российскую образовательную среду

The article is devoted to the consideration of socio-cultural factors that influence the process of integration and specifics of the formation of the professional identity of Chinese students - performing musicians in the system of Russian music education. The formation of a professional music system in China is marked by the beginning of the 20th century. This time is associated with the formation of musical performance, which becomes possible under the influence of European musical traditions of concert activity. The opening and functioning of higher musical institutions in China – the Shanghai State Conservatory (1927) and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing (1949) – contribute to the development of professional music education. The important period in the development of professional music in China is the emigration of Russian musicians, whose work had a significant impact on musical life in China in the first half of the 20th century. At the same time, today there is a growing interest in Russian music education among Chinese students, which is growing in the context of strengthening Russian-Chinese cooperation. The article analyzes the empirical data of the qualitative interview with Chinese students (N = 20) of Saratov State Conservatory named after L. V. Sobinov. On the basis of the analyzed empirical data the demand for Russian music education among Chinese students and their high value of assessment of the musical traditions of the Russian national music and performing school, which is undoubtedly attractive in choosing a country for education were confirmed. At the same time, the factors influencing the successful cultural integration of Chinese students into the educational environment are considered.

Continuous Hidden Markov Algorithm-Based Multimedia Melody Retrieval System for Music Education

Education professionals receive instruction in Music Education (ME) to prepare for prospective jobs like secondary or primary music teachers, schools ensembles executives, or ensembles directors at music institutions. In the discipline of music education, educators do original research on different approaches to teaching and studying music. The most accurate and effective method of extracting music from huge music databases has become one of the most frequently discussed participants in contemporary multimedia information retrieval development. The essence of multimedia material is presented within a range of techniques since it is not bound to a single side. These several categories could consist of the song’s audio components and lyrics for musical information. Retrieving melodic information, subsequently, becomes the main focus of most recent studies. Aside from being an expensive deviate from academics, music programs are neither a viable profession neither a valid pastime. Therefore, in this study, we offer a Continuous Hidden Markov Algorithm (CHMA) related a novel method for recovering melodies from musical multimedia recordings. CHMA is considered to be the most basic dynamic Bayesian network. Two various types of audio frame features and audio example features are extracted throughout the feature extraction procedure from the audio signal according to unit length. Every music clip receives a unique approach that we implement with concurrently using various CHMA. The initial music gets processed using a trained CHMA that monitors fundamental frequencies, maps states, and generates retrieval outcomes. The training time for Traditional opera reached 455.76 minutes, the testing time for Narration achieved 56.10 minutes, and the recognition accuracy for advertisement reached an impressive 98.02%. A subsequently experimental result validates the applicability of the proposed approach.

The Kyiv Bandurist Chapel’s concert activity during the Second World War

Statement of the problem. Recent research and publications. The article is dedicated to the creative activity of the Kyiv Bandurist Chapel, its origins, and stages of formation. It characterizes the peculiarities of the Chapel’s concert and touring activities and states the role played by the bandurist choir in the social and political life of Ukraine. The creativity of the Kyiv Bandurist Chapel (and later – the Taras Shevchenko Bandurist Chapel) as a spiritual phenomenon of Ukrainian musical culture has been increasingly studied over the last two decades. Published works highlight various aspects of its activity, however, there remain questions that require deeper analysis and a new approach, particularly, the concert and touring activities of the Chapel in 1939–1944. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the article is to analyze the Kyiv Bandurist Chapel’s concert activity in the context of the social and historical events during 1939–1944 and its impact on various aspects of cultural, musical, and social life in Western Ukrainian territories. The article uses general scientific methods: source study, descriptive and analytical. The concert and performance repertoire of the Chapel has been analyzed in terms of its content and dynamics. The article mentions joint projects of the Chapel with Ukrainian musical institutions and public organizations. New data about the numerical composition of the first Kyiv Bandurist Chapel, the peculiarities of its concert and touring activities, and some episodes from the lives of individual bandurists have been introduced into the scientific discourse. Research results and conclusion. The Kyiv Bandurist Chapel takes its origins from the period when the national liberation struggles began in 1918–1922. During its existence, the Chapel has been known under various names: “Kobzar Choir” or “First Chapel of Kobzars” (according to V. Yemets), “First Ukrainian Art Chapel” (1925), “United State Exemplary Chapel of Bandurists of the Ukrainian SSR” (1935–1941), “Taras Shevchenko Bandurist Chapel” (from 1941). The foundation of the Kyiv Bandurist Chapel’s repertoire in different historical times constituted Ukrainian dumas, historical, Sich Riflemen’s and insurgent songs, national-patriotic authors’ works, and song and dance melodies. During the period under study, the Kyiv Bandurist Chapel actively performed concert tours in such regions, including Kyiv region, Volyn, and Galychyna. Throughout 1942–1944, it performed in Germany for Ukrainians who were forcibly deported by the Nazis from Ukraine and placed in Ostarbeiter camps. The Kyiv Bandurist Chapel, being in the whirlwind of historical events, proved that the Ukrainian people’s will and independence were always the priority in their creative activities. Further study of the Kyiv Bandurist Chapel’s history is pertinent to several key historical periods: the post-war reconstruction of Soviet Ukraine, the nation’s journey to independence, and the Russian-Ukrainian war. These topics are awaiting unbiased examination and scientific synthesis.

The Impact of the Hyperscore Musical Composition Program on Students / Impactul programului de compoziția muzicală Hyperscore asupra studenților

The development of musical competences requires educational contexts characterised by diversity. Modern trends in education and the profile of Generation Z require the adaptation of teaching-learning-assessment strategies to new training conditions. Thus, the digital dimension cannot be missing from the range of activities carried out with students. This study presents the results of a questionnaire survey of students from two partner higher music institutions. The focus is on the impact of the Hyperscore music composition programme on students.

Considerations for mathematical backgrounds and goals of music students in introductory acoustics courses

Many music institutions include an introductory course in acoustics as prerequisites for certain classes and/or requirements for graduation of a degree program. With the topic involving science, there are mathematical concepts that are naturally introduced to the students. For instruction of music students this may result in challenges as the range of their mathematical background is generally larger. Aside from difficulties in the coursework, it is also common where students will not utilize the mathematical concepts from the course throughout their career. Therefore, it is crucial to survey the typical level of the students' interests and skills in mathematics to align it with the course objectives and determine the methods of instruction. This presentation will focus on modifying the level of mathematical instruction based on the goals of typical music students and the real-world applications of the learned content.

Multimedia tools integration in the musical education teaching process

Relevance. Given the rapid development of technology, the educational system of Kosovo in the 21st century requires finding ways to modernise, as well as highlighting the role and significance of information and communication technologies used in this area.Purpose. The study aims to reveal the process of application of multimedia resources in educational practice, as a complex integrated phenomenon and the study of its leading components.Methodology. Systematisation, analysis, comparison, generalisation and synthesis methods were used to achieve it.Results. As a result of studying this problem, the key spheres of using information and communication technologies and modern software in educational music institutions of Kosovo were established. These are directions in comprehension of national folklore of one of the indigenous ethnic groups of Albania (fixation, practice of performance and dissemination of folk traditions); aspects of mastering musical disciplines related to the folk art of Kosovo and world music art (expansion of the base of theoretical and practical information, stable source of communication between teachers and students, favourable and motivating to achievements learning environment); the results of the application of Internet resources, in terms of modernization and increasing the effectiveness of learning mechanisms in one of the regions of the Balkan Peninsula (establishment of intercultural dialogue, enrichment of musical traditions of the ethnos, modernization of educational and creative spheres). All of them meet the needs of one of the ethnic groups in Albania for spiritual, cultural, and social identification on the platform of the global world community of the 21st century.Conclusions. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that its results can be used as mechanisms of educational activities of educational institutions not only in Kosovo but also in neighbouring regions, where different Albanian ethnic communities reside.

The protean music career as a sociopolitical orientation: The mutually integrated, non-hierarchical work values of socially engaged musicians

Socially engaged, participatory music making is slowly establishing itself as a complement to musicians’ portfolio careers, although it may still be considered of less value than established concert hall practices. To gain a better understanding of the drivers toward socially engaged practice in music field, we analyzed 20 semi-structured interviews with musicians in Finland, using the lenses of work values and career orientations. The abductive, theoretical reading analysis shows that the musicians viewed the social-relational nature of their work as a fundamental feature of the practice and sought congruence between their work values and other personal values. The interviewees renounced the hierarchy between intrinsic (autonomy, creativity, variety, achievement, challenge, and intellectual stimulation) and social work values (interacting with people, altruism, and contribution to society), and found participatory practice to be artistically freeing and personally rewarding. Their work appeared less driven by extrinsic values (economic gain and status); hence, their self-directed and values-driven orientation resonates strongly with the notion of the protean career. Although their sociopolitical stance involved the risk of weakening their professional status and they had to constantly justify their work amongst their colleagues, they all expressed conscious counternarratives to what they considered the elitism of expert culture in traditional music institutions. The study argues that the practice of socially engaged musicians can help the professional field of music reconsider and transform its stubborn value hierarchies in the complex social, political, ethical, and moral landscapes of contemporary society.

Music major students' perception toward Chinese higher education curriculum in employability preparation

PurposeWith a focus on undergraduate music major students in China, the study sought to examine how higher music education institutions prepare professional knowledge, professional skills and soft skills in relevance to music students' employability.Design/methodology/approachThe quantitative survey engaged 359 music students from five music institutions in Western China to report their perceptions toward music curriculum related to employability. The current study examined whether their perception varied based on their gender, location, school, educational background and professional option purpose.FindingsPerception differences in the music curriculum were observed across gender, schools, educational background and professional option purpose. School differences were the most significant among all five factors, followed by professional option purpose, educational background and gender. The location difference was insignificant among the five factors. There were insufficient opportunities for community and industrial engagement in higher music education.Originality/valueThe current study provides an insight into the higher music education curriculum for employability preparation in current China. This is one of the limited empirical studies in Western China to investigate music students' perceptions of professional knowledge and skills and the soft skill line with employability. The findings can serve as a reference for prospective employees in the music industry, policymaking and curriculum design and future research.

Aktywność społeczno-kulturalna Polaków na terenie Marchii Granicznej (Grenzmark Posen Westpreusen) w latach 1933–1939

The article presents social and cultural activities taking place in the Frontier March of PosenWest Prussia (Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen, Borderland) which operated between 1922 and 1938 in the first, short period of the existence of the Third German Reich – until the outbreak of World War II (1933–1939). The paper discusses the activities of various Polish organizations and institutions in the Nazi German state, including people’s banks, farming organizations, minority schools, scout troops, libraries, community centres, music institutions, and sports clubs. Although the Third Reich was a nationalist and totalitarian state, these organisations and institutions were allowed because the Third Reich pretended to be in good relations with the Republic of Poland. After the outbreak of the war between the two countries in September 1939, any separate socio-political and cultural activity of Poles in Germany, including the Borderland, was banned, and all the institutions and organisations presented in the article were dissolved.

Piano Pieces for Children in Serhiy Bortkevych’s Musical Heritage

The article reveals the artistic and pedagogical potential of piano music for children by the Ukrainian Diaspora’s prominent composer Serhiy Bortkevych. For this purpose, we analysed the piano cycles Little Traveller, Marionettes, Musical Wonderland (based on H. H. Andersen’s fairy tales) and From My Childhood. We specified the stylistic features of his music, didactic and educational tasks, which can be determined by working on small pieces of lyrical, dance, scherzo and march genres with their inherent modest scale and simplicity of presentation. S. Bortkevych tends to the chamber type of expression, modesty of texture, and absence of external effects, which reveals the composer’s commitment to the art of the Biedermeier. This component of S. Bortkevych’s creative personality is complemented by his constant interest in the world of childhood, both in terms of imagery and content, as well as didactics and education. All of S. Bortkevych’s children’s piano cycles clearly demonstrate the great importance of programmatic model in revealing the figurative content of piano pieces, in which nature paintings, portrait sketches, emotional experiences, travelling motifs, cities and countries, fairy-tale images, puppetry, etc. take an equal position. Up-tempo pieces (toccata, scherzo) require the same work as etudes, but with the difference that in etudes, artistic tasks are auxiliary, while in music pieces they are the main goal. In dance pieces, the basis for the work is the need to identify the specificity and character of the dance (waltz, mazurka, polka, hopak) and the originality of the rhythm. Lyrical pieces develop musicality, emotionality, artistry and performing initiative due to the musical language accessibility, vivid imagery and laconism of the form. The works of this group are of pedagogical value as they are aimed at gradual mastery of certain piano skills and techniques. S. Bortkevych’s compositional achievements deserve attention in terms of including his heritage in the educational repertoire of modern music institutions to deepen the educational and cognitive process of children’s and youth’s musical and aesthetic education.

Byzantine music in the educational and scientific space of modern Ukraine

Relevance of the research. The persistent revival of early music in the twentieth century led to a number of large and small discoveries that significantly enriched the history of European music. Byzantine music became one of the new continents that appeared on the map of European musicology in the twentieth century. The process of comprehending the millennial history of Byzantine music as an important component of European musical culture, as a musical expression of Christian culture, as a tradition that had a powerful influence on the whole of Europe is far from been completed. The revival of the Ukrainian monodic church repertoire, that we observe today, is accompanied by an active search for historical information and appropriate vocal manners and style that lead to the Greek-Byzantine tradition. Comparative studies of Byzantine and East Slavic musical manuscripts have enormous heuristic potential and open up the opportunity to represent the thousand-year history of Ukrainian music, and not be limited to its modern period.
 The purpose of our work is to analyze the controversial concepts and approaches to understanding the Byzantine church chant tradition (“Byzantium after Byzantium”, in the words of Nicolae Iorga, traditionalism versus historicism); to show the prospects of Byzantine-Slavic musicological research and the need for its actualization in Ukraine; to present the educational course “Byzantine Music: Theory and Practice”. Methodological framework. The study is based on historicaltypological and comparative research methods.
 Results and scientific novelty of the work. The experience of comprehending the Byzantine church chant tradition as an important component of European musical culture was analyzed, discussion concepts and approaches in the development of musical Byzantinology of the twentieth century were highlighted. The prospects and relevance of Byzantine-Slavic music research were shown. The necessity of studying Byzantine music in musical institutions in modern Ukraine was substantiated, the current status of development of Ukrainian musical Byzantine studies was analyzed. An educational program on Byzantine music was presented, and the range of related scientific and methodological discussion topics was outlined.

Factors associated with increased risk of playing-related disorders among classical music students within the Risk of Music Students (RISMUS) longitudinal study

Playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs) are common among musicians but longitudinal data on risk factors are limited. The aim of the study was to longitudinally identify the factors associated with increased risk of PRMD onset among music students enrolled in different pan-European music institutions. A further goal was to assess the occurrence of PRMDs during a 12-month period. A total of 442 students without PRMDs from 56 European music universities completed a web-based questionnaire on lifestyle and practice habits, health history, physical activity, psychological distress, perfectionism, and fatigue. PRMD onset was assessed prospectively at 6 and 12 months. Logistic regression analysis showed that changes in physical activity level (6-month AOR = 2.343, 12-month AOR = 2.346), increased levels of fatigue (6-month AOR = 1.084, 12-month AOR = 1.081) and socially-prescribed perfectionism (6-month AOR = 1.102) were significantly associated with PRMD onset, which had occurred in 49% of participants during 12 months. Musculoskeletal complaints reported at baseline (6-month AOR = 0.145, 12-month AOR = 0.441) and changes to BMI (12-month AOR = 0.663) limited the onset of PRMDs. The study’s novel longitudinal findings were appraised critically within the contexts of potential factors for PRMD onset and evidence-based preventive strategies to minimise the impact of PRMDs.

Методологічні засади формування музично-слухових уявлень молодших школярів у процесі фортепіанного навчання.

The article emphasizes that the state of modern music education in Ukraine and China requires the introduction of new methods aimed at forming musical and auditory ideas into the practice of teaching pupils’ in extracurricular art educational institutions. Taking into account the complexity and different ways, they are considered in the process of teaching and learning the piano on the basis of environmental, individually differentiated, reflective and creative activity approaches. The author points out some pedagogical principles: realization of the pupils’ personal potential, accentuation of auditory attention during the performance of a musical piece, aesthetic perception of musical works, focus of musical education on the development of the emotional and sensory experience of younger school-age children, encouragement to self-evaluation and personal adjustment of one's own games in accordance with the imagined image, the connection of musical education with national culture. Thus, the selected scientific approaches and pedagogical principles become the basis for using the necessary methods and techniques for working with elementary school-age children. Pedagogical conditions were also substantiated for effective musical education of younger school-age children: 1) selection of the most emotionally expressive musical works taking into account their pedagogical tasks; 2) the introduction of creative tasks aimed at the development of musical and auditory ideas of younger school-age children into the system of primary education of children; 3) orientation of musical and auditory ideas of younger school-age children in the mode of independent development. The step-by-step method covers in teaching and learning the piano of younger school-age children in three stages: emotional-developmental, reproductive-accumulating and communicative-creative. By their essence, these stages correspond to the content of piano learning in extracurricular art institutions and are correlated with certain structural components: motivational, emotional-reflective, active and creative-performing. The theoretical provisions developed by the author regarding the formation of musical and auditory ideas of younger school-age children are presented in the form of an organizational and methodological model, which includes the goal, tasks, principles, pedagogical conditions, structural components, stages, forms and methods. During testing in Ukrainian and Chinese specialized music institutions, it showed its effectiveness and feasibility in the process of teaching and learning the piano.