Choirs and Cultural Identity: A Children's Choir in Belgrade

Australian Society for Music Education (Victorian Chapter). PO Box 16, East Melbourne Victoria 8002; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.asme.edu.au/vic/pubs/

Y

8

Singing; Music Activities; Emotional Experience; Churches; Foreign Countries; Interdisciplinary Approach; History; Interviews; Administrator Attitudes; Siblings; Music; Self Concept; Cultural Influences; Children; Philosophy; Christianity

1036-6318

In 2013 Campbell and Wiggins edited "The Oxford handbook of children's musical cultures" which described different musical experiences and diverse child populations across the world. This paper contributes to this particular interdisciplinary genre by contextualising and describing a well-known children's choir in Serbia that practices and performs in the Belgrade Orthodox Cathedral (Saborna Crkva). This church occupies an important geographic, political and religious position in the culture of historical Belgrade. There has been a choir in this space operating continuously since 1853, The First Belgrade Singing Society, Prvo Beogradsko Pevacko Drustvo (PBPD), and in 1981 the children's choir (DHPBPD) was founded. In this paper we historically locate the church and choir and describe the present activities of the children's choir. This latter we do through an interview with the director and some illustrative observations of two sisters who are participants in the choir. The concluding discussion includes an exploration of musical culture, community and identity. We use the Vygotskian concept of "perezhivane" to link the emotional experience of the children with the adult culture and history to explain why participation in the children's choir has been such a significant part of cultural learning and identity formation.

As Provided

9

2016

EJ1115429