The dissertation presents the development of the subject of music education in a general education school in Croatia, with a comparative analysis of the situation in Slovenia and Hungary. The results of the research are presented in chronological order, from the beginning of the introduction of national languages in primary schools and the creation of the first songbooks and textbooks in the Croatian, Slovene and Hungarian languages; that is from the middle of the 19th century until today. In every period the development of music lessons is influenced by the socio-political changes, school legislation, textbooks and other material, and the advance of the discipline itself. In the middle of the 19th century music as a subject, called singing, became compulsory in primary schools, with folksongs predominantly used during lessons. In the area of today's Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary in the second half of the 19th century there were aspirations to teach songs from notes as well as possible, which could not be realised in practice due to the unfavourable conditions and due to the inadequate competence of the teachers. In the period between both wars music lessons in Croatia and Slovenia developed in the course outlined by the policy of the departmental ministry in charge of the school system, which issues curricula and programmes that apply to the entire state. Lacking a clear strategy and realistic options for their realisation, such ideas did not contribute to any significant progress in the field of the musical/pedagogical discipline. At the same time, thanks to the composer and musical pedagogue Zoltan Kodály, Hungary became a place of intensive and universally influential musical development, which became even more intense in the period after World War II. Nevertheless, he did not have any substantial influence in Croatia and Slovenia. The new political order following World War II influenced the changes in the school system, which led to an eight-year primary school. The name of the subject itself changed, thus becoming music education, or in Croatia after 1984 musical culture. Other musical activities were added to the subject and realised in the learning areas of singing, playing, listening to music and children's musical creations. The basic task of music lessons becomes a lengthy process that promotes, guides, and raises elements of musical abilities in the pupils. In this period the changes in music lessons were primarily influenced by the advances of the musical/pedagogical discipline through the quality and productive work of numerous renowned experts. In Hungary the subject is called music-singing (ének-zene) and was, until the socio-political changes of the 1990s, developed in accordance with the concept of Z. Kodály, which continues to lose its significance in the contemporary Hungarian school system. More substantial differences between the music lessons in Croatia and Slovenia can be detected at the end of the 1980s and even more so after both states declared their independence. The Slovene curriculum for the nine-year primary school is designed in a complex manner and presents a reflection on the factors of musical culture, realised through the four educational areas: development of listening to music, performing music, development of creativity, and the development of musical abilities, skills, and knowledge. In Croatia greater changes occurred as late as in 2006 with the introduction of the CNES and mostly dealt with unburdening the pupils during lessons. Today, all three states under discussion strive to establish an open concept of primary school music lessons, which would grant a great deal of freedom to teachers, from selecting the content and the textbooks to the method with which this content is discussed. Thus Croatia has yet to co-ordinate its curriculum with the National Curriculum Framework (2008) and carry out further reforms of music lessons in primary schools.
|
