The Use of Folk Music in Kindergartens and Family Settings

Abstract

A relation to singing folk songs, playing folk instruments, and listening to folk music should be developed from a very early stage in a child's development. The objective of our research survey which included teachers and parents of preschool children was to establish how much time families and kindergarten groups dedicate to singing or listening to folk songs and to playing folk instruments and furthermore, what is the level of interest in folk music between preschool children, their parents, and their teachers. Based on our survey results, teachers should dedicate more time to the singing, playing, and listening to folk music, which should be systematically included in the teaching process, while parents should dedicate more time to playing and singing folk music within the family.

The Role of Songbooks in the Preservation of Children’s Folk Songs in Kindergarten

“…The most frequent activity is "singing of children's folk songs," and the least frequent, "playing of folk instruments". The results accord with findings from other studies (Denac, 2012;Geršak, 2015;Žnidaršič, 2016;Denac and Žnidaršič, 2018), which also outline the disproportion in activities when presenting Slovenian folk music. A plausible explanation for the preference for singing (children's) folk songs (regardless of the length of work experience) can be understood as reflecting that these songs are usually short, simple in lyrics, melody, and musical structure (Denac and Žnidaršič, 2018;Mihelač et al, 2021).…”

“…Although the emphasis is on the singing of children's folk songs in kindergarten, scant information about these songs is provided by preschool teachers to kindergarteners (Table 5), and similar findings emerged in studies by Žnidaršič (2016) and Denac and Žnidaršič (2018). Explanation mostly concerns how to sing children's folk songs and the authorship of these songs.…”

“…Recent studies outline that musical activities involving Slovenian folk music are not equally represented in kindergartens. The most common activity is the singing of (children's) folk songs; less common are listening to these songs, playing on folk instruments, or dancing (e.g., Denac, 2012;Geršak, 2015;Žnidaršič, 2016;Denac and Žnidaršič, 2018). Compared to children's songs from well-known Slovenian composers, (children's) folk songs are still less favoured in these activities (Oblak, 2017).…”

“…Compared to children's songs from well-known Slovenian composers, (children's) folk songs are still less favoured in these activities (Oblak, 2017). Furthermore, inadequate knowledge affects the selection of appropriate (children's) folk songs, meaning insufficient knowledge about (children's) folk songs, i.e., their origin, content, and versions varying in melody and lyrics (Žnidaršič, 2016;Denac and Žnidaršič, 2018). According to Žgavec (2004), children's folk songs should be integrated into kindergarten activities on a daily basis, since they affect not only the development of social competences (Zalar, 2015) but the children's individual development as well (Fu, 2010).…”

Exploring folk songs to educate for resilience

“…Specifically, CFSs present formal and musical characteristics that make them especially attractive to children and young people. If some of them have survived for centuries through oral transmission, it was because of their playful component and potential as an educational resource and cultural transmitter (Denac and Z ˇnidars ˇi c, 2018).…”