FOLK TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS REFLECTED IN AN ELECTRONIC MUSIC TEXTBOOK FOR THE 7TH GRADE OF THE GENERAL EDUCATION SCHOOL IN BULGARIA

Abstract

A person gets attached to things that are intrinsic to him, close, understandable and tends to reject what is
unfamiliar and incomprehensible to him. The rapid technical development has brought not only enormous, but also
constantly accelerating change into our lives - ever greater and pleasant reliefs, which, however, increasingly
distance us from the traditional folk way of life, from the customs, holidays, beliefs, and rites of the people. We get
something comfortable and irrevocable, but we lose something of our own, beautiful and also necessary - our
starting point, our roots. Fortunately, this trend is being recognized by more and more people who are looking for
ways to counteract it without depriving ourselves of modern technical achievements. Since the knowledge of the
traditions, way of life, customs, and rites of our people are part of the culture forming the national self-awareness of
every Bulgarian, such information should be studied. In the music textbooks for our general education school by
Prof. Penka Mincheva at al., the topic of Bulgarian is present from the 1st grade and continues throughout the
course, with the study of folk customs, traditions and holidays. This topic is widely developed in the 7th grade
educational set. In order to prove this, I will examine the materials included in the electronic textbook for the 7th
grade, which I am the author of and which is part of the educational set of the author's collective led by Prof. Penka
Mincheva. In the electronic textbook, the information on the topic of Bulgarian traditions and customs is presented
through two photo galleries, it is also the basis of creative activities and various tasks. The taught material is richly
illustrated with pictures and sound examples. For the performance of these musical examples, which are only
included in the electronic textbook, I selected young performers who have proven themselves at national and
regional competitions - colleagues and students from the folklore specialties of the Academy of Music, Dance and
Fine Arts, where I work. The analysis of electronic resources (main method in the present study) on the topic of
Bulgarian folk traditions - holidays, customs, rites and way of life highlighted the following results: - Electronic
resources are closely related to the Electronic resources are diverse, thereby contributing to maintaining the interest
of adolescents; - The electronic resources are compiled in such a way as to provide additional information; -
Electronic resources are directly related to the creation of listening habits among students; - A significant part of the
electronic resources are organized as creative tasks, which is beneficial for the development of the creativity of
seventh graders; - Electronic resources are related to enriching the musical culture of young people; - Habits are
created in seventh graders also for putting themselves in the other person's place, their empathic abilities are
developed. I am proud to share that the electronic materials of the Prosveta publishing house (Prosveta plus, where
our educational set is published, is one of the publishing brands of the Prosveta publishing house) have been
awarded the special prize for the best electronic aids of the BELMA (Best European Learning Materials Awards ) for
2021. This is a serious recognition and at the same time authoritative proof of the effectiveness of Prof. Mincheva's
system of musical education and of our textbooks, including the electronic textbook for the 7th grade of secondary
school.