Serbian Traditional Folk Music Creation in Education

In this paper, the authors analyze folk music creation in education. The paper will highlight the goals and tasks of educational work in teaching music culture in elementary school. The authors emphasize the importance and benefits, not only of children’s musical activities but also of children’s musical creation inspired by our traditional musical heritage. Music has always had a strong impact on people. In their books, many music historians, such as Josip Andreis, Roxanda Pejović, and Sonja Marinković, describe music as part of everyday human life, which, with its simplicity of melody and diversity of rhythms, awakens various experiences and encourages movement and play. A child’s need to explore the world around them and creatively process elements of their experience is internally motivated. Children enjoy listening to music, whether it is artistic or folk, and if the selected traditional music is presented to them in the right way and in correlation with similar disciplines that make the presentation interesting and appealing to their age group, children will enjoy the class. Music education in elementary school involves several activities. These include singing songs (by ear and from sheet music), listening to music, playing, and children’s creativity. Outcomes are realized within these activities, and through content that the teacher independently selects based on suggested directions. Among the contents through which the goals of music are achieved, folk creation should be singled out. The significance of folk creation in music education is manifold, and through it, children learn about the cultural heritage of their own and other peoples, which contributes to the development of general culture, mutual understanding, respect, and appreciation. By nurturing folk creation, we educate young generations to preserve their cultural tradition, customs, and identity. Works that are fundamentally based on folk music are easier to adopt than works of art music because of their simplicity, thus contributing to the faster achievement of set tasks.