Preparing Students for the Development of Musical Talent of the Child in the Process of Vocal and Choral Activity

Abstract: In the new socio-economic conditions of the development of our society, the problem of studying children’s giftedness has become one of the priority research areas. Talent in different areas manifests itself in certain age periods. According to many observations, the talent for museums and fine arts can manifest itself much earlier than the giftedness to other activities. Musical giftedness is one of the special types of giftedness. This can occur in children even in preschool age. Musical talent is characterized by the presence of musicality. We decided to study how vocal and choral activities will influence the development of a child’s musical talent.

Keywords: student; musical talent; child; vocal and choral work; musical talent development

Topicality. In the new socio-economic conditions of the development of our society, the problem of the development of children’s giftedness has become one of the priority areas of research. The importance of studying this problem is explained by the fact that the potential of gifted people is the basis for the progress of any society, increases the effectiveness of social reforms, and is a decisive factor in economic development.

Talent in various fields is manifested in certain periods. Thus, many studies prove that the ability for music and fine art can manifest itself much earlier than the ability for other sciences. Musical giftedness is one of its special types, the manifestation of which is observed even in preschool age. Musical talent is characterized by the presence of musicality. In turn, musicality is manifested in the individual’s particular perception of music. Psychologists such as B. Ananiev, G. Kostyuk, K. Platonov, S. Rubinstein dealt with this problem. The problem of musical talent of children was studied by B. Teplov, V. Leites, V. Druzhinin, N. Levitov. They characterized giftedness as a high level of development of musical abilities.

In particular, B. Teplov defines the problem of giftedness as a kind of combination of abilities, on which the ability to successfully engage in musical

for engaging in musical activity. Analyzing musical giftedness, B. Teplov primarily distinguishes two signs of musicality: the experience of music as an expression of some content (emotional response to music) and the subtle, differentiated perception and listening to music. “These two sides of musicality, – the psychologist notes, –have no meaning, taken on their own, one without the other” (Teplov, 2003, р. 19).

Thus, the search for the most effective approaches to the development of each student requires new teaching methods. The search should be based on an understanding of the general laws governing the improvement of musical abilities, the development of performing techniques and artistic thinking. Thus, all of the above and determined the topic of our study.

In the structure of musical talent, he includes musicality and other personal qualities of a musician. A famous psychologist interprets musicality as a set of such abilities that are necessary.

The purpose of the article. When writing this work, we set the following tasks:

Presenting main material. According to B. Teplov, musical talent is a peculiar combination of abilities, on which the success of musical activity depends (Teplov, 2003, р.18). The most actively developing abilities in different types of activities. In our opinion, the vocal-choral activity has the greatest potential in this aspect. It is known that the main task in vocal work with gifted children is to reveal a creatively gifted personality in a differentiated and individual learning environment. The beginning of the training in singing in the choir is characterized precisely by the fact that the level structure of abilities is determined by the psychological orientation to perfect activity. Thus, the process of formation and development of vocal skills does not pass spontaneously, it obeys a certain pattern of development of giftedness.

Nowadays, there are different points of view on the nature and specificity of the musical development of the child. Therefore, issues of development issues of development of musical talent are resolved each time depending on the overall position of the researcher. Individual variability of musical talent is associated with heredity, which determines the “rate of maturation”, the conditions of the musical environment and the intensity of musical learning. The interaction of these three factors connects the features of the musical development of gifted children, and the process of vocal and choral activities creates a good opportunity to observe the individual manifestations of the character of each student.

Musical examples presented to the subjects for the diagnosis of analytical and intonation hearing were taken from the educational programs of E. Kritskaya, G. Riginai, G. Sergeeva, T. Shmagin, and works that students learn in vocal and choral groups. The analysis of the main features of the intonation process is presented in the works of N. Alekseeva, M. Karasev, D. Kirnarskoyt, E. Nikulina, V. Yakubovska and others (Alekseeva, 2014, p. 75).

Based on the study and analysis of the literature in this work was developed and implemented an approach to the study of musical talent in the process of vocal and choral activities, based on the phenomenon as an integrated personal education, including musical, intellectual, creative and spiritual components. vocal and choral activities. In our study in determining the structure of musical talent, we relied on the cultural and psychological model of talent L. Larionova, who studied two aspects of musical talent – emotional and auditory and identified analytical and intonation hearing in the structure of musicality (Larionova, 2017, p. 93). In our opinion, musical talent includes both general abilities – intelligence, creativity and spirituality, and special – musicality.

The level of all structural components of musical talent in the participants of vocal and choral activities is more pronounced. Its development in this case is not spontaneous, but was discovered in a specially organized activity. Therefore, naturally, for the development of musical talent in secondary school you need to use a special program.

In foreign experimental music psychology the question of the essence of musicality is solved. It should be understood as a single, integral property of the individual. In the works of E. Shefi (Shefi, 1998, p. 34) rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, polyphonic, tonal and inner hearing are singled out as components of musicality. He emphasized the importance of intelligence, musical memory, emotions and imagination in musical activities. Its classification is based on different types of musical hearing, the corresponding components of musical language. L. Holmstrom (Holmstrom, 2015, p. 57) describes several types of musicality, different in internal structure and external manifestations. At the same time, she identifies three group factors of musicality: the first is associated with pitch perception, the second – with musical experience, which is manifested in the diagnosis of musical memory, the third – with general test achievements.

To identify the connection between the components of musical talent, B. Barker conducted a correlation analysis, which shows the work in vocal and choral activities, namely the connection of musicality with intelligence, creativity and spirituality. This analysis allows us to determine a clear structure of positive rank correlations with increasing age of choir members (Barker, 1973, p. 19).

A comparative analysis of musicality, intelligence, creativity and spirituality shows that all components of musical talent are more pronounced in children engaged in singing. “Vocal and choral activities can promote the development of analytical and intonation hearing in musically gifted children, which is confirmed by statistically significant differences, namely that children with a high level of intellectual development are much brighter and more intense than most of their non-engaged peers, who do not sing” (Gorbenko, 1999, p. 27).

Summarizing the unique performing and pedagogical experience of working on modern vocal music, S. Yakovenko writes that “vocal music, in contrast to instrumental, is always characterized by a subtle, demanding intertwining of verbal and nonverbal languages” (Yakovenko, 2010, p. 160). T. Tikhonova determines the quality of creative activity of a musician-performer by many factors, “the most important of which is musical hearing” (Tikhonova, 1987, p. 154).

In vocal and choral activity, musical hearing plays a leading and controlling role: based on the perception of a musical work, the content of the musical and auditory image of the performer, his plan and intentions, which construct the singing action, are formed. Auditory signals form the basis of human communication. A person’s ability to correctly perceive and reproduce complex auditory signals depends on professionalism. The vocal organ expresses only what has been perceived through hearing. Listen to an idea of the balance needed to compose and to develop the singer’s professional technique. In auditory representations there is an ideal sound in its exact form (pitch, force, timbre, word), which in the next moment must be reproduced (Kirnarska, 2006, p. 34).

Musical hearing is the ability to distinguish musical sounds, to perceive, experience and understand the content of musical works. Musical hearing has many manifestations and varieties. There is a high, timbre, dynamic, melodic, harmonic, inner, relative, absolute, polyphonic hearing. Musical sounds have pitch, volume, color, and duration. When a person focuses on certain features of sound and highlights certain aspects of sound, he is abstracted from other properties and qualities of sound. When we pay attention to the change of pitch, we talk about the manifestation of pitch hearing, when it refers to the volume, we call it dynamic hearing, when we distinguish the sound of the piano from the sound of the violin, or note the richness of timbre, we refer to timbre hearing.

According to L. Loginova, the education of hearing of a modern performer is based on a new understanding of the subject of solfeggio as an active auditory activity of a musician. The author notes that in the performing activity of a musician, musical hearing acts and reflects what is generated and controlled by force. Based on the etymology of the word “hearing”, we can distinguish three meanings: hearing as an organ of perception, as a message and as an action (Larionova, 2017, p. 35). These values are preserved in relation to musical hearing. As an organ of perception, musical hearing is characterized by special functions and modes of operation of the neurophysiological, psychological and motor systems of the human body. Known biological, biogenetic and sociogenetic concepts of musical talent speak of the hereditary nature of this ability, its development in ontogenesis, phylogeny. The semantic side of musical talent is largely determined by the structure of musical means. The content of auditory representations is formed selectively. High-pitched hearing, which is the central formation of musical talent, is represented by two types: relative and absolute. Absolute hearing is characterized by the fact that a person is able to recognize and reproduce the pitch of individual sounds. In the case of relative hearing, in order to determine any note, a person must have an idea of the state of the original sound. Absolute hearing can be passive or active. A person who has an active view of this rumor can play any given sound with his voice or on an instrument; has passive absolute hearing – just to call audible. Relative hearing is sometimes called pseudo-absolute hearing – a person remembers the lowest or highest sound of his voice or the sound of a tuning fork and, based on focusing on it, determines all other audible sounds. Absolute hearing ensures the purity of the intonation of the melody and facilitates the development of harmonious hearing. The main features of true absolute hearing are short reaction time, lack of internal melody and focus on the already known sound. Sound quality is undoubtedly part of musical hearing, but only as an element.

Thus, musical talent is manifested in various types of musical activities - instrumental, vocal, conducting. In this work we investigated vocal and choral activity as one of the types of musical activity. As for the specifics of vocal and choral activity, the point of view of D. Kirnarska in the consideration of musicality as a component of musical talent is closer. The scientist experimentally confirmed that intonation and analytical hearing are necessary components of musical talent as a set of psychological properties that determine high musical achievements: “musical hearing forms the psychological apparatus and the generation of musical expressions – musical talent” (Kirnarska, 2006, р. 69).

Defining musicality as “synthesis of auditory (analytical hearing) and emotional (intonation hearing) musical abilities”, the musicologist notes that intonation hearing is the “emotional side” of musicality, while analytical hearing is its “auditory side” (Beloborodova, 1978, p. 69).

Concretizing the consideration of special abilities within the narrowly specialized understanding of giftedness, we highlight the following special abilities that determine giftedness in the field of vocal performance:

• musical and productive ability (pure intonation, wide dynamic and vocal range).

Sense of musical rhythm is a complex ability that includes perception, understanding, performance, creation of the rhythmic side of musical images. Nurturing a sense of rhythm – not just learning musical success, but also the inclusion of man in the spatio-temporal relationship with the biological rhythms of nature. A sense of rhythm is a musical ability without which virtually no musical activity is possible, be it a song, playing an instrument, or perceiving music. A sense of musical rhythm can be developed. Playing under the metronome for a weak fate, conducting, tapping rhythmic patterns, of course, is an integral part of the development of a sense of rhythm. Musical memory is also important for musical talent. Musical memory is a complex process of transformation of sensory and perceptual material received by the senses. Currently actively used in all cognitive data and all manifested psyches: attention, preservation, dissemination, embodiment, thinking, appear in such complex conditions as temperature, characteristic and ability. The content of musical memory, as well as in other activities, is the accumulation, preservation and use of individual musical experience, which has a decisive influence on the formation of the musician’s personality and its continuous development. Composers V. Mozart, A. Glazunov, S. Rachmaninoff, conductor A. Toscanini and other musicians had a phenomenal memory.

Precise intonation or pure intonation - the correct transfer of the pitch of musical sounds is also a sign of talent. The purity of intonation in singing arises as a result of learning proper sound production, breathing and diction. It should be noted that the early manifestation of musicality with the proper development of the child contributes to his successful career as a musician.

The school can develop a system of activities, which is included in the main educational program of the school for the development of various types of musical talent. In the absence of opportunities for extracurricular activities, the educational institution in the framework of the relevant state (municipal) tasks, which are formed by the founder, may use the opportunities of educational institutions for additional education of children, cultural and sports organizations. The main form - the lesson - today still remains the leading in the daily communication of teacher and student. One of the main shortcomings of the traditional learning system is the overestimation of the role of teaching (and the teacher) and the underestimation at the same time of the role of meaningful learning (and the learner). In the new system of education, which meets the needs of the rapidly changing modern world, the emphasis is shifted towards the student, to the activation and stimulation of the processes of meaningful learning. In the educational process, the development of a gifted child should be considered as the development of his inner potential, ability to be an author, creator, active creator of his life.

From the point of view of teaching intellectually gifted students, of course, leading and basic are the methods of creative nature, problem, search, heuristic, research, design in combination with methods of independent, individual and group work. These methods have a high cognitive-motivating potential and correspond to the level of cognitive activity and interests of gifted students (Loginova, 2007, p. 35).

One of the methods of identifying gifted children in the classroom is also observation. When approaching a gifted child, it is impossible to do without observation of its individual manifestations. The advantage of this method is that it can occur in the wild when the observer can open a lot of subtleties. There is a natural experiment, when, for example, in class or in a group, the necessary environment for the study is organized, which is completely familiar to the child and when he may not know that it is specifically observed.

During communication in lessons and extracurricular activities, the teacher must constantly encourage the child to be creative in all directions. By its nature, children’s art is synthetic and often improvisational. It makes it possible to judge individual characteristics much more fully and to identify children’s abilities in a timely manner. For example, during singing or physical education, you can ask any child to come up with their own exercise and perform it for the whole class. Here each child can reveal the creative skill, both musical (performing a melody after listening to acapella), and theatrical (depicting images of heroes).

Literary source, suite and artistic (depicting on a sheet paper with the help of paints their color sensations that arose in the imagination, images of heroes).

The method of emotional influence is one of the fundamental methods of stimulating the development of talent and musical activity, which are used to create the emotional, creative atmosphere that is necessary for music lessons. This method is the teacher’s ability to express their attitude to a piece of music in figurative words, facial expressions, gestures. For example, his voice can be emotionally colored depending on the character, mood of the music. All expressive techniques the teacher uses to enhance the emotional impact of music and enrich the impressions of students (Tikhonova, 1987, p. 101).

In modern education, so little time is given to identifying and working with gifted children in any field. And we must not forget one important truth that there are no gifted children. Rather, teachers do not always have the time and observation to identify certain abilities in children and begin to develop them in the right direction. After all, a child cannot always show their abilities themselves, actively demonstrating them. The task of teachers is that the various activities used in the lessons, help the child to reveal their creative flair and then direct its attention to the area of activity in which the child’s abilities would be manifested with greater force.

Creatively approaching the development of various abilities in children, the teacher will be able to help any child to realize himself in the future as a bright, creatively gifted person. Musical talent of students of different age subgroups differs in a number of features: the highest level of musicality, intelligence, creativity, characteristic of young adolescence; students of older adolescence with relative stability of intelligence and creativity to a greater extent develops musicality. The study of musicality of children engaged in vocal and choral activities in empirical research shows that the level of performance in musically gifted students is higher and in the process of vocal and choral activity there is an age dynamic of analytical and intonation hearing in gifted children.

Alekseeva, N. (2014). Development of gifted children. Volgograd: Vchitel, p. 182.

Beloborodova, V. (1978). Development of musical perception. Moscow: Music, pp. 54-66.

Gorbenko, S. (1999). Children’s choral education in Ukraine: a textbook for school teachers. Different types, students and teachers of higher art educational institutions. Kyiv, p. 251.

Kirnarska, D. (2006). Theoretical foundations and methods of assessing musical talent. Moscow, p. 373.

Larionova, L. (2017). Cultural and psychological model of intellectual talent, p. 138.

Yakovenko S. (2010). Vocal educational repertoire in the context of modernized approaches. Kyiv. p. 220.

1 Associate Professor, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Head of the Department of Music and Fine Arts of the Izmail State Humanitarian University, Ukraine, Tel: + 38 (066) 5165623, Corresponding author: zhanet08ori@gmail.com.

2 Lecturer of the Department of Musical and Fine Arts of the Izmail State Humanitarian University, Ukraine, Tel: +38 (098) 9801315, E-mail: kafart17@gmail.com.