Keynote speeches
Prof. Blanka Bogunović, PhD
Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia
Music Psychology Contribution to the Education and Profession of Music Pedagogues
The lecture outlines the cooperation between two closely linked disciplines: Psychology of Music and Music Education. It highlights the mutual benefits of the challenging collaboration between music pedagogues and music psychologists that extends from the early beginnings of music instruction and even does not stop with the end of musicians’ professional careers. In the Western Balkans region, this interdisciplinary exchange is especially valuable in the frame of the three-stage music education system (elementary, secondary, university music education) where various musical skills are meant to be mastered, in individual and group settings (e.g., instrumental, solfege, chamber music, orchestra, choir). The lecture aims to present the main lines of music psychology contributions to music education and profession, based on research and understanding of the practice of specialist and general music education. The research results relevant to the future competencies of Higher Music Education (HME) students and music pedagogues in practice will be introduced, and the practical implications will be emphasized. The important aspects of cognitive, emotional and social development of youngsters, young professionals and adult musicians who are involved in diverse musical activities will be pointed out. Hence, building up the awareness of the psychological processes and attributes (e.g., motivation, personality, abilities) can support the learning (of students) and teaching (of music pedagogues in schools) processes and mastering strategies for enhancing students’ listening, performing and creating music. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of individual capacities, strong and weak sides, and knowing metacognitive ‘how to do’ strategies can make learning and teaching more efficient and, in the long term, could be beneficial for the well-being of the students and teachers. The broad applicability of Music Psychology knowledge is already being aware of in a ‘broader world’ of music education, in the frame of European music institutions. In the last 15 years, its rising presence in the curricula of the HME in the Western Balkans countries gives hope for further constructive collaboration between disciplines, psychologists and music educators in new institutions in the region. Therefore, the position of the Psychology of Music in the frame of HME in the European and WB region will be sketched, and suggestions for further development will be proposed.
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Snježana Dobrota, PhD, Full Professor
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Split, Croatia
Challenges of Intecultural Education in the Context of Contemporary Music Pedagogy
Contemporary society is characterized by intensive processes of globalization and internationalization, as a result of which there are contacts and interactions between different cultures. Multiculturalism means the existence of different cultures in one place and is characterized by conditional statics and the preservation of cultural diversity. In contrast, interculturalism emphasizes the moment of exchange and contact between cultures (Piršl et al., 2016, 18). In short, interculturalism means the ideology of racial, cultural, religious, gender and ethnic diversity within the demography of a certain area (Parekt, 2006) and starts from the premise that society should provide equal status to different cultural ethnic and religious groups.
In the context of living in a multicultural society, the acquisition of intercultural communication competence is extremely important, which refers to the ability to interact effectively in multicultural environments and is based on specific attitudes, knowledge, abilities and reflection (Deardorff, 2009). The aforementioned competence includes the cognitive (intercultural awareness), affective (intercultural sensitivity) and behavioural (intercultural efficacy) ability of participants in intercultural communication (Chen & Starosta, 1996). Intercultural attitudes are based on knowledge and beliefs, emotional ties associated with such knowledge and beliefs, and behavioural actions resulting from the possession of the two previous components (Banks, 1999). Cultural intelligence is defined as an individuals’ ability to function effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity (Ang & Van Dyne, 2008; Earley & Ang, 2003). The model of cultural intelligence (Earley & Ang, 2003) is based on the theory of multiple intelligences, that is, on the point of view that intelligence goes beyond just cognitive abilities and that it contains four levels: metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioural.
The trends of internationalization and globalization are also reflected in the concept of education, so the need to implement intercultural education is increasingly emphasized, during which students are taught to recognize, accept and value cultural, ethnic, social, class, religious and gender differences and develop a sense of responsibility towards work and ideas of justice, equality and democrarc (Manning et al., 2017). Art education has a special role in the context of intercultural education, because it has the potential to strengthen individual self-esteem, promote group identity, reduce stereotypes and eliminate various prejudices. Intercultural music education is defined as a type of music education in which students are introduced to a wide range of different music, learn and value different cultural expressions of social groups that differ according to race, age, class, gender and lifestyle (Lundquist, 1991; Volk, 1998).
The paper examines the issue of intercultural music education in the context of intercultural communication competence, intercultural attitudes and cultural intelligence, as well as musical-pedagogical implications for shaping the modern curriculum of intercultural music education in the entire educational vertical.