The system formation of professional accordionist’s skills on the example of V. Vlasov «Album for children and youth»
Authors: Tyshchyk V. 
Published: January 2022

Viktor Vlasov is one of the brightest representatives of Ukrainian button accordion school, and his work is a special page in the musical culture of Ukraine and a significant component of the button accordion art for children. By his work V. Vlasov implements, new ideas and techniques of performing skills that rely on bright artistic images in the native children’s music, and also applies the means of composition techniques that appear in contemporary button accordion art and he pays attention to the latest unconventional methods of sound making. Due to this variety, V. Vlasov’s works have no only their main task – the education of children, but also it is a guideline for other composers. Music scholars, who study the work of Ukrainian composer-accordionist V. Vlasov, have the important task to give a proper assessment of work in general, and summarize the basic criteria of his approach to the formation of the system of young accordionist’s professional skills. Children’s music of button accordion of Ukrainian authors is a significant amount of works for young performers. Although the history of button accordion performance and pedagogy in comparison with other musical instruments is very short, it can be confirmed of the formation of certain schools of button accordion craftsmanship, including the author’s schools, one of which includes the original work of V. Vlasov. In Ukraine, the period of children’s music of button accordion development was synchronized with the formation of a professional button accordion music in general. Beginning from the second half of the twentieth century composers-accordionists made a huge contribution to the musical heritage, including for children. At the same time, information about this stage of musical culture is still poorly explored, the potential of the Ukrainian children’s music of button accordion is not sufficiently defined, the information about collections of plays for children and young people of Ukrainian composers is not generalized or systematized. Ukrainian music for children encompasses a multitude of individual composer styles (from V. Kosenko, M. Lysenko, I. Shamo to contemporary authors such as A. Gaidenko, V. Vlasov, P. Gubanov, O. Shmykov, B. Myronchuk and many others. V. Vlasov definitely can be considered composers with a brightly individually creative writing. All composer’s musical creativity is original and is closely connected with Ukrainian and world classics using authentic folklore, with an appeal to modern pop and jazz genres. He is the author of many works for button accordion which are as complicated, oriented on high level masters as works for beginners. V. Vlasov’s «Album for Children and Youth» has become an important achievement in the field of button accordion art. The cycle of V. Vlasov includes 45 different-colored music pieces; they are not connected with a plot-thematic line, because each music piece has its musical and artistic content. In addition, the music pieces are grouped into five notebooks in accordance with the general plan and a clear pedagogical task. In the first two notebooks of the album («Album of the first-graders», « At a visit to a fairy tale «), the world of a modern child is developed very clearly in the tradition of children’s album from such composers as R. Schumann and P. Chaikovsky to S. Prokofiev and B. Bartok. In the notebook «Folk tunes» which includes folk treats, V. Vlasov managed to cover folk leaks of different regions of Ukraine. The music pieces of the last notebook («Variety-jazz plays») are based on modern jazz language. Researchers more often pay attention to the listed notebooks. This article focuses on the central book of the album – «Chamber Plays». Three sonatas at the beginning of this notebook are perceived as a microcycle where the specificity of sonat thinking is consistently revealed and the artistic and technical tasks for the artist are gradually becoming more complex. The first music piece is a miniature «Sonatyna» of F-dur of early classical type, but even in the summary presentation the thematic contrast is already presented and the functional and logical side of the sonata form is implemented. The second «Sonatyna» D-dur meets the examples of Vienna classics – the thematic is based on the original contrast, there is already a motive comparison in a small development. The third «Sonatyna» C-dur is the most difficult task for performance; it relies on a complex of expressive means corresponding to the music of the 20th century – the toccata-basis of the themes, a complex harmonious language. Thus, three sonatas are a short «summary» of the genre for button accordionists at beginner level. The study of these sonatas is important for assimilating the most complex musical structure. The following music plieces are devoted to other genres, where the author focuses on the transformation of stylistic features. The romantic type of «Serenade» focused on J. Field’s nocturnes has such features as intricacy, expressiveness, sensuality and refinement and corresponds to the general lyrical character of the music piece. The greatest artistic complexity for button accordion performers in «Serenade» is precisely the embodiment of the character of a work that requires a certain level of student’s artistic development, an open emotionality. «Harpsichord» is a work that helps to restore the picture of the aristocratic salon of the times of Rococo, but at the same time it gives certain tasks for the young performer. V. Vlasov somewhat unusually interprets the distribution of textural functions in this musical piece: the part in the left hand imitates the sound of a harpsichord, creating a harmonic accompaniment, while the soloing art of the right hand reflects the timbre of flute or oboe; here the coordination of the hands of the button accordionist and the differentiation of the strokes are important. The last music piece of the book «Watercolour» seems more complicated in content, and more complex in texture development and performance tasks. In this musical creation of this genre of painting, the composer redefines the established notions about the art technique of watercolors and combines the traditions of musical Impressionism with the elements of the «plot», which is represented as a picture. The Viktor Vlasov work, one of the most prominent representatives of the Ukrainian Button accordion School, is a special page of the musical culture of Ukraine and an important component of children’s button accordion music. The most important achievement of the composer in the “Album for Children and Youth” is the systematic, consistent, professional justification of the whole set of musical and auditory ideas and professional skills that make this cycle can be a real school of button accordion craftsmanship.