SCHOOL FOR CREATORS (SFC)

INTEGRATED MUSICIANSHIP

The courses developed within SFC include practices and exercises that help individuals to realize Integrated Musicianship. Integrated Musicianship includes four areas of developing skills in musical expression:   I. Improvisation, II. Arrangement, III. Composition,  IV. Performance.  The SFC system is based on understanding that the best and most fun way to learn is through creative projects. It has been observed that when human consciousness is engaged in the process of creating, the flow of learning comes naturally and effortlessly, as if the skills were forming by themselves, as if all necessary knowledge is being drawn into awareness from the ether and intuitively understood as an alive creative energy. Off course, young disciples need support and guidance of masters, but this support is not based on obligation or hierarchy, it is an inspiring process of and mutual learning and co-creating together, where the teachers and mentors are learning and creating music along with students. So every lesson becomes a joyful creative experience for both  students and  teachers.

MUSIC LANGUAGE IN APPLICATION TO MUSIC LEARNING

Working as a  piano teacher we were able to develop new approach to teaching, and to create courses based on understanding Music as a language. This includes principles of Integrated Musicianship, Creative learning where all aspects of music making are given attention in education. Thus, the courses SFC include: Piano Playground, Basic Improvisation and Improvisation, Integrated Musicianship, Theory and Practice of Music Language, Composition I and Composition II. In designing these courses deep parallels between music and verbal languages were made. Specifically effective were parallels made regarding Language acquisition in comparing processes of learning verbal languages and music in children. When learning first words, children are always surrounded by the examples of words pronounced by adults, therefore the first skill which is naturally activated is Listening. Repeating and using the patterns and elements of vocabulary – Speaking follows the Listening and absorption, and therefore is the second most important skill. Therefore, learning music has to allow for play, improvisation and experimentation while integrating new structures of language and learning new vocabulary. Of course, it is an interactive process, so community actively engaged in the activity is the key component of effective learning.
In the course of teaching and observing students’ learning process, many notes were taken and new creative methods of learning are getting ready to be publicized in a form of book and blog articles.

MUSIC COMPOSITION IS A FORM OF SELF EXPRESSION

In our teaching practice we encourage and teach students to compose and notate their music with the powerful and free notation software Musescore. The Spring Recital of 2022 was dedicated to creating original compositions, and therefore had a title “Music creation”. Over the semester students have developed their creative ideas, formed compositional structures and most of them were able notate and performa their own compositions publicly.

STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENTS