Music as a reflection of war: Understanding today’s realities with students at art lessons

Abstract

The problem of connection between musical art and historical, cultural and political processes, which should be formed in the ideas of students, has been updated. The article contains a brief overview of works of Ukrainian and foreign academic music that touch on the dramatic events of the XX century and the current tragic Ukrainian realities by their meanings and subtexts. The article presents music for the left hand created for the pianist P. Wittgenstein (S. Bortkevych, M. Ravel), works of various genres (mainly symphonic and choral) by R. Vaughan-Williams, B. Bartok, B. Britten, A. Schoenberg, K. Penderetskyi, H. Kancheli, B. Liatoshynskyi, V. Sylvestrov. Moreover, some notable facts of the artists’ biographies explain their attitude to the war and the conception of the works. The review of works is not complete but should motivate to search. The task of determining the accents and orientations of the teacher’s artistic communication with the students regarding each work is solved. Controversal semantic issues that may arise during students’ familiarization with each specific work are highlighted in view of modern events in our history and the dramatic experience of Ukrainians. It is foreseen that despite the high artistic level of meaning and value of works even from the world’s musical treasury, they may cause certain objections. The author’s point of view is expressed that reference to such works is an essential factor in the formation of the students’ value sphere, the affirmation of their national identity, developing the need to protect one’s culture as a defence of the country. Regardless of chosen author and work for the conversation with students, during discussions, doing creative projects, etc., the attention is directed to achieving their understanding of the global nature of the problems of war at all times. In particular, the awareness of Ukrainian dramatic realities as problems of a global scale in modern history, significance Ukraine for the world in all senses – artistic, historical and political. The author offers some methodological advice for teachers how to use the specified musical works at art lessons in 8-9 grades and high level in institutions of general secondary education. However, it is assumed that teacher can use some tips at an earlier stage of learning.