New dimensions of the creativity of the Slobozhanshchyna cimbalom school in the 21st century

Section 3. Kharkiv contexts

Abstract

Statement of the problem. The history of the Slobozhanshchyna cimbalom school has been going on for 45 years, from the moment the first cimbalom class was opened in 1979 to the present day, when cimbalom classes are available in many educational institutions of Kharkiv and the region at all levels of art education in Ukraine. Today, the spread of not only the traditional approach in the teaching, creative, and scientific activities of the school representatives is relevant, but also the need for constant search and “discovering” of new meanings. And our present, especially the 20sof the 21st century, has become a kind of difficult challenge for the Kharkiv cimbalom community. Recent research and publications. To date, Ukrainian cimbalom studies have already highlighted certain issues of the history of the Kharkiv cimbalom performance school formation (Yurchenko, 2015); the contribution in this process Olena Kostenko’s creative personality (Kuzhba & Yurchenko, 2021); the role of the cimbalom class at Kharkiv I.P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts in forming the Kharkiv cimbalom school from the day the class opened until 2021 (Kostenko, 2021). Objectives, methods and novelty of the research. The purpose of the study is to access a creative potential of the famous in Ukraine Slobozhanshchyna cimbalom school: to identify and analyze new dimensions of the creativity of its representatives, the significance of their activities for the preservation and continuous development of Kharkiv's folk instrumental art as a component of the image of Ukrainian culture. Historical, chronological, analytical and structural, statistical and comparative and comprehensive research methods are used. For the first time, new dimensions of the creativity of representatives of the cimbalom school have been identified and analyzed, and the peculiarities of their creative, scientific, methodological, organizational, and editorial-arranging activities have been revealed, taking into account the difficult challenges of today for the art world of Kharkiv, in particular its cimbalom community (COVID-19, wartime, distance learning, migration processes). Research results. The last four years (2021–2024) for the Slobozhanshchyna cimbalom school are years of upheaval and rethinking by its representatives of their role in maintaining a high level of professionalism and further development of its human and creative potential. Thus, new cimbalom projects appear as manifestations of the artists’ or a teams’ individual creativity and the collective concert programs involving representatives of cimbalom classes of art educational institutions of various levels. We would like to separately note the start of the All-Ukrainian Competition of Cimbalom Players named after Olena Kostenko. During the 20s of the 21st century, studying the cimbalom art continue in Kharkiv; we will single out the genre of scientific article, where the study of school issues, modern creativity of performers and composers, separate genres in cimbalom practice are under consideration. In the specified time period, a number of master classes, workshops, methodological seminars and creative meetings were held within the framework of various projects of the Kharkiv I.P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Art, the Kharkiv B.M. Liatoshynsky Professional Musical College, the Kharkiv Professional Higher College of Arts, and the Regional Centre for Advanced Training for the Employees of Cultural Institutions, which were often moderated by Kharkiv cimbalom players. As a result of teaching and arranging activities, several music collections were published in order to support the development of Ukrainian cimbalom art and affirm its professionalism. Conclusion. The high level of professionalism was preserved and further development of the Slobozhanshchyna cimbalom school was achieved owing to various directions of activity of its representatives. In order to restore people’s mental health, the concert activities are being intensified and the practice of art-therapy is developed. In the scientific studies, three genres main directions are single out: the study of various genres, composer work, and modern performance with its schools. The methodical, editorial and publishing direction is represented by a number of professional meetings, the presentation of sheet music collections. The new environmental conditions encourage the Slobozhanshchyna cimbalom community to the synthesis of what has already been achieved at the professional level and what is valuable as a response to the challenges of the present, and it is the priority for preservation of both, the level of professionalism and the phenomenon of the performance school itself.