Semyon Abramovich Kazachkov and the Kazan school of choral conducting. Creative portrait of the founder of the Kazan school of choral conducting S.A. Kazachkov Kazachkov from lesson to concert
Semyon Kazachkov
(1909-2005)
SEMYON ABRAMOVICH KAZACHKOV
(1909-2005)
Teacher, professor, head of the department of choral conducting of the Kazan Conservatory
Biography
- In 1909, in the village of Perevoz, Chernigov province (now Bryansk region, located on the Russian border with Ukraine and Belarus), S.A. Kazachkov was born into a poor family of general workers. A thirst for knowledge and reading literature, both artistic and scientific, characterized him from childhood. At the age of 18 he came to Leningrad and entered the conservatory. After finishing it in 1940, he was assigned to work with the Chuvash State Choir in Cheboksary. In 1941 he was drafted into the Soviet Army, where he fought on the Belarusian and Baltic fronts. He took part in the battles of Orel, Bryansk, Mitava, Koenigsberg, ending the war in Dobele (Latvia). After demobilization, he led the Ensemble of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.
- From 1947 to 2005, he worked at the Kazan Conservatory as a student choir conductor and choral conducting teacher. S.A. Kazachkov absorbed the high world musical culture of the second quarter of the 20th century, attending concerts of conductors - O. Klemperer, D. Mitropoulos, G. Abendroth, B. Walter, O. Fried, G. Knappersbusch, F. Stidri, E. Ansermet , V. Taliha; instrumental musicians - J. Heifetz, S. Prokofiev, V. Sofronitsky, A. Rubinstein, G. Neuhaus, M. Yudin, A. Schnabel. S.A. Kazachkov, in his memoirs “I’ll Tell You About Time and About Myself,” noted the desire not to blindly immerse oneself in classical music, without seeing what is happening around in cultural life. During his years of study in Leningrad, he attended all the tours of the Moscow Art Theater, the Moscow Art Theater, as well as dramatic productions of the Leningrad Drama Theater. A.S. Pushkin - “Alexandrinki”. Communication with wonderful artists, the perception of music in the brilliant performance of a galaxy of outstanding conductors was reflected later, in S.A. Kazachkov’s own programs. Listeners to concerts under his direction always noted not only the high professionalism of the conductor, but also the beauty of the performance, inner taste, tact, and measure. At the Kazan Conservatory, S.A. Kazachkov eventually created the so-called “Kazan Choir School” of singing and conducting. As Semyon Abramovich noted: “This name was not given by us, it matured through the perception of our concert, pedagogical and scientific experience by conductors and teachers of music educational institutions of the republics of the former USSR, including the Baltic ones.” Being the founder and originator of the values, norms, and style of the “Kazan School,” he honed the students’ musical performance through constant concert activity, which allowed them to later become the founders of their own choirs. Thus, Kazan choral conductors became prominent followers of the “school”: A. Abdullin, A. Buldakova, L. Draznina, V. Levanov, V. Lukyanov, D. Kutdusov, V. Makarov, E. Mokhnatkin, V. Sotnikov, M. Tamindarova . The school of a strong leader is sometimes interpreted negatively. It is believed that a brilliant talent will lose his individuality by submitting to the dictates of the master, and the obligatory copying of his techniques will form a series of similar professionals. However, for the educational and concert process of education and professional education of students of the choral department of the Kazan Conservatory in the second half of the 20th century. development in this direction was methodologically correct, but S.A. Kazachkov’s system, apparently, had the properties of a matrix that allowed it to go beyond the boundaries of strong craftsmanship. At the heart of the “school” of S.A. Kazachkov, along with the bright “techne”, is aristos - a kind of sublime idea. This is a moral and aesthetic position about constant selfless service to art, which cleanses the soul and ennobles the taste of the public. The Kazan conductor never tired of repeating to students the basics of his professional philosophy. Objectively, S.A. Kazachkov required students to comprehend and be fluent in conducting polystylistic technique, that is, a system of diverse special conducting techniques applicable in a particular piece of music. In choral singing, the development of polystylism was aimed at comprehending the elements of the singing schools of classicism, romanticism and expressionism. According to the guidelines of S.A. Kazachkov, the choice of the necessary techniques for conducting and singing is made in the best possible way based on a detailed analysis of the composition and intuitive following of the inner ear. S.A. Kazachkov always required students to read classical Russian literature, considering this activity a prerequisite for the formation of a refined and flexible aesthetic taste.
- 1948-89 - head of the department of choral conducting
Creation
The performance of S.A. Kazachkov coincided with the activities of the first professional Tatar composers. In any choral concert, along with the classics, S.A. Kazachkov presented selected works of Tatar music. In his performance, choruses from the operas “Altynchech” (translated from the Tatar language - a girl with golden hair), “Jalil” (about the Tatar poet Musa Jalil, hero of the USSR), and the cantata “My Republic” by N.G. Zhiganov sounded expressively. Tatar folk songs “Par at” (Pair of horses) and “Alluki” (Lullaby) arranged by A. Klyucharyov were performed simply and sincerely
- Kazachkov S.A. "Some issues of rehearsal work with the choir." Abstract of the dissertation of a candidate of art criticism. Kazan, 1955
- Kazachkov S.A. "The conductor's apparatus and its staging." - Leningrad. Music, 1967
- Kazachkov S.A. "From lesson to concert." Kazan:
In the art of conducting, the role of the conductor’s personality is high and responsible. The right of absolute power over many people is often understood in this profession very narrowly, as the ability to be an authoritative leader, to achieve the combination of many individualities and characters into a single choral whole. But this is a very simple view of conducting. And the best masters give other examples when conducting becomes not a style of leadership and performance, but a way of life for a Man of Culture. He selflessly serves music, strives for a high ideal, passes on his best achievements to his students, and they also become prominent masters. A person of such heights was a scientist, choral conductor and teacher, professor Semyon Abramovich Kazachkov (1909-2005), who lived a long 96-year life, working for the last 60 years at the Kazan State Conservatory. N.G. Zhiganova.
In 1909, in the village of Perevoz, Chernigov province (now Bryansk region, located on the Russian border with Ukraine and Belarus), S.A. was born into a poor family of general workers. Kazachkov. A thirst for knowledge and reading literature, both artistic and scientific, characterized him from childhood. At the age of 18 he came to Leningrad and entered the conservatory. Having completed it in 1940, he was assigned to work with the Chuvash State Choir in Cheboksary. In 1941 he was drafted into the Soviet Army, where he fought on the Belorussian and Baltic fronts. He took part in the battles of Orel, Bryansk, Mitava, Koenigsberg, ending the war in Dobele (Latvia). After demobilization, he led the Ensemble of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. From 1947 to 2005 He worked at the Kazan Conservatory as a student choir conductor and choral conducting teacher.
S.A. Kazachkov absorbed the high world musical culture of the second quarter of the 20th century, attending concerts of conductors - O. Klemperer, D. Mitropoulos, G. Abendroth, B. Walter, O. Fried, G. Knappersbusch, F. Stidri, E. Ansermet, V. Taliha; instrumental musicians - J. Heifetz, S. Prokofiev, V. Sofronitsky, A. Rubinstein, G. Neuhaus, M. Yudin, A. Schnabel. S.A. Kazachkov, in his memoirs “I’ll Tell You About Time and About Myself,” noted the desire not to immerse blindly in classical music, without seeing what is happening around in cultural life. During his years of study in Leningrad, he attended all the tours of the Moscow Art Theater, the Moscow Art Theater, as well as dramatic productions of the Leningrad Drama Theater. A.S. Pushkin - “Alexandrinki”. Communication with wonderful artists, the perception of music in the brilliant performance of a galaxy of outstanding conductors was reflected subsequently in S.A.’s own programs. Kazachkova. Listeners to concerts under his direction always noted not only the high professionalism of the conductor, but also the beauty of the performance, inner taste, tact, and measure.
At the Conservatory of the city of Kazan S.A. Kazachkov eventually created the so-called “Kazan Choir School” of singing and conducting. As Semyon Abramovich noted: “This name was not given by us, it matured through the perception of our concert, pedagogical and scientific experience by conductors and teachers of music educational institutions of the republics of the former USSR, including the Baltic ones.”
Being the founder and originator of the values, norms, and style of the “Kazan School,” he honed the students’ musical performance through constant concert activity, which allowed them to later become the founders of their own choirs. Thus, Kazan choral conductors became prominent followers of the “school”: A. Abdullin, A. Buldakova, L. Draznina, V. Levanov, V. Lukyanov, D. Kutdusov, V. Makarov, E. Mokhnatkin, V. Sotnikov, M. Tamindarova . The school of a strong leader is sometimes interpreted negatively. It is believed that a brilliant talent will lose his individuality by submitting to the dictates of the master, and the obligatory copying of his techniques will form a series of similar professionals. However, for the educational and concert process of education and professional education of students of the choral department of the Kazan Conservatory in the second half of the 20th century. development in this direction was methodologically correct, but the system of S.A. Kazachkova, apparently, had the properties of a matrix that allowed her to go beyond the boundaries of strong craftsmanship. The “school” is based on S.A. Kazachkova, along with the bright “techne”, lies aristos - a kind of sublime idea. This is a moral and aesthetic position about constant selfless service to art, which cleanses the soul and ennobles the taste of the public. The Kazan conductor never tired of repeating to students the basics of his professional philosophy.
Objectively, S.A. Kazachkov demanded that his students comprehend and be fluent in conducting polystylistic technique, that is, a system of diverse special conducting techniques applicable in a particular piece of music. In choral singing, the development of polystylism was aimed at comprehending the elements of the singing schools of classicism, romanticism and expressionism. According to the guidelines of S.A. Kazachkov, the choice of the necessary techniques for conducting and singing is made in the best possible way based on a detailed analysis of the composition and intuitive following of the inner ear. S.A. Kazachkov always required students to read classical Russian literature, considering this activity a prerequisite for the formation of a refined and flexible aesthetic taste.
A broad overview of the pedagogical and artistic problems of musical performance, education and ways to solve them is presented in the book works of S.A. Kazachkova. He began his research activities with a dissertation on art history, “Some Issues in Rehearsal Work with a Choir” in 1955. Here, he substantiated the idea of direct continuity of Soviet choral culture with the traditions of the Russian school of pre-revolutionary choral art. Based on criticism of the principle of conducting a rehearsal given in the popular work on choral studies by P.G. Chesnokov “The Choir and Its Management” (1940) on the division of rehearsals into “technical” and “artistic” periods, S.A. Kazachkov proposed his own rehearsal strategy, which included the initial, middle and final stages of work. This led to optimization of the rehearsal process, giving the joint studies of the conductor and choir an end-to-end path of development: from the initial analysis of the work to the final concert performance. S.A. Kazachkov also establishes the basic elements of the rehearsal methodology. This is a repetition, a demonstration, a conductor's gesture, a conductor's speech.
The next scientific work of S.A. Kazachkov, which became fundamental in his work, was the monograph “The Conductor’s Apparatus and Its Staging,” published by the central publishing house “Music” in 1967. This book is the first scientific work in Russia that explores the structure of the conductor’s apparatus, the mechanical and motor processes associated with manual, conducting management, problems of training young conductors in the practical application of conducting technique. Here, as in subsequent books - “From Lesson to Concert” 1991, “Choir Conductor - Artist and Teacher” 1998, S.A. Kazachkov examines the art of conducting from the technical, aesthetic, and psychological sides, paying great attention to understanding the nature of the conducting gesture and the connection between the gesture and singing. Asking the question what is the philosophy of the mysterious, at first glance, ability to convey one’s personal conductor’s hearing through a gesture to the orchestra musicians and audience members, S.A. Kazachkov came to the conclusion that there is a natural connection between music and movement. This commonality allows the choir to sing not only technically together, but to think collectively, sensitively reacting and fulfilling any demands of the conductor’s hand at the concert.
In the book “The Choir Conductor - Artist and Teacher” (1998) S.A. Kazachkov raises current and currently significant issues of the existence of art in market conditions. Will new musicians be able to maintain the ideals of the academic school, not succumb to the temptations of the music market and not fall into creative apathy or profitable craftsmanship? In the struggle for survival, excessive pragmatism in creativity appeared, a tendency to enhance external effectiveness at the expense of internal depth, and dependence on the tastes of the public. The performance of musical works is currently part of commodity relations, but this commodity is of a special kind. It is bought and sold, but the nature of its production is determined not by the demand of the masses, but by the supply of geniuses.
Education of a holistic creative (professional and humanistic) personality S.A. Kazachkov paid great attention. In a special conducting class, usually held three times a week, he devoted part of the classes to mastering theoretical professional knowledge about conducting techniques and various gestures. The other part was always devoted to discussing with students any literary work they had read. Students of other specialties who attended classes by S.A. Kazachkova, suggested the topics for discussion themselves. The author of the article recalls the meetings held in the house of S.A. Kazachkov, where they watched videos and discussed the performances of great conductors, and analyzed the work of great pianists, violinists, singers, painters, and actors. It seems incredible that at the time the author of the article studied and communicated with Semyon Abramovich, the latter was over 90 years old. The difference in years between us was then about 70 years (!), but how deep, interesting, lively and instructive the conversations were on any topic.
All students of the choral conducting department of the Kazan Conservatory, even those studying in special classes of other teachers, came to the attention of S.A. Kazachkov, since he was the head of the department, was present at all exams and was the main conductor of the student choir. Graduates of the conducting and choral faculty almost completely staffed the choral conducting departments of the Kazan Conservatory, the music faculty of the Kazan Pedagogical University, and the choral conducting departments of music schools in Kazan and Almetyevsk. Izhevsk, Yoshkar-Ola, Saransk, Cheboksary, Ulyanovsk, Dimitrovgrad. The skill of the teacher, who ensured the mass production of, in general, unique, highly qualified specialists, testifies to the ability to develop the talent of each student. It is possible (albeit difficult) to make a good conductor out of one talented student. But out of many students, only an outstanding teacher and a subtle connoisseur of the human soul manages to raise great masters.
S.A. did a lot of new things. Kazachkov in the context of his time and culture, not only as a teacher, but as an artist and a successful person. Possessing high musical abilities, strong-willed personal qualities, excellent taste and erudition, being an authoritarian person, S.A. Kazachkov could achieve with training choir conservatory of outstanding results. Repeated performances of the choir took place in Moscow, Leningrad, and many cities of the Volga region. Professional colleagues and listeners noted her flexible, agile vocal technique, good sense of musical structure, and highly prepared concert programs. The role of the conductor's management of the ensemble was especially noted - a clear gesture, accuracy, rigor and at the same time expressiveness with extreme attention, care, and reverence in relation to the author's text. About one concert of the S.A. Kazachkov choir in the capital’s hall named after S.V. Rachmaninov's reviewer responded this way: “The performers surprisingly correctly sensed the philosophical generality and extent of thought. The features of polyphonic texture and expressiveness of phrasing were clearly and concisely revealed.” Such a combination of thought and felt sound is not always achieved by professional choirs.
The concert program included classics - “Prometheus” by S. Taneyev, a prologue from “Boris Godunov” by M. Mussorgsky, “10 Poems” by D. Shostakovich, as well as works and arrangements by Tatar composers N. Zhiganov, A. Klyucharev, Sh. Sharifullin . Comparing the performance of such choral conductors as K.B. Bird, V.N. Minin and S.A. Kazachkov, one can note the combination of intellectuality with emotional warmth, the ability to embrace the form of the work as a whole while carefully finishing the details of the former. The second is characterized by virtuosity of choral performance and deep penetration into the style of the work. The third is characterized by a combination of high technical skill and spirituality, freshness and colorful sound.
To the sound, to the sound of S.A. Kazachkov and all representatives of the Kazan choir school assigned a leading place in performing practice. Work was constantly carried out on staging the vocal apparatus of singers, searching for singing resonators, finding and developing the timbre coloring of sound. For example, attending one of the last rehearsals of S.A. Kazachkova, the author of the article noted that while working on the Tatar folk song “Taftilyau”, skillfully arranged into four voices for the choir by R. Yakhin, S.A. Kazachkov constantly drew the attention of the choir artists to sound creation. “There should be a feeling as if we are picking up the sound, like with a violinist’s bow,” “we need to pick up the sound softly, but the breathing should be strong,” “we need to sing in such a way that the listener would be sorry to part with the sound, so that it would be beautiful” - such figurative S.A. made comments and instructions in his work. Kazachkov. But the Kazan conductor was not only a master of sound. He also had a keen sense of “cultural melos”, the musical atmosphere of the large Tatar region, which became popular at the beginning of the 20th century. a model of national tolerance.
Performed by S.A. Kazachkov coincided in time with the activities of the first professional Tatar composers. In any choral concert, along with the classics of S.A. Kazachkov presented selected works of Tatar music. In his performance, choruses from the operas “Altynchech” (translated from the Tatar language - a girl with golden hair), “Jalil” (about the Tatar poet Musa Jalil, hero of the USSR), and the cantata “My Republic” by N.G. Zhiganova. Tatar folk songs “Par at” (Pair of horses) and “Alluki” (Lullaby) arranged by A. Klyucharev were performed simply and sincerely.
Being a popularizer of the works of the Tatar school of composition, the conductor and choir of the Kazan Conservatory were often the first performers of newly appeared works. Thus, at the performance of the Kazan Conservatory choir at the plenum of the Union of Composers of the USSR in 1977, the choral concert “Munakhaty” by the talented young composer Sh. Sharifullin was presented. Here, for the first time, Islamic religious texts-prayer, originally read in cult practice by one single narrator, appeared in the form of a choral polyphonic texture. Thus, in the musical work there was a bright, original combination of Muslim traditionalism with Western European choral vocal technique. “The work, which went beyond the boundaries of craft, cliché and tradition and was a significant milestone in the development of Tatar choral music, owed its birth primarily to the choral class of the Kazan Conservatory.”
Activities of S.A. Kazachkova was not associated with the desire to cause cultural shock, to demolish the dominant culture, and replace it with a new personal reality. On the contrary, starting in his pedagogical vocal work from classical examples of singing of the Russian school, S.A. Kazachkov became the continuer of academic traditions. However, traditionalism, as an increased interest in the most stable, comprehensive, sacred order, emanating from some unshakable source, understood in classical music as a holy admiration for the unchanging author's musical text, in his work was colored by the artistry of performances and a magical connection with the listener.
A constant striving for perfection, a life of searching, and high artistic taste are the most important signs of a creative personality. Receptivity and constant attention to new musical forms, the desire to enrich them made S.A. Kazachkova the most prominent person in the musical life of Kazan. Moreover, this conductor can be called a genuine Man of Culture. He lived in a space not of ideological dogmas, which very often give artists a comfortable existence, but in the flow of spiritual existence, for which there are its own, creative laws and the desire to understand and anticipate through singing and music the future turns of culture.
REFERENCES
1. Buldakova A.V. Kazachkov in my life and work // Semyon Kazachkov: choral age. - Kazan: KGK, 2009. - P. 354 - 368.
2. Draznina L.A. Department of Choral Conducting // Kazan State Conservatory. - Kazan: KGK, 1998. - P. 207-215.
3. Kazachkov S.A. Some issues of rehearsal work with the choir: Author's abstract. dis. Ph.D. art history - Kazan, 1955. - 15 p.
4. Kazachkov S.A. Conductor's apparatus and its staging. - L.: Music, 1967. - 110 p.
5. Kazachkov S.A. From lesson to concert. - Kazan: KSU, 1990. - 343 p.
6. Kazachkov S.A. The choir conductor is an artist and teacher. - Kazan: KGK, 1998. - 308 p.
7. Kazachkov S.A. I'll tell you about time and about myself. - Kazan: KGK, 2004. - 62 p.
8. Litsova L.A. The man is a legend // Semyon Kazachkov: choral age. - Kazan: KGK, 2009. - P. 336 - 342.
9. Romanovsky N.V. Choral Dictionary. - M.: Music, 2000. - 230 p.
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Bibliographic link
V.A. Kayukov THE ART OF CONDUCTING S.A. KAZACHKOVA AND KAZAN CHORAL SCHOOL // Advances of modern natural science. – 2010. – No. 6 – P. 21-26
Task No. 10
Guided by a rough plan for analyzing a choral score
1. F. Bellasio (?-1594) “Villanelle”
2. J.S.Bach (1685-1750) “Terzetto” from motet No. 3 (part 1, part 2)
3. A. Dargomyzhsky (1813 – 1869) “In the Wild North” from the cycle “St. Petersburg Serenades” (part 1, part 2)
4. G.V. Sviridov “Winter Morning” from the cycle “Pushkin’s Wreath”
Municipal budgetary educational institution
additional education for children
"Children's art school in the city of Buinsk, Republic of Tatarstan"
Development of diction and articulation of the student,
as a method of expression
conveying the stage image.
Open lesson on the subject “Choral singing”
Teacher Samirkhanova E.A.
Buinsk, 2011
Subject: “Development of student’s diction and articulation as a method of expressive means of conveying a stage image.”
Target: In vocal exercises and works, achieve a unified style of sound and clarity of pronunciation.
Tasks: 1. To develop musical tastes and needs through the works performed.
2. To consolidate the skills of correct singing breathing, to give the concept of “diction”, to monitor the correct sound production and sound production.
3.Development of artistic abilities - ear for music, musical memory, emotional responsiveness to art.
Literature used:
E.V. Sugonyaeva. Musical lessons with children: A manual for teachers of children's music schools. – Rostov n/d: Phoenix, 2002.
Yu.B.Aliev. Singing in music lessons: A manual for primary school teachers. – M.: Education, 1978.
S.A. Kazachkov. From lesson to concert, - ed. Kazan University, 1990.
Lesson plan:
I. Organizational moment.
II. Breathing exercises.
III. Chanting exercises.
IV. Work on the work “Joyful City” music by L. Batyrkaeva, lyrics
G. Zainasheva.
V. Physical education minute.
VI. Work on the work “Merry Song” by Alexander Ermolov.
VII. Learning the song “Music Lives Everywhere” music by Y. Dubravin, lyrics by V. Suslov.
VIII. Lesson summary.
Lesson progress
I. Organizational moment.
The teacher welcomes the children and prepares them for the learning process.
II. Breathing exercises.
During breathing exercises, students stand in a free position without interfering with each other.
Task 1. “Pull the thread” - take a deep breath, then hold your breath and exhale slowly while playing the sound “s”.
Task 2. “Holding your breath” - silently count to 5 while inhaling, and hold for the same count, and slowly exhale for this count. The exercise is repeated several times, increasing the count.
Task 3. “Kitty” - taking a step to the side, you need to inhale, pulling in the other leg and performing a half-squat, exhaling air. At this time, the arms are bent, the fingers are spread out, exhaling air and clenching the fingers into a fist. The exercise is performed several times. Make sure that your inhalation and exhalation are sharp.
Task 4. “Pump” - feet shoulder-width apart, hands in a “lock.” A deep breath is taken, sharp downward movements are made with the hands, and at this time the air is exhaled in portions, to the sound “s”.
III. Chanting.
Standing with their hands on their belts, all the choristers, following the conductor’s hand, take a slow breath through their nose, making sure that their shoulders do not rise, but that their lower ribs expand. Exhaling air sparingly on the syllable “lu” (up semitones to the sound “si” of the first octave).
The syllables “bra”, “bre”, “bri”, “bro”, “bru” are performed on one sound. You should follow a uniform manner of execution, a simultaneous beginning and ending. The consonants should be voiced “r-r” - rolling and exaggerated, the vowels should be sung correctly forming sound production (up to the “C” note of the first octave).
This exercise “zi-i, zo-o, zi-i, zo-o, zi” is performed in one breath. You should watch for soft and clear transitions from one syllable to another (in semitones up to the “si” of the first octave).
The next exercise is on fine articulation technique. Performed at the tempo “le-li-ly-li-lyom”. Make sure your intonation is clean. You shouldn’t open your mouth wide, it feels like “we push off from the first note and climb up.”
Execution of scales, paying attention to the purity of intonation, dynamic shades, uniform manner of performance, and sound production.
p< mp < mf < f >mf > mp > p
Tongue twister competition. Tongue twisters develop diction. Choristers are asked to pronounce one of the tongue twisters three times in a row at a fast pace, clearly recording their mouth movements.
They sewed a sundress for Shura.
The baker baked rolls in speech.
Cuckoo cuckoo bought a hood
how funny he is in the hood.
Karl stole corals from Lara,
and Clara stole Karl's clarinet.
The best performance is noted and rated excellent.
IV. “Joyful City” music by L. Batyrkaeva, lyrics by G. Zainasheva.
Performance of the piece, repetition and consolidation of skills. The work is performed at a fast pace, so it would be advisable to ask the choristers to recite the text out loud in the rhythm of the work. It is necessary to focus on the clear pronunciation of the endings of words, on their exaggerated pronunciation.
During performance, you should pay attention to the active work of the articulatory apparatus, but at the same time you should not open your mouth wide, because the speed of execution is lost. All vowels are sung at a slow tempo, the conductor follows a uniform manner, which determines the beauty and lightness of the sound. After the performance, the nature and content of the text is discussed, and conclusions are drawn about the performance.
V. Physical education minute.
Training. Pump and ball: One of the choir members is a pump, the others are balls. The balls stand “deflated” with a limp body, the body is tilted, the arms hang freely. The pump pumps air, inflating the balls. The balls are inflated and then the “plug” is removed and the balls are deflated again.
Muscle relaxation exercise.
VI. Performance of “Merry Song” by Alexander Ermolov.
When performing a finished song, choristers must remember, first of all, the emotional state of the work. Before the performance, the conductor makes instructions about paying attention to the conductor, correct seating, breathing, and correct sound production.
Ensemble work is carried out between the accompanying instrument and the choir. The accompaniment is listened to as a whole, the features are analyzed (whether it expresses the general mood, whether it supports the vocal part, the rhythmic pattern) based on this, the manner of performance is chosen.
VII. Learning the song “Music Lives Everywhere” music by Y. Dubravin, lyrics by V. Suslov.
The choristers listen to the piece, analyze the character and mood. The conductor talks about the authors.
Together with the conductor, they pronounce the words of verse 1 at a slow tempo. They clap the rhythmic pattern. Listen to the melodic pattern of the first phrase and sing solfeggio. The second phrase is also parsed. Then they sing with the words.
VIII. Lesson summary.
The teacher sums up. Evaluates students. Assigns homework.
As a manuscript BELYAEVA ANASTASIA NIKOLAEVNA SEMEN ABRAMOVICH KAZACHKOV AND KAZAN SCHOOL OF CHORAL CONDUCTION Specialty 17.00.02 - Musical art Abstract of the dissertation for the degree of candidate of art history Moscow 2015 2 Work completed at the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Moscow" Russian State Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky" Scientific doctor of art history, associate professor head: Tarasevich Nikolay Ivanovich Officials Romashchuk Inna Mikhailovna, doctor of art history - opponents: nia, professor of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "State Musical Pedagogical Institute named after M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov", professor of the department of musicology and composition, vice-rector for scientific Ryzhinsky Alexander Sergeevich, Candidate of Art History, Associate Professor of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, Associate Professor of the Department of Choral Conducting Leading State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education in Moscow "Moscow State Organization: A. G. Schnittke Institute of Music" Defense will take place on February 18, 2016 at 17 o'clock at a meeting of the dissertation council D 210. 009. 01 at the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Moscow State Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky" at the address: 125009, Moscow, st. Bolshaya Nikitskaya, 13/6. The dissertation can be found in the library of the Moscow State Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky and on the website www.mosconsv.ru The abstract was sent out on December 2015 Scientific secretary of the dissertation council, candidate of art history Grigory Anatolyevich Moiseev 3 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORK Relevance of the research. The development of issues of musical performance is one of the most important areas of Russian musicology. Among the numerous areas devoted to various performance techniques and pedagogical systems, the problems of choral pedagogy and teaching choral conducting techniques have not yet been sufficiently studied. But theoretical understanding of the experience of already established and established schools of choral conducting allows us to achieve the best results in the education of young specialists, develops and enriches choral art. Over the course of centuries, strong traditions of choral singing have developed in Russia. Before the revolution, the centers for training professional choir singers and choral conductors-regents were the Synodal School in Moscow and the Court Singing Chapel in St. Petersburg. Thus, two different schools of choral performance were formed. The choir of the Synodal School was headed by V. S. Orlov, later N. M. Danilin, and the choir of the Court Singing Chapel was led at different times by D. S. Bortnyansky, A. F. Lvov, G. Ya. Lomakin. After the revolution of 1917, the professional training of choral conductors received a new round of development in connection with the opening of corresponding departments at the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories, which adopted the creative experience of the Synodal School and the Court Singing Chapel. Leading figures such as N. M. Danilin, P. G. Chesnokov, A. D. Kastalsky, M. G. Klimov, forced to work in the conditions of the new political system, managed to preserve performing traditions and contributed to the creation of a strong professional base for training young conductors. Since the 30s of the 20th century, the geography of higher musical educational institutions in the country has been expanding: conservatories are opening in Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk and other cities, where talented teachers and conductors from Moscow and Leningrad are invited to work. 4 New performing schools are gradually being formed, and each educational institution is laying down its own principles for educating young professionals. An example of one such school is the Kazan School of Choral Conducting, the founder of which is Semyon Abramovich Kazachkov. The practical conductor and theorist S. A. Kazachkov is the successor of two conducting schools. His teachers were outstanding masters - I. A. Musin (professor of the Leningrad Conservatory) and V. P. Stepanov (professor of the Moscow Conservatory, student of the Synodal School). The creative activity of Semyon Abramovich was closely connected with the Kazan State Conservatory. N. G. Zhiganov for more than half a century, where for many years he headed the department of choral conducting and directed the conservatory student choir. Under him, the student choir became a highly professional concert group, successfully touring in Moscow, Leningrad and the cities of the Volga region. S. A. Kazachkov trained many conductors and choirmasters, currently working in secondary and higher educational institutions in various cities of Russia. His contribution to the development of issues of conducting technique and conducting pedagogy is also invaluable, and his books (“The Conducting Apparatus and Its Staging”, “From Lesson to Concert” and “The Choir Conductor - Artist and Teacher”) have significantly enriched domestic research in the field of conducting technique and choral studies 1. All this over time made it possible to distinguish the Kazan choir school as an independent direction in domestic choral art. In light of the information presented above, and also taking into account the factor of significant renewal of choral performance, theoretical generalizations, fundamental ideas and concepts reflecting the methodology in this area are of particular importance. This explains the relevance of the work. Kazachkov S. A. Conductor’s apparatus and its staging. M.: Muzyka, 1967. 110 pp.; His own. From lesson to concert. Kazan: Kazan Publishing House. Univ., 1990. 343 pp.; His own. The choir conductor is an artist and teacher. Kazan: Kazan. state cons. them. N. G. Zhiganova, 1998. 308 p. 1 5 Development of the topic in scientific literature. Unfortunately, the activities of S. A. Kazachkov are little known outside of Kazan. His visits to Moscow and Leningrad, although memorable, were not frequent, and his books2, published in Kazan, are inaccessible and practically unknown to a wide audience. And in Kazan itself there are still almost no publications devoted to the activities of Semyon Abramovich. Only recently has the situation begun to change. Thus, in 2009, the first collection of articles about him was published3, and in the same year a scientific-practical conference “Choral Art in the 21st Century: Trends and Prospects” was held, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the musician’s birth. However, the study of both the theoretical heritage of this 20th century choral master and the practical development of his conducting method are still far from complete. Meanwhile, many representatives of Russian choral culture speak out about the consistency of his scientific works and their methodological significance. “The Kazan school is waiting for its researchers, deep developments and analysis of all its components,” writes Professor of the Department of Choral Studies and Choral Conducting of the Kharkov State Conservatory I. I. Gulesko 4. “The Kazan phenomenon should be subject to serious, comprehensive and interested consideration,” notes L. N. Besedin5, - the result of which should be the recognition that without awareness of this experience and its practical use in conducting and choral pedagogy, it is impossible to improve the modern conducting and choral school”6. Purpose of the study. This dissertation aims to theoretically reveal the main provisions and principles of the Kazan school of choral conducting, substantiate its viability and continuity, and provide a holistic and comprehensive analysis of the methodology of working with the choir and the pedagogical system of education. With the exception of the first - “The conductor’s apparatus and its staging.” Semyon Kazachkov. Choral Age / Articles. Letters. Memories. Kazan: Kazan. state cons. them. N. G. Zhiganova, 2009. 426 p. 4 Choral art in the 21st century: trends and prospects // Materials of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference. Kazan: Kazan. state Conservatory, 2011. P. 22. 5 Besedina L.N. - teacher of the Taganrog State. ped. in-ta. 6 Choral art in the 21st century: trends and prospects. pp. 29–30. 2 3 6 choral conductors’ organization, created by S. A. Kazachkov. Among the specific objectives of the research, we will name the following: search and collection of materials for the biography of S. A. Kazachkov; identifying forms of cooperation between S. A. Kazachkov and Tatar composers, assessing his contribution to the development of Tatar choral music; analysis of recordings of the Kazan Conservatory choir under the direction of S. A. Kazachkov; analysis of musical material, which formed the basis for the analysis of the performing interpretation of S. A. Kazachkov; analysis of the main provisions of the conducting technique developed by S. A. Kazachkov, and his vocal methods of working with the choir - what served as the basis for the formation of the Kazan school of choral conducting; justification for the viability and real application of S. A. Kazachkov’s methodology. Research methodology. The work is at the intersection of various fields of historical and theoretical musicology, source studies, music journalism, choral studies, vocal methodology and pedagogy. In developing the topic, the author was guided by an integrated approach, resulting from the need to consider the creative activity of the conductor in the context of the choral culture of the 20th century; collection of documentary sources, interpretation of biographical data, archival documents, scientific works of S. A. Kazachkov from a pedagogical point of view; comparison of the scientific and pedagogical views of S. A. Kazachkov with the views of leading domestic conductors. To achieve this, the following steps were taken: the literature on the research topic was studied; an analysis was made of the scientific heritage of S. A. Kazachkov, as well as methodological and scientific literature created in the 19th–20th centuries by leading experts in the field of choral singing and conducting; 7 in our field of view there were also studies devoted to the life and work of famous Russian conductors; the basis for scientific conclusions directly related to choral performance was the analysis of literature related to the problems of musical performance; in addition, in the process of working on the dissertation, works on aesthetics, pedagogy, psychology, methods of musical education and methods of working with the choir were studied; the musical material was analyzed, thanks to which fundamental conclusions were made on issues of performance and work on the work in accordance with the methodology of S. A. Kazachkov; listened to and watched numerous audio and video recordings of concerts over the years; on their basis, a performing analysis of the works was made, a more complete picture of S.’s conducting and personal talent was obtained. A. Kazachkova; the author of the dissertation interviewed teachers of the department of choral conducting of the Kazan State Conservatory named after. N. G. Zhiganov, his former students, which made it possible to more fully evaluate the pedagogical and creative activities of S. A. Kazachkov; biographical information about the conductor was also significantly expanded. The scientific novelty of the dissertation lies in the following: 1) for the first time, the object of research was the school of choral conducting, which was formed in a specific educational institution into an independent performing direction; 2) for the first time, the experience of S. A. Kazachkov in teaching conducting and working with a choir was generalized; 3) based on materials about the life and work of S. A. Kazachkov, coupled with a theoretical analysis of his performing interpretations and scientific heritage, a multidimensional understanding of the object under study was obtained, deepening the scientific development of issues of choral studies. Of particular value are the hitherto unpublished materials collected in the appendix: 1) interviews taken from Kazachkov’s students, current teachers of the department of choral conducting of the Kazan State. N. G. Zhiganova - V. G. Lukyanova, V. K. Makarova, L. A. Draznina, A. V. Buldakova, A. I. Zapparova; 2) materials from the personal archive of E. M. Belyaeva in the form of transcripts of the autobiography of S. A. Kazachkov; interviews with his contemporaries V. G. Sokolov, N. V. Romanovsky, I. A. Musin, V. A. Chernushenko and others; 3) fragments of correspondence between S. A. Kazachkov and G. M. Kogan; 4) photographs by S. A. Kazachkov; 5) newspaper clippings with reviews of concerts of the choir of the Kazan State Conservatory. N. G. Zhiganov, texts by S. A. Kazachkov himself; 6) programs of various concerts from the personal archive of O. B. Mayorova. These materials can serve as the basis for writing a book about S. A. Kazachkov. Practical value of the study. The work can be used as part of a choral studies course, and can also be considered as a manual on choral conducting. In addition, the sheet music samples of Tatar choral music collected in the application, most of which have not been published and are inaccessible to a wide audience, can be used by choirmasters in working with choral groups, which will significantly expand and update the repertoire. Approbation of the study. The dissertation was prepared at the Department of Music Theory of the Moscow State Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky, discussed and recommended for defense at the department meeting on June 14, 2013. The main content of the study is covered in publications, including publications recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission. The author of the dissertation made a presentation on the topic “The Kazan school of choral conducting: from the experience of S. A. Kazachkov” at the Moscow interuniversity scientific conference “Choral music today: a dialogue between science and practice”, which was held at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in 2010. The main provisions of the dissertation submitted for defense: the activities of S. A. Kazachkov, the founder of the Kazan school of choral conducting, had a great impact on the development of domestic choral art; the cooperation of S. A. Kazachkov as the director of the Kazan Conservatory student choir with Tatar composers contributed to the formation of a new genre in the republic - the choral concert; the universal nature of S. A. Kazachkov’s conducting technique (the relationship between hearing, gesture and the real sound of music, its content) contributes to the development of professional skill; S. A. Kazachkov’s understanding of the specifics of vocal and choral performance is intended to help choirmasters successfully perform music of various styles and eras. Research structure. The dissertation (its volume is 301 pages) includes an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, a list of references (136 titles) and six appendices. MAIN CONTENT OF THE WORK The Introduction substantiates the relevance of the chosen topic, reveals the degree of its knowledge, defines the goals and objectives of the study, and also characterizes its methodological basis. The first chapter is “S. A. Kazachkov and Russian choral culture” - consists of four sections. In the first - “Biography. Creative path" - the collected materials about the life and work of the conductor are systematized and summarized. The main sources for writing the biography were 10 his own book “I’ll Tell You About Time and About Myself” 7, as well as numerous interviews with students and colleagues, and the memoirs of contemporaries. S. A. Kazachkov spent his childhood in the city of Novozybkov, Chernigov province. Already during his school years, he showed himself to be a multi-talented person: he participated in school theater performances, was the editor of the school magazine, and went in for sports. But his main hobbies were music, literature and painting. Since childhood, Kazachkov loved choral singing, and in the school orchestra he learned to read music and play the mandolin. After graduating from school, he left for Leningrad. S. A. Kazachkov did not have financial support and had to work a lot, but he devoted all his free time to his favorite hobby - listening to music on a radio that he assembled himself. He especially fell in love with Beethoven, who became one of his favorite composers for many years. In 1929, Kazachkov entered the Music College named after. M. P. Mussorgsky (violin class). After a year of study, he was accidentally noticed by a young teacher, the future famous conductor I. A. Musin, who invited him to study conducting. In 1935, having brilliantly graduated from college in the conducting class, S. A. Kazachkov entered the Leningrad Conservatory at the conducting and choral department. Here, Professor V.P. Stepanov, a graduate of the Synodal School, a student of the legendary V.S. Orlov, had a great influence on the development of his personality. At the diploma exam, Semyon Abramovich conducted choral scenes from the oratorio “Samson” by Handel and “Dawn” by Tchaikovsky in his own arrangement for a mixed choir. The chairman of the examination commission was P. G. Chesnokov, who called Kazachkov “a complete conductor.” After graduating from the conservatory in 1940, having received an appointment as director of the Chuvash State Choir, Semyon Abramovich left for Cheboksary. After working there for two years, he was mobilized and sent to the front. After the war, S. A. Kazachkov returns to Leningrad, where he works 7 Kazachkov S. A. I’ll tell you about the time and about myself. Kazan: Kazan. state cons. them. N. G. Zhiganova, 2004. 11 leader and chief conductor of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet Ensemble. In 1947, he received an invitation from M.A. Yudin to work at the newly opened Kazan Conservatory and moved to Kazan. Here he was entrusted with organizing the Choir Chapel on the basis of the conservatory, which later grew into a choir of students in the conducting and choral department. Since 1948, he became the head of the department of choral conducting. Over many years of work in this position, he managed to form a strong team of like-minded people, and the student choir under his leadership achieved outstanding results. Semyon Abramovich died on May 2, 2005. In order to give a full description of Kazachkov’s creative personality and evaluate his contribution to Russian choral culture, the subsequent sections of the chapter describe various aspects of S. A. Kazachkov’s activities: choirmaster, conductor and scientific-pedagogical. The second section of the first chapter is “Kazachkov - director of the student choir of the Kazan Conservatory.” S. A. Kazachkov considered the choir class to be the center of all learning. Here students not only acquire professional skills as choir artists, but also learn conducting and the ability to work with a choir. Therefore, while educating and practicing a certain technique, Semyon Abramovich made sure to explain to the choir why it was structured this way. This or that technical complexity was initially fixed on a simple exercise, then on increasingly complex material and, finally, in the conditions of a real work, taking into account the characteristics of the genre and style. S. A. Kazachkov achieved understanding and meaningfulness in choral performance not only through individual technical techniques, but also by setting certain artistic tasks for the choir. He talked about the content of the poems and what musical means the composer used to embody them, about the form of the work and ways to implement the textural plan, as well as much more. Every dynamic shade, stroke, and the like was always explained from the standpoint of the overall design of the work. As a result of such work, every 12 choir member understood what artistic tasks they were facing, and with what technical means they could and should solve them. Choir rehearsals have always been an act of the highest thoughtfulness. At the same time, the artistic component could undergo changes - from rehearsal to rehearsal, from concert to concert, always some detail (technical, artistic) was subject to correction. For Semyon Abramovich, who strives for perfection, there was no “ideal” performance for all occasions. He believed that changing a performer's interpretation was a natural process and believed that music, like a living organism, can change its appearance. After all, a newly found idea and intonation can make a piece sound different, fresh. And he trained his team to respond flexibly to changes in the performance interpretation. When compiling choral programs, the conductor was guided by a number of tasks. First, the choir's repertoire must include all major genres and styles of choral music. It was not possible to combine this in one concert, so the programs were structured so that each student would master the necessary material within five years of study. Of course, this did not mean that the programs were repeated every five years. The principle of cyclic repetition of the repertoire was combined with the process of its constant updating. At the same time, Semyon Abramovich was convinced that for the choral class program it is necessary to select only the most characteristic, typical and “perfect”, and the performance of insignificant and random works cannot be justified by educational requirements. Secondly, when compiling the repertoire, S. A. Kazachkov took into account the objective characteristics of the choir at the moment. Such as numerical composition, number of male and female voices, vocal abilities of singers. For this purpose, materials from the archive of O. B. Mayorova were specially analyzed. Having systematized the programs of concerts of the conservatory choir of different years collected in it, the author came to the conclusion that the works were combined by Kazachkov according to the following principles: 13 1) “geographically”: in the first part - choral miniatures or excerpts from works of large form by foreign composers, and in the second - domestic; 2) by genre: in the first part - folk songs, in the second - choirs from operas; 3) programs composed of several large choral cycles; 4) programs dedicated to the anniversary of a composer or poet. The third section of the chapter - “Concert activities of the choir of students of the Kazan Conservatory under the direction of S. A. Kazachkov” - reveals the artistic talent of the conductor and tells about the stage life of the choir, which he led. S. A. Kazachkov was convinced that the choir of conducting students should be constantly performing. The work of the choral class was structured in this way: almost the entire year they studied one large program for the reporting concert, which usually took place in the spring. But throughout the year, in preparation for the main concert, weekly Saturday concerts were held in secondary schools. In addition, the conservatory choir traveled a lot with concerts throughout the Republic of Tatarstan. The spring reporting concert was the pinnacle of the work of the team and the master. Both the participants themselves and numerous listeners had been waiting for him for a long time. The concerts were constantly covered in the press. In addition, S. A. Kazachkov himself published many educational articles in order to attract as many listeners as possible. Thus, the reporting concerts of the conservatory choir were a great event not only for a narrow circle of musicians, but for the entire public of Kazan. The team under the leadership of S. A. Kazachkov achieved outstanding results, winning the recognition and love of the public not only in Kazan and other cities of the Republic and the Volga region, but in Moscow and Leningrad. The first concert in Moscow took place in 1967 in the Small Hall of the Conservatory. Then the choir came to Moscow several more times with concerts (1969, 1984, 1986, 1989). Trips to Leningrad were noted in 1984 and 1986. All performances were accompanied by extraordinary success, as evidenced by the work, which contains excerpts from numerous reviews of the concerts and memories of participants. The fourth section of the first chapter is “Scientific and pedagogical activity.” In 1967, S. A. Kazachkov’s first book, “The Conductor’s Apparatus and Its Staging,” was published, and in 1989 he wrote “From Lesson to Concert,” a book that became famous far beyond the borders of Kazan. In the last years of his life, Semyon Abramovich worked a lot on processing his own materials. He has always been characterized by great demands and a critical attitude towards himself: in 2007, the book “The Choir Conductor - Artist and Teacher” was published, which is a revision of the two mentioned above. The work “I’ll Tell You About Time and About Myself” was published shortly before the death of Semyon Abramovich in 2004. In his books, Semyon Abramovich systematized his own findings in the field of conducting technique, working with the choir, and teaching activities. These revelations are based on many years of experience within the walls of the Kazan Conservatory. Kazachkov's scientific work was highly appreciated by many representatives of the musical culture of his time - V. G. Sokolov, N. V. Romanovsky, I. A. Musin, V. A. Chernushenko and others. The unpublished materials from the archive of E. M. Belyaeva used in the work prove the significance of Kazachkov’s scientific works for the development of domestic choir studies. The second chapter - “S. A. Kazachkov’s contribution to the development of Tatar choral culture” - emphasizes the significance of S. A. Kazachkov’s activities for the development of Tatar choral music. To fully assess the role of the conductor for the musical culture of Tatarstan, the chapter introduces sections containing a brief historical overview of the development of Tatar music. The first section - “Features of the development of Tatar music until the 20th century” - reflects the stages of formation of Tatar musical culture: until the 20th century, the territory of modern Tatarstan was part of various states - Volga Bulgaria, the Golden Horde, the Kazan Khanate, the Russian state, the Russian Empire. All this time, Tatar music developed 15 according to the canons of the Muslim religion. Vocal music was based on a monody type of thinking and existed only in the form of solo singing. Collective performance, and, consequently, polyphony, existed only among the rural part of the population. The most ancient vocal genres were: baits, munajats, ozyn-koy. In the 19th century, two new song genres gradually appeared - avyl koylere (village tunes) and salmak koylere (moderate tunes). Until the last quarter of the 19th century, there were practically no special educational institutions in Kazan where music was studied professionally. In 1881 R. A. Gummert and P. I. Yurgenson open a music school in Kazan, in which education is conducted according to the junior school programs of the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories. This becomes a kind of milestone in the development of Tatar musical culture, the beginning of the emergence of professional music education. The second section of the second chapter - “Main trends in the development of Tatar choral culture in the 20th century” is devoted to the formation and development of professional music in Tatarstan. In 1904, the opening of a music school took place, which was a great event in the life of Kazan. The teaching staff of the school united the best musicians of the city, and this made it possible in a short time to prepare not only professional performers and teachers, but also future national composers. Subsequently, the students of the Kazan Music School of the 1920s - N. G. Zhiganov, F. Z. Yarullin, A. S. Klyucharev - were destined to become pioneers in the field of creating national music. The formation in 1906 of the first Tatar professional theater troupe “Saiyar” (“Wandering Star”) served as the basis for the formation of a new layer of Tatar musical art - everyday music (vocal and instrumental). In addition, such an unusual genre for Tatars as choral singing is gradually beginning to take root and develop. First of all, this was due to the opening of a large number of educational institutions, and from 16 1920, choral circles at clubs, in which Russian revolutionary songs in the Tatar language, old Tatar songs, but with new texts, were learned and performed. The first arrangements of Tatar folk songs, a genre that arose and became widespread thanks to the efforts of the first professional Tatar composers and the first created choral groups, date back to the 20–30s of the twentieth century. The founders of the genre are considered to be: S. Kh. Gabyashi, M. A. Muzafarov and A. S. Klyucharev. In their work, for the first time, the tradition of synthesis of Western European harmonization and the eastern monodyic nature of Tatar melodies, which later became fundamental, is outlined. The largest event in the musical life of Tatarstan after the Great Patriotic War was the opening of the Kazan State Conservatory on October 10, 1945. The creation of the conducting and choral faculty in 1947 marked a new stage in the development of professional Tatar music. The third section of the second chapter is “Collaboration of S. A. Kazachkov with Tatar composers.” As soon as Semyon Abramovich arrived in Kazan in 1947, he actively began collaborating with Tatar composers. After the first concerts of the choir, it became obvious that a new choral group had appeared in Kazan, albeit a student one, but at a high professional level and capable of performing technically complex choral works. It is not surprising that many composers of Tatarstan wanted to collaborate with S. A. Kazachkov. And he, in turn, was always distinguished by his responsiveness and performed Tatar music at concerts with great desire. The choirmaster worked closely with many composers. Polyphony in Tatar music appeared only in the twentieth century, and many composers had little knowledge of the specifics of the choir. Therefore, Kazachkov’s help and advice were often necessary. S. A. Kazachkov performed works by all the leading composers M. A. Muzaffarov, Tatarstan J. H. Faizi, and of that time - A. S. Klyucharev, R. M. Yakhin, R. M. Abdullin. He had warm, friendly relations with 17 A. S. Klyucharyov, and often used his arrangements - “Zolkhizhә”, “Enger-menger”, “Alluki” and many others in his concerts. In addition to the works of A. S. Klyucharev, Kazachkov loved “T әftilyaү” by R. M. Yakhin, which he called a “Tatar song requiem,” and “Siblә chәchәk” by M. A. Muzaffarov. The most famous opera composer at that time was N. G. Zhiganov. Kazachkov highly valued Zhiganov’s works and regretted that he wrote so little for the choir. His favorite operas were “Musa Jalil” and “Altynchәch”. He often performed choruses from these operas, especially the male "Prisoners' Choir" from the opera Musa Jalil. I also loved Zhiganov’s cantata “My Republic”. In the 70s, the young composer Sh. K. Sharifullin entered the musical arena of Kazan. Shamil Kamilievich was a representative of the new generation of Tatar composers who graduated from the Kazan Conservatory. In addition, he was a wonderful ethnographer. In his work, Sharifullin decided to turn to the most ancient genres of the Muslim book tradition, which for a long time were prohibited - munajats. His spiritual concert “Munajaty” became an event in Tatar choral music. Before this, a cappella choirs in Tatar music were found only in the form of adaptations of folk songs. Therefore, the genre of the work itself was new for Sharifullin. In addition, the modern polyphonic technique in which the composer wrote, instead of the previously dominant homophonic-harmonic system, gave a new impetus to the development of choral music in Tatarstan. The only group in Kazan that was able to perform a complex piece was the choir of students of the Kazan Conservatory. Semyon Abramovich treated the young composer with great interest and attention, despite the fact that he was still unknown to anyone. While Kazachkov himself has already established himself as a choral conductor and gained fame outside of Kazan. Sharifullin brought each part of his concert to S.A. Kazachkova for checking, the choir performed it, and then together they corrected some places in voice control and dynamics. Semyon Abramovich showed how to make the work more literate for the choir in terms of phrasing and tessitura features, without violating the author’s creative idea. The premiere of “Munazhatov”, held in 1977 in Moscow, was a great success. In addition to them, Semyon Abramovich performed another concert by Sh. K. Sharifullin - “Avyl kilere” (“Village tunes”), based on folk dance and game tunes, as well as individual works for a cappella choir. The great merit of S. A. Kazachkov was that he raised national music to the highest level. The final sections of the second chapter represent a performance analysis of Tatar music by a choir of students of the Kazan Conservatory under the direction of S. A. Kazachkov. The fourth section - “Features of S. A. Kazachkov’s performance of arrangements of Tatar folk songs” - analyzes the recording of two folk songs arranged by A. S. Klyucharev: “Zolhiҗә” and “Par at”. Among the difficulties that the choirmaster had to face are: 1) orthoepic difficulties; 2) unusual musical language (developed ornamentation, melismatic chants) 3) selection of a suitable soloist who feels the manner of performing “mon”; 4) a combination of solo and accompaniment (free, improvisational singing of the soloist, which the choir needs to “catch”). Both folk songs performed by Kazachkov sound stylistically accurate and colorful. In addition to the competent work of the choirmaster, one can hear a great love and understanding of the music being performed. This is probably why the works are perceived, on the one hand, “in the Tatar way,” and on the other hand, they are close to people of any nationality. The fifth section of the second chapter is “S. A. Kazachkov’s performance of the choral concert “Munajaty” by Sh. K. Sharifullin.” The genre of “munajats” itself was formed under the influence of the Islamic tradition of chanted reading of books of spiritual content. The name “Munajaty” means an intimate conversation with God and 19 with oneself, a deep immersion in one’s own inner world, which determines the chamber, intimate nature of the statement. Sh. K. Sharifullin naturally reflected the monody nature of Tatar musical songfulness, relying on the principles of subvocal polyphony (which, as already mentioned, was new for Tatar choral music), synthesizing the traditional form and modern means of musical language - aleatorics, sonorics, modal technique. The textual basis was the poems of Gabdulla Tukay, folk poems and the canonical texts of the sura “Yasin” (“Yasin”) from the Koran. The difficulty was that Semyon Abramovich could not rely on the traditions that had developed in the performance of this kind of music. Of course, there were the author's instructions for tempo and dynamics. But he had to look for a lot of things himself, and only then, after the first performance, the strokes, phrasing, and intonations he found became a tradition. The author of the dissertation analyzed the recordings of three parts of “Munajats” - “Bu donya” (“This world”, part 1), “Bula ber okn” (“There will be a day”, part 4) and “Vasyat” (“Testament”, part 7) - from a concert in 1975. It must be said that Kazachkov’s performance of this concert deserves the highest praise: the choir has a wide variety of strokes and nuances; has a coherent ensemble within the parts and throughout the choir; the choir's singing is distinguished by clear and expressive pronunciation of the poetic text; The conductor strictly and carefully follows all the author's instructions. But the main thing that the conductor managed to convey was the deep philosophical meaning of the work. The performance breathes novelty, freshness, and unusual musical colors. At the same time, it reminds us of universal human values and encourages us to think about the finitude of life, the inevitability of death and the all-consuming power of love. In the third chapter - “Specifics of S. A. Kazachkov’s school of choral conducting” - S. A. Kazachkov’s pedagogical principles in the field of conducting and working with the choir are systematized and formulated. 20 The first section - “Conducting technique” - examines the main provisions of the conducting technique formulated by S. A. Kazachkov in his books. S. A. Kazachkov identified three main types of technology - “classical”, “romantic” and “expressionistic”. Each of them uses its own conducting techniques. “Classical technique” is distinguished by the harmonious balance of all elements of performance. Here the metrical ratio of strong and weak beats, heavy and light measures, a sense of symmetry, and the like are of great importance. This type of conducting technique is characterized by the predominant use of the wrist and forearm joints (especially the hand), and an economical swing. The support of the swing falls on the wrist or elbow joints, the sound should be felt at the fingertips, and free and smooth movements of the hands are accompanied by a clear and distinct pattern (mesh). The body is free, but inactive. For the “romantic technique”, greater expressiveness is indicative; here there is a strong emotional beginning. Semyon Abramovich described the romantic technique as “all-flexible”, requiring a completely flexible hand that is free in all cases - the hand from the shoulder. The support of movements is in the shoulder joint; the sound should be felt in the palm of your hand. The range of motion is very wide, all positions are used (high, medium and low). The body is expressive and free, not constrained in movement. It has been noted that the performance of romantic music is characterized by a certain amount of improvisation. S. A. Kazachkov called “expressionistic technique” “entirely fixed.” Conducting is carried out with the hand from the shoulder, with a free shoulder and slightly fixed wrist and elbow joints. The swing support is in the shoulder joint; the swing is straight. According to S. A. Kazachkov, the listed types of conducting techniques turned out to be dominant in certain historical periods. However, he believed that in any work belonging to a particular era, elements of various techniques can be combined. For example, when conducting a classical piece, it is often necessary to use elements of romantic or expressionistic techniques. Such a mixture requires the musician to possess a certain “universal technique,” which the conductor called: “polystylistic conducting technique.” At the same time, the main qualities that a modern conductor’s technique should have are the general intelligibility and universal significance of the conductor’s gestures; the reality of the show, the individuality of the individual and the versatility of the performing style. The conductor also developed his own system of positions (levels) and plans for the conductor's gesture. The following were identified: 1) three positions - lower (at the level of the pelvic girdle), middle (at the level of the chest) and upper (at the level of the shoulder girdle); 2) three gesture ranges - narrow, medium and wide; 3) three plans - first, second and third. In addition, S. A. Kazachkov examined in detail the components of the conductor's swing, as a result of which he established four parts of the swing: breathing - swinging the arm up; aspiration - a downward movement of the hand (during this movement the hand tends to an imaginary plane); point - the moment the sound is taken (the hand hits an imaginary plane, causing the sound to begin); recoil - upward movement of the hand after the point. The fact that each beat of a bar must be prepared by breathing and contain aspiration, point and return, justified the formation of a beat cycle in which the “return” of the first beat also performs the function of “breathing”, which turns into a “striving” for the second beat; and so on with each subsequent beat of the measure. This allows us to talk about anticipation in the conductor’s stroke, which makes it possible to really control the sound. In his teaching activities, S. A. Kazachkov sought from students real “control” of accompanists. The accompanist must obey and follow the student. This was done so that the student could “hear” the real reproduction of his own movements, and not the beautiful, but independent playing of the accompanist. To actually control the accompanist’s playing, however, it was necessary to make an “estimate” of the choral sound. 22 The future conductor must realize that the choir is an “instrument” that breathes, and each gesture must be proportionate to the singer’s breathing: the aftertaste is the singer’s breath, the distribution of breath in the phrase is the singer’s exhalation. For which, of course, the student must control his voice to the proper extent. The second section of the third chapter - “Vocal development of the choir” - reflects the choirmaster’s work of S. A. Kazachkov. Working on choral sonority, the conductor described three main directions: 1) vocal development of the choir; 2) work on choral structure and 3) improvement of the choral ensemble. Just as in conducting, Semyon Abramovich identified three main vocal techniques - classical, romantic and modern. This was explained by the fact that the ideal of singing sound and ideas about choral sonority have changed historically. For each era, its characteristic elements were formulated. Thus, the performer must have a diverse sound palette, which makes it possible to equally successfully perform music from different eras and styles. Like conducting technique, the vocal technique of the choir, according to Kazachkov, is polystylistic, synthesizing the possibilities of classical, romantic and modern music into a holistic sound system. For the vocal development of the choir, a whole system of vocal exercises was developed, in which the technical techniques necessary for subsequent work were practiced. In total there were six types of vocal exercises - sustained sound, scale-like, arpeggio-like, various leaps, vocalises (etudes) and fragments from works. When practicing any technique, one should start with simpler exercises and, having achieved results, move on to more complex ones. The third section of the third chapter - “Basic principles of working on a work” - provides S. A. Kazachkov’s recommendations for independent work on the score. Semyon Abramovich believed that only after thoroughly studying the score does the conductor have the right to begin working with the choir or accompanist. The evidence was: 1) knowledge of the score; 2) complete 23 mastery of its sonority, form and style “by ear”, “in the voice” and on the piano; 3) the attitude towards music that arose as a result of knowledge of the score and mastery of it, one’s own hearing of it; the formation of a specific plan, vividly tangible by inner hearing and imagination. S. A. Kazachkov identified three levels of studying the score: 1) elementary analysis, 2) fragmentary analysis and 3) holistic perception-comprehension. At the same time, the third level - a holistic comprehension of the work - becomes possible only with elementary and fragmentary analyses. To fully cover the main provisions of S. A. Kazachkov’s methodology, the section “Disclosure of Kazachkov’s methodology using the example of the analysis of A. S. Arensky’s choir “Anchar”” is introduced into the work. The author analyzed: 1) textual basis; 2) the relationship between words and music; 3) text-musical dramaturgy; 4) musical language. Choirmaster and conductor tasks are formulated. To implement them, it is proposed to use the basic techniques of conducting techniques proposed by S. A. Kazachkov. The romantic style of the work determined the corresponding type of conducting technique, characterized by a fully flexible, free arm from the shoulder, but with a free hand. Moreover, in the first section, for better execution of accents, it is necessary to fix the entire hand at the moment of holding the breath - before the accent (an element of modern technology), and in the second part, in the fugato section, the components of the classical technique are used - a free, active hand, accurate demonstrations of introductions . Much attention should be paid to working on sound, searching for a rich and varied sound, since “tone” and “timbre” are the defining means of expression in romantic music. “Anchar” is a work where you can find a huge number of colors and shades of voice. Finding them is an opportunity for constant updating of the performing interpretation. To solve the problem of recognition by listeners of the text in some sections of the work (when each choral part has its own text), 24 several ways are proposed: highlighting the desired text using dynamics, exaggerated pronunciation of consonant sounds (and the like) and simultaneous obscuring, leveling “side” words ; editing the author's subtext where it does not conflict with more important elements of the composition. Since the “romantic” type of technique involves greater variability of interpretations than the “classical” and “expressionistic”, when performing the work it is assumed that the rubato technique and a wide gradation of dynamic shades will be used. The Conclusion summarizes the results and formulates the main conclusions of the study. Semyon Abramovich Kazachkov rightfully occupies an honorable place among the famous Russian choir conductors. A review of his life and work allows us to talk about the significance of this figure for modern choral art. The memories collected in the work - not only of students and followers, but also of outstanding choral conductors of his time - speak of the scale of the master's performing and teaching talent. A generalization of the experience of S. A. Kazachkov in the choirmaster, pedagogical and scientific fields reveals the versatility and diversity of the conducting profession. Raising the group as a training and concert group, S. A. Kazachkov sought a conscious approach to the performance and meaningful intonation of music: each member of the group must understand why this or that technique is used in conducting or choral singing and how it is related to the overall artistic task of the work . The interconnectedness and interdependence of the three main areas of the school - conducting technique, vocal work with the choir and theoretical analysis of the work - allowed Semyon Abramovich to draw conclusions about the universal nature of performing technique. An analysis of the concert programs collected in the appendix by S. A. Kazachkov with the choir of conservatory students from different years showed the importance and relevance of the 25 process of selecting a concert repertoire in working with the educational group. The pedagogical activity of S. A. Kazachkov is also of great importance. Generalization and theoretical understanding of his scientific and pedagogical heritage made it possible to talk about the formation of the Kazan school of choral conducting, the founder of which was Semyon Abramovich. S. A. Kazachkov laid down strong traditions in the education of choral conductors, which are still alive today, and his creative activity was of great importance not only for students and teachers, but also for the entire public of Kazan. Currently, Kazachkov’s “children” and “grandchildren” work at the department - students and students of his students. All of them were brought up in a single system and are the creative successors of Semyon Abramovich. In addition, graduates of the Kazan Conservatory work in many secondary and higher educational institutions in Russia and neighboring countries. This dissertation is the first and only complete study to date of the life and work of this remarkable choral figure. The main result of the dissertation was proof of the practical value and theoretical significance of the methods of training choral conductors developed by Semyon Abramovich Kazachkov. 26 Publications on the topic of the dissertation PUBLICATIONS IN PUBLICATIONS RECOMMENDED BY THE VAK OF THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE RF: 1. Belyaeva, A. N. Semyon Abramovich Kazachkov and the Kazan school of choral conducting [Text] / A. N. Belyaeva // Musicology. - 2011. - No. 5. - P. 39–42. 2. Belyaeva, A. N. From the history of the origin of the choral concert genre in Tatar music: S. A. Kazachkov - Sh. K. Sharifullin [Text] / A. N. Belyaeva // Musicology. - 2013. - No. 11. - P. 13–17. 3. Belyaeva, A. N. Vocal work in the choir according to the system of S. A. Kazachkova [Text] / A. N. Belyaeva // Musicology. - 2014. - No. 4. - P. 55–59. OTHER PUBLICATIONS: 4. Belyaeva, A. N. Kazan school of choral conducting: from the experience of S. A. Kazachkova [Text] / A. N. Belyaeva // Choral music today: a dialogue between science and practice. - M.: Ros. acad. music them. Gnesins, 2011. - pp. 48–55.
A talented teacher will always notice the emotional spark caused by the game, will be able to rekindle it and involve children in serious work. In the process of choir classes, the importance of the game method (among all others) in the education of children of primary preschool age becomes of great importance, since the level of behavior of each child in the game is higher than in real life. It is in game situations (so that the student at least temporarily experiences the corresponding states) that we model many of the qualities necessary for future vocal and choral activity, to develop interest in classes. In other words, “the education of a future figure occurs, first of all, in play” (A.S. Makarenko. Works vol. 4 M. 1957 p. 3730).
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Municipal budgetary educational institution of additional education for children “Children’s Music School named after E.M. Belyaev, Klintsy, Bryansk region"
Methodological development on the topic:
“Game as a method for developing vocal and choral skills in 1st grade choir lessons”
Performed by Mikhailova Galina Anatolyevna
MBOU DOD "Children's Music School named after E.M. Belyaev"
Klintsy, Bryansk region
- Introduction.
- Goals and objectives of this topic.
- Practical methods of work.
- Conclusion.
- Methodological literature.
- Introduction.
Playing is not just a pastime.Starting from preschool age, play is a need and the main activity. In subsequent years, it continues to be one of the main conditions for the development of a student’s intellect.
The game should help fill knowledge and be a means of musical development of the child. The game form of organizing lessons significantly increases the child’s creative activity. The game broadens one's horizons, develops cognitive activity, and forms individual skills and abilities necessary in practical activities.
A talented teacher will always notice the emotional spark caused by the game, will be able to rekindle it and involve children in serious work. In the process of choir classes, the importance of the game method (among all others) in the education of children of primary preschool age becomes of great importance, since the level of behavior of each child in the game is higher than in real life. It is in game situations (so that the student at least temporarily experiences the corresponding states) that we model many of the qualities necessary for future vocal and choral activity, to develop interest in classes. In other words, “the education of a future figure occurs, first of all, in play,” (A.S. Makarenko. Works vol.4 M. 1957 p.3730).
First of all, children are interested in the game situation itself. And later, with a conscious attitude towards the content of the game, students begin to understand the usefulness of this form of work. Time plays a huge role here, which allows the teacher to gradually create certain traditions and turn them into the habitual way of action and behavior of children.
- Goals and objectives of this topic.
What does the game give? It forms creative, cognitive, organizational and pedagogical inclinations, develops a number of skills and abilities: attention, the ability to communicate in a team, speech and conducting skills, and others. Game techniques greatly facilitate the choral activities of younger schoolchildren. The more diverse and interesting such work is, the better results it will give.
- Practical methods of work.
Game "Musical Echo".The game usually begins in the sixth to eighth lesson in the “chanting” section: the teacher plays the piano or sings simple songs, the children sing them after him on a certain syllable. Initially, these chants use arbitrary scale degrees, not only those that are studied, because In the first lessons, usually only three degrees of the major scale are consciously sung. Unconscious memorization of melodies occurs.
Students pick up this game, comparing their singing after the teacher with the sound of an echo in the forest. After a few rehearsals, you can introduce a second version of this game using only the studied degrees of the scale. Children become aware of them and sing in syllables, with the names of notes or steps, showing the sounding steps with the number of fingers.
Game "Catch Me".In the fourth lesson, you can offer the following exercise: the teacher plays the piano or sings various sounds within re - to gradually and abruptly; students using voice (vowels)ё, yu, on the syllables le, la, ma) reproduce each sound played or sung, carefully monitoring the unison in the choir. When students sing, the piano does not sound and vice versa. Children explain this exercise like this: “I run away, and you catch up with me. So you ran in one direction, and we ran in the other, which means you didn’t catch up.” Then you can help students with leading questions, for example: “Have you caught up with me now or not? Did everyone catch up with me or did someone run in the other direction?”
“Emotional-imaginative games” for breathing. « Little Engine", "Cake with Candles", "The Hedgehog is out of breath.» “Locomotive” - an exercise to activate inhalation and exhalation, movements of the diaphragm. The exercise is as follows: two short breaths are taken through the nose, at the same time the stomach protrudes, after which two short exhalations are made through the mouth, the stomach is retracted. At the same time, the sounds of a train moving are imitated, you can make movements with your arms and legs - this will take on the nature of a game and will be exciting for the child.
“Cake with candles” - the exercise is aimed at developing a short inhalation through the nose, holding the breath and a long exhalation through pursed lips, as if we were blowing out the candles on a cake. The main condition is not to change your breathing and “blow out” as many “candles” as possible.
“The hedgehog is out of breath” - take a long breath, hold your breath and quickly exhale actively to “f-f-f...”
“Emotional-imaginative games” for the purity of intonation. Game "Thread and needle". When singing a jump upward, we say that you need to be surprised, imagine that the upper sound is a “hole”, and the voice is a “needle”. You need to very accurately hit the “needle” into the “hole”. If the melody continues on the upper sound, then a “thread” will be pulled behind the “needle” voice. You can also say that a ray of light shines at the end of the “needle” - then the sound will be sharp, ringing.
"Fisherman in a Boat" -If you need to sing a jump down with your voice, the child should imagine that he is standing in a boat, casting a fishing rod. When the hook touches the water (and the hook is the voice) - this will be the low sound we need, it can pull the hook back, or it can stay down. At the same time, the child must realize that the hook is only a voice, while he himself remains at the top “in the boat” - this technique will retain the vocal position.
Game "Live Piano".As many children or groups participate in it as the degrees of the mode have been studied. For example, at the seventh - eighth rehearsal, when the students are already quite free andconsciously intonate the 1st, 2nd, 3rd degrees of the major scale, the game proceeds as follows:
Three students come out, the teacher offers each of them one specific level. You can sing this sound on any syllable, naming a note or degree. Then the teacher or one of the choristers “tunes” this “live piano”, checks whether each child remembers the sound of “his” note and tries to “play”. After this, the leader of the game (teacher or student) invites one of the children to “play this instrument.” Usually this game evokes an active emotional response in children. You can divide the whole team into groups corresponding to the number of sounds needed. In this case, it will be like a “collective live piano”. Both options - individual and group - are equally important. In the first case, attention is paid to individual students (children - “keys”, “tuner”, “pianist”, “administrator”), their auditory attention is activated, they are given the opportunity to hear themselves separately, compose a small melody, show their individuality in one of the specified roles. In the second case, the auditory, intonation and vocal skills of all students are formed. Children learn to sing in groups, smoothly and gently join in the overall sound, and adapt to the singing of the group. This is how a “sense of elbow” develops and attention is activated. In both versions of the game, the students themselves must analyze the actual sound, and indicate exactly what the mistake was, what step (note) sounded instead of the required one. How should you sing - higher or lower? It is useful to immediately teach children to “play” in rhythm so that short musical phrases are obtained. The teacher can show examples of such music-making himself. This game develops not only musically - creative, but also the organizational and pedagogical abilities of children. She allows students to act as a teacher, leader (organizer) of the game, conductor, performing artist, critic, etc.
Game "Who is it?" This game can be introduced when children become familiar with the concept of “timbre”:
The teacher asks: “Do you know whose name is? Let's get acquainted. This is Lenya, Sasha, Tanya... And now several people will stand behind the choir and say something. For example, they will ask: “What is my name?”, and you have to find out without looking who is asking!” Why do we know who exactly is speaking? Because everyone's voices are different. Each person has his own voice character, his own sound coloring, typical for this particular voice. Do instruments have their own characteristic sound coloring? Of course there is. That's why we recognize the sound of voices, objects, instruments. This is what wooden sticks sound like when they hit each other, and this is how a drum, a tambourine sounds... And here is a metal triangle... Then the children close their eyes and try to find out what instrument it sounded.
So, in this and subsequent lessons, children become aware of the concept of “timbre” and are happy to join the game “Who is it?”, recognizing the voices (now in singing) of their comrades, the sound of various instruments (and their number is constantly expanding).
Subsequently, the game acquires a different content: showing children the importance of various means of expression to create a certain character, the teacher performs (sings or plays the piano) intonations of a different nature: question, answer, complaint, protest, request, etc. Children understand the meaning of melodic pattern, rhythm, tempo, endings at various levels of the scale, etc. They also determine the nature of the performance to create a particular musical image, a musical portrait. As a result of analyzing chants - improvisations of various types, children guess what image, what mood the melody creates.
- Who wants to try to come up with a melody with “character”? "Let's compose, musical “portrait” of a determined boy. And who will now compose a “portrait” of a cheerful man? - the teacher helps children in composing and performing melodies, showing with specific examples that in “portraits” not only the music is important, but also to a greater extent the nature of the performance.
- Composing melodies can be free or using specific studied degrees of the scale.
- Another version of the game: one of the students becomes a “teacher”, “game leader”, “composer”, “musical portrait painter”, “riddle master”, etc. The child sings some intonation, and all the students try to recognize the hidden portrait-image.
- Game "Plastic intonation".The effect of using plastic intonation is not limited to the development of vocal skills. I noticed that after I started using this method, children began to respond better to the conductor’s gesture, sometimes they even copy me themselves, conducting with me without my request. This especially helps in the process of building phrasing and, in general, in working on creating a musical image.After singing and analyzing several songs, the teacher or one of the choristers replacing him conducts one of these songs in silence, and everyone tries to find out which piece he had in mind and explains why they knew it.
- Game "Music Album".This is a collective game, the collective work of all students: each of them takes part in filling out the “album” - they will write the name of the songs they like and draw an illustration for it.
- We give the children a beautiful sketchbook with lots of pages. On each page the title of the song and the names of the authors are written. Gradually, children fill these pages with their drawings for these songs. It is better to start an album when children already know quite a few songs.
- The game can happen, for example, like this: the teacher opens the album on some page and performs a song whose name is written there.
- After that, he gives the album to anyone who wants to make a drawing for the song. Gradually, drawings will appear for all songs.
- Similarly to this game, you can compile and play a “collective musical dictionary”, “a book of singing rules”.
- Game "Find out the song."Excerpts of melodies from different songs are written on the board or on a sheet of music. Having mentally solfed and recognized the song, the children sign its name with a pencil or chalk. Then the children must sing the song in solfeggio, and then with the words. This is a more difficult task, but by frequently repeating it in lessons, children develop their musical memory, inner hearing, and gradually become accustomed to solfege, which will already be needed in the middle level of education.
Game "Critics". Several children stand in front of the choir; Each of them is given the task of monitoring one element of the singing. At the first classes there will be two or three such “critics”, and at subsequent classes there will be more and more (you can increase their number to seven or eight people). After finishing the singing, each “critic” analyzes the quality of the performance of the element of singing that he followed (breathing, “yawn”, position, legato, unison, ensemble, etc.). Subsequently, this game is played (as one of the options) in combined with"cards ": several students come out and take out cards with the name of a certain concept. For example, “yawn”, “delayed breathing”, “diction”, “ensemble”, “unison”, “attention-breathing-entry”, “preparation-withdrawal”; each student analyzes the sound of the choir and the activities of the “conductors” (while playing “conductor”, “teacher”, “choirmaster”) in accordance with their card.
Even later, with the help of this game, children develop the skill of “singing and listening at the same time.” Every choir member is both a singer and a criticat the same time, because he must listen not only to himself, but also to the sound of the entire choir. I would especially like to say about such painstaking work, which requires perseverance and attention on the part of students - this is unlearning songs. Not Children always understand the meaning of detailed practice of certain intonations, work on individual skills in the process of learning. And here, too, you need to turn to the help of games.
- At the very beginning of learning (after showing the teacher or student), phrases and sentences of the first verse are analyzed, children use conventional signs to show their number (number of fingers), similarities and differences (close your eyes - open), peaks (head tilts, hand movements), melodic pattern (“draw” a melody with your hand, that is, mark the pitch with your palm).
- Next, the nature of each phrase, each sentence is determined. Phrases are sung anew each time, using the experience of the game “Who is it?”, “Musical Portraits”, or cards with the name of a certain concept.
- Now you need to play rhythmic games (against the background of singing individual phrases and sentences being learned):
a) sing a song and mark the ends of phrases and sentences by clapping your hands;
b) sing a song and clap your hands or knees to mark the meter, rhythm, alternate, according to the conventional sign of the teacher or student replacing him, performing either the meter or the rhythm of the song;
c) one group marks the vertices of phrases, the other - the ends of phrases;
d) one group marks the beginning, another the vertices, the third - the ends of phrases;
e) three students in front of the choir perform the previous task, and the entire choir marks the meter of the song by clapping on the knee;
f) one group marks the meter (by hitting the knees), the other - the rhythmic pattern (by clapping). Groups change tasks during each exercise. Changes can be made not only when repeating a sentence or verse as a whole, but also in the process of singing (according to a conventional sign). All these collective actions using conventional signs take place against the background of a song being performed, and the teacher constantly monitors the level of compliance with the rules of singing familiar to children.
Vocal and choral work is carried out using games of “teacher” and “conductor”, with collective conducting, with the participation of “critics”, using cards, “Songbook”, etc.
In addition to collective analysis using conventional signs, verbal analysis is used, during which children learn to express their thoughts, impressions, and observations in words, which helps them better understand their observations.
And finally, when the song is more or less understood and learned: the game situation “school” is created in combination with a “concert choir”. Children choose a conductor, artistic director, entertainer, teacher, critic, etc. Thus, students take turns and in a group organize the performance of a song or songs, come up with special ways to overcome certain difficulties in the song (similar to those used by the teacher at various rehearsals), monitor the implementation of singing rules, sound quality, activity and expressiveness of performance, facial expressions of choristers, their position etc. Under their leadership, the choir members decide on the performance plan for the verse (so far only the first), find the climax, the main and additional “colors” of the performance. All this work takes place inat a fast pace, takes about forty to seventy minutes per lesson (if you complete it entirely). Children really like this kind of work!
It should, however, be noted that learning one song during one rehearsal using such a large number of different techniques is impractical. Most often, these types of work, as well as staging, performing as a “noise orchestra”, learning with visual aids, singing with soloists, singing in parts, competition, etc. It should be carried out over several rehearsals or distributed over several different songs during one lesson.
Didactic games, as fixed methods of training, help make the lesson more intense, speed up its pace, and add variety. The more diverse the techniques, the broader the children’s horizons in this area, the more freely they will be able to use the subsequently acquired knowledge and skills.
Children of seven and nine years of age attach great importance to play paraphernalia when carrying out any type of activity. In lessons and in extracurricular activities, it is very useful to use visual elements in game situations: posters, wall charts, books, albums, manuals, badges. For example, awarding a medal to the “most attentive” person, a badge for the “best conductor”, etc., introducing various rules and traditions.
- Conclusion.
Thus, the specifics of a choral lesson in elementary school require scrupulous, painstaking training of a whole range of vocal-choral and social skills, long-term, patient development of certain musical and general abilities. But the perseverance, attention, and determination of children who are just beginning their musical and choral activities are not yet at the proper level. In addition, there are objective patterns of attention dulled by prolonged monotonous activity. “Monotony quickly tires,” writes V.A. Sukhomlinsky. “As soon as the children began to get tired, I tried to move on to a new type of work... The first signs of fatigue disappear, joyful lights appear in the children’s eyes... Monotonous activity is replaced by creativity” (V.A. Sukhomlinsky “They Give Their Hearts to Children.” M. 1969 . P. 98).
A variety of games, united by one educational topic, make it possible to create conditions for the development of the “Old into New” principle and thereby help to avoid the boring repetition that sometimes takes place at choir rehearsals due to the specifics of the subject. “The game must be present in the children's group. Children's group not playing will never be a real children's group" (A.S. Makarenko. Works, vol. 5. M. 1958, p. 219).
- Methodological literature:
- G. Teratsuyants “Something from the experience of a chorist”, Petrozavodsk, 1995.
- S.A. Kazachkov “From lesson to concert.” Kazan University Publishing House, 1990
3.G.A. Struve “Steps of musical literacy.”
St. Petersburg, 1997