Choral conducting as a way of realizing the creative potential of a student choirmaster
Authors: Mykhailova Nataliia 
Published: December 2023

Statement of the problem. The modern information society using cutting-edge digital tools and resources, requires innovative approaches in education aimed at shaping the personality of students in all the diversity of their activities. In today’s globalized space, where innovation and creativity are key success factors, it is important to cultivate students’ skills in creative thinking and self-expression. The turbulent Ukrainian present became a challenge for the development and establishment of a new educational system oriented on the personal type of teaching. An urgent need to improve pedagogical technologies encourages the search for a new educational paradigm, allowing Ukraine to stay abreast of global innovative processes. The course “Choral Arrangement” is aimed at developing the creative potential of choirmaster students, which is undoubtedly a relevant task in the modern educational space. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The personal oriented approach in higher education is an actively researched topic, by domestic (Podmazin, 2006; Bekh, 2003) and foreign (Heikkila, Niemivirta, Nieminen, & Lonka, 2010) authors. A number of studies are devoted to pedagogical innovations (Dychkivska, 2004; Ihnatovich, 2019; Danilenko, 2006) and the psychological and pedagogical aspect of personal development (Moliako, 2003; Turynina, 2007; Mishchykha, 2010), the musical pedagogy (Smyrnova, 2021; Zhernovnykova, & Van Tsin I, 2017; Plotnytska, 2021) and the contemporary trends in choral conducting education too (Dolchuk, 2008; Smyrnova, 2008; Karpenko, 2021; Semenchuk, 2022). However, the questions of the impact of choral arrangement on the development of music creative skills of choirmaster students, as well as the search for innovative teaching methods and organizational forms that contribute to the formation of unique musical personalities, requires further analytical refinement. The purpose of the article is to determine the role of choral arrangement in developing the creative potential of choirmasters’ students, their musical thinking, performance and interpretive skills. The study is also focused on finding innovative approaches to teaching the “Choral Arrangement” discipline that contribute to more effective development of unique artistic individuals, which capable to self-improvement and professional growth as choral conductors. The interaction of personal, competence and contextual approaches to the professional training of a specialist, necessary in the process of developing his creative abilities, led to the involvement of such research methods as theoretical and comparative analysis of pedagogical conceptions. Also, “case study” method was considered as one of the way for creation of choral arrangement. Results and conclusion. The discipline "Choral arrangement" is an extremely important component of the formation of the artistic personality of the future choirmaster, as it develops his musical thinking and creative abilities, most actively contributes to the disclosure of his creative potential, helps him learn a whole series of practical skills necessary for a choirmaster – the leader and artistic director of a singing group, that is, it directly affects his demand and “competitiveness” in the profession of choral master. Arranging, which allows you to transform and enrich musical works, deepen or vary their sound characteristics and emotional expressiveness, provides an opportunity for their original interpretation, is a powerful tool for the rapid progress of a musician’s creative abilities. Modern educational conditions require new methods and forms of teaching in the field of choral pedagogy, including choral arrangement. Use of the “case study” method (teaching on the example of specific situations), various experiments, online communication and an arsenal of computer technologies (variation of the composition of choral voices, creation of new timbre sounds, improvisation, multi-style arrangements, collective creativity, electronic sound processing by computer programs, etc.) will contribute to the fullest disclosure of the creative potential of choirmaster students.