DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.3.33342

Abstract: The research subject is scientific and educational work of the Jewish folk music society established in St.Petersburg in 1908. Using the example of this Society, the author considers the realized ideas of public music education which became popular in Russia in the early 20th century. Special attention is given to the historic role of the folklore component in the music education of urban dwellers. In this context, the author considers the activities of the Society connected with ethnographic research of the pieces of Jewish folk music, their processing and usage in educational work. The author’s special contribution is the consideration of organization of the educational process in the Society. The author studies the activities of one-year music courses training Jewish folk music performers, and the well-known pedagogues: I.S. Tomars, I.Yu. Akhron, M.E. Bukinik. Besides, the information about music albums, issued by the Society, and Jewish folk music concerts, organized by it, which contained not only music performances, but also music lectures, is of great scientific and historical value.    

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2023.6.69395

EDN: DNKAIP

Abstract: The article is devoted to the 55-year activity of the Department of Folk Singing and Ethnomusicology of the Saratov State Conservatory named after L. V. Sobinov. The focus is on one of the directions in the scientific and creative priorities of the department – the study and preservation of the traditional song heritage in the culture of the Cossacks. The author gives an excursion into the history of the study of musical folklore and the creation of a new specialty "head of a folk choir" at an academic university. The article highlights the role of prominent figures-folklorists associated with the study of the Cossack song tradition and the formation of the science of ethnomusicology at the Saratov State Conservatory – A.M. Listopadov, L.L. Christiansen, A.S. Yareshko. The article summarizes some results of the research, publishing, concert, creative and educational work of teachers and students of the Department of folklore research of the Cossack regions of Russia. The author also refers to the archive of audio recordings and theses with song notations in order to identify the earliest recordings of folklore expeditions to the Cossack regions of the Saratov Volga region, analyzing the musical, poetic and performing style of song folklore. When writing this article, the following art criticism methods were used – comparative historical (comparative) and musical-analytical research methods. Despite the fact that the Cossack song tradition has not been revealed in the territory of the modern Saratov Volga region in the form of a formed musical and ethnographic phenomenon, there are persistent stable indigenous signs characteristic of the Cossack song culture in local manifestations: both a set of song genres and characteristic musical-poetic and vocal-performing features of the Don Cossacks singing style: specific features of folk speech, diphthongs, word breaks, "entrances"-glissandings from below to the main sound, a special phonetic structure of vocal speech. Similar genre, musical style and performance features of the song folklore of the Cossack tradition in the recordings of the 70s and 80s of the twentieth century are found locally as residual phenomena. Later archival records in this region demonstrate the all-Russian late urban tradition. There are many reasons for this: both the influence of mass pop culture and the result of the lack of social ties between generations of different ages, continuity within the family, within singing groups and the "blurring" of the indigenous population by immigrants from different regions.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2019.5.30906

Abstract: A Leningrad composer, music historian, conservatory professor Feodosii Antonovich Rubtsov (1904 - 1986) worked with the Union of composers for more than 50 years. Not only did he edit compositions and prepare musical and piano scores for publication, he also headed the department of music folklore. There he studied, gathered and used the genuine pieces of folk music culture. Rubtsov gave special attention to attracting young musicians - composers and music historians, students of Leningrad conservatory - to working with folklore sources, in order to use them in compositions and to study. The author of the article analyzes the documents kept in the Archive of Saint Petersburg Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov and the Central State Archive of Literature and Arts of Saint Petersburg to unveil this poorly studied part of Rubtsov’s work. The author introduces into scientific discourse the transcripts of the records of meetings and reports of the music folklore department of the Union of composers proving that the department (and the folk music panel) was solving urgent tasks of creating a public fund of expedition recordings and music folklore library, organising expeditions and interaction between folklore specialists of various scientific and educational institutions, preparing publications about music folklore, etc.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2023.1.39753

EDN: JOVHJN

Abstract: This article aims to highlight the significance of song folklore recordings when documenting the scientific heritage of the first scientists and researchers of Tuvan musical folklore—A. N. Aksenov and E. V. Gippius—during the period 1927 to 1965. The methodological basis consists of the principles of historical continuity, objectivity, a holistic approach to the analysis of the history of the development of traditional Tuvan vocal music and the prospects for its development. The study of folk music is inextricably linked with the development of professional art. Currently, the works of visiting Soviet composers, melodically associated with Tuvan folklore, are practically not performed in the repertoire of concert programs of creative collectives of the city of Kyzyl. One of the main obstacles to their further application is the absence of these works in the curricula in music educational institutions. The issues of the prospects for the use of preserved sources in the digital archive of the Academy "Xөөmei" are analyzed. The question is raised about the need to create a single institutional repository of works and materials on the work of Russian specialists, musicologists, and scientists who studied the musical culture of Tuvinians in the Soviet period. Modern Tuvan musical folklore was largely based on the results of Aksenov's research, whose activities served as the main reference point for the study of Tuvan folk music and contributed to the flourishing of Tuvan musical art in Tuva.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.6.37000

Abstract: The article is devoted to the scientific heritage of the founder of the national ethnointrumology Alexander Sergeyevich Famintsyn. The purpose of the study is to analyze the intellectual environment in which Famintsyn was formed as a scientist and reflect the ideas, methods and achievements of the humanities of the XIX century in his works. The purpose of the proposed article is to consider the main works of the scientist "Deities of the ancient Slavs" and "Buffoons in Russia" in the context of scientific ideas of his time and as the basis of his later instrumental works. The relevance lies in the need to study the period of the beginning of the formation of national ethnoinstrumentology, its methodological foundations, which were laid in the works of Famintsyn. The article analyzes the features of A.S.Famintsyn's scientific method, which consists in the use of a comparative method formed in religious studies and literary studies, the presence of hermeneutical reading of sources. Methodology: the author applied source-based, comparative-historical, system-ethnophonic methods to the study of the topic. The prerequisites for the formation of a scientific picture of the scientist's world (gymnasium years), the influence on the concept of Famintsyn of the national school of literary studies (A. N. Veselovsky, I. I. Sreznevsky), the German comparative mythological school (M. Muller) are considered. The author comes to the conclusion about the fundamental novelty of the approach, which was present in the musicological (instrumental) works of A. S. Famintsyn – both by the choice of the object of research (song and instrumental layers of traditional culture), and by the methodology formed within the framework of the comparative method of linguistics and religious studies. The scientific novelty lies in the subject itself - the scientific heritage of A.S.Famintsyn, who has not been the object of a separate study until now. The author comes to the conclusion that the intellectual environment in which Famintsyn-scientist was formed had a direct impact on the specifics of his instrumental works, their methodology, orientation, and source base. An important role in this belonged to the related humanities - philology, history, religious studies, ethnography.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2017.4.25419

Abstract: Publications on musical folklore of the Turkic ethnic groups in the contact zone of the Astrakhan region (Tatars, Nogay Karagashs, Turkmen, Kazakhs) available at the moment are inconsiderable in number. The musical folklore of the Turkic groups of the Lower Volga region is stratified on the basis of expedition materials, historical, bibliographic sources by means of identification of dialectal, supradialectal and region-wide layers of traditions, as well as of active common Turkic regional layer of music of oral tradition. Preserving the identity of culture of the Turkic ethnic groups, the article considers musical genre parallels and exchanges that lead to the enrichment of cultural heritage of these traditions and identification of the polyethnic cultural space of the Lower Volga region. Live processes in the oral music tradition are continuing at this time, which proves the relevance and prospects of the subject matter of the article. Exploration of these folklore traditions in a comparative aspect gives grounds for more accurate interpretations of modern issues related to identification and self-identification of the Turkic ethnic groups of the Astrakhan region. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2017.2.25040

Abstract: In her article Ivanova analyzes one of the singing genre typical for Russian settlements of the Volga Delta of the Astrakhan Region, the round-the-clock song. The author analyzes specific features of the lyrical plot in the round-the-clock songs as the system of events and actions defining the dramaturgy of the round-the-clock action. Ivanova underlines that in folklore the plot reflects the collective conciousness that rules certain processes in life. As an example, the researcher analyzes materials recorded during her field researches in Volodarsky, Kamyzyasky and Limansky districts of the Astrakhan Region. The author of the article makes an attempt to carry out an integral analysis of this phenomenon based on the analysis of field research materials. These materials are analyzed for the first time in the academic literature which causes the novelty of the research. As a conclusion, the author defines the main genre features of the round-the-clock song in general and the round-the-clock songs with lyrical plots. These feature sinclude refrains, solo parts, step or dance movements when the song is being performed, and use of such songs in calendar rituals. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.4.36351

Abstract: The authors consider and analyze the peculiarities of means of dance and plastic expression: pantomime, gestures, choreographic lexics, choreographic pattern, rhythmics, remarks and exclamations. The idea of a combination of a choreographic image and music of Russian and Chinese dances, declared by the authors, is a multi aspect complicated issue which is of a significant scientific interest. The purpose of the research is to reveal the contents of a folk dance stage adaptation which is conveyed with the help of improved means of expression and is an effective tool for the expression of national peculiarities of Russian and Chinese choreography. The authors study the folk dance stage adaptation as a key means of expression of folk music in Russia and China. The scientific novelty of the research consists in a comprehensive analysis and substantiation of the need for preservation of folk dance traditions in modern China as an important component of a traditional training of a future choreography teacher. The authors prove the presence of definitive features of local invariants of Russian folk dances and dance canon and its differences from the canon of folk dances of other regions.  The research actualizes the problem of music training of future choreography teachers in the pedagogical theory and artistic education practice.  The consideration of this topic is determined by the solution of an urgent problem of preservation of a unique cultural phenomenon of a nation in the aspect of continuous assimilation of culture both among regions and in interstate realms (border areas of countries with unique cultural codes).  

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2017.1.24974

Abstract: The object of the present reserach is the genre of the round-the-clock song popular in the territory of Russian settlements of the Volga delta in the Astrakhan Region. In her research Ivanova anlayzes a particular content constant of such songs which is a household plot that was discovered in the greater part of songs recorded during the field research. The author pays special attention to the balance between text and music in traditional round-the-clock songs as an essential element of Russian action folklore. As a rule, household plots contain a story told through singing. It is a story about uneasy life of plain people or an individual. The research is based on songs recorded in the Kamyzyaksy and Limansky districts of the Astrakhan Region. The author of the article applies the integral approach to studying the round-the-clock song when it is being studied from different methodological bases. However, the main method used by the author in her research is the analysis of music-and-song content. The novelty and rationale of the research are caused by the fact that the author presents the field research material dencoded by the author of the article on her own and introduced by some folklore bands. Noteworthy that all songs studied by the author have the same typical round-the-clock genre features. The main features are refrain, circled solo tune, step movement during performance, and functional attribution of each song to a particular ritual, calendar or wedding rite. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.2.32489

Abstract: The article studies the methods (instructions, guidelines, teachings, questionnaires, and other similar documents) of collecting folk music in the context of formation and development of Russian ethno-musicology. The author focuses on the examination of sources of a wide chronological range, and the early stage of science - from the first third of the 19th century till the turn of the 20th century. Documents are considered as specific guidelines containing purposes, tasks and the basic principles of folklore recording. The author is the first to study the methods of collecting folklore within historiographic approach with the use of the methods of comparative-historical and typological analysis. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the introduction of new documentary sources; in the detection of historic dynamics of the approaches to collecting music folklore in Russian tradition; in the generalization of the results of scientific and instructional guidelines in the field research practice including ethno-notation.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2017.3.25080

Abstract: The article considers the main components of musical folklore culture currently existing in the territory of the Chelyabinsk region. The author offers fairly convincing evidence of actual existence of this complex, contradictory, multielement phenomenon, the presence and functional significance of which often has been belittled by modern researchers. The author briefly describes various approaches to the concept of "regional culture" and gives his own interpretation. In addition, the author offers the definitions of folklore culture and musical culture. The article justifies the concept of "modern regional folklore musical culture" on the basis of a generalized understanding of these phenomena. Proceeding from this, the author characterizes the actual existence of traditional musical folklore in the territory of the Chelyabinsk region, as well as its ethnic varieties such as, for example, event-related and unrelated genres; the existence of late folklore forms, represented primarily by mining and metallurgical folklore (folklore of workers), and features of musical folklorism in the work of amateur and professional composers. Thus, a diverse palette of modern folklore musical culture of the region is shown in the present article. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2022.1.37057

Abstract: The subject of the study was instrumental music of the Chuvash and wider – instrumental gusel tradition of the Volga region. The object of the research is the work on the music of the peoples of the Volga region by the scientist-ethnographer of the XIX century V.A.Moshkov "Melodies of the Volga-Kamya" (1894), the first serious study and musical-theoretical monograph on the traditional music of the peoples of the Volga region. Applying the method of performing approbation, the author for the first time gives instrumental comments on the materials, explores the notation and the structure of the gusli, as a result of which the important role of the positional thinking of the musician is revealed - an aspect that regulates the key parameters of the performing process and plays an essential role in the instrumental music of the peoples of the Volga region.    The scientific novelty of the article lies in the instrumental analysis, applied for the first time to the notes of V.A. Moshkov, which had not previously been subjected to the performing-approbation method of research and affecting the most important elements of music - the features of instrument tuning and notation of the playing. The study of the problem of matching the structure of the instrument to the recorded playing is one of the most pressing questions of the researcher when trying to reproduce notations, the further alignment of the entire performing body of notation - fingering, agogics, textural accompaniment, strokes and ultimately the structure of the playing depends on it. Having examined Moshkov's materials, the author of the article discovers identical elements of performing culture in the Mari tradition, geographically and historically existing in the neighborhood of the Chuvash ethnos, which confirms the general opinion of researchers about the Volga-Kamya region as a multiethnic space of "mosaic" cultural elements, a unique combination of which constitutes the identity of each tradition.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2023.2.40563

EDN: GEVMQJ

Abstract: The subject of the study is the historiography of the study of Ossetian song folklore. The object of the study is mytho-religious songs. The purpose of the article is to systematize information sources reflecting the history of the development of research interest in the song folklore of Ossetians, paying special attention to mytho-religious songs. With the help of source research methods, handwritten collections, music collections, notes of individual samples in music publications, descriptions of audio recordings, research works were identified. This article discusses issues related to the activities of various collectors of Ossetian musical folklore. The author traces the stages of the formation of scientific thought, and the development of collecting activities. The most significant works are highlighted, including samples of mytho-religious songs of Ossetians. The main conclusions of the study relate to observations on the activities deployed in the 1920s - 1930s and related to various collectors. The analyzed data indicate an undoubted interest in the Ossetian song tradition. Thanks to folklore and ethnographic expeditions of the 1920s, an impressive set of materials of Ossetian song folklore was collected, but it is worth noting the careless attitude of collectors to the poetic text. Quite often it is presented in a distorted version, in the volume of one stanza, and sometimes it is completely absent. The breakthrough in collecting detail was the appearance of the phonograph. Phonographic recordings made in the 1930s. they still make up the main body of materials on the folk musical culture of Ossetians. A special contribution of the author to the study of the topic is the systematization of information sources on mytho-religious songs, which determines the scientific novelty of this research work.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.3.33253

Abstract: The subject of research is special techniques of variation of chants and lyrics of ritual songs of heptasyllabic and enneasyllabic accentual verses in local traditions of the Upper Poluzhye and Pooredezhye (based on the published and archive materials of the 1970s - 80s). These territories have common historical and cultural development, which resulted in the formation of similar musical and ethnographic traditions. This similarity of traditions is manifested in wedding ritualism, similarity of prothalamia, sustainability of texts and images, and the system of chants-formulae. However, among the wedding songs, the author has found non-typical chants in which they were being transformed. The research is based on the full notation of sound recordings and the comparative-analytical method which help to identify and describe these special techniques of song variations. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the individual approach to the recording of folk songs, which gives attention to the non-typical songs, and considers them in the context of traditional musical texts. The detected transformations of chants and lyrics in wedding songs help to arrive to the conclusion about special and close interaction between chants-formulae, the transfusion of their key elements, and the implementation of the key idea of a wedding song (the conjunction of families of the fiance and the fiancee) at the level of the musical-ritual language, and to raise the question about the possibility of using such techniques in other traditions and genres.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2022.4.38875

EDN: BTBPCZ

Abstract: The article characterizes the musical tradition of Russian singers-wanderers, recorded by collectors in the north-western, northern and central provinces of Russia. For the first time, a comparative study is being carried out of the variants of memorial and zazdravny chants performed by the crossing kaliks and beggars. The study summarizes various sources – auditory recordings of the XIX century, publications of the XX century, unpublished folklore materials. The author draws attention to the little-known recordings of memorial and health chants recorded in the Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Tver, Pskov regions. The objectives of the article are to conduct a comparative study of the tunes of the "poor brethren", to identify their typological properties and intonational origins. The author considers the health and memorial chants as a special phenomenon of Russian folk music culture. The core of this tradition was a chant, which served as a musical formula, to which the calics of the transition sang various texts. On the basis of the facts given in the article, it can be concluded that the main version of the tune of the kalik of the transients is characterized by a one-verse composition and a 10-time basis of small-scale construction. In Russian folklore, the existence of this musical-structural type is limited only to the health and memorial songs of Kalik, spiritual poems and the ballad "Prince Mikhailo", and is not found in other genre spheres. However, the close intonation, rhythmic, compositional relationship of the tune with a wide range of folklore genres indicates that it was formed on the basis of compositional and melodic techniques developed in the practice of peasant song culture. The intonational affinity of the chant with church hymns, especially with the forms of liturgical reading, is an indicator of the closeness of the singing culture of the Kalik of the transients and the church musical tradition as a whole, and also reveals those properties that can be attributed to the category of universals of the Old Russian musical language based on speech intonations.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2022.2.37700

Abstract: The article for the first time carries out a comparative study of variants of the Russian folk ballad "Prince Mikhailo" about the mother-in-law-destroyer. The study summarizes various sources of folk tunes – auditory recordings of the XIX century, publications from folklore archives of collectors of the XX century, previously unpublished folklore materials. Among them are tunes recorded in the Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, Vologda, Murmansk, and Arkhangelsk regions. The author draws attention to a little-known recording of the ballad made in the Novgorod region, and designates the role of this fact as an important evidence of the involvement of Novgorodians in the hit of "Prince Mikhailo" in the Northern Russian territories. The purpose of the study is the need to give a typological and historical assessment of the ballad tunes. A special perspective of the work is aimed at finding related musical forms in other genres of the Russian musical epic. The analysis showed that the ballad tunes recorded in various regions of Russia belong to the same musical type. It is based on a single-verse line of 8-complex composition with a choreographic ending, covering 10 or 12 musical-time units. The melodic features of the tunes testify to their fret unity associated with the narrative orientation of intonation. During the study, it was found that "Prince Mikhailo" is performed only with the melodies of the described structure. Moreover, it is the only proper ballad text assigned to this model. In Russian musical folklore, a structural type with a choreic ending was revealed (in addition to the ballad "Prince Mikhailo") in spiritual poems, tall tales, and some church hymns. The article suggests that it has developed among the Russian professional singers – buffoons and kalik pererozhikh. The role of Ancient Novgorod in the formation of a special cultural environment that contributed to the formation of these social institutions and the musical repertoire of its representatives is indicated.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2019.6.31605

Abstract: The study of music in its relation to folklore is of indisputable interest. The present article considers one of the priority directions in musicology - the composer/folklore problem. However, some aspects of this problem haven’t been studied thoroughly enough yet, the more so since the choral pieces of Russian composers, embodying the Russian wedding music, have outlined a new level of composer/folklore relations. The synthesis of various style tendencies with ceremonial wedding songs leads to the new quality of artistic thinking and characterizes a thematically specific folklore direction as an essential field of creativity marked with genre-style and structural diversity, variability of sources and originality of the methods of their performing. This problem, being one of the key problems of Russian musicology, had been studied in detail in the publications of G. Golovinsky, I. Zemtsovsky, L. Christiansen, G. Grigorieva, L. Ivanova, etc., whose fundamental works were used for the study of the specificity of the modern composer art. The performance of Russian wedding folklore in choral works of modern Russian composers is a poorly studied field of musicology which forms the scientific novelty of this work. Thus, the author states that the latitude of style quest along with adherence to traditions is typical for modern composers. These features are connected with the graphic structure - the circle of the wedding subject, moods, and favourite statement forms.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2022.6.39603

EDN: CFGXMH

Abstract: The article is dedicated to the history of the Department of Folk Singing and Ethnomusicology of the Saratov State Conservatory named after L.V. Sobinov. The role of the pedagogical, methodological and scientific activities of L.L. Christiansen as the founder of folk singing education at the Saratov Conservatory is described. The article also draws attention to the founder of the department of solo folk singing, People's Artist of Russia E.A. Sapogova and the basic principles of teaching folk vocals in her class. A special section is dedicated to the multifaceted activities of A.S. Yareshko as head of the Department until 2018. His name is associated with the modern period of the Department’s development, which included many practical and scientific publishing projects. The article reveals the role of the Department of Folk Singing and Ethnomusicology of the Saratov Conservatory in the establishing of folk singing education in Russia, as well as the preservation of folk heritage through the professional learning process. The main creative and educational achievements, the uniqueness of the structure of the department are described, the multi-vector orientation in teaching students (folk singing and ethnomusicology) is emphasized, which makes it possible to determine of a complex concept - the Saratov school of musical folkloristics.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.1.31976

Abstract: The research subject is the professional specificity of existence of the Adyghe vocal tradition in the past and the present. Life after life - that’s how the current condition of the Adyghe vocal tradition can be characterized. The published songs of the Adyghe ethnos and subethnoses (the Circassians, the Kabardians, the Shapsughs) are at the present moment not more than a relict, a monument, a musical chronicle of the history of the people and an object of scientific scrutiny. The new conditions of life of the peoples of North Caucasus of the late 20th - the early 21st century begot the secondary folklore practice - reviving and developing the lost tradition on a new level. A vivid example of the rebirth of the tradition of vocal and instrumental performance is the work of the Adyghe folklore ensemble of authentic singing and instrumental music “Dzyu” (the Adyghe Republic, Maikop). The author uses the method of comparative study of folklore (vocal and instrumental) canon of the Adyghes in the past and the present. This method reveals the strong adaptation reserves of the singing tradition of the Adyghes in the current conditions of its existence. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the fact that the practice and the system of education in the traditional Adyghe music-making is studied for the first time using the example of the work of the modern ensemble “Dzyu”. The aspiration for integral revival of the music tradition explains the popularity of this band among different audiences caters to the needs of modern Adyghes for the revival of traditional forms of life and culture.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2018.4.29037

Abstract: The article considers the notion of “genre”. The author uses the set of vocal items to demonstrate the principles of folkloric material classification.  The author enumerates the factors influencing on confinedness and non-confinedness of the material and the dependence of defining the elements composing the genre traits in the field of study. The author also considers the research of other scholars in the field and cites the key findings of such scholars as I.I. Zemtsovsky, Yu.N. Tynjanov, A.N. Veselovsky, G.N. Pospelov, Yu. G. Kruglov, F.A. Rubtsov, V.L. Goshovsky, E.V. Gippius, V.A. Lapin, E.A. Dorokhova, O.A. Pashina. The author notes the most popular interpretation of the criteria of evaluating folkloric vocal items proposed by E.V. Gippius. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the fact that the author corroborates theoretical materials in the field of genre studies with the musical materials of the local tradition of Astrakhan region. The problem is that at the current stage of scientific development, there is a plethora of opinions of scientists basing on the data typical for a particular territory and a particular tradition. Thus, the set of elements under consideration is often varying and incomparable. Therefore, using local materials, scholars can work on their own arguments proving their hypotheses.  

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2019.4.30524

Abstract: The research object is the North Caucasian polyvocality studied on the basis of the bourdon component of solo and group singing of various genres in the music culture of the Adygea, Karachays and Balkars. In the context of phonology, musical and verbal texts, bourdon serves as a supra-ethnic music dialect, which has determined the occurrence of the structural community of ethnic singing models in the North Caucasus region. At the same time, bourdon is a bright marker of an individual-ethnic interpretation of a common singing model. Thus, bourdon as ostinato prevails in the tradition of the Adygea; bourdon as a pedal - in the tradition of the Karachai and Balkar. The author uses the comparative research method. The North Caucasian bourdon is studied on the basis of a broader (compared to the encyclopaedia) interpretation of the term “bourdon” as the most ancient form of accompaniment in folk and temple polyvocality. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the fact that the North Caucasian polyvocality is for the first time being studied in the context of music traditions of different peoples and religious confessions. The author is the first to substantiate the ancient “age” of the North Caucasian polyvocality, which is the culture of a diffuse type, emerged as a result of historical correlation of its archaic autochthonous, East Asian and European roots, on the basis of bourdon.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2018.2.26728

Abstract: The article describes different variants of the song folklore functioning and its relation to various genre groups. So, many researchers mark the need to take into account all the components of a particular example under study (in this case –  songs). The article discusses the approaches to the study of folklore of such scientists as V.E. Gusev, I.I. Zemtsovskiy, E.V. Gippius and Z.V. Evald, Z.Y. Mozheyko, G.Ya. Sysoev, Yu. G. Kruglov.  The main direction of the study of song folklore is a comprehensive analysis of the material, as the song contains not only a text and melody, it may include other elements of folklore, such as choreography, instruments, etc. The other mandatory element of the tradition is functional application of folk art, namely the existence of sound design in the ritual or outside it. Such elements are fundamental for the analysis of the song material. For it is unacceptable to consider the rhythmic formula without taking into account the performer’s interpretation, intonation and structural specifics of the song, and vice versa. In addition, each sample of folk music should be confirmed with a multiple performance, in the repertoire of both an ensemble of the studied tradition and a solo artist. All of that contributes to formation of more accurate conclusions of the work, on the basis of which it is possible to identify typical formulas which characterize a song culture of the local tradition. On the basis of the considered approaches to the study of the song samples of folk music, the article proposes a classification of the round dance genre of Russian villages of the Volga Delta depending on the ways of their implementation.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2019.4.30748

Abstract: Saratov Volga region in the late 18th - 20th century had the largest centers of Old Belief, and the most significant for Old Believers was Samodurovka village (today - Belogornoye village of Volsk district of Saratov region). The research is based on the vast range of archive and handwritten materials and field study conducted by the authors in the 2000s.  The research subject is the history and church-chant traditions of the Old Believers of Samodurovka village.  The research object is the church-chant culture of the Old Believers of Saratov Volga region in the historical context. The research methodology is based on the comprehensive approach which includes the analysis of historical sources, chant manuscripts and printed books related to the Old Believers of Samodurovka, and the results of field studies. Such a comprehensive study helps to consider the tradition both in its synchronous state and its development in diachronic context. Finally, the analysis of the local tradition is based on the broad contextual approach. The scientific novelty of the article consists in the fact that it is based on the unique materials of field studies collected by the authors during their expeditions to the village. The research focuses on the analysis of handwritten chant heritage; the authors introduce several handwritten monuments into scientific discourse, including a unique “Hooked notation chant…”. The scientific novelty of the study consists in collection and classification of archive documents helping to trace the history of Old Belief development in Saratov Volga region. The research shows that church-chant practice of the Old Believers of Samodurovka retains relevant features of the stable culture of Old Believers and is still some sort of a standard for the Old Believers of Saratov.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.2.35122

Abstract: In this article, the author examines the outstanding writer, musician, scholar, collector, and researcher of music folklore and the Old Russian art of singing, Prince Vladimir Fyodorovich Odoyevsky, and his perspective on the topic of public music education. The author considers Odoyevsky’s opinion on educating women and the lowest tiers of Russian society and the possible methods of public music education. This research is based on Odoyevsky’s letters and diaries and three articles about primary music education methods and the peculiarities of giving solfeggio classes to the broader public. The author focuses on the role of the “numerical technique” in developing Russian folklore music notating. The scientific novelty of the research lies in understanding Odoyevsky’s contribution to the popularization of the music notation system created by Emile-Joseph-Maurice Cheve. The author of this research is the first to establish Odoyevsky’s priority in developing and supporting government and social initiatives in the field of public music education. The author demonstrates the Russian enlightener's universal character toward the approaches to solving educational problems and explains the reception of some of the scholar’s scientific ideas in the Russian folklore milieu. The author uses the examples of typologically homogeneous terms of the theory of music applied by Odoyevsky that continue to be used by folk musicians.  

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.6.33571

Abstract: The article focuses on calendar-ceremonial folklore of Novgorod region as an important component of folklore song traditions of the region. The musical and poetical forms of the calendar are considered in terms of type, genre and realm. The author is the first to systematize the data about calendar folklore recordings made in Novgorod region by various collectors in the 1960s - 1990s. The author gives special attention to the results of field studies of Saint Petersburg Conservatory named after N.A. Rimski-Korsakov. The author introduces into scientific discourse a range of items of calendar folklore from the archive of the Conservatory (Maslenitsa, Christmas and Easter carols and yells). The specificity of Novgorod calendar traditions is connected with a special role of intoned yells serving a function of calling over ceremonial characters, and Christmas carols combining the features of folk and church melodics. Some folklore forms, recorded in Novgorod region, can be considered unique (the North-East Maslenitsa chants, the “Piper” song, the Easter callings). Taking into account the peculiarities of a genre composition of the calendar, the types of chants and the style features, the author outlines three historical-cultural zones in Novgorod region - the North-East, the South-West and the Central. The research results can be used for mapping  the calendar folklore chants of Russia’s North-West, and for the further study of music folklore traditions of Novgorod region together with other folklore genres.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.3.35028

Abstract: This article examines the orthodox singing of the Kryashens (baptized Tatars), a sub-ethnic Tatar community who follow Eastern Christianity. The Kryashens are the bearers of a unique orthodox singing tradition that combines church chants and prayer texts in the Tatar language. The research subject is the historical background of the church singing of baptized Tatars who inhabited the Laish and Mamadysh districts of the Kazan Province. The chronological framework covers the period in which the tradition was developed—the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries—a period of the Russian Orthodox Church’s active missionary efforts in the region. The author uses historical, culturological, and source study methods to identify the ways in which the singing tradition was formed. This includes the introduction of a new system of religious and educational practices for “outsiders” in the region and the start of church services being held in the Tatar language. The research contains information about the work done by schools and parishes for baptized Tatars in the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. The author evaluates the modern state of the Kryashens’ Orthodox singing tradition in the region under consideration and identifies the factors that led to its development, which had been established by missionaries in the pre-revolutionary period. The author concludes that music played an important role in the progress of Christian education for the baptized Tatars and recognizes the significant contribution of the pre-revolutionary missionaries in the development of the spiritual and singing practices of this ethnic group, which has become an integral component of its music culture today. This article marks the first time this Orthodox singing tradition, specific to this ethnic region, is explored in Russian musicology. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.5.32211

Abstract: The article studies Russian accordion in the context of socio-historical events in the Soviet Union in the 20th century. The authors focus on the regional type of accordion - a Saratov accordion, which has a specific timbre and compass and is widespread in the realm of the Middle and the Lower Volga regions. The authors analyze the historical context of the origin of the instrument, the peculiarities of its existence, artistic and expressive capabilities, and the directions of practical usage. Special attention is given to the social role of an accordion as an instrument of leisure time organization and a conductor of the government ideology. The analysis is based on the historical data, the materials of Mass Media, personal conversations, author’s archives, stories of witnesses, articles, and published materials. The article reveals socio-historical significance of an accordion and its social role in Russia in the 20s - 50s of the 20th century when an accordion was in the vanguard of popular music culture. The authors detect the main directions of realization of an artistic potential of an accordion as a popular instrument, which became widespread during the Great Patriotic War. The authors analyze various opinions on the existence of the instrument, its origin, expressive and coloristic potential. The research reveals an in depth connection between an accordion and the song genres of the late 20th century, particularly, a chastushka, and the elements of urban folklore. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.1.35025

Abstract: The author is the first to raise the problem of reconstruction of the musical-epic traditions of Novgorod region. The research object is chant-declamation forms of folklore, typologically related to the bylina tradition. The research subject is their structural and stylistic peculiarities. For the first time, all facts of existence of musical epos, recorded in Novgorod region by various collectors, are gathered in one source - from the auditory notations of A.K. Lyadov (1890) to the latest evidence of existence of the musical-epic tradition (the recordings of Leningrad - St.Petersburg conservatory of the 1980s - 1990s). As the materials for comparison, the author uses the folklore images from Vologda, Arkhangelsk and Tver regions. Some musical texts are published for the first time. The author defines the genre composition of the musical-epic area of Novgorod folklore (buffoonery and takes, ballads, spiritual poems and memorial songs), describes the forms of composition of the main samples (one-line verses, long speeches and strophical). The research material gives reasons to assume that in Novgorod folklore traditions of the late 19th - the 20th centuries, the forms of recitation of music were widespread, typologically related to two North-Russian styles - the symbolic brief-chant and rhapsodical. The author concludes that the lake Ilmen basin and the adjacent territories was one of the places where these styles had been forming. On the one hand, the discovery of the typological relation of Novgorod and the North-Russian forms of musical narration helps define the structure and evaluate the style of single facts of Novgorod folklore. On the other hand, the parallels found are of key importance for the confirmation of Novgorod origins of the North-Russian bylina traditions.