A Conceptual Analysis of Otakar Ševčík’s Method : A Cognitive Approach to Violin Teaching and Learning
Among music educators and particularly violinists, Otakar Ševčík and his violin method are accepted as important parts of the music education heritage. Starting from the initial stages of teaching and learning the violin, and reaching the most advanced thematic constructs, Ševčík’s educational work is the only one which covers in its content the widest – if not the whole – breadth of violin education, and debates in the most fervent way many variable approaches on musical and technical topics. However, even if its educational value is constantly acknowledged, nowadays it is not widely used in music teaching, as it is characterised by many instrumentalists as boring, complex, or difficult to understand. The surprising fact to all this is that during the end of the nineteenth and till the mid-­‐twentieth century, more than a thousand registered students were effectively taught directly by Ševčík through this method, while many others supported, used and were devoted to it, reaching through its path of knowledge their highest performing or teaching potential. My research, seeking to define a deeper understanding of the Ševčík ‘phenomenon’, offers a conceptual analysis to his entire educational approach, based on correlated to his life and work explicit and implicit links of information. Using three different but equally important sets of data – the context of the method’s existence, the content of the method’s 26 Opuses, and the method’s aspects of teaching and learning – my thesis finally justifies the hypothesis that Ševčík’s work, indeed, comprises a complete teaching and learning method, which provides the opportunity for a solid and holistic study on violin performance. *[N.B.: A DVD was attached to this thesis at the time of its submission. Please refer to the author for further details: 'A Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) is attached to this thesis for further reference. Please consult it according to the core text. All material included in the DVD is either the author’s mental property, or – in case of other sources – [legally] released to the author by the legal authorities. Please email the author for more information (www.violinist.gr)']*
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