Connecting Different Cultures through Distinctiven of Music Folklore in MontenegroM.A. Jelena Martinovic- Bogojevic, DocentM.A. Vedrana Markovic, DocentUniversity of MontenegroMusic AcademyAbstract: Multiculturalism has been the defining feature of the identity of the Balkans, which is characterized by a centuries-long coexistence of different nations and religions, but also by numerous interethnic bloodsheds. In the last war which marked the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Montenegro, as a multicultural entity, has managed to preserve peace and avoid national conflicts. Today, two decades later, Montenegro is dedicated to both safeguarding its multiculturalism and developing a multicultural dialogue.For intercultural connection among Montenegrins, Muslims, Serbs, Albanians, Croats, Bosnians and other minority nations, a significant role is played by the music creativity of these nations.Whether it is expressed through cultural-artistic associations, music festivals, or TV and radio programmes, representation of music of all of the ethnic groups is important. A special role in breaking down prejudice and openness towards difference is played by schools, where the music culture courses, in a sophisticated and creative way, affirm diversity of cultural heritage. As educators, textbook authors and University professors, we actively participate in the promotion of interculturalism by focusing on music. Within the framework of the project Identity elements in Montenegrin music as a basis for development of multiculturalism and interculturalism, we have conducted research among the students of the final year of Music Academy, with an aim of determining the degree of their knowledge, perception and interpretation of music folklore as a resource of dialogue among cultures. The students involved in the research belong to different ethnic groups. The results of the research shall be presented in this work.

Key Words:Identity, Multiculturalism, Interculturalism, National music creativity, Music Academy student

IntroductionMusic culture is a teaching subject represented on every level of the education system in Montenegro, starting with curriculum for preschool education, through elementary education, up to grammar school. Beside developing creativity, tolerance and collective production, in a multicultural environment such as Montenegro, music plays a significant role in development of mutual tolerance and accepting diversity, as well as valuing own culture through which cultural and national identity is built.With a thorough reform of the education system, which was initiated in 2000, the system is harmonized with important documents that are based on democratic principles: The Universal Declaration of Human Right (UN), Convention against Discrimination in Education, Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN), Resolution on the European Dimension of Education(Knjiga promjena/Book of Changes, 2001, 24, 24). Respecting all national confessional groups, i.e. Montenegrins, Serbs, Croats, Muslims, Bosniaks, Albanians, Roma, Egyptians and other nations, implied a higher degree of interculturalism in the teaching programmes. In order to meet the needs of the citizens, a possibility is given to the teachers to choose by themselves the 20 % of the content in the plans and programmes of open type, depending on the requirements of students, schools and local community. By exploring how this important segment of the education process practically functions today, we performed various researches.[footnoteRef:2]In this work we shall present the results of research performed at the Music Academy, which includes the students of the final year within undergraduate studies. [2: One of the important researches involved students of the junior class of the grammar school in three multiethnic communities with an aim of determining to which extent they know the folklore music tradition of Montenegro.]

Methodological ApproachIn the framework of the project Identity elements in Montenegrin music as a basis for development of multiculturalism and interculturalism[footnoteRef:3] we have carried out the research by involving students of the final year within undergraduate studies at the Music Academy in Cetinje. The subject of this research is knowledge of music tradition of the nations living in Montenegro. The goal of the research is to determine to which extent the students of the final (third) year of the undergraduate studies know the music heritage of their country and whether they recognize the characteristics of the folklore music. [3: The project is approved and supported by the Ministry of Science and Ministry of Culture of the Government of Montenegro.]

In accordance with the defined problem, the established goal and determined tasks, we are starting with the following hypotheses in this research: Main Hypothesis: It is assumed that students do not have sufficient knowledge of music heritage of the nations living in Montenegro.Auxiliary Hypotheses: It is assumed that educators at the Music Academy do not pay enough attention and time to music activities related to folklore songs, getting familiar with national instruments, national dances and, generally, getting acquainted with music tradition of Montenegro. Furthermore, it is assumed that students, beside specific contents in the framework of subjects such as solfeggio, history of music, choir singing and music culture teaching method, which are envisaged by the Music Academy programme, are not focused on national music tradition enough, i.e. there is no interest in this form of music engagement. Due to complexity of the topic that we are dealing with in the research, we have applied three scientific and research approaches: rational-deductive, empirical-inductive and mathematical-statistical. Having in mind that descriptive method is most frequently used in examining educational practice, we decided to use surveying as the most acceptable technique and a survey as an instrument of data collection. We would like to mention that this research is the first one of this kind in Montenegro, therefore it has a special importance. Based on obtained results, the critical-educational considerations can be done, as well as drawing conclusions which can help us to get an insight into knowledge of the students, the future graduated musicians, in the field of music tradition of the nations living in Montenegro. The research has an operational and developmental character, because its consequence is improvement of educational practice at the Music Academy in Cetinje, whereas in a long-term run it results in creation of conditions for paying more attention to preservation of music tradition in a wider social context. We carried out forming of the samples based on established goals and tasks of the research in the framework of the population of students of the final year of the undergraduate studies at the Music Academy in Cetinje. Bearing in mind that it is an educational institution that has a relatively small number of students, the research covers all of the students of the final year, i.e. 30. The table of the sample structure shows the course and the number of surveyed students. The process of surveying was anonymous, and the students participated in it by free will. Data obtained through surveying have been classified in accordance with the tasks and hypothesis of this research.

Table No. 1: Sample StructureDepartment for General Music EducationInstrumental Department

18 students12 students

After a thorough examination of educational literature, getting acquainted with the subject and the research problem, we started the research. The research was performed during November 2013 (school year 2013/2014).

We carried out questioning of the students through the survey. Questionnaire consists of 10 questions of open and closed type that are related to knowledge of folklore songs and instruments, as well as art music inspired by traditional music, i.e. folklore. Specific number of questions refers to personal attitudes of examinees on music heritage and their relation to it. After completion of surveying the envisaged students, we initiated the data processing. For processing data, percentages as indicators of a phenomena structure were used. The results of the research were presented individually following the order of the questions from the questionnaire. In the following presentation we are stating the most important statistical results that were obtained during the research. Starting with the defined subject, goal, task and research hypotheses, the obtained results were first expressed textually, and then through graph display as well.

Survey Analysis

First question referred to knowledge of Montenegrin national instruments. Students listened to a sound example, a short abstract of the national instrument diple, after which they were supposed to circle one of the given answers to the question: Which instrument do you recognize?80 % of the examinees gave a correct answer to this question, whereas 20 % answered incorrectly.

Table No.2Question No. 1Correct answers in percentagesIncorrect answers in percentages

Which instrument do you recognize?80%20%

Second question should have given an insight into whether students feel and recognize characteristics of the traditional music melody and rhythm. The students listened to 4 sound examples; duration of each was around 40 seconds. The first example was an abstract from Bela Bartok'scomposition Allegro barbaro;second abstract from Stevan Hristi's ballet Ohridska legenda; third abstract from Borislav Tamindi's miniatureGuslar, and the fourthabstract fromFrederic Chopin's Mazurkain h-moll.The students were supposed tomark the example which was inspired by Montenegrin folklore by circling an answer. 80 % gave correct answers given to this question, 5 % of examinees gave an incorrect answer, whereas 15 % of examinees circled two answers, i.e. the first and the third example, which means that they consider the Bartok's composition to be inspired by Montenegrin folklore as well, even though it has obvious elements of Hungarian (pentatonic scale) and Romanian (chromatic scale) folklore. Regardless of the low level of knowledge of the national music heritage of Montenegro which shall be shown by further analysis and lack of interest of the students in this type of music, the results of the survey have shown that the majority of students still carry the music heritage as an inner mark of national and cultural identity.

Table No. 3Question No. 2CorrectIncorrectPartially Correct

Circle the correct answer80%5%15%

Third question dealt with the feelings that are provoked in students by listening to a folklore song sang by one of the best interpreters of Montenegrin folklore songs. The students listened to the sound example which was followed by answering the question: what do you feel when you listen to this song? 5% of examinees answered they were bored, 15% answered they werent interested, 60 % said that the song provokes pleasant feelings, and 20 % of examinees said they liked the song and they would listen to it again. Even though the questionnaire also envisaged the answer I don't like it, I wouldn't listen to it again, none of the examinees circled that answer.Table br. 4Question No .3BoredomDisinterestFeeling pleasantLike itDont like it

What do you feel when you listen to this song?5%15%60%20%0%

Fourth question should have provided the insight into knowledge of students when it comes to writing down the notation and text of the folklore song based on listening. The teacher has vocally performed the folklore song Bolna Mara, and communicated the initial pitch. The song was performed twice in its entirety, followed by singing twice each of the three units which the song is consisted of. 65 % of the examinees wrote the notation correctly, 15 % wrote the partially correct notation, whereas 20 % of examinees did it incorrectly. These results can be explained by a fact that within teaching practice in the framework of solfeggio class, the students write down only melodies performed on a piano, and the practice of writing down a song which is vocally performed with the text is not represented in the teaching practice, therefore the students do not have practical experience in the creation of such a music dictation.Table No. 5Question No. 4CorrectPartially correctIncorrect

Foklore song as a music dictation65%15%20%

Fifth question dealt with knowledge of national instruments. In the group of six instruments, the examinees were supposed to circle an instrument which doesnt belong to the group, where they had to determine themselves why a certain instrument represents an intruder. Even though the given instruments differ on the manner of creation of the tone, the production material and other parameters, in the aforementioned group only cymbal represents an instrument which is not used in the Montenegrin music folklore practice. We got a surprisingly small percentage of correct answers to this question - 30 %, with the majority of examinees making the discrimination of instruments in a wrong manner. Table No.6Question No. 5CorrectIncorrect

Circle the instrument which does not belong to the group30%70%

Sixth question also dealt with knowledge of national instruments. For each of the five instruments it was required to determine in which group it belongs. As correct answers we considered those with 5 accurate assignments, as partially correct those with at least 3 accurate assignments, and the other answers were considered incorrect. The fourth of the examinees gave a correct answer, 65 % gave a partially correct answer, whereas the 10 % of examinees gave incorrect answers.Table No. 7Question No. 6CorrectPartially correctIncorrect

Groups of instruments25%65%10%

Seventh question was supposed to provide an insight into a manner in which the students see the music heritage of their people. The results show that 15% of examinees see the music heritage of their people as something archaic and obsolete; 45 % see it as a part of their national and cultural identity; and 5 % of examinees are proud of the music heritage of their people. Table No. 8Question No. 7ArchaicPart of own identity Always topicalProud

How do you see folklore of your people?15%45%35%5%

Eight question should show what the students think about the level of their knowledge of national music heritage. Only 10 % of examinees think they know the folklore music creativity of their people well; a big percentage, as many as 80 % think they dont know their music heritage well but would want to know it; 5% of examinees said they dont know their music heritage well and dont wish to familiarize themselves with it, and the same percentage 5% says they are not interested in music heritage at all.

Table No. 9Question No. 8Know wellDon't know and don't feel the need to knowDon't know well, but wish to knowNot interested at all

How much do you know folklore10%5%80%5%

Ninth question should have examined the attitudes of examinees on representation of content from the field of folklore music creativity in the educational programmes at academic level of music education. The results show that 40 % of examinees think that contents from the field of folklore music education are not present at academic level of music education, 50 % of examinees think that these contents are present but not sufficiently, and 10 % thinks that contents from the field of folklore music creativity are present to an extent which enables acquiring of a satisfactory level of knowledge of music folklore. Table No.10Question No. 9Not presentPresent but not sufficientlySufficiently present

To what extent are the folklore elements present in the Academyprogrammes?40%50%10%

In the framework of the tenth question the students had the task to write down a melody and the text of the folklore song they know or like. The correct record was given by only 45% of examinees; partially correct records were given by 20 % of examinees, whereas incorrect records were given by 35 % of examined students. Such poor results work in favour of the starting hypothesis that, beside the acquired knowledge of different music subjects, the students have poor knowledge of music heritage and have significant difficulties to translate what they know into a written music text. Table No.11Question No.10Correct recordPartially correctIncorrect record

Write down a melody and text of a folklore song you like 45%20%35%

Conclusion

Based on results of the conducted research, the established hypothesis that students do not know the music heritage of Montenegro sufficiently has been confirmed. The auxiliary hypothesis that not enough attention is paid to folklore at the Music Academy is also confirmed. One of the possible reasons is inexistence of the Department for ethnomusicology, as well as abolition of the subject Folklore which used to be a part of the programme at the Department for general music education until 2008.[footnoteRef:4] Having in mind the attention given to music heritage through subject programmes in the elementary and grammar school, it is necessary to study folklore at the Music Academy more systematically, especially due to the fact that future music culture teachers are educated at the Department for music education. In the current curriculums, the folklore music creativity is represented only in the subjects Solfeggio and Music Teaching Method. These contents cannot replace to a sufficient extent the ethnomusicology aspects and a more meticulous familiarization with music heritage which would encourage higher level of interest by students through research work. Driven by the results of the described research, we shall be committed to introduction of contents from the field of folklore music heritage to the teaching programmes of the Music Academy in Cetinje as soon as possible, so that the future generations of graduated musicians have better knowledge of music heritage of Montenegro. This will surely contribute to development of multiculturalism and encourage intercultural dialogue in Montenegro. [4: One of the reasons for abolishing the subject is also a lack of academic personnel in Montenegro for this subject which used to be lectured by professors from the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade.]

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