Sabina Vidulin
1
, Jelena Martinoviæ Bogojeviæ
2
1
Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Music Academy in Pula
2
University of Montenegro, Music Academy, Cetinje
MUSIC TEACHING IN A REFORMED EDUCATION SYSTEM:
EXPERIENCE OF CROATIA AND MONTENEGRO
Abstract
Regardless of occurring separately, reforms of education in Croatia and Montenegro have
been gravitating towards the same goal – building a system that shall put the overall
development of students to the fore with focus on their competencies. This implied
directing the teaching process to goals and outcomes, not just to contents as it was done in
the previous practice. Strategy of the reform was based on an open type of teaching
programs which allow the teachers to choose the contents on their own, as well as methods
and means for achieving specific objectives. In this work, we will show similarities and
differences in the curriculum and other educational documents of the two countries, with
focus on the field of music. Joint positions on conceiving a new school are found in the
field of development of child’s overall identity, the concrete system, teaching process and
in connecting the school with local community. By conducting the comparative analysis,
we compared music teaching programs in the primary school, as well as the objective,
tasks and outcomes of the course program through the music field based on cycles. It is
obvious that, even though there are similarities in the music teaching programs in the
primary school, primarily in relation with contents presented to students, differences
between Croatian and Montenegrin music class are reflected in the focus of music
teaching related to covered areas and the number of classes envisaged for realization of
teaching contents.
Keywords: education system, teaching programs, reform, Croatia, Montenegro, music,
primary school
Izvleèek
Pouèevanje glasbe v reformiranem izobraevalnem sistemu: izkušnje iz Hrvaške in
Èrne gore
Èeprav so izobraevalne reforme na Hrvaškem in v Èrni gori potekale neodvisno, so bile
usmerjene k enakemu cilju – izgradnji sistema, ki ima v ospredju celostni razvoj uèencev
ter poudarja njihove kompetence. To je posledièno usmerilo uèni proces k ciljem in uènim
izidom in ne veè k vsebinam, kar je bilo znaèilno za predhodno prakso. Reformna
strategija je temeljila na odprtem tipu uènih programov, ki uèitelju omogoèajo samostojno
izbiro vsebin, metod in sredstev za doseganje konkretnih ciljev. V prispevku
predstavljamo podobnosti in razlike med dvema dravama v kurikulumu in drugih
dokumentih, osredinjenih na glasbeno podroèje. Skupna stališèa o koncipiranju nove šole
zasledimo na podroèjih razvoja celovite otrokove identitete, konkretnega sistema, uènega
procesa ter povezovanja šole z lokalno skupnostjo. S komparativno analizo smo primerjali
predmetne programe glasbenega pouka v osnovni šoli ter cilje, naloge in uène izide na
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Sabina Vidulin, Jelena Martinoviæ Bogojeviæ, MUSIC TEACHING IN A REFORMED EDUCATION...
glasbenem podroèju v posameznih ciklusih. Kljub razvidnim podobnostim programov
osnovnošolskega glasbenega pouka v uènih vsebinah, ki so posredovane uèencem,
obstrajajo tudi razlike med hrvaškim in èrnogorskim poukom glasbe glede zastopanosti
posameznih podroèij ter števila uènih ur, namenjenih realizaciji glasbenih vsebin.
Kljuène besede: izobraevalni sistem, uèni programi, reforma, Hrvaška, Èrna gora,
glasba, osnova šola
General Importance of Education System Reform and Basic Curriculum
Characteristics
The reform process which the two systems went through, both in Croatia and Montenegro,
belongs to the group of system reforms that signify simultaneous covering of all of the
system aspects and their change (Pastuoviæ, 2012). This kind of reforms usually results
from wider social movement determined by progress of technology, economic, cultural
and political changes. A part of state-building constitution was also the path towards Euro
Atlantic integration and aspirations that the young people prepare to live in multicultural
Europe and democratic society (Knjiga promjena, 2001, p.24). Harmonization of the
education system with international documents speaks in favor of that, i.e.: United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Declaration of the Rights of the Child,
Convention against Discrimination in Education, Resolution on the European Dimension
of Education (ibid.).
Special attention was paid to research of education system and innovative teaching
technologies resulting in many reforms in the last twenty five years in the Republic of
Croatia. Numerous proposals, documents, plans, programs, projects and strategies that
have been published since 1990 were aimed at changing the structure of education, as well
as improvement of performance and effectiveness of the school. The last education
document in this process which constitutes the foundation of building the curriculum
education system in Croatia has a title National Curriculum Framework for Preschool
Education and General Compulsory and Secondary Education.1 It highlights the focus on
students’ competencies and achievements which put the emphasis on “development of
innovation, creativity, problem solving, development of critical opinion, enterprise, IT
literacy, social and other competencies” (Nacionalni okvirni kurikulum za predškolski
odgoj i obrazovanje te opæe obvezno i srednjoškolsko obrazovanje, 2011, p. 16).
Through its concept of education, Croatian National Curriculum Framework is oriented to
the child and student. When we are taking about a curriculum focused on the student, it
primarily refers to methodic adaptation, i.e. selection of appropriate teaching forms,
methods and resources which are adapted to the needs of an individual, but also
stimulative for an overall development of the student. Sekuliæ-Majurec points out that
curriculum should be “focused on encouragement of the greatest development possible of
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GLASBENOPEDAGOŠKI ZBORNIK, 23. zvezek
1 Nacionalni okvirni kurikulum za predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje te opæe obvezno i srednjoškolsko
obrazovanje / National Curriculum Framework for Preschool Education and General Compulsory and
Secondary Education (2011) is a fundamental and developmental document which lays out basic
components of preschool, general compulsory and secondary education, including education for the
children with special educational needs.
student’s existing potential, and this implies encouragement of student’s self-realization,
development of awareness of oneself, own capabilities, interests and possibilities, as well
as creation of positive image of oneself“ (Sekuliæ-Majurec, 2007, p. 363)
The reformed educational system in Montenegro is based on similar principles derived
from social and economic patterns, from the awareness of personality development, also
from the experience of practical education works, and they are consisted of: principle of
scientific and professional soundness, principle of openness and flexibility of the
program, horizontal and vertical connectedness of the contents, respect towards cultural
and historical heritage, principle of applicability of the knowledge (formative role of the
school), principle of quality assurance, principle of equal rights and choice, principle of
democracy and pluralism, introduction of diversity of the educational communication
form, principle of continuity in the development of education programs and gradualness in
their implementation (Osnove za obnovu nastavnih planova i programa, 2002, pp.
22–24).
In the reform of the two systems, fundamental principles proclaimed by democratic
society and knowledge society were a starting point, so there are many parallels in their
basic characteristics. The joint position in conceiving a new school can be found in the
field of development of overall child’s identity, but also in the aspirations of the concrete
system, features of the teaching process and in establishment of a more significant relation
with local community. The intellectual, physical, aesthetic, social, moral and spiritual
development of the students is encouraged and harmonized with their capabilities and
affinities which makes the focus on students’ competencies visible; innovation, creativity,
critical opinion are stimulated, the problem solving and decision making capabilities are
developed; talented students and students with learning difficulties are tracked.
The system is open and flexible; the goals of education have been changed, as well as
contents, methods and the interdisciplinary approach and connecting of the courses. The
class is adapted to needs of the students: the tendency is for the students to learn actively
and independently; the sources that stimulate research, discovery and conclusion are
encouraged. Cooperation of the school and local community is getting stronger, and the
attention is focused on preservation of tangible and spiritual historical-cultural heritage
and on education of students in accordance with cultural and civilization values and
human rights.
Primary school in Croatia lasts eight years and is divided in several educational levels and
cycles. The first educational level is preschool education, the other is general compulsory
education of the primary school and the third level is secondary education. The first
educational level is divided into three cycles: the first one includes age of 6 months until
child’s first year, the second cycle starts with the first year until the third, and the third
cycle covers the period from the child’s third year until six year and a half. The following
level is the primary school general compulsory education which also consists of three
cycles. The first cycle includes the first four grades in school, the second cycles includes
the fifth and sixth grade and the third one refers to seventh and eighth grade of the primary
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school. Even though the third educational level is consisted of secondary education, it is
not looked at separately, but it is considered as continuation of the second level, thus being
a fourth cycle. This cycle covers the first and second grade of vocational and artistic
schools, as well as all four grades of grammar school education.
Unlike Croatia where a unique document (Nacionalni okvirni kurikulum za predškolski
odgoj i obrazovanje te opæe obvezno i srednjoškolsko obrazovanje, 2011) was created,
separate documents for all of the levels of education system were created in Montenegro.
Structure of the education system which is defined by special laws, is divided into:
preschool education (divided into two cycles: until third year which takes place in the
nursery and from three years to six years which takes place in kindergartens).2 Primary
school which lasts nine years (students from six to fifteen years)3 is divided into three
cycles of equal duration. General grammar school4 that lasts four years and vocational
schools,5 i.e.: two-year vocational school, three-year vocational school, four-year
vocational school, vocational high school and art school. High school education is not a
formal extension of the primary education when it comes to cycle division.
The division into educational areas in both curricula is represented by several related
courses connected into one thematic entity. These are: linguistic-communication,
mathematic, naturalist, technical and IT, social and humanistic, artistic, as well as physical
and medical area. Music has its place in the artistic area.6 Education goals are oriented
towards education of students in accordance with general cultural and civilization values,
advancement of their overall development based on characteristic capabilities and
affinities, enabling acquisition of fundamental and professional competencies,
preservation of tangible and spiritual historical-cultural heritage.
Curriculum and Music Teaching in Croatia
After introduction of the Croatian National Education Standard7 in primary schools and
prescription of the new Teaching Plan and Program (Nastavni plan i program, 2006), the
goal of the music teaching has been focused on development of music culture of the
students through establishment and adoption of value criteria for critical and aesthetic
evaluation of music. Music teaching got a new concept for this reason exactly. It is an open
model. Listening and music elaboration with an emphasis on art music has become
compulsory, whereas all the other activities: singing, playing, creativity and music literacy
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2 Zakon o predškolskom vaspitanju i obrazovanju / Law on Preschool Education (2013). Sl. list Crne Gore /
Official Journal of Montenegro. 39/13 from 07/08/2013
3 Zakon o osnovnom obrazovanju i vaspitanju / Law on Primary Education (2013). Sl. list Crne Gore /
Official Journal of Montenegro. 39/13 from 07/08/ 2013/
4 Zakon o gimnaziji / Law on Grammar School (2013). Sl. list Crne Gore / Official Journal of Montenegro.
39/13 from 07/08/2013/
5 Zakon o struènom obrazovanju / Law on Vocational Education (2013). Sl. list Crne Gore / Official
Journal of Montenegro. 39/13 from 07/08/2013
6 Beside Music Culture, the following areas fall in the art field: Visual Arts and Design, Film and Media
Culture and Art, Drama Culture and Art, as well as the Art of Movement and Dance.
7 It was preceded by the creation of the catalogue of knowledge and skills for primary school (Kurikularni
pristup promjenama u osnovnom školstvu, 2002). The project of creation of the catalogue topics became a
project of creation of Hrvatski nacionalni obrazovni standard - Croatian National Education Standard
(Vodiè kroz Hrvatski nacionalni obrazovni standard za osnovnu školu, 2006).
are optional. This means that one of these activities is chosen by the teacher in cooperation
with students and in accordance with school capabilities, so they are implemented with
more attention and concentration. Beside the selection of one activity, the openness of the
program enables the teachers to have the freedom of independent class creation and
selection of contents that they consider appropriate for listening, singing, playing.
During listening to music and musicology elaboration, students become familiar with
Croatian and world music heritage, they adopt fundamental concepts of general music
culture. This is a compulsory field, as we mentioned, and is considered to contribute to the
final goal – forming the general and music culture of students. Furthermore, through
music making and creativity, music skills of the students are trained and improved; their
knowledge scope is becoming larger, which consequently affects their understanding of
music art. The reform of the music teaching has been continued with elaboration and
establishment of the National Curriculum Framework. The Curriculum has only been
established in 2010 and, at least for music, it brought slight changes that are even partially
contrary to features and tendencies of contemporary music teaching.
The purpose of the art according to National Curriculum Framework (Nacionalni okvirni
kurikulum za predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje te opæe obvezno i srednjoškolsko
obrazovanje, 2011), where music culture and art fall in, is the following: making students
capable of understanding art and actively responding to arts with participation; learning
different art contents as well and understanding oneself and the world by the means of art
works and media; expressing emotions, experience, ideas and positions through art
activities and creativity. In this context, we highlight the importance of listening and
analysis of music works again, recognizing and comparing music components, expressing
ideas, thoughts and feelings, respecting tradition and culture and valuing art works.
In the primary school in Croatia (from first to eighth grade) one class a week is envisaged
for teaching music. The course program is conceived in such a way that, alongside
introductory thoughts, it brings the goal and tasks, remarks and elaboration that includes
fields and contents, by grades. Key terms and educational achievements are singled out.
With possibilities provided by elective classes and extracurricular music activities, the
field of music gets a higher number of classes, from two up to even six classes a week, and
a possibility of real achievement of goals and tasks. Among the extracurricular music
activities, the most frequent and numerous one is the activity of the singing choir, but the
activities of playing instruments, dance and folklore are also highly represented, as well as
music and stage projects.8 The elective classes and extracurricular activities are becoming
a part of the teacher’s class load.
Music Teaching in the Reformed Education System of Montenegro
Through the education reform process that was started in 2000, basic fields of knowledge
have been established and the special plans and programs for these fields were later made.
The field of Art and its subfields had to contain the interdisciplinary studying approach
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8 Cp. Vidulin-Orbaniæ, S. (2013), Glazbeno stvaralaštvo: teorijski i praktièni prinos izvannastavnim
glazbenim aktivnostima.
within their programs, so that art is not reduced to its own uniformity (Osnove za obnovu
nastavnih planova i programa, 2002). For music, it meant making the clear methodic and
didactic framework to avoid arbitrary interpretations in teaching practice, which was the
case in the previous system. Unlike Croatia where the open model was structured both as
mandatory and as something that can be chosen by the teacher according to students’
affinities, where the main emphasis is placed on listening to music, in Montenegrin
education system all fields are equally represented. It is envisaged, within knowledge
outcomes, that students learn how to perform a number of art and folklore songs during a
school year, to recognize a certain number of compositions, to become elementary literate
in music, which will be presented in the analysis of teaching plans and programs more
precisely. Beside the operational goals, the programs contain students’ activities, divided
into three fields – performance, listening, creativity, as well as concepts and contents and
correlation with other courses. Openness of the course programs in Montenegrin
education system implies the possibility for the teachers to create 15 to 20 % of the
program contents together with students and local community, in accordance with their
needs, which reflects the partial openness of the teaching programs. In the first cycle (from
first to fourth grade) music culture is represented in the teaching plan through one class a
week. In the second cycle (from fourth to seventh grade), it is represented by two classes,
except in the sixth grade where the number of classes returns to one class a week. In the
third cycle (from seventh to ninth grade) the students have a class a week until the ninth
grade when the total annual class load is reduced from 35 to 25 classes. The course
program is conceived in such a way that it contains: operational goals which are achieved
through activities (performance, creativity, listening) with aforementioned concepts and
proposed contents and with indicated correlation possibilities. At the end of each grade,
developmental achievements are given which are divided into: capabilities, skills and
information knowledge. The knowledge outcomes are specified as a certain sublimation
of developmental achievements, with didactic recommendations to teachers for the
implementation of activities as successfully as possible. Expected knowledge outcomes
are mentioned out of these categories as their sublimation at the end of each grade and at
the end of a cycle. A course program conceived in such a way provides an all
encompassing description of the course and its purpose which is connected with both
strictly-music and non-music objectives.
Focus on individual needs of students is also conducted through introduction of elective
courses in the primary school, which allows the student to acquire competencies and skills
in the field of interest and predispositions. Education in an open school means that through
individual cooperation with students and parents, the school has an insight into needs of
students and, in accordance with possibilities, offers the list of elective courses. Elective
courses are offered to students in the third cycle of school (seventh, eighth and ninth
grade). Students must choose as many elective courses in an individual grade which
provides a five-class load per week. The school is obliged to offer at least five elective
courses to students of one grade, out of which one must be a foreign language (Primjena
reformskih rješenja u osnovnim školama i gimnazijama u Crnoj Gori, 2009). There is no
music culture and art in the lists of elective courses offered by primary schools in
Montenegro. It is partially represented in the elective course Dance that is often taught by
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music teachers. The expanded part of the teaching plan activities for primary schools are
the free activities and facultative classes in the framework of which the choir, orchestra
and school band can be active. Free activities do not enter the teacher’s class load which
reduces the teacher’s work to personal enthusiasm that is decreasing among the educators
due to the general economic standard.
Music Teaching as Part of the Teaching Plan and Program and Art Field of the
Curriculum – Comparative Overview
Beside many parallels, music teaching in the compulsory primary education in the
Republic of Croatia and music culture teaching in the primary schools in Montenegro
contains numerous differences which will be presented through comparative analysis of
the courses programs. If we start with a global approach, we will notice that duration of
general primary school, as well as division into cycles, is different in the two systems. In
the tables shown below (1 and 2) one can see that primary school in Croatia lasts eight
years, whereas in Montenegro it lasts nine years. Number of the education years and
differences in dealing with cycles, with regard to child’s age, can also lead to differences
in the expected outcome analysis at the end of the cycle.
Table 1: Division of General Primary School Education by Duration and Cycle
Curricula EnrollmentAge
Primary
School
Duration
I Cycle by
Grades II Cycle III Cycle
Croatia 6/7 years 8 years I, II, III, IV V, VI VII, VIII
Montenegro 6 years 9 years I, II, III IV, V, VI VII, VIII, IX
Table 2: Division by Cycles and Students’ Years of Age
Curricula Years of Age I Cycle II Cycle III Cycle
Croatia 6/7 - 14/15 6/7- 9/10 10/11-11/12 12/13-14/15
Montenegro 6-15 6-9 9-12 12-15
Music Teaching Goal and Tasks
Croatia: Teaching Plan and Program (Nastavni plan i program, 2006, p. 66) lays out the
following music teaching goal: “Music teaching goal in the general elementary school
education is introducing the student into music culture, becoming familiar with basic
elements of the music language, development of music creativity, establishment and
adoption of value criteria (critical and aesthetic) evaluation of music”. Main tasks of the
music teaching in accordance with Teaching Plan and Program (2006, p. 67) are as
follows: “familiarize the students (by didactically led listening) with different music
works, introducing them to basic elements of music language and encouraging them to
independent music activity (singing, playing)”. During singing and playing, it is primarily
important to actively participate in the activities, whereas the music literacy task is only an
informative and basic knowledge on notation. When it comes to listening to music, the
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task is more complex having in mind that in this way specific art works are introduced,
music components are being understood and the music taste is developed.
Montenegro: In basic features of the course program for music culture in Montenegrin
curriculum, explanations on the positions, nature and purpose of the course program are
given: “Music course provides the possibility for the students to develop musicality,
acquire basic experience for selective and active music listening, participation in choirs
and other music activities (events), further education that encourages deeper interest in
music. Music is a man’s constant cultural need and as a course it has an important role in
development of creativity, directs and develops artistic abilities, skills and knowledge and
it affects the capability of thinking and contemporary (multimedia) communication.
Music opens the world of elevated cultural needs to students; it raises their awareness on
higher artistic values and develops their criticality and aesthetic sensibility” (Predmetni
program za muzièku kulturu / Course Program for Music Culture, 2013, p. 4). There is
also a remark in this part on mandatory connectedness among courses regarding
topics/themes that contribute to integrative approach to general education and connecting
the contents of individual courses. General goals of music teaching have both music and
non-music features, from development of desire and sense of different forms of
participation in music, through desire for belonging to a group, development of
communicativeness and being capable of working in a team, development of habit of
actively listening to music, feeling it, all the way to developing ability to create music,
interpreting it depending on individual affinities and possibilities based on years of age.
It is visible from the above mentioned that music is realized in a receptive and perceptive
way in both programs, by listening to music and active music making. Moreover, it is
visible that not only does music have artistic importance, but it has a cultural one as well.
The difference is that non-music connotations are not standing out in the Croatian program
and the focus on music as an autonomous art is pronounced.
Music Teaching Areas in the First Cycle
Croatia: Even though the first education cycle in Croatia includes the first four years of
going to school, the field of teaching music is treated differently. Namely, in the first three
grades teaching music is led by grade teacher, so there is discrepancy between the
Teaching Plan and Program and the Curriculum. In the first, second and third grade of
primary school, there are four areas of engaging in music: singing, playing, listening to
music, music creativity elements. Each area has its own key concepts, as well as
determined educational achievements. Until the end of the third grade, educational
achievement related to singing is: singing expressively and pronouncing the text clearly,
perceiving, performing and making a distinction between the songs by listening in
different tempo and dynamics, perceiving pitch and duration of tones. During playing, the
accent is placed on differentiating and performing the rhythm and meter of learning
rhymes and songs. Regarding listening to music, until the end of third grade students need
to perceive the components by listening, such as: composer, work, instrument/voice
(performing group), tempo, dynamics, atmosphere and music form. The following is listed
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as the elements of music creativity: improvisation of rhythm, melody, melodic-rhythmic
patterns, improvisation by movement and tone painting.
Montenegro: The first cycle includes the first three grades of primary school. Activities of
students are divided into: performing, creativity and listening. The order of these activities
is changed in the fourth grade when listening to music becomes a more intense activity. In
the part which refers to contents there are proposals that the textbook authors and teachers
themselves do not have to fully accept. Numerous examples of interdisciplinary
connectedness that can be best achieved within the grade teaching are given in correlation.
Developmental achievements at the end of the first cycle imply gradual development of
singing abilities, so the melodies range within a small scope in the first grade (trichord –
tetrachord) which gradually increases in each grade. At the end of first cycle, student
should: differentiate sounds, tones and silence, recognize nine classic music
compositions, know basic characteristics of the tone, recognize certain instruments by
timbre, distinguish between voice types (child’s, female, male), distinguish between
concepts loud-silent, fast-slow. It is expected that they know how to sing eight folklore
and art songs, to conceive rhythmic background to given melody and to apply three
didactic music dances. Pictorial descriptions are shown for the movement of the melody,
which the student needs to understand until the end of the first cycle (melody movement,
tone duration).9 In all nine grades, the students should learn one Albanian song per grade,
which contributes to development of respect towards other cultures in Montenegro.
It is visible in the aforementioned description that music areas are almost identical, as well
as the final outcomes. The differences can be found in the number of songs/music works
which are proposed and in the fact that pictorial descriptions, which are linked with
specific music components, are not encouraged in the Croatian program.
Music Teaching Areas in the Second Cycle
Croatia: Music teaching led by music teacher starts in the fourth grade. Even though this is
not the second cycle in accordance with National Curriculum Framework, in this case it
can be considered a part of the second cycle, for practical reasons. There are four teaching
fields that are implemented in the fourth grade: singing, listening and music elaboration,
performing music and music literacy, as well as music dances. Educational achievements
that are expected in the field of singing are focused on familiarizing with fifteen new
compositions, with emphasis on nice and expressive singing, clear pronunciation and
understanding of lyrics. In the entire vertical, the songs are learned only by ear and notes
are becoming familiar just as a phenomenon, so songs are not learned through the note
text. It is important to identify the melody of the songs, as well as meter, rhythm, tempo
and dynamics. When it comes to listening and music elaboration, one should know five to
ten new compositions, know the composer’s name and title of the composition, identify
the instrument, tempo, dynamics, form. It is significant to mention that concepts are taken
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9 The so-called Slovenian model is taken for the reform in Montenegro. Singing that follows the notation
through symbols is present in the Slovenian programs. Zavod za udbenike i nastavna sredstava / The
Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Aids has made an agreement with the publishing house Rokus, and as
a result of this cooperation the first textbooks emerged for the reformed system, with many joint contents.
out of the nature of the music work, at the level audio recognition. Performing music and
music language is oriented on elementary verbal recognition of the notation, i.e. of
solmization/alphabetic names, as well as performing simple rhythmic patterns. By singing
the scale, one learns the solmization and alphabet, but without the attempt of “using
solfeggio”. In the fifth and sixth grade, the field of music dance is replaced by free,
improvised rhythmization, music movement, dance and playing, whereas the other areas
remain the same. Songs to be sung are not listed. The topics in the fifth grade are as
follows: form (two-part song, sentence, period, three-part song, phrase, motive), string
instruments, and in the sixth grade: form (complex three-part song, theme with variations,
rondo), singing voices, instruments with key, plectrum instruments. Educational
achievements depend on specificities of the work itself and on what can a child of certain
age recognize by ear and independently conclude.
Montenegro: The second cycle encompasses the fourth, fifth and sixth grade. The grade
teacher can teach until the end of the fifth grade, but in the majority of schools the music
teaching is taken over by the course teacher. Elementary music literacy process begins in
the fourth grade. The functional method of M. Vasiljeviæ is used for fixing the pitch
through model songs. The program envisages the same activities: performance, listening
and creating. The students perform simple songs based on a note text, by measuring (bar
2/4, 3/4, 4/4). They are getting to know the formal music entities in the fifth grade (motive,
sentence, period) and the signs for dynamics and tempo. Their knowledge on music
folklore increases through recognition of music from different regions of Montenegro.
Students are becoming familiar with string (string and plectrum) and wind (wooden and
brass) instruments which they need to identify both visually and by listening.
Representation of music culture through two classes a week in the fourth and fifth grade
also expands the scope of developmental achievements and outcomes at the end of the
cycle. In the sixth grade the students are getting to know different music genres,
instruments with key and percussion instruments, then with the form of the solo song and
canon, singing a cappella, beat-box. Performing the artistic and folklore songs is
forecasted within the same scope as in the first cycle, with more expressive means,
according to student’s age. Through the experience of singing and listening (recognition
level) the music forms include: two-part and three-part song. From the theory of music
they extend their knowledge to understanding of triplet and syncope, signs and scales G
major, E minor, F major and D minor. Students can play the melodic instruments
metallophone and recorder. One of the non-music operational goals is also raising
awareness on interculturalism.
The first visible differences refer to treating the second cycle in Croatia and Montenegro,
depending on the child’s age and the fact that the Master of Arts in Music Education in
Croatia already begins teaching in the fourth grade, whereas in Montenegro, the course
teacher takes over music culture teaching in the fifth grade and even in the sixth grade.
Moreover, music literacy is almost neglected in Croatia: notes are being introduced and
rhythmic patterns as music language specificities, so measuring is not given the attention,
instead, the meter is eventually tracked with one hand. More attention to music literacy is
paid by teachers who chose exactly music literacy as the second field; however this is not
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an option in the most cases. In Montenegro, there is a more specific work regarding music
literacy through a defined method (M. Vasiljeviæ, Functional method), so that students can
firstly work on a certain tone through a song and then they learn the note by which it is
marked. In the model songs, the first syllable of a literary text corresponds to solmization
title of the tone. Even though it cannot be expected that students can fix the pitch of the
songs in the system of absolute solmization in the music classes (the question is whether it
can be done in the music school) it was considered that folklore songs are simple for
singing within this method and that students can link a specific song with a certain tone.
The classes are also different: only one class per week is carried out in Croatia, whereas in
Montenegro, two classes a week are held in the fourth and fifth grade. The fields and
activities are identical and the differences in the teaching contents are insignificant.
Music Teaching Areas in the Third Cycle
Croatia: The teaching fields in the seventh and eighth grade regarding music are: singing,
listening and music elaboration and as elected: playing synthesizer, creativity and
computer, MIDI equipment. Songs to be sung are not listed. In the seventh grade, the
topics are still forming of music work (sonata form), then wind instruments, percussion,
instrumental types (sonata, suite, concert, symphony, symphony song) and symphonic
orchestra. The music and stage types are included in the eighth grade: opera, operetta,
musical, ballet, vocal-instrumental types: oratorio and cantata, popular music, jazz,
electronic music, music and style periods. Folklore music as a teaching area is covered
from the fifth until the eighth grade with two regions per grade, by free order and based on
the principle of nativity: folklore music of Istria and Kvarner; folklore music of Dalmatian
Islands, Dubrovnik and Dalmatian Coast; folklore music of Banovina and Lika; folklore
music of Croatian Zagorje and Medjimurje; folklore music of Podravina and Posavina;
folklore music of Slavonia and Baranja. It is stated in the educational achievements that
sound and music traits of the folklore music of the listed counties should be introduced and
recognized.
Montenegro: Third cycle includes the seventh, eighth and ninth grade and is more focused
on musicology contents. Students go through historical development of music in a
chronologic manner, thus getting to know style eras and their characteristics. Singing is
present to a smaller extent but it implies an equal number of artistic and folklore songs in
the outcomes, as it was noted in the previous cycles.10 Music perception and
understanding is reflected in the ability to compare different eras and thereby expand the
capability of analytical cognition. They develop awareness on cultural identity by
familiarization with development of music culture and art in Montenegro, explore and
obtain data. In the seventh grade they perform measuring of the song in the 7/8 bar. In the
ninth grade the students are able to recognize different genres (pop, jazz, film music), as
well as expressive and formal characteristics of romanticism and movements from the
beginning of the twentieth century. At the end of the third cycle they are also introduced to
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10 Great attention is paid to folklore in teaching music in Montenegro which is introduced to children in the
first grade already. In the second cycle, this knowledge is extended to wider ethnomusicology context.
Unlike Croatia where the emphasis is put on artistis music.
the concept of music therapy and they gain a general knowledge on therapeutic traits of
music.
The basic difference is reflected in the fact that primary school education lasts nine years
in Montenegro, unlike Croatia where it still takes eight years so the contents are
distributed differently by the grades. However, the similarity is in the fact that the focus is
on musicology contents, and in this cycle it implies greater emphasis on the field of
listening to music and music elaboration. This is indicated also in the Montenegrin
program through order of introduction of areas where listening takes priority over
creativity which is already visible in the second cycle. The material which is envisaged for
the eighth grade in Croatia is forecasted for the ninth grade in Montenegro, and also the
novelty is that students in Montenegro become familiar with the concept of music therapy.
Conclusion
Even though there are similarities in the music teaching programs in the primary school,
primarily in relation to contents presented to students, the two basic differences between
Croatian and Montenegrin music teaching vision in the primary schools are: focus of
music teaching and the number of classes envisaged for implementation of teaching
contents. Exactly due to an allocated class of weekly classes in all of the grades, a concept
of open type has emerged in Croatia (even though calling it semi open is more precise
because one field is obligatory) with an intention to define and determine two music areas
as a focus of classes in order to achieve the final goal. The emphasis is put on the artistic
music.
Music literacy which has been one of the most frequent and leading teaching activities
since 2006 and was conducted primarily by singing (song interpretation by the notes)
declined in importance. The reason for this is the inability of students to obtain proper
music literacy in the music lesson, a step back from the solfeggio oriented teaching (there
are music schools for that) and the tendency to refer the students to cultural and artistic
achievements of human kind in order to acquire general culture and become active
participants in the music life of their surroundings. Music literacy is now implemented
only and if the teacher selects it as a second field and with the activity of playing by the
notes. On the contrary, all of the mentioned fields are equally represented in the
Montenegrin education system and the teacher is obliged to distribute them evenly in the
framework of the annual plan. Singing songs by the notation did not decline in importance
even though students rely more on memorizing the melodies by ear in practice. For this
reason, it is recommended that songs that are covered with this methodic approach are
simple in their melodic and rhythmic structure. The class load increases in the fourth and
fifth grade to two classes per week (it is still one class a week in Croatia), whereas the free
activities do not enter the teacher’s class load (in Croatia they do). Openness of the
program in Montenegro is partial and refers to free creation of specific number of classes,
as well as to choice of the music contents.
After almost a decade of introducing the open model in Croatia, we are witnesses of
different comprehension of music teaching and understanding and unsystematic
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implementation of the open model. Regardless of all the reforms, advice and proposals,
the students are still presented with uninteresting contents, with traditional work methods.
Schools are still not materially and technically equipped and the teachers’ efforts and
motivation concerning their job is disrupted in a general social apathy and indifference
towards arts and culture. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that students are not interested
and have weaker music skills.
When looking at practical application of the program in music teaching in Montenegro,
similar observations can be made. Grade teachers often use the music teaching classes in
the first cycle for finalizing the material from the math and mother tongue, treating music
as “a less important course”. In this case, the omissions are reflecting on the second cycle
where the grade teachers can teach until the fifth grade. In the course teaching, the
situation is different and generally there is a positive position towards the reforms. If we
take into consideration that free activities do not enter the teacher’s class load, there is an
additional enthusiasm through preparation of school events within which the important
part are music performances. The constant problem is the insufficiently equipped music
classrooms which makes the smooth realization of teaching difficult.
Analysis and observation that were pointed out in the work indicate that programs can be
improved and made more flexible so that the final outcomes are more realistically set up in
accordance with abilities of students and the nature of the course itself. Larger number of
music classes would enable better basis in the process of forming a student’s personality
and culture and revalorization of contents would lead to new music teaching possibilities.
With a clear and achievable goal and tasks, as well as unpretentious contents the students
could have a possibility of progress and achieving music potential. On the other hand,
having the free activities as a part of the class load would inspire more motivation of the
teacher who is the most important carrier of the program.
It is a fact that reform or a model is not dominant for the progress of music teaching, it is
the teacher who will influence the competencies of the students and will fight for a better
status of the course with their work and results. The attention should be paid to greater
engagement of teachers in planning of independent and research tasks which will enable
the students to examine music in different ways in and outside of the classroom, by
encouraging correlation principles and introducing interdisciplinary approach to a class
where it is realistically possible and achievable. However, the teacher needs support of the
School, the Town, the County and all the institutions that are working in the field of
education. Only through joint efforts it will be possible to create a positive environment
which will also reflect the positive education outcomes, with an aim of accomplishing
(artistic) competencies of the students.
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