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THE PHENOMENON OF PLAY IN THE CONTEXT OF LIFELONG MUSIC EDUCATION
L. A. Timoshenko
The historically established sphere of preschool, school, secondary, higher and post-degree music education has inseparable links through all its stages. Each next stage involves expansion and deepening of knowledge, acquired on the previous stages. That is how the translational ascending process of education goes. As an example we can use the multistage system of Gnessin music educational institutions in Moscow: the children's music school, including the seven-year school, the secondary special school, the Music College and the Russian Academy of Music, on the basis of which a postgraduate education and refresher courses for music teachers from all over Russia are organized.
The process of lifelong music education is based on the integration of preschool and higher professional education, the informative essence of which is the development of the students’ music culture and fundamental knowledge and a practical application of them in music. This multi-aspect activity has many components, and I would like specifically to describe one of them: play.
The investigation of the phenomenon of play in pedagogy is topical for a number of reasons. Firstly, as music art is a creative activity, play and games create perfect conditions for "exercises” in the sphere of imagination, emotions and the generation of new knowledge. These zones of development are essential for every artistic work, which can be metaphorically called "play”. Immanuel Kant, founder of classical German philosophy, described this phenomenon in similar terms, focusing on its transcendent potential. Secondly, play can be considered a process of a musician’s growth in a gnoseological aspect. Using developmental games for juniors and business simulation games for senior students it is possible to inspire their interest in studies. Thirdly, play is used as a tool for the activation of psychic processes, as a tool of correction and adaptation to life in social and communicative aspects. Fourthly, observing the organization of play in studying, when taking part in games, students involuntarily get drawn into a creative process, develop their fantasy, and learn to invent role-play scenarios. The development of creativity in a future teacher can be very helpful in his\her practical work with children.
Games and play reveals its artistic potential in a system of music culture, except for in teacher reflection. The wide investigation of a link between play and artistic work was held in the 20th century by H-G. Gadamer, who stated that a piece of art, as well as a game was an event of a human
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and an object: "When we talk about playing a game in relation to the artistic experience, it does not involve the behavior and even the mental state of a creator... but the method of existence of the piece of art itself” [1, pp. 146]. This is the event that involves both - a person and an object. If an object in this context is a piece of music, then a student becomes involved in the process of the game by playing it, learning it, understanding the meaning of an artistic image and acquiring the means of musical expression. This process requires the game of imagination from a performer, the impersonation, the perception and other features of the game. Learning a piece of music, a performer as a mediating link tries to understand and unravel the encoded idea of a composer. The sounds of music reach the listener through the interpretation of the performer and then a play interaction takes place between the performer and the listener. In Gadamer’s opinion, "what a musician plays and a listener perceives are the images and an action in the way they were thought of by an author” [1, pp. 163]
Preschool and school teachers use various play techniques quite often, activating cognitive, communicative, creative skills of children by an available and effective method. The course of action in the game suggests the musical images, the literary lyrics, the nature of dance movements, and the rhythm. The music and didactic games for each age group are applied in a certain sequence with tasks constantly increasing in complexity. The use of "fairy tale” themes, folklore sources, and folk games helps the teacher to tackle many educational tasks.
When it comes to the learning of senior age groups, the students of a music college or a higher educational establishment, opportunities to effectively use games and play are insufficiently exploited in theory as well as in practice. Creative exercises, improvisation, active work, including gaming methods with a practical component can and should be present in the educational practices of secondary and higher educational establishments. To teach playing is not only to transmit a combination of knowledge, skills and abilities but also involves developing the ability of students to enter into play interaction, to organize games, to make up scenarios, and to develop the course of a game.
Games and play as an essential constituent of lifelong music education is a significant prerequisite for a complex approach in music pedagogy. The search for ways of implementing and the systematically using play methods is topical and needs studying.
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