The goal of music education is to find students' musical potential and to encourage their creativity by leading them to freely express their thoughts and feelings through musical activities. Among diverse genres, singing is the most instinctive way fo...
The goal of music education is to find students' musical potential and to encourage their creativity by leading them to freely express their thoughts and feelings through musical activities. Among diverse genres, singing is the most instinctive way for musical education, since it provides an easy access to the music itself without learning the laborious exercises required by instruments. Particularly, singing as a member of a choir is extremely effective, because it improves the basic understanding of harmony, provides an aesthetic fulfillment and delight, and develops the bond of unity. However, choral education, as well as choral activities for teenagers, is largely disregarded due to the stifling competition for admittance to college, as well as the lack of professional instructors in middle and high schools. Moreover, great hindrances such as out-dated repertoires which are ignorant of adolescents' delicate vocal mechanism, limitations in sharing novel repertoires, music teachers' difficulties in studying new repertoire, absolute shortness of music classes, and lack of professional choral instructors have further threatened the educational usefulness of chorus. Therefore, accurate understanding of the situation of choral activities in middle school as well as standardized guidance for the development of the appropriate choral teaching methods with an investigation of new repertoires are required for choral education.
In this study, I surveyed the status of choral education in middle schools and analyzed the recent repertoire for adolescent choirs. It was revealed that most teachers in middle schools in Seoul feel great difficulties in choral education due to lack of support from schools reduction in numbers and in the interest of students, challenges due to breaking voices, and insufficient class hours. Not only sub plans for each session but well-organized annual schemes in advance seem to be required for the choral education of adolescents, especially theses who are lacking in concentration and motivation, by comparison with adult choir members.
Choral instruction may be divided into three steps: planning, instructing, and performing and reviewing. As the first step, repertoire that is most suited for the students as well as for the objectives of performance is selected, followed by assigning vocal parts and selecting conductor and accompanist. During instruction, understanding and the expression of music are accomplished by effective rehearsals on the basis of part practice. In this stage, adequate understanding of adolescent vocalization is required. In the last step, by performing on the stage, students are encouraged to build up a sense of fulfillment and self-confidence.
In this study, I next analyzed 166 choral pieces for adolescents published between 2004 and 2007. They were classified by the external factors such as composer, period, region, language, and genre, and by musical criteria like rhythm, tempo, key, vocal range, vocal parts, and forms of performance. The most frequent form of compositions were for unmixed voices in three parts with fast tempo and the major key. Most of them were modern songs in the Korean language accompanied by the piano. It was noted that modulations in key were frequent. Regarding the genre, the majority were foreign music with the lyrics translated into Korean, which were followed by sacred songs, popular music, and the arranged music from O. S. T. in dramas or movies, in order. Interestingly, the number of Korean original compositions is rapidly growing, especially as a genre of a cappella music with traditiona lrhythms and features. As for the tonal ranges, analysis showed that most of them are within two octaves from G to g', even though some pieces have a final note of a' or b' that would be difficult for adolescents. Though the choral works composed by young Koreans should be encouraged and accepted favorably, songs for fun without musical profundity or music with inappropriate tonal ranges for adolescents need to be avoided.
There is no doubt that choral singing in adolescence is an extremely precious experience not only for their musical fulfillment but for well-socialized personalities. Though this study contains far from definitive answers for choral education, it should be emphasized that the expansion of choral repertoires in diverse genres with appropriate vocal range for adolescents, and the active and systematic exchanges of those repertoires in the school choirs, will meet the students' desires by inspiring their artistic sensitivity.
，韩语论文题目，韩语毕业论文 |
