Showing papers in "Review of Artistic Education in 2014"

Specific educational measures for the promotion of artistic excellence at early ages

Abstract: IntroductionWe intend to analyze the educational component of artistic excellence at early ages, citing an excerpt that refers to this issue: "...Whereas, for practical reasons, educational systems must be constructed in such a way as to provide adequate education for most children, there will always be children with special educational needs, for whom one must take special steps. One of these categories is the one of the gifted children. (...) Obviously, no country can afford to waste talents, and, if the intellectual potential or others, are not identified in time, it would mean a huge loss of human resources. For this purpose, it is necessary to implement the appropriate measures. " Research done in this area show that the percentages of children capable of excellence are not negligible. According to the assessments made and the criteria used in different countries, gifted children are 3-10 % of the school population.Concepts and policies regarding the educational excellence in art educationThe challenge to address the present theme was first presented by the Eurydice research in 2006, which has also proposed a record and analysis of educational policies relating to the promotion of excellence and the main measures introduced in the European education systems to educate gifted and talented children, to encourage forms of excellence at primary and secondary levels (ISCED levels 1-3).This comparative study included 30 countries that are members of the Eurydice network. What is surprising is that the preschool stage has been omitted from this study, otherwise a very important stage in the early detection of skills, especially the artistic and sporting ones. In specific literature, a variety of terms are used to describe children capable of excellence. These terms cover different concepts depending on their origin, their cultural context and how the intelligence and talent are manifested.In addition, the terminology adopted is related to educational policies designed to benefit these children. We note that in most countries where the group is indeed defined, educational measures, formal or non-formal, have been introduced so as to meet their needs. It is observed that in the majority of countries and regions that use the two terms "gifted" and "talented" to refer to children with exceptional potential, have adopted a set of criteria to identify them (special psycho-physical-intellectual capacities, oriented scientifically, artistically towards leadership or management, towards the environment, or kinesthetic ones).Returning to the present analysis, we refer to children who demonstrate artistic potential, taking into consideration that not all countries have established criteria for classification. In total, 17 of the 31 countries and regions included in this study have clearly defined criteria for classification.Classification criteria aimed at measuring the inter-personal, emotional, psychological, intellectual, artistic performance (this refers to the creative skills in all areas of artistic expression, such as dance, music, or visual arts; the most widely used criterion being that obtained in tests of skill). According to current educational policies in the countries covered by this study, the education of the intellectually giftedness children and the promotion of excellence in schools, is either an integral part of general education, or it is subject to special educational measures. Any kind of non-formal measures are placed alongside the formal ones. Almost all countries offer both formal educational measures, and nonformal ones. Literature related to the insurance of education for gifted children and the development of complementary talents points out several possible options that can be generally classified into four groups: 1) more advanced or more activities, provided for under the general educational preparation, 2) differentiated teaching (or differentiated curriculum), 3) non-formal activities and 4) accelerated promotion. …

The formative significance of aesthetic contents in early childhood education – an analysis of romanian preschool curriculum

Abstract: 1. The contents of education during the first years of lifeShaping the personality of young children, just like in the case of any person, inevitably engages a sum of educational contents. The variety, diversity, and novelty that they share are characteristic features that beg no demonstration, since they are self-evident. Thinking along Comenius' philosophy, we argue that the offer of messages for young children integrates all significant fields of human knowledge and action, starting with metaphysics, physics, dialectics and grammar, and continuing with optics, astronomy, geography, chronology, history, arithmetic, geometry, statics, mechanics, rhetoric etc. (Comenius, 1970, pp. 135-136). We also agree to the variant proposed, in a quite inspired manner, by two American scholars who have become quite famous through their poem Children Learn What They Live (Nolte & Harris, 2007, p. 15). Without indicating the locus of origin for aspects of existence that are suggested to children, in order to be assimilated during their first years of existence, the authors highlight the essential values that need to be cultivated for the construction of psychic human normality (irrespective of the circumstances in which it is appropriate for them to be activated): tolerance, patience, on-going encouragement, appreciation, acceptation, approval/ recognition, generosity, honesty, respect, fairness, justice, friendship and so on. As one can see, the aesthetic is not listed among the invoked sources, but this does not mean that its existence is neglected or mitigated. On the contrary, what is offered to young children is unveiled by adults under the most advantageous hypostases, including the aesthetic perspective. In fact, the contact with the beautiful, as well as with the ugly is intrinsic to the life of a child (Florian, 1992), but the educational act, which is intended, controlled and proposed institutionally (by adults) stimulates the reception of the beautiful by children, and their awareness of its presence in the human living environment (nature, man-made objects, speech), their engagement in achieving beauty by drawing, painting, modelling, singing etc. (Momanu, 2002, pp. 92-103). Capitalising on the formative valences of the aesthetic in nature, society, human manifestations or art as such is stipulated in fundamental documents of the management of the educational system283, in regulatory documents^0* or documents that ground paideic intervention on young children, in theoretical analyses or in educational practices of human development during preschool and school education (Amadio,Truong & Tschurenev, 2006; Baciu & Boco§, 2012; EACEA P9 Eurydice, 2009; Crain, 2003; Wallon, Cambier & Engelhart, 2008, Pacca, 2010; Schulman Kolumbus, 1998).2. Preschool curriculum in Romania - an object of multiple investigationsThe education of preschool children in Romania has been grounded and oriented strategically since the year 2008 by the regulating document known as the Curriculum for the early education of children aged 3 to 6 / 7 years old (henceforth, Curriculum 2008). The interest for the thorough study of the above mentioned regulatory document is justified by at least two reasons, detailed in the following. Firstly, Curriculum 2008 is an ideatic-normative construct, consistent with similar educational frameworks from other countries in the world (England, France, Italy, Germany and so on), with a new, original structure that is extremely complex in comparison with previous similar documents targeting preschool education in Romania. It suggests a radical change of optics on the contents offered to preschool children by explicitly assuming a certain curricular perspective in education. Thinking along D'Hainaut's idea, the authors of the quoted material highlight the fact that the core point of the curriculum must be the pupil, not the subject matter ... and that when one talks about the contents of the curriculum, one must understand that it is not a matter of statements of subject matters to study, but of goals expressed in terms of a pupil's competences, ways of acting or of knowing, in general (Curriculum, 2008, p. …

The Creative Use of Authentic Documents with Artistic Value in Foreign Language Education

Abstract: 1. New and old in the debate on authentic documentsAlthough intensive efforts have been invested towards the creation of innovative tools for language education, authentic documents still remain a central theme for debates in the field, and numerous training courses for language teachers address the issue. At the very heart of the continuous debate lies the name of the discussed learning tool itself - authentic document. Beyond any doubt, the international debate over authentic document it is far from absolute novelty, as it started and intensified since early twentieth century, with the apparition of the phonograph, and later of the tape, tape-recorders and slides; audio documents are also traditionally used in teaching and learning of foreign languages, being viewed as a sources or reference materials in learning pronunciation and enriching vocabulary.Authentic documents are currently opposed to documents produced for the foreign language classrooms, especially textbooks based on various pedagogical approaches. Authentic documents are considered genuine creations, designed for a variety of purposes and therefore less didactically biased, meant to entertain, to inform, and to stimulate deep aesthetic or emotional experiences. Although analyzed as a contradictory pair, "authentic" and "manufactured" documents are currently mixed in language textbooks, and therefore teachers' work in searching, choosing and applying became a lot easier. However, the richness and diversity of authentic documents deserves further attention, and may stimulate innovative didactic approaches in language education.Language educators attempt to define authentic documents as "real life" and "natural" materials which can be used for didactic purposes. Authentic documents are somehow a living proof of the value of language in communicating thoughts, emotions experiences. Meanwhile, they include specialized vocabulary, reinforced grammatical structures, and diverse topics and themes which transform them in important factors for encouraging learning of foreign languages and cultures (Berwald, 1987). Educators who assert that it is important to use activities and materials connected with learners' lives outside of school, which are therefore learner-contextualized, also stress that using real life materials supports the transfer of acquired knowledge and skills to real life contexts. Authentic learning materials are not used only with advanced students, but also with beginners, as they can have an important role in motivating task engagement. Authentic materials also promotes learners' part or full responsibility for the choice of learning materials, although didactic practices based on application prepared by teachers remain frequent. This alternative in the use of authentic documents can also foster learners' autonomy, and this is even a more important aim for their future lives than foreign language proficiency (Duda & Tyne, 2010).This type of discourse opens a new debate: if used in the classroom, therefore selected and transformed for didactic purposes, a document remains authentic? (Puren, 2012). Answers to this question are not an easy task, but at least learning tools with artistic value (literary texts, videos and films, photographs, comic strips, music etc.) are more likely to remain authentic, even when produced by students in the classroom. Moreover, we support the optimists' voices who claim that the use of authentic document makes language teaching and learning more effective, if not more motivating, and consequently we support the use of authentic documents especially in language classrooms. Thus, Chavez (1998) argues that authentic documents are perceived by students as easier, interesting and stimulating learning materials, while Gilmore (2007) asserts that authentic documents sustain high levels of task-orientation and engagement, based on a study focusing in teaching and learning English as a foreign language. …

Musical-educational research of the adaptation of e. e. gordon's theory of music learning in poland

Abstract: IntroductionThe purpose of this article is the scientific afterthought on the musical audiation completed with quantity-quality scientific research related to the educational practice in Poland. The philosophical and methodological background is the theory of music learning by the American psychologist and music pedagogue Edwin E. Gordon. The 'audiation' is subjected to the scientific analysis initially as ability and subsequently as the capability of differentiating sounds in the human mind in terms of pitch, length, rhythmical pattern, dynamics, tempo or tone timbre. This unique and specific internal perceptive effort requires the abilities of hearing sounds being present and the ones reminded and heard at the time being. Especially in Polish musical education the aspects of pupils' audiation abilities development is sampled with relation to the types and phases of music education model based on audiation. In this model the foundation is the acceptance of current 'category of audiation in music learning' (Kolodziejski & Trzos 2013, p. 167) "Simply speaking, audiation is present in the ability of telling the difference between the sounds on the basis of pitch, length, rhythmical patters, dynamics, timbre, and so on" (Kolodziejski & Trzos 2013, p. 167) A separate trend in the educational research in Poland deals with the possibility of joining the traditional and modem solutions in the musical education and upbringing, including the application and partially the adaptation of the American theory by E. E. Gordon in Poland. The theoretical framework still bring the research news about the role of the audiation in the musical education and the analogy between learning music and acquiring one's mother tongue.Introduction to the issues of the theory of music learning in the context of preparatory audiation.The theory of music learning by the American pedagogue and psychologist Edwin Elias Gordon has been known in Poland since the beginning of the 1990s. During the series of seminars Prof. E. E. Gordon presented his assumptions of his own theory of music learning4 (in short GTML5), which constitutes the analysis and synthesis of the sequential manner how and when we leam music (Gordon 1999, p. 507) in the most effective way at various levels of acquiring some new musical experiences. GTML generally relates to the initial 10 minutes of a music lesson during which some activities on pitch (tonal) motives and temporal (rhythm) motives are conducted which are separated from one another and treated separately at the time of trainings (Zwolinska & Jankowski 1995, p.35.) Each another level of achieving tonal and rhythm contents in the activities determines the willingness to proceed to the upper one, related to the music learning along with the comprehension and the simultaneous development of musical cognition. Using GTML allows for directing children's musical development in the manner which is systematical and regulated developing the preparatory audiation and the audiation (UchylaZroski 1995, pp. 183-187; idem 1999; idem 2000). The preparatory audiation relates to informal directing of musical abilities in the developing phase of a child, which is maximally up to the age of six. The inculturation phase called the process of assimilation of the cultural heritage (Sliwerski & Milerski 2000, p. 85) takes place through making the cultural assets available and accessible to a child and it is the process which never ceases, and thus it is considered the most important in the concept of musical development by Edwin E. Gordon. The audiation is the foundation of the musical ability and it is treated as a separate musical cognition and actions indicating the comprehension of the processes and relations happening between the sounds in music. Child's ability to enter a particular type or phase of preparatory audiation displays their musical age but not the calendar age, therefore the possibility of musical interaction is present in each moment of education, but the earlier the better. …

The Success of Artistic Education: Integration Approache

Abstract: In connection to the addressed issue research, affiliated to the present needs of the artistic education, we point out a couple of theoretical benchmarks. First of all, the process of music reception and performance in the framework of some actions specific to the domain is identified with the educative action in itself. The value is put on: the degree of pupil's participation in the projection actions, the organization and implementation/evaluation of the musicalartistic action ( prescription of individual behavioral maps, anticipation, varying operations, implementation of tasks by choosing the optimal solution variants); the dynamics of teacher's specialty competence formation in order to gradually implement the process of theoretical projection and practical action (identification of educational contents and value actions; diagnostic of individual resources; planning/enunciation of assumptions; current and final assessment of results and changes that took place).Secondly, the transposition of theoretical prescriptions in practical actions is efficiently realized in the artistic domain only when the logistic projects of the action are not borrowed and used precisely, but become personal intentions and personal artistic decisions of the student-receptor-interpreter. Or, its author's approach is an achievement with obvious artistic intentional manifestation in the musical-artistic action. The student is formed in a complex aspect of creator, interpreter, listener, spectator, reader; he integrates the image of real phenomena and subjective ideas; he asserts himself through products/ as a product of that art. Simultaneously the student appeals to other arts in order to make full the artistic image specific to the domain. Thus, the act of student's integration is not one of strictly artistic or strictly musical imagination, but one of musical-artistic imagination. So, we qualify his actions in this domain as musical-artistic actions. It is worth mentioning that students' activism on increasing efficiency of the musicalartistic action as well as the entire system of musical-artistic education are regulated by certain principles, qualified by us in the following way: principle of proactive personality education, principle of value centering, principle of artistic intro-opening, principle of creativity and success considered self-evidently as possible foundations for getting high efficiency in the process of student's musical-artistic development.Not least, the work is orientated towards the resizing of some efficiency technologies of the educational process, especially towards increasing efficiency of a student's musical-artistic action and professional competency activation of the teacher-musician. In this respect, we will look for the answer to the question: What is occurring and what is the efficiency? We inflict the establishment of efficient cooperation in the relationships: student-teacher, student-art through the reception and interpretation of the artistic message, independent projection of personal actions. Starting from the reality of educational practice, we tend to specify the following praxiological premises:* effective implementation awareness of the principle of proactive personality education through student's gradual transfer from the state of dependency to the state of independence and intra-independence;* need for musical-artistic action with higher efficiency, especially at the stages of its projection and implementation;* existence of insurance opportunity of effective connection between factors: educational, individual and musical-artistic which would constitute the basis of student's attitude for musical-artistic acquisitions and obtained results; would contribute at the re-sizing of the personality factors responsible for the expansion of the spiritual universe, the activation of the relation valueeducation;* inefficient use of the principle of artistic intro-opening stops the process of student's opening to the spirit through musical and artistic action, therefore, it is necessary to value the dynamics of changing the object/subject of education: receptor -> interpreter -explaining person;* inefficient stimulation of musical-artistic creativity which is a fundamental component of the personality and which facilitates the formation of the individual ideal and the student's personal image;* praxiological completeness awareness of success which would directly contribute to the incresing efficiency of the didactic action and student's action, being a condition and aim of musical-artistic education. …

Musical Improvisation and Judicial Activism

Abstract: IntroductionMusical improvisation is the a creative activity in which a piece is composed in the same moment in which it is performed: the performer does not refer to a previously written piece, but rather spontaneously sings or plays a new passage or a whole piece extempore, usually structuring his or her musical ideas on a specific theme. In fact, musical improvisation may be practiced inventing variations on a melody or creating new melodies in accordance with a set bass-line. In the legal field, in order to decide a case, the judge searches for similar cases decided in the past, notes the basis of the past decisions, and converts the decisions into a rule which can be applied to the current case. However, precedents cannot cover all situations; as a consequence, courts sometimes issue innovative decisions. The rulings suspected of being based on personal or political considerations of the judge rather than on existing law are considered examples of judicial activism. This article makes a comparison between musical improvisation and judicial activism, focusing on whether or not their practice can be considered an appropriate contribution to the development of music and the law.Supporting musical improvisation and innovative judicial decision-makingDuring the course of time, the relationship between performers and the score changed in a significant way. Before the invention of printing, scores were handwritten; music handwriting or copying was a very laborious and time-consuming task, and in spite of careful attention, many manuscripts contained scribal errors. For this reason composers and copyists usually wrote just the most important features of the piece, and performers completed it in the performance, often adapting it in compliance to the availability (or not) of specific musical instruments, the needs of the performers, or the requirements of the location. Research highlighted that during the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth century, each performance of a piece involved major or minor changes to the original score, above all if the composition dated back to a period characterized by a different music style (Harnoncourt, 1987). Modifications could be made also to coeval pieces, in order to meet the taste of the listeners, or to celebrate special events or anniversaries. Some theorists claimed that, even in the twentieth century, performing a piece can be deemed as more or less faithfully adapting it, because each performance implies intentional or unintentional changes to the piece, as it was originally conceived by its author (Busoni, 1907).However, although extemporaneous composition may be unfettered by the prescriptive rules which characterize the original theme or piece, in any case it conforms to specific constraints, to which the improviser complies. Among them may be the following: 1) stylistic constraints, loosely specified by the improvisational style the performer adheres to; 2) internal constraints, which descend from what has already been performed, and the need to follow general principles of consistency or balance; 3) external constraints, such as superordinate principles of harmony and structure, or the wish to produce music meeting the audience's competence and expectations (Pearce and Wiggins, 2002). As a consequence, each performer intending to improvise in his or her performance, shall have a competent knowledge of the rules governing diverse compositional and improvisational styles, and the skills and experiences allowing him or her to apply them in an appropriate way.Likewise, in the legal field, a judge has to ascertain the content of the law, and apply it to the facts of the case, complying with external and internal constraints, and with the interpretation theory he or she adheres to (Dworkin, 1977, 1986). Some researchers claim that when a judge has to give performance to the law, interpreting and apply it to a specific case before him or her, he or she firstly seeks to establish the existence and meaning of any purportedly authoritative directives of legal institutions. …

The Ideals of Easel Graphic Beauty in Bessarabia

Abstract: One of the less known genres in the Bessarabian art, the nude, offers us a better understanding of the establishment of the modem figurative art and the specific artistic means of the graphic and its role in fine arts. Researching the approached genre reveals a world of workshops marked by daily exercising of the drawing of male and female models, this being a part of a practice and a secular tradition of the European art. The history of nude art is an integral part of the art study methodology, preliminary study of sculpture modelling, painting and engraving, designed to challenge the aesthetic perception of contemplating the beauty and the harmonious proportions of the human body.The introduction of the nude in the local graphic arts reveals the freedom of artistic creation and the laicization of the art, both representing aspects of one and the same phenomenon, i.e. constitution and modernizing the artistic process in Bessarabia. The emancipated and modem aspect of the Bessarabian art from the first half of the 20th century was the cause of the exigencies of that time, where the amorphous character of the local cultural space couldn't exist much longer, being animated by the European artistic tendencies and processes.Constituting the genre is a part of the art education system and the methodology of the human body studies developed by the art academies. These art centres shaped by the Italian and then French models which appeared in the 16th and, respectively, 17th centuries, have expanded in the entire Europe until the 18th century. The uniform academic arts curriculum was based on the rigorous study of the nude model and, in particular, the male nude model. Thus, by the 19th century, the same methods were implemented by the French, German, Italian teachers, as well as by other art institutions from Eastern Europe240. An eloquent example is the academic drawings made after the nude models by Michelangelo, Rafael, Annibale Carracci, Peter Paul Rubens, Lorenzo Bernini, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon and others.In the 19th century, with the apparition of the realism of the '30s, the perception of the nude has suffered several modifications. Thus, the classical impersonal nudes, with common features and idealized body, captured in heroic attitudes and gestures, were overtaken by realistic tendencies, this way obtaining an individual physical and psychological representation.An important role in engraving plays the material used for it. Starting with the 15th century, the black rock (or the Italian rock), the red one (sanguine) or the white one (white chalk) were the most common materials used in the nude model graphics. Thus, resorting to Italian pencil, pencil or sanguine demonstrates an attachment to the secular classic traditions. But being adepts of the graphic approach, the Bessarabian artists avoided simultaneous applying of these rocks, preferring drawing in black and white with monochrome shades of red. This means that there was a lack of influences, and a distance from the Rubens-like traditions from the 17th and 18th centuries, which implied making sketches with the three rocks - the black served for defining the shapes, the red one for reproducing the skin and the white for placing the lights. By the end of the 19th century, starting with the 20th, the graphic aspect of the nudes gradually moves away from the academic realistic interpretation towards a new postimpressionist and modem vision. As a result, the meticulous and detailed processing of the model disappears, and the mechanical hatching which was used to indicate the volume and the light/shade was replaced by vibrant contour lines which emphasized the form and the shape.The preferred techniques of the easel graphic remain: the pencil, which, when professionally handled, allows precise lines and modelling of the forms; sanguine, which can obtain natural shades, giving vivacity to the model; and charcoal, which is used in a forth of drawings, like the pencil. …

The set of 24 preludes and fugues – didactic intention or constructivism?

Abstract: 1. IntroductionDas Wohltemperierte Klavier Ciclul represents a collection of piano preludes and fugues, each of the two volumes containing 24 sets in all major and minor tonalities in ascending order (1722, 1744). The title of the paper refers to a new system of chording called equal temper, where each octave is divided into twelve equal intervals, method that replaced the previous one, meantone, where the tone of C major and its relative were the only ones with pure intonation, while those with sharps and flats had relative intonation. In the meantone tempered sound scale, each tone and semitone were significantly different, while the equal temper avoids the perfect intonation through an equal division of the octave, so each tone and semitone is equal. Bach recognizes the value of this new system, allowing greater freedom of modulation and use of chromatics, so that The Well-Tempered Clavier serves as a way to popularize within the composing circles of the time the new methods of chording, a living demonstration of flexibility and practical character of equal sharing of the keyboard. However, the cycle is an example of Bachian composing genius: despite perfect expressiveness of his music, as well as the attention to specific technical issues, it seems that Bach composed this work in the absence of the intended instrument, during a trip with Prince Leopold.2. Educational aspectsJohann Sebastian Bach is one of the first teachers of piano, who comprised collections of repertoires for teaching. Moreover, Bach organizes many of these cycles of plays based on several exhaustive learning principles, including the design, technical, expressive and musical cultural area: Klavierbuchlein fur Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is based on the sequence of plays based on their technical complexity, Inventionen und Sinfonien BWV 772-801 (known as Inventions for two or three voices) are arranged in ascending order of tonalities, each volume covering eighth major tonalities and seven minor tonalities. The Well-Tempered Clavier, according to the allegations of the composer, is a collection that initially aims the pedagogical primacy, the work being designed for study and training the sons of Bach, and the secondary purpose is the idea of entertainment. The original title bears the following inscription: for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study80.Like other pedagogical works of the composer, Well-Tempered Clavier is a collection of works whose musical value is equally significant as the formative one. Each play proves and at the same time proposes various issues in the pianistic technique; however, Bach does not sacrifices the musicality for the pedagogy, so that the theme of fugues are both simple and interesting, the motifs are skilfully developed and the melodic lines are graceful and harmonious at constructive level. The Book II of the cycle, composed after twenty-two years after the first volume, is less focused on the pedagogical side, being clearly addressed to trained instrumentalists and not to young learners mentioned in the title of Book I. Also, Book II, in its printed score, does not have a decisive role in the equal temper: since 1744, this new system was already known and it did not require the special support of the composer.The stylistic diversity of the plays included in the cycle proves a fundamental didactic principle: the repertoire approached by the student must contain enough variety, stylistic and formal wealth, so that he would be highly motivated in his formative effort. In terms of teaching, the two sets of preludes and fugues in Well Tempered Clavier raise a number of technical and expressive problems, whose solution is the foundation of a fair training of the performer of all time:a. virtuosity - figurai writing, based on formulas that evolve from simple to complex, from rarefaction to rhythmic density, associated with the choice of tempo represent a technical challenge for the instrumentalist performer. …

Debussy as a Forerunner of Interculturalism

Abstract: IntroductionAlthough the very concept of exoticism dates at the seventeenth century, Westerners' interest in the non-western world can be traced back to more ancient times. The discovery of exotic peoples, artworks, plants, and minerals in the course of trips or military campaigns, and their description by merchant travelers, explorers, missionaries or soldiers9 excited a feeling of difference between the West and the rest of the world, stimulating an attraction to all that was perceived as strange or remarkably unusual. The Westerners' quest of exoticism caused the production of artworks connected to far countries, in painting, decorative arts, and music. One of the earliest exotic representations in Western music can be found at the beginning of the sixteenth century: a pantomime dance, called Moresca, in which the executants wore Moorish costumes concludes Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (1607). Over the years, non-Westem art and music attracted more and more interest: regions as Turkey, Persia, India and China were often set to operas10, exotic elements were incorporated in orchestral work and even in shorter instrumental pieces . These inclusionswere made according to different lines of thought: among them were colonialist exoticism, and interculturalism.From colonialist exoticism to interculturalismThe most significant contact between Western and non-Westem music cultures occurred through colonization. On one hand, Western music was utilized as a vehicle to convert and control colonized peoples: the concepts of harmony, composition, technical mastery and music for music's sake influenced and transformed indigenous cultures. Sometimes, colonial policies had a direct effect on traditional music: in Bali, due to the Dutch mling, court gamelan musicians returned to their villages, contributing to the spread of specific musical forms (Brunero, 2003). Although in some cases, colonialism attempted to erase or submerge the traditions which flourished in the colonies until the arrival of the European mlers (Kaiwar, 2007), in other cases western cultures incorporated genres and styles which were characteristic of Oriental or African peoples, promoting a fusion between Western and exotic arts and music (Brunero, 2003). This article focuses on some works by Claude Debussy linked to gamelan music, investigating the following research questions: are these works aimed at keeping a sharp distinction between the Western and nonWestem worlds, or rather directed towards cultural and social integration? In short, may these pieces be considered as examples of exoticism, or rather as early models of interculturalism?The Indonesian gamelanThe gamelan is a traditional musical ensemble from the islands of Java and Bali. These islands are located in the Indonesian Archipelago, on the border of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, between Asia and Australia. Due to their location, they were subject to influence from a variety of cultures; in fact research highlighted that gamelan music originated as a combination of Buddhist musical instruments and styles from the Orient and the music and dance of the South Pacific islands (Hugh, 1998). The gamelan has an array of metallic instruments, ranging in pitch from low to high. The gong ageng is the largest and lowest instrument, and plays very low speed bass notes; medium sized instrument called kenong play medium speed melodies; the bonang is a series of medium sized bronze kettle gongs, which often play complicated interlocking patterns. Higher instruments, such as the saron and the gender, play faster moving melodies, in the range of one or two octaves, respectively.There are also other percussion instruments, as wooden xylophones called gambang, and drums called kendang. Besides percussion instruments, the gamelan includes bamboo flutes, called suling, bowed string instruments, called rebab, zithers, called celempung, and female singers, called pesinden. All the instruments and singers weave their parts together to form a complex music structure in which each instrument or singer has the same importance as the others. …

The Standards of Profession in Current Approaches to Assessing Quality in Romanian Arts Higher Education

Abstract: The required standards for quality assurance in higher education in Europe have been agreed upon by ministers of higher education in 2005. They are stated in the Report on Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area. The standard for teaching is that "Institutions should have ways of satisfying themselves that staff involved with the teaching of students are qualified and competent to do so. They should be available to those undertaking external reviews, and commented upon in reports" (ENQA Report, 2009, p.18). Apart from stating the standard, the report also provides general guidelines to practice, not differentiating between the type or contents of learning in higher education. The general statement of requirement is that of acknowledging the importance of certain features of teaching in higher education : the teachers are generally expected to "have a full knowledge and understanding of the subject they are teaching, have the necessary skills and experience to transmit their knowledge and understanding effectively to students in a range of teaching contexts, and [can] access feedback on their own performance"(idem).Problem statementMatching perfectly current trends on nurturing a cost-efficiency rationale in assessing quality in higher education, the ENQA standard and general guidelines translated into increased control and practices of evidence subjecting to standardization and quantitative approaches to measuring performance and quality in all learning areas, irrespective of the traditions, values and practices in various academic disciplines. In the pitfalls of this approach the arts higher education institutions seem to have caught tightest.In a comparative report on quality assurance and accreditation of higher music education institutions in Europe published in 2008, the Association Europenee de Conservatoires (AEC) explains the situation created by the Standardization approach in a manner applicable to all arts disciplines: "The vast majority of substantial work in music predates the assessment movement of the latter half of this century that calls for the substantial collection and comparison of data, reliance on quantitative benchmarks, use of large-scale technical review systems, and the production of symbols that reduce complexities so that results can be understood by all, irrespective of expertise. Such simple indicators are intended to confirm what students should know, what they should learn, what they have learned, and thus what teachers should teach. The cry for accountability of this kind has become commonplace. One result is the need to describe, codify, and explain past, current, and evolving practice based on the different natures of fields and professions. It is important to be cautious and aware, however, because wrong decisions about assessment policy can reduce the effectiveness of higher education. Two important issues to keep in mind are: (1) higher education is ever changing, and to assess in one common way that which changes constantly is overwhelming, if unrealistic given the fact that changes are ongoing in many disciplines and institutions; and (2) that which is important to be assessed can be easily lost in the concept, rhetoric, and operation of an overly-standardized review procedure" (2008, p.10).The concern expressed in the AEC's report is comprehensive of a number of aspects concerning the quality of teaching and learning experiences in the arts higher education, with which Romanian faculty staff in arts universities are often in a position to declare shared views and worries. Faculty in Romanian arts higher education have been responding to a national methodology of assessment with similar requirements of quality and an equal focus on quantitative markers of academic performance for all types of academic institutions and their teaching staff, irrespective of the discipline or contentrelated specificities of learning in those institutions. …

Melody, Rhythm, Color. a Genuine Vision upon Orff Method

Abstract: 1. ORFF METHOD - PEDAGOGIC MARKER INTO MUSIC STUDY 1.1. METHOD PRESENTATIONGerman composer Carl Orff (1895-1982) has brought important contributions into composing and theatrical domain, and also into musical pedagogy, by creating the Schulwerk method in which the instruments of percussion and the movements of human body play an important role for the musical education of children.This method had a major impact upon the German musical learning system, spreading also in other countries of the world. The name of Schulwerk belongs to composer and means "pedagogic creation" or "school creation", and the Romanian bibliography runs under the title of "Orff method for musical education" or "Orff system". Being draw of the new artistic tendency regarding the creation of "expression dance", Carl Orff has founded in 1924 the School for gymnastics, music and dance which was known as Gunther School.The composer tried to find a modality of musical expression that corresponds to ideas of a new type of dance. Knowing that the common element of the two arts is rhythm, he wanted to regenerate music through motion. The rhythmical motion can be achieved by specific instruments, starting with resonator parts of human body (slapping, snapping fingers, trampling), continuing with rudimental rhythmic instruments which are used into jazz music: bells, drums, claves, etc.Carl Orff has experienced this instrumentation, adding materials that were made of teachers and students of Gunther School. "For my idea to create a style of elementary music (our reference), the percussion, the oldest and primary instrument, has played a decisive role. Here it will not have an accidental function, but an essential one, that generates shapes and sonorities with a self life"52.Even if the structure of this music is simple and accessible, it does not mean that cannot be developed by application of improvising procedures of variational type. Carl Orff has concerned personally about the spreading of its method, both in Germany and other countries, organizing along with his colleagues from Gunter School numerous auditions, recitals, school festivals, representations to conferences and symposiums.To come in assistance of Orff method application, there were edited 5 tomes titled Orff-Schulwerk. Musik fur Kinder, constituting the basic work of the composer in this domain. Subsequently appeared the works Einfuhrung in Musik fur Kinder (Introduction into music for children: 28) and Elementariathe first experiences with model Schulwerk: 24. Orff and his collaborators added lately practical books, song book for children, with instrumental accompaniment, books with exercises for instrumental improvement. This didactic material was completed by the audio-visual material by apparition of the documentary movie Musik fur Kinder (1954), of a record and serial broadcast with the same title, on Bavarian television.The method has become known in Austria, by initiatic lessons for students of Mozarteum Academy of Music from Salzburg, reaching in the west of Europe, Canada and Japan, and the 5 Orff tomes were translated and adapted to autochthon specific and repertoire of children songs.From 1963 the Orff Institute had begin activity in its own center which became a high learning institution, with specialized faculty, with programs and classes regarding the applications for students. Subsequently, the record label Harmonia mundi from Freiburg has performed a sonorous documentation containing 10 records, titled Musica poetica, a material that came into support of application of the 5 tomes Musik fur Kinder.In 1976, Carl Orff has edited the tome Carl Orff und sein Werk that was dedicated to his plentiful pedagogic work, namely Schulwerk. The pedagogic ideas of Carl Orff are held of consideration and are included in primary school musical education from Germany. Today, the companies which are using this name, including "Carl Orff' Foundation, are concerned by the broad artistic and pedagogic inheritance of the composer, spreading internationally. …

Ethnic Identity, Assimilation and the Notion of 'Half-Roma' among the Roma in Latvia

Abstract: IntroductionDichotomization of society - separation between us and others - always is the basis of ethnic definition. In the case of Roma it is explicit and manifested in their daily use of language - in Latvia their endonym is Roma and all nonRoma are called gadze (there are also less popular names to designate the nonRoma). Roma and gadze are plural forms of these nouns, but singular forms are used to address a man, woman, boy or girl depending on their belonging or not belonging to the group: a Romani man is called Rom, non-Romani man is gadzo, a women is romni or gadzi, a Romani girl and boy is chaj and chavo, but a nonRomani girl and boy is rakli and raklo. The usage of the word gadze can be neutral or pejorative the same way as the Romani exonym Cigani in Latvian language.This categorization of people through the use of language demonstrates their perception of society. Until recent, Roma had a clear and nonnegotiable identity including definite borders and ideology of belonging, which are confirmed in practice. The Roma have a comparatively hard ethnicity if we use John Milton Yinger's terminology:" We need to distinguish a sociologically and psychologically important ethnicity from one that is only administrative or classificatory. might call these "hard" and "soft" ethnicities. The former connects directly with many aspects of life; the latter is marginal. A hard ethnic order is thoroughly institutionalized, with clear separating boundaries and a strong ideology. A soft ethnic order has blurred permeable lines, incomplete institutionalization, and an ambivalent ideology. " (Yinger 1994:3)While interviewing lotfika Roma in Kurzeme (western Latvia) I was intrigued by the use of the word 'half-Roma' (puscigani in Latvian). I started to question what does this category mean and how it is compatible with the traditional and rather explicit interpretation of the Roma-gadze dichotomy. The word then was not addressed to the persons from mixed families where one of the parents is non-Roma, but used in the cases when a person no longer meets the old and traditional standards inherent to Roma (Rom-ness). Roma use the Latvian term puscigani as criticism. In Romani language the word 'half-Roma' is not introduced and the person is diminished to the non-Roma status - gadzo. The following parts of this article present an analysis of, first, how do the elderly and middle age "pure" Roma define Rom-ness and what endangers its existence. Second, it focuses on two case studies on ethnic identity awareness and strategy of younger generation "half-Roma", who, if we use the metaphor of ethnicity analysis used by Fredrik Barth (Barth 1969), live on the boundary of their community.1. Roma ethnicityWhen questioned about musical traditions and traditions in general, older and middle generation Roma were frequently sceptical and talked about undergoing changes that during the last decades have affected their community and endangered its identity. Here are three informant viewpoints:-"We [in comparison with Latvians - I. T] stick to each other more. Earlier. But not now. (..) Now it is not anymore so that we go to each other. "-"We were more with the older together. Even if we were aside, we still have the old [traditions - 1.1] inside. The youngsters now generally... We are still towards the old times. These will go lost - they do not know anything at all. The younger generation, the more that Gypsy forgets traditions and the like. What traditions? We don't have any traditions anymore - we do all towards Latvian trend. do not have anything special - less and less we have. "-".Earlier there were more Gypsies, now there is no more. Inside Europe and finished. Nobody is interested [in Gypsiness - I.T.], everybody goes with the trending. Own folk gets forgotten. become ourselves not as Gypsies anymore. Earlier - some kind of relationships... Now everybody cares about self, everybody strives in their own life. …

The Concept and Practice of Teaching Musical Knowledge Based on Observation

Abstract: The pedagogical experiment has been conducted in three stages: that of observation and stating the facts, training and control/ validation. Specific objectives have been defined for the observation stage, for example: there has been carried out a study of educational documents in order to determine the conceptual and design strategies of teaching musical knowledge to students; an analysis of praxiologic frame necessary to teach musical knowledge to students in order to identify the determinants that have a negative influence on the process of acquiring musical knowledge at the lessons of musical education; a study of experiential framework of teachers of music in the field of forming and teaching musical knowledge to students by applying strategies, specific to musical education; an examination and interpretation of the experimental data, having the aim to develop a methodological model of teaching and forming musical knowledge by applying teaching strategies, specific to musical education.Based on the theoretical foundations, established for teaching and forming of musical knowledge, and there has been carried out an investigation in the practice of these activities as part of the Musical Education (ME) lesson.A. Teachers' results. Teachers were asked to contribute to our research by supplying responses to the two questionnaires that have different objectives, which directly and indirectly reveal the way they apply specific strategies to teach and form musical knowledge and their visions of teaching and forming process, as part of the lesson of Musical Education in the following aspects: methods/ procedures/techniques/ forms/means of teaching musical knowledge, the opportunity to modernize teaching musical knowledge, negative factors of teaching and acquisition of musical knowledge.Teachers' representations (Table 1): 1) there are 53 % of affirmative responses, indicating the use of specific objectives when designing / implementing specific strategies to teach musical knowledge, 2) 60 % of respondents do not take into account strategies of ME while designing the longterm planning, 3) 16.5 % respondents are aware of teaching musical knowledge, depending on the application of special methods / procedures /techniques /forms /means use when implementing the strategies used to teach musical knowledge; 4) 12.9 % of respondents systematically assess the students' capacity to identify/ apply musical knowledge in MDA (musical and didactic activities) 5) 51.7 % of respondents apply the components of strategies, specific to ME in teaching musical knowledge (methods, procedures/techniques, didactic tasks), following their efficiency. Evaluation was done by calculating the affirmative and negative responses of the teachers and correlating them to the number of teachers.Thus, 60% of the respondents do not perceive the design / implementation of strategies, specific to musical education while elaborating long and short term planning. 10% of the respondents apply various teaching strategies at their lessons. The majority, 47 % do not apply special design / implementation strategies in teaching musical knowledge and forming musical skills.Evaluation of teachers ' representations about the amount and quality of students' musical knowledge has been performed on the basis of questionnaire No. 2 (Appendix 2). To evaluate the teachers' representations / attitudes to establishing the effectiveness of strategies, undertaken to teach and form musical knowledge from the perspective of students' cognitive acquisitions:Item 1. Students' basic knowledge: 75.3 % of teachers believe that students have basic knowledge and 15.7 % believe that students do not have this knowledge (Appendix 2).Item 2. Identification of theoretical knowledge in a musical message: 10.7% of teachers believe that students can identify theoretical knowledge in a musical message; 7.0 % of teachers believe that students cannot identify it, 81. …

THE PUPPETEERS AS SOLO PERFORMANCE „MAKERSâ€

Abstract: SERGEY OBRAZTSOV - from traditional puppetry to essentializing the stage formsConsidered one of the greatest puppeteers of the 20th century, an actor and director of both musical and drama performances and a film producer at the same time, Sergey Vladimirovici Obraztsov, the founder of the Central Puppet Theatre of Moscow, imposed puppetry as an artistic form of expression within 1 O 1 the Soviet Union. According to his confessions in My Profession , his soloist activity can be divided into two periods: that of his becoming a soloist puppeteer based on his aesthetic principles he was to use throughout his career, namely his "family" performances, and that of his artistic maturity, when he defined and refined his artistic style in his professional shows.Let us keep in mind that Obraztsov's impressive solos emerged in a time when puppetry was next to amateurship and was being transferred from the streets and into professional institutions. Obraztsov was very much like the Petrushniks, the itinerant players, a factotum that was both an actor and a puppet manipulator, the stage props maker and the screenwriter of his own performances. But unlike the old times artist, whose skills were mainly technical and focused on the manipulation of the various objects, Obraztsov's puppet took the role of both character and actor.His main interest lay in the dramatic character, more specifically in the nature of man himself. He was a keen observer of the human nature and its weaknesses, which were a constant source of inspiration to his performances. He borrowed from Stanislavsky the latter's view on the stage performance and applied it to the puppet theatre in the relationship between characters, in their love or discords. As a consequence, a number of practitioners and theorists of i the 1960's considered his performances to be deeply realistic, imitative . If that were the case, it was more like imitating the human universe, actually transfiguring it.In the 1930's, Obraztsov's observations on the hand puppet led him to abandon any costume in favour of the naked hand. Following the model of the well-known characters of the puppet theatre such as Punch, Guignol or Petrushka, the artist understood that essentializing was the key word in conceiving his characters that were to have a puppet head and the dressed human hand for a body. He drew the conclusion that a puppet's essentialized features are more appropriate for a naked hand than a reproduction of the human body. This simplified form is of great support to the stage representation of the puppet that would not mechanically render the human movements, but "concisely express their emotions".Speaking about the various situations in which a soloist performer may find himself, Sergey Obraztsov admits that they are linked to one another in that the first directions offered by the producer trigger in the actor an excitement regarding his future character and then a constant search for appropriate manipulating means.Throughout his acting and directing career, the artist was very careful about controlling his stage manifestations and his inspiration would always follow his reasoning. His screenplay would come to life only after every detail was established. The whole process had different stages as the audience would usually differ from one performance to another. The most important of them was meeting the audience, the end of a road and the beginning of another of new searches for an appropriate adjustment of the personal emotion to that of the character.By comparing the world of the drama actor or puppeteer that play on a stage with other fellow-actors, who have a director, a scenographer and all the necessary stage elements with that of the soloist performer, Obraztsov considers that the latter's mission is more difficult: "On stage, even the big role actors are supported by their stage partners, the lights, the props, while in the street the actor is basically by himself. …

Performance Workshop - Concept and Creativity

Abstract: The analysis of the double dimension of characters of the animation theatre - the imitative and the interpretative - and the role between animation and public, allows us to show the need to use methods focused on inter-disciplinary and comparative studies; belonging of these characters to performing arts is obvious. These elements determine us to structure the show workshops so as to have as a starting point the practical argumentation of theory supported by our research. Every stage action started from a core idea, concept or hypothesis, the stage performance confirming or invalidating the anticipated formula. This led to better understanding of resources of stage expression offered by simultaneous presences (puppet actors - actors), which can be identified throughout the history of performing arts; and to necessity to correlate rehearsal time (voice, body) to the type of performance and also to organic understanding of the theory used.All these aspects call for a more careful and objective perception of the relations among different forms of theatrical performance; tendencies to structure the role theatrical language in outlining the show being harmful in our view. The anthropological approach can generate, though, getting an awareness of cultural patterns, inside which a performance unfolds; creation always has a tendency to overcome cultural limitations, the autonomy of the stage language being the result of the ability to summarize and communicate factors of influence. Modernity invites to accepting the necessity to study not only artistic creation techniques (system building, animation, actor interpretation) but also the role of art, of the dialogue between the artist and the public in shaping response attitudes equally to everybody's and community problems. On stage, on streets, in health and educational institutions - the performance arts merge trying to redefine their role. Among entertainment, therapy, teaching method or response to life impulses, more approaches appear, more artistic identities choose to adopt as a means of communication the one specific to animation performance. The puppeteer must leave world of illusion and fiction, in order to use its metaphor for expressing his ideas about the world and life; parable acquires its meaning only if it finds its correspondent in the unrest of human existence. Animation theatre looks for its stage identity (in classical forms of expression) also outside theatre; sociology, education, communication sciences - these use more often techniques specific to this art.The debates that place animation theatre falsely in obscurity made us launch a series of argumentative studies not only by providing our own experience of practising performance workshops but also by relating it opinions of important creators from the world of performance (outsides the technical sphere). We draw your attention on the observation of the stage director Andrei Serban : "Later I read Gordon Craig, who in Uber-Marionette says that, in fact, the ideal actor is the puppet-actor. Paradoxically, a puppet can have more soul than an actor, who sometimes is conceited, full of his subjectivity. A puppet is more expressive, more generous and more objective."196 Thus, a stage director interested in funding the meaning of theatrical experiment emphasizes the importance of special qualities of puppets, his opinion reminding us of an important essay by Kleist that stresses this important feature of the puppet-actor in relation with actor-person. Stage directors can also consider the principles that govern the art of animation in their attempt to understand actor's psychology; small stag becomes, thus, a theatre space where we can discover ways of expression, formulas of high expression.Starting with the second half of the XXth century, puppeteers firmly acknowledged srage interferences by redefining their art as a synthesis of performance techniques; where they tried to incorporate the path from primitive art to 3D cinema projections, received and used influences from the world of circus, dramatic theatre, dance theatre, entertainment shows, popular theatre (rituals based). …

The Definition of the Art Work: Ontological Aspects

Abstract: Art is a dimension by which the establishment of the man in the society is taking shape in a totally specific way. The work of art is the man's most determined modality of expression. From Parmenide and Aristotel to Hegel and Heidegger, the important landmarks of the identity interpretation of the art work are bulleted. Significant contributions keeping to a great extent their topicality have been brought by the Romanian philosophical schools: Lucian Blaga, Tudor Vianu, Constantin Noica.By means of arts, the person transforms the outer and the inner world as "object of his spiritual conscience", in which, as G.W. Hegel notes, recognizes own ego and looks at it from the eternity perspective [3, p. 37]. Referring to the essence of art, G.W. Hegel, in a metaphysical light, remarks the idea, according to which the artistic creation does not purchase anymore the spiritual satisfactions expected from it by the other-century people [idem, p. 17]. In the opinion of the same thinker, "the work of art is not a product of nature, but it is realized by the human activity", "is essentially done for the man and, namely, it is more or less taken from what is sensitive for his senses"; "anyway, but the work of art is not only for the sensitive perception, as sensitive object, but its state is in such a way, that, being something sensitive, it is at the same time, something essential for the spirit" [ibidem, p. 31, 41].The work of art is the product created in the activity of creation, which constitutes the starting point of the "creation" and the "creator". As M. Heidegger states, the origin of the work of art is art: "The artist and the work are, each in itself and in their correlation, through a third term, which indeed is the first one as well, namely through the something from which the artist and the work of art take their names: through art" [4, p. 17]. In other words, none of these terms can exist one without the other. "Art is nothing else that a word to which nothing real belongs anymore" [idem]. As a way of being, the work of art is an object, "something made", according to M. Heidegger's expression, with lots of attributes and determinations, through which it differentiates from any other type of work, at the same time marking its identity. The origin of the work of art should be searched in the origin of its essence, "the work is bom from and through the activity of the artist" [4]. Looking for an answer to the questions: what is and how exactly is a work of art, where and how does the art exist, M. Heidegger thinks that the essence of art cannot be acquired by a comparative research of the existing works of art, but by determining the direct and full reality of the work of art. But, by comparing the work of art with a thing, M. Heidegger clearly reaches two ideas [4, p. 45]: 1. The means by which the work of art catches the reality are entirely special, they seem "both adequate"; 2. The something which constitutes the content of the art work does not belong to the work itself, as the artist transposes into its structure "the way he conceives the work". From here, the work includes "the opening for the establishment of being" [4, p. 44]. The word opening necessarily corresponds to the being, in the Heideggerian meaning, and the discovery necessarily belongs to the establishment. The being opens as soon as the establishment is discovered. For a reality to be discovered by the man, it should obligatorily enter in the field of the human being opening. A person which discovers one thing/a work is the one that attracts the work/creation in the opening field of own being and, in such a way, absorbing him in his own field of interest, he confers a being to the thing (namely, a meaning, a value) which it is acquiring only now.As a constituent of the work of art, the artistic comes, as something else to which art is in beside work. The opera is a symbol. The general representation in the perspective of which the art work characterizing is moving for a long time, are the allegory and the symbol. …

News Arguments for Aesthetic Education and the Educational Dimensions of the Art Museum

Abstract: 1. News arguments in aesthetic educationAny responsible educational project assumes a position in relation to every person's aesthetic and artistic formation. Arts education shows a particular way of seeing the human being, a unique philosophy of life, a vision of what is more precious in order to become a human being. The importance that art appreciation gets within the society gives the measure of value of that society, its sophistication and axiological altitude. Arts education leads to new horizons, for it develops the interrogative and reflexive spirit (Gombrich, 1973). On this occasion, the young man consciously enters art's domain, learning something about himself, and this learning will allow him to solve problems, ask questions and enroll in a reflexive culture of the self and of the surrounding world to which he belongs. Arts education becomes an education of the self in the perspective of integration in humanity (Levinson, 1998). The education for beauty engraves a deep meaning, integrative and above all the other things acquired in school. Artistic training offers students an experience for enlightening and building a path for one's existence.The education of the senses, of aesthetic taste, forming the attitudes and an aesthetic ideal does not have to be the attribute just of the artistic disciplines. It is more than that, reaching other domains. This is a concern of all disciplines, to the extent that they not only aim for the forming of the intellect, but also of sensibility as well (as knowledge will be passed, equally well, through artistic disciplines, becoming, through this, among others, a form of intellectual education). That is why, whenever necessary, the beauty of the area that the discipline takes into account will be targeted (living nature - biology, physical nature - geography, divine perfection - religion, the human behavior - psychology, the harmony of computations - mathematics etc.). If truth and good, for example, are targeted by a large number of disciplines, why could not the same thing happen to the beautiful?The value of a work of art is, at times, determined by its context, as a result of playing it on stage, of a representation, of a meaningful investment (Fivaz, 1989). The places where art is present become similar to the "temples" in which the appearance of divinity is officiated, the emergence of value and its embodiment in artifacts or materials with the agreement of witnesses, of those that receive and who trust that the birth of value is celebrated. Value is not given, but built (and re-built) whenever a receiving conscience wishes, projects it, invests in it, builds it.More than ever, new manifestations of social, cultural and technological praxis bring up new arguments for the foundation of educational efforts in this regard.We bring to your attention the following bases for a programmed aesthetic education, achieved through intentional teaching practices:1. Axiological basis. The socio-cultural environment in which the individual lives is full of many aesthetic stimuli that need to be integrated or signified by man through affective and intellectual complicity. These instances do not become values if no one takes them into account, if no one receives or enjoys them. However, relating to aesthetic stimuli assumes giving a review to the subjects that relate to these, an introduction to the "grammar of art", a prior exercise of aesthetic object "usage". Reporting on these phenomena and practicing aesthetic values become a prerequisite of founding aesthetic values themselves. If these values are not received and internalized, it is like they do not exist at all. The condition of their ontic presence is given by the condition of their axiological validation. Art becomes art only when someone is aesthetically enjoying it.2. Cultural basis. From the point of view of self-improvement, aesthetic values closure helps its enlightenment, shaping a polymorphic spiritual profile, open and multidimensional. …

The Value of Contemporary Music Education and Musical Animation: Education for Music, Education through Music and Therapy through Music

Abstract: 1. IntroductionContemporary music education is based on criteria of globality, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity, which even if it focuses on sound language, it is designed constantly on other learning areas involving the ludico-expressive, psychomotor, verbal and logical-mathematical sphere, to which are added the auditory-musical experiences of the child: perception, selection, storage, analysis, notation, handling and production. In the XXI century, music education is no longer a solitary discipline, codified for the untrained people, but rather a social experience of music that belongs to the whole community.2. The concept of Active Method in Artistic EducationThe necessity of music education initiated from the childhood and adolescence was promoted by the XIXth century teachers. However, only during the XXth century this idea has become common for educational thinking, providing the opportunity for teachers and musicians to perform projects and educational programs, which later became methods and systems of music education taught in active schools96. The concept of active method in artistic education refers to situations in which children learn music in the prenotation period, without resorting to theoretical concepts, graphics and conventional representations, an idea in conformity with Rousseau's view: ''the knowledge of the musical notes is not necessary for to know how to sing, as well it is not necessary to know the letters for talking" .3. The New Methods of Learning MusicThe new methods of learning music are the result of educational proposals made by Justine Bayard Ward, Edgar Willems, Shinichi Suzuki and those of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Carl Orff, Zoltan Kodaly, Edgar Willems, Giordano Bianchi, which are therapeutic teaching methods. Through active methods proposed by them, the fundamental elements of music education, such as learning to understand and interpret music, have become available since early childhood, through vocal singing, musical game, improvisation, movement and listening to music.The characteristics of the methods proposed by the XXth century musicians and teachers can be found in the Music Learning Theory (MLT), belonging to the researcher in education and music psychology, Edwin E. Gordon98. The Gordon's theory (1971)99, developed in fifty years of research, has as the main premise the fact that music can be learned through similar processes to those of the mother tongue learning, from the neonatal period. Since its birth, the child is surrounded by sounds of spoken language, so that, he will develop along the time, its own vocabulary through imitation and repeated attempts. A child surrounded since an early age by the musical sounds will have the opportunity to develop their own musical vocabulary and thus he will can interact with the world of music through spontaneous and then deliberate actions. Gordon claims that if the child is not given, from an early age, the opportunity to develop their own vocabulary of music listening, as speaking vocabulary happens, brain cells responsible for the development of the sense of hearing, will be, in the best case, routed to another sensory system and no further attempt will completely repair the damage caused100.The value of the music education has been demonstrated and brought in the foreground through the scientific study conducted by Professor Hans Gunther Bastian101, who highlighted the beneficial influence that music has on the character and the evolution of each person, especially in childhood. The study was conducted during 1992-1998, on a group of 170 students aged from 6 to 12 years, both coming from normal schools and music schools of Berlin. The children who have studied music for four years in music schools, irrespective of they were predisposed to music or were less talented, have developed a range of competences and cognitive skills to a higher level, compared to students from regular schools. …

The Development of Absolute Pitch: The Early Training Theory

Abstract: 1 IntroductionAbsolute pitch is a distinct cognitive ability possessed by a minority of musicians, that refers to the unique capacity of recognizing and naming the pitch of given sounds without the use of an external reference pitch (Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993; Bermudez & Zatorre, 2009; Miyazaki & Ogawa, 2006; Deutsch et al, 2006; Baharloo et al, 1998; Gregersen et al, 1999; Brown et al, 2003; Pamcutt & Levitin, 1999; Deutsch, 2002; Levitin & Zatorre, 2003) Other definitions indicate the idea of "quickly and accurately labeling tonal stimuli on the basis of their fundamental frequencies (without the use of a reference tone)" (Ross et al, 2004, p 1793)When discussing absolute pitch, it is important to differentiate it from the relative pitch This is why some definitions of absolute pitch need to include this aspect: "absolute pitch is the rare ability to name a music tone correctly without comparison to one another" (Cohen & Baird, 1990, p 31) Relative pitch refers to the ability to recognize the relationships between musical notes A person relying on relative pitch will name certain tones only if given a reference musical note and by calculating the pitch ratios between the reference note and the new one A musician with absolute pitch will perceive and name the notes individually, without relating them to one another The ability to judge one note in relation to another (relative pitch) is a basic musical skill intended to be acquired by most of the music education programs Excellent relative pitch is common among musicians, can be developed through ear training exercises and is very important in musical practiceAnother essential facet of absolute pitch is its automatic character Those who have absolute pitch claim that identifying pitches is effortless and immediate and that they make no special effort or conscious strategy in naming the tones Some authors (Pamcutt & Levitin, 1999) even suggest a shortcoming associated to absolute pitch Referring to people with absolute pitch, the two Canadian researchers imply that their constant awareness of musical pitch labels can detract from their enjoyment of music Many times musicians with absolute pitch may complain: "I don't hear melodies, I hear pitch names passing by" (Pamcutt & Levitin, 1999, p 12) The capacity to name notes with a minimum of deliberation and in a very short time is often used in unraveling real absolute pitch owners from musicians with very good relative pitch who sometimes memorize the frequency of one or two musical notes2 Prevalence of absolute pitchThe proportion of absolute pitch possessors is roughly estimated to be less than one to 1500 or even one to 10000 in the general population (Miyazaki & Ogawa, 2006) Among musicians, the estimated proportion of absolute pitch possessors varies from 34% to about 15%, or sometimes to 40% (Miyazaki & Ogawa, 2006; Pamcutt & Levitin, 1999) Gregersen and collaborators (Gregersen et al, 1999) observed large variations in absolute pitch prevalence among music student populations: conservatory (246%), university-based school of music (73%), or liberal arts/state university music program (47%)Absolute pitch is more prevalent among blind musicians, with a proportion of 57% (Hamilton et al, 2004) The finding was interpreted as a result of specific neurological features related to the increased variability of planum temporale asymmetry among blind absolute pitch musicians The notion that cross-modal plasticity involving the occipital cortex may provide an additional neural substrate for the development of absolute pitch in the blind is an intriguing hypothesis that merits further investigationAnother interesting aspect about absolute pitch is its curiously high prevalence among Asian musicians The fact has been explained in various ways Gregersen and his colleagues (Gregersen et al, 1999) found a significant correlation between absolute pitch and the age at which and individual first began playing music …

The Development of the Aesthetical Taste through the Building-Up of Skills and Abilities to Perceive and Create the Natural Beauty

Abstract: IntroductionIf we are to answer to the question why do teenagers love kitsch in favour of value, we would be tempted to say that we are dealing with an art crisis, a crisis similar to a moral one, and that the young people are confused and do not know what and how to choose. "If there is an art crisis, that does not have to do with the lack of artistic creations, but with our perceptiveness towards this phenomenon. The so called 'art crisis' is in fact o communication crisis, a sensitivity crisis that does not adapt to the new means of expression. This is why it is important for us to permanently rebuild our receptive sensitivity" (Cuco§, C., 2002, p. 71). No matter its shape, the child is always under the influence of the beauty found in nature, art and society. The relationships formal - nonformal - informal is shaping the way in which the fine taste is built up, and also upon the reception and creation of the aesthetic values. In this context school has the duty to teach children the ABC of aesthetics, how to admire and perceive the natural beauty. This is the only means through which the aesthetic education can contribute to reaching the objectives of the ecological education. Building up the sensitivity of each pupil for nature, will teach them to offer an inherent value to nature, mainly due to its aesthetic properties.Starting from these observations, the goal of this paper is to emphasize the need for an interdisciplinary approach between aesthetic education, ecological education and ecological ethics so as to reach a quality education. We will review different concepts and theories regarding the attitude towards environment and its problematic and the ways to put them to good use during the didactic activity.Remarks of an Ethic NatureThe contribution of the philosophy of nature is remarkable in the way we understand different situations and we reconsider the values and the concepts related to nature. As part of nature, man has the same faith as the other beings: he is bom, lives his life and dies. Changes have affected plants, animals, landscapes and even the cultures, in different epoques, and they have all had the same destiny. The representations of nature and the way it is perceived in relations to man have changed also, not only because of the natural and scientific discoveries, but also because of the way in which man got to perceive himself and his purpose in this world.When talking about the place of man in nature, Lothar Schafer said that "man's behaviour towards nature can be analyzed on three levels or better said, on three dimensions: man can relate to nature (1) by means of knowledge (2) of (technically and practically) acting or (3) by reflecting upon it(from an aesthetical point of view). The present day issue is if man should also adopt a moral-practical position towards nature" (Schafer, L., 1999).The fact that the ecological problems are in fact social problems and not natural ones is justifiable more or less by means of an ecological ethics, by analyzing the relationship between man and nature, by rethinking the value of nature. Thus, by analyzing the history of philosophy we might say that nature has been approached in approximately three manners: (1) nature as it is - this approach has links with the ideas of the beginning of the world and the uniqueness; transforming nature into a subject has lead to the development of philosophy and science; (2) the nature that needs to be tamed - this approach refers to the transformation of nature, starting with the XVIIth century and the changes in philosophy and science, into an individual object of study for the natural sciences that were in a full progress; also in the XVIIth century nature is seen as an unlimited reservoir of strengths and substances for the technicalutilitarian practice; (3) the nature that must be protected - the ecological crisis proves that the subject related to nature must be re-evaluated and re-considered because seeing nature only as an object for the natural sciences and as an unlimited resource for the industrialtechnological exploitations have lead to the destruction of the natural equilibrium, its abilities to regenerate and recover, which threatens even the fundamentals of life: nature that was characterized until now as being indestructible and inexhaustible is in fact vulnerable, destructible and it gains a new value, that of a "precious good" that must be protected (Schafer, L. …