Implementation of Hnat Khotkevych’s pedagogical ideas in the training of the contemporary student bandurist
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32405/2308-8885-2026-2(120)-26-30Keywords:
Hnat Khotkevych, bandura pedagogy, Kharkiv method of playing, bandura, art education, formation of performing mastery of a student bandurist, kobzar traditionAbstract
The article examines the pedagogical ideas of Hnat Khotkevych in the context of their implementation in contemporary education, particularly in the professional training of student bandurists. The relevance of the topic is determined by the need to reconsider national pedagogical models in Ukrainian art education and to return to historical systems that combine instrumental practice, cultural memory, organology, repertoire studies, and artistic interpretation.
It is emphasized that Khotkevych’s bandura pedagogy represents an integral cultural and educational system based on the Kharkiv method of playing, a specific type of bandura, ten-finger performance technique, distinctive notation principles, and careful attention to timbre, modality, articulation, and folklore sources. The article highlights the importance of distinguishing between the type of instrument, the method of playing, and the performance school as a basis for understanding Khotkevych’s pedagogical thinking.
Particular attention is devoted to Khotkevych’s methodological works, including The Bandura Playing Manual, The Bandura and Its Place among Contemporary Musical Instruments, The Bandura and Its Possibilities, as well as archival materials. It is shown that Khotkevych regarded the bandura not as a generalized folk instrument, but as a complex sound system with its own acoustic, timbral, modal, and intonational characteristics. Therefore, contemporary study of his legacy requires not only knowledge of his biography or repertoire, but also the ability to work with his notation system, terminology, and the interrelation between instrument construction, playing technique, and artistic result.
The article outlines the postwar reception of Khotkevych’s pedagogical ideas in both Ukrainian and diaspora contexts. It is noted that certain principles of the Kharkiv method of playing were reflected in the activities of V. Kabachok, P. Ivanov, A. Omelchenko, and I. Skliar, as well as in the work of representatives of the Ukrainian bandura tradition abroad.
It is concluded that the implementation of Khotkevych’s pedagogical ideas in contemporary art education should include source-based study of his works, organological analysis of the bandura, practical mastery of the Kharkiv method of playing, work with timbre and sound production, study of repertoire, and awareness of the connection between academic bandura education and the kobzar tradition. Khotkevych’s legacy is interpreted as a relevant methodological resource for the professional training of the contemporary student bandurist.
References
Bazhul, H. (1982). Pro kulturu i mystetstvo [On culture and art]. Bandura, 2(6), 9–14.
Broiako, N. (2023). Mystetskyi vplyv H. Khotkevycha na kobzarstvo ta bandurnytstvo: Zlam XIX–XX stolit [The artistic influence of H. Khotkevych on kobzarstvo and bandura art: The turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries]. Visnyk Kyivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu kultury i mystetstv. Seriia: Muzychne mystetstvo, 6(2), 166–176. https://doi.org/10.31866/2616-7581.6.2.2023.291087
Voit, V. V. (2026). Naukovi pidkhody ta pryntsypy formuvannia vykonavskoi maisternosti studenta-bandurysta v umovakh voiennoho chasu [Scientific approaches and principles of forming the performing mastery of a student-bandurist in wartime conditions]. Naukovi zapysky. Seriia: Pedahohichni nauky, 23, 121–129. https://doi.org/10.59694/ped_sciences.2026.23.121
Dutchak, V. (2022). Spetsyfika tvorchoho universalizmu bandurystiv ukrainskoi diaspory [Specificity of creative universalism of the Ukrainian diaspora bandurists]. Visnyk Kyivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu kultury i mystetstv. Seriia: Muzychne mystetstvo, 5(1), 56–68. https://doi.org/10.31866/2616-7581.5.1.2022.258148
Ivanov, P. (1956). Etiudy dlia bandury kharkivskoho typu [Studies for the Kharkiv-type bandura]. Kyiv: Derzhavne vydavnytstvo obrazotvorchoho mystetstva i muzychnoi literatury.
Kabachok, V., & Yutsevych, Ye. (1958). Shkola hry na banduri [School of bandura playing]. Kyiv: Derzhavne vydavnytstvo obrazotvorchoho mystetstva i muzychnoi literatury.
Mishalow, V. (2013). Kharkivska bandura: Kulturolohichno-mystetski aspekty genezy i rozvytku vykonavstva na ukrainskomu narodnomu instrumenti [The Kharkiv bandura: Cultural and artistic aspects of the genesis and development of performance on the Ukrainian folk instrument]. Kharkiv: Vydavets O. O. Savchuk.
Omelchenko, A. (1968). Poiednannia dvokh typiv bandur i yoho znachennia dlia rozvytku mystetstva bandurystiv [Combining two types of banduras and its significance for the development of bandurist art]. Ukrainske muzykoznavstvo, 3, 222–229.
Suprun, N. (1997). Hnat Khotkevych — muzykant [Hnat Khotkevych as a musician]. Rivne: Lista.
Suprun-Yaremko, N. (2024). Muzychno-pedahohichna diialnist Hnata Khotkevycha [The musical and pedagogical activity of Hnat Khotkevych]. Muzykoznavchi studii: Zbirnyk naukovykh prats, 189–196.
Khotkevych, H. (1914). Bandura ta ii mistse sered suchasnykh muzychnykh instrumentiv [The bandura and its place among modern musical instruments]. Ukrainske zhyttia, 5–6, 39–58.
Khotkevych, H. (2007). Bandura ta ii mozhlyvosti [The bandura and its possibilities]. Toronto; Sydney; Kharkiv: TO Ekskliuzyv.
Khotkevych, H. (2009). Bandura ta yii repertuar [The bandura and its repertoire]. Kharkiv: Fond natsionalno-kulturnykh initsiatyv imeni Hnata Khotkevycha.
Khotkevych, H. (2010). Bandura ta yii konstruktsiia [The bandura and its construction]. Kharkiv: Fond natsionalno-kulturnykh initsiatyv imeni Hnata Khotkevycha.
Khotkevych, H. (n.d.). Vidkrytyi lyst H. Khotkevycha dyrektoru “Derzhavnoi zrazkovoi kapely bandurystiv” t. Aronskomu [Open letter by H. Khotkevych to Comrade Aronskyi]. Manuscript. TsDIA Ukrainy, Lviv, f. 688, op. 1, od. zb. 271.
Khotkevych, H. (2004). Pidruchnyk hry na banduri: Ch. I–III ta Korotkyi kurs [Bandura playing manual: Parts I–III and a short course]. Kharkiv: Hlas.
Shtokalko, Z. (1992). Kobzarskyi pidruchnyk [Kobzar manual]. Edmonton; Kyiv: Vydavnytstvo Kanadskoho instytutu ukrainskykh studii.
Shtokalko, Z. (1981). Krytychni zavvahy do stanu suchasnoho kobzarstva [Critical remarks on the state of contemporary kobzar art]. Bandura, 1(3–4), 11–15.
Yurkiv-Yarotska, M. M., Ionova, T. O., & Komarovska, O. A. (2026). Suchasnyi vymir tvorchosti myttsiv ukrainskoi diaspory Avstralii: Do zmistu navchannia mystetstva shkoliariv [Contemporary dimension of the creative work of Ukrainian diaspora artists in Australia: toward the content of teaching art to school students]. Mystetstvo ta osvita, 1(119), 14–19. https://doi.org/10.32405/2308-8885-2026-1(119)-14-19
