The Multimedia Technologies Applications indd

The Idea of Implementing the Concept of Yamaha
Music School into Elementary School
Magda Veličková
According to the results of the survey conducted by The Department of Music at 
Faculty of Education at Masaryk University focused on multimedia technologies use 
in lessons of music education at elementary schools, it is possible to state that most 
pupils at elementary schools do not have direct experience with playing a musical 
instrument and that they would be interested in this activity. The pupils reported 
that one of their most favourite activities in music education is singing followed by 
playing a musical instrument.
Thus we can say that the process of playing a musical instrument is one of the 
most attractive activities in music education. It develops creativity, helps coordinati-
on and motor activity. It enables children to take part in the process of musical piece 
interpretation while their activity is supported by natural curiosity connected with 
learning how the instrument works, how to play it and how to create a tone sound. 
Out of the asked pupils, there were really few who devoted some of their free time to 
music, so it is highly advisable to teach playing musical instruments in music educa-
tion at elementary schools.
During the compulsory school education, most pupils have the opportunity to 
play the instruments of Orff Instrumentary, at some schools (especially schools with 
extended music teaching) they learn how to play the fl ute. The instrumental practice 
requires the knowledge of musical text (at least to a certain extent), work on the qua-
lity of the tone and often also home assignments. Playing the fl ute is very suitable 
because it represents a physically benefi cial variant of playing the instrument.
In order to make music education at elementary schools more attractive, I intro-
duce the idea of implementing electronic keyboards into music education. The idea 
arose after an observation lesson in this school and it is neither completely new nor 
unique. Already in 1996 in Hannover the fi rst idea of this character appeared. Main-
ly two persons wanted to put it into practice in the Czech Republic; they were Jan 
Prchal, a music teacher in the town of Liberec, and Jaroslav Herden, a professor at 
Faculty of Education at Prague’s Charles University. In 2000, the methodology on 
playing electronic keyboards in lessons of music education was outlined but it has 
never been used in the educational process.
In my opinion, Yamaha Music School (YMS) represents a less demanding alter-
native for children who want to play a musical instrument but not at the professional 
level. The tendency towards simplifi cation of education and learning in YMS con-
cept refl ects pupils’ requirements and is also in agreement with pupils’ opinions on 

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AGDA
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ELIČKOVÁ
today’s music education. (the tendency towards simplifi cation of education and lower 
requirements).