BÉLA BARTÓK AND BALKAN FOLK MUSIC

The following lesson is designed for secondary school students in a music history or

musicology class.

A lesson on this topic should begin with a discussion of what ‘folk’ music is in

musicology, and its significance. I open the presentation with an example of what we

may consider modern ‘folk’ music (Bob Dylan), then proceed to define folk music as

how it is used by historians and researchers to look into traditional musics of various

cultures. This is so the students understand what is meant by the term ‘folk’ when

discussing what Bartok and other researchers have done to further modern

understanding of traditional music idioms. We then move to exploring who Bartok was

with a brief biography (pertaining to his musicological and somewhat to his

compositional work). Conceptualizing his impact is aided by concrete examples. First is

a compilation of some traditional Romanian field recordings led by he and Kodaly--a

youtube video which would be shown to the class, followed by a brief questioning of

what things the students noticed or what stood out to them about the music. Then, to

put it in context of Bartok’s compositions, the class would listen to excerpts of a

recording of Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances. Then I would briefly question the class

about the similarities and melodies they noticed that were taken from the traditional

recordings. The next concept in the lesson is additive meter, or the “So-called Bulgarian

Rhythm”. A short background on what additive meter/rhythm is and where it originated,

and how Bartok helped our understanding of it. We look at a video (with sheet music

shown) of Bartok’s String Quartet No.3 part 2 which combines many different additive

and asymmetric meters continuously. Then we look at a performance of Mikrokosmos

no. 113, where students can clap along to the ⅞ (2-2-3) pulse. The class then discusses

briefly what musical elements they notice, especially what is unfamiliar to them.

To finish up the lesson, nationalism is discussed and students are asked if they

see nationalism in their own lives. An overview of the landscape surrounding Bartok

during the time of his compositions and after is given, including influences by the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and how Bartok’s perceived nationalism fit into

their narrative. Finally, the implications and definition of plagiarism is briefly discussed,

and I ask the class if there are benefits to recording and preserving traditional musics,

and if that is contrary or can be synchronous with the reinterpretation of traditional

rhythms and melodies.