Abstract:

The present article outlines various aspects of music literacy in formal and informal education institutions in Bulgaria. It offers a brief historical overview of music literacy methods that have been applied in the country since the beginning of official music education in the early XX century to the present day. In addition, the article presents significant names from the chronological development of the Bulgarian music pedagogical science that contributed to music literacy.

The study provides a brief overview of normative acts which regulate the teaching of music at comprehensive schools and focuses on music literacy of primary school students in particular.

The authors describe good pedagogical practices which follow the European tradition and are accepted as effective, result – oriented, and widely used. They also discuss certain aspects of the systems of Orff – Schulwerk, Zoltan Kodaly and other musicologists.

The article also provides a summary of the author’s solutions to teaching -related problems and personal pedagogical experience. The presented creative tasks were tested in a studio for creative music activities with children aged 6-9. Students from the Music Club “Affect”, which is one of the cultural clubs of the University of Ruse, also participate in the studio activities. Its artistic director is Senior Assist. Prof. Petya Stefanova, PhD.

For the purposes of music literacy, a visual color installation and various methodological approaches are proposed. With this idea, the authors of the article participated in the fourth edition of the Innovative Youth EXPO in May 2019, organized by the University of Ruse “Angel Kanchev”. Teaching methods and opportunities for creative pedagogical solutions as well as tools for interaction between teachers, parents and children, related to music literacy, were presented within the European Cultural Initiative “Night of Museums” in Ruse, at the invitation of the Regional Library “Lyuben Karavelov” Ruse.

In the article, another emphasis is put on the proposed music games played with the help of puppets. The idea of dolls as a didactic tool used in acquiring music literacy is related to perceiving the symbolism of notes through specific activities and a wide range of associations in younger children. The proposed dolls – symbols have potential for wide application in both formal and informal teaching and learning. Due to the dominant game approach, these activities can be adapted for home use which is particularly applicable and relevant in the current pandemic situation.

Keywords:

Music pedagogy, music literacy, stuio for creative music activities, educational music games.