Folk music research / ethnomusicology - music education
by Daniela Mayrlechner
Numerous initiatives at the IVE are situated at the intersection between folk music research / ethnomusicology and music education. From the beginning, the scientific work at the institute was closely related to teaching within the framework of education in music-pedagogy (see charts on 50 years Department of Folk music research and ethnomusicology).
On the one hand, theoretical concepts of conveying ethnomusicological content in various teaching contexts and fields of application (tertiary education sector, compulsory school, music school as well as selective communication formats) are developed, which on the other hand are practically implemented (put into practice) and / or taught in courses. Special emphasis is placed on the applicability of the course content in the sphere of influence within the society, i.e. future music educators should be able to apply “folk music” in a complex sense at their place of work.
The exploration of the paths and processes, how skills, knowledge, “compositions”, but also practices are transmitted and taken over (adopted) in traditional music cultures – the “Überlieferung” (tradition) – starts early in the history of the IVE as well. Gerlinde Haid, professor at the IVE in the years 1994 to 2012, published about tradition in Austrian folk music as early as 1979 - further essays should follow. From the 1980s onwards Rudolf Pietsch successfully established practical music approaches that have continued to take effect and have been developed ever since - in this context, the work of Evelyn Fink, former employee at IVE, should also be mentioned. Daniela Mayrlechner has taken up the work in these areas, continued and brought the research findings back into the practical teaching of music (see, inter alia, “Üben und Musizieren” 2011).
Finally, in 2015, the publication Traditional Music. Passing down – negotiating – transmitting appeared as volume 10 of the institut’s series klanglese. The articles bundled in this publication are based on the contributions to the symposium Traditional Music: From Tradition to Transmission - Models and Methods, which was staged in November 2014 at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna by the Department of Folk music research and ethnomusicology and the UNESCO Working Group Vienna.
The following are examples of numerous research projects and individual initiatives in this research field: The Sparkling Science Project Music Without Borders, which was carried out in the period from 2015 to 2017 in cooperation with the Franz Schubert Department for Wind and Percussion Instruments in Music Education, and the Research projects bi-musicality and intercultural dialogue as well as bi- / multi-musicality - the latter as part of the initiative Changing mdw.
Else Schmidt is largely responsible at the IVE for research, considerations and concepts according the teaching of folk dance – as an example, the article "Traditional dance as a funding instrument in special and curative education" in the publication Folk Dance Between the Times. The Cultural History of Folk Dance in Austria and South Tyrol can be mentioned. In addition, numerous application-oriented projects can be stated: the engagement with bourgeois dance forms in Vienna as well as the involvement of students in the CD production Kontratanz in Vienna or the comparative consideration of European forms of Dance and Dance-traditions and their lived/practiced preservation/cultivation, which is characterized by participation in dance and music. An example of this is the longstanding cooperation between the IVE and the Vienna Kathreintanz of the Working Group Volkstanz Vienna.
>> 50 years Department of Folk music research and ethnomusicology
>> Traditional Music. Passing down – negotiating – transmitting
>> Traditional Music: From Tradition to Transmission - Models and Methods
>> bi-musicality and intercultural dialogue
>> Folk Dance Between the Times. The Cultural History of Folk Dance in Austria and South Tyrol