Abstract:

Dynamic changes in society influence the continuous improvement of teaching practice (Colvile, 2017; Kavanagh, Lightfoot and Lilley, 2021; Pansera and Fressoli, 2020; Phillips and Linstone, 2017; Snooks, 1996), which places numerous demands and expectations on teachers. Capable teachers are expected to (re)evaluate their own pedagogical and didactical effectiveness and performance as well as to recognize and correct possible deficiencies. In view of the above, the future music teacher is expected to have both pedagogical and professional musical competences and many others, e.g. developed ICT skills, communication and teamwork skills, reflective thinking and self-assessment, and interpersonal skills, so that he/she can achieve the best level in teaching. Contemporary teaching tends to abandon verbalism and inappropriate ex-cathedra lectures and the use of visually unattractive and static sources of knowledge (De Marzio and Hansen, 2022; Kavalari, Kakana and Christidou, 2012; Piirimees, 2020), as the purpose of education is not only to impart new knowledge and skills, but also to improve the overall personality of students, taking into account their holistic development. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to find suitable teaching strategies. Among the new methods, forms and types of activities such as problem-based learning, pair (tandem) learning, group learning, experiential and project-based teaching (Buljubašić Kuzmanović and Petrović, 2014; Matijević and Radovanović, 2011), special attention is paid to multimedia teaching and the interdisciplinary approach (Massaro, 2012, Forceville, 2016; Vidulin, Plavšić and Žauhar 2020), in which content from the curriculum is combined according to the principles of inter-subject correlation. The use of multimedia in music lessons helps to familiarize students with various musical phenomena and enables them to acquire specific musical knowledge, e.g. about musical forms, periods and styles (Vidulin-Orbanić and Duraković, 2012). One of the ways for university students to actively acquire new knowledge and develop skills is through project teaching. Such teaching is problem-oriented and requires students to conduct research and present it publicly. Over the past ten years, various projects have been launched at the Academy of Music in Pula with the aim of learning about specific musical periods, musical forms, traditional or popular music. They were based on joint and collaborative learning and research to explore the practical results of their presentation. Through singing, playing, music making, using ICT and various multimodal tools, the students present their works to the audience. Some of these works will be presented during the presentation.

Keywords:

Learning, music, projects, teaching, university students.