Slovenian Willems® National Seminar
Ljubljana – 17 > 19 August 2021
Report by Mateja Tomac Calligaris
Willems® Summer Seminar was hosted in Ljubljana, Slovenia, by Slovenian Society for Music Pedagogy Willems®. The seminar was held from 17th – 19th August at the Institute of St. Stanislav and offered various lectures, workshops and round tables from the field of Willems® musical pedagogy as well as music in general.
This year, the seminar was oriented a bit more towards the contemporary music. The opening lecture, How can contemporary music save humanity?, was held by conductor and composer, prof. Steven Loy.
Musical Improvisation Workshops were led by Tomaž Grom – a recognized Slovenian musician. Choral singing was dedicated mostly to the repertoire of the youngest, offering musical pieces from Katarina Pustinek Rakar – a contemporary Slovenian composer, who was also leading the Choral Singing Workshop and pieces from rich Slovenian choral heritage.
Members of Slovenian Willems® Society, Tom Varl and Marija Marinka Muhič, led the Morning Awakening with Music, with Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of the Spring).
Willems® Didactics teachers Ivana Dizdarević Đuričić, Mateja Tomac Calligaris, Franca Bertoli Cividino and Ugo Cividino, held classes from different areas of Willems Musical Pedagogy, such as: Natural Body Movement, Introduction to Polyphony, Harmonization of Songs, Progressivness in 4th degree and others.
For this occasion, Franca B. Cividino and Ugo Cividino presented the interviews with Edgar Willems and Jacques Chapuis (Radio Suisse Romande; 80th anniversary of E. Willems).
Lessons of Willems Musical Initiation were conducted live at the seminar by Una Košir and Melani Popit.
At the end of the seminar, the Slovenian Society for Music Pedagogy Willems® was proud to present the revised edition of the booklet for 2-5 tone songs.