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The Effects of Schooling

on the Teaching of GreekTraditional MusicZoe Dionyssiou

a

aMusic and Drama, Institute of Education,

University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London,

WC1H 0AL, UK

Available online: 19 Aug 2010

To cite this article: Zoe Dionyssiou (2000): The Effects of Schooling on the

Teaching of Greek Traditional Music, Music Education Research, 2:2, 141-163

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Music Education Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2000

The Effects of Schooling on the Teachingof Greek Traditional Music

ZOE DIONYSSIOU, Music and Drama, Institute of Education, University of

London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT In the late 1980s in Greece, a special type of secondary school, the State

Music School, was introduced with the aim to promote music education. This paper examines the ways in which traditional Greek music is being taught in these music

schools, and the factors affecting the teaching of traditional music. In particular, it

examines the effect of institutionalised teaching upon Demotiki and Byzantine music. The

paper is based upon data, collected by the author during eldwork carried out in Greek

music schools between April 1998 and June 1999. The data comprised questionnaires for

teachers of music and head teachers, group interviews with pupils; personal interviews

with teachers of traditional music, head teachers and members of the committee

responsible for these schools. Examination of the teaching methods applied in the

teaching of the two traditional types of Greek music showed that traditional music alterssignicantly when introduced in formal institutions.

Greece and Greek Traditional Music

Greece is a country with a unique musical tradition, characterised by the merging of

different musical idioms. Ewbank and Papageorgiou (1997) regard Greece as a country

with ‘a strong national tradition of music’, in which ‘we can observe a coexistence of

different music tastes, traditional and modern, connected to different age groups,socio-economic proles or local cultures’ (Ewbank & Papageorgiou, 1997, p. 8). Dawe

(1999) denes Greek musical culture as ‘a culture that has an afnity with ‘Eastern’

musics but also a strong sense of its own identity’ (Dawe, 1999, p. 209). There are two

main musical traditions: Byzantine music, that was, and still is, the sacred music of the

Greek Orthodox Church, and Demotiki, the secular folk instrumental music and songs.

Byzantine music has served the liturgical purposes of the Greek Orthodox Church

since the early Byzantine years. It was developed in the Byzantine Empire, growing its

own theoretical system after borrowing many elements from the ancient Greek system

ISSN 1461-3808 print; ISSN 1469-9893 online/00/020141-23 Ó2000 Taylor & Francis Ltd



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142 Z. Dionyssiou

FIG. 1. Part of the doxology by Chourmouzios Chartofylakas—an example of a Byzantine hymn from:

Theory and Practice of Church Music by G. Konstantinou (1998).

(Karas, 1973; Wellesz, 1998). The same is true for its unique notation system, called

‘Parasemantiki’, which has its roots in the notation of ancient Greek music. Byzantine

music is entirely vocal and, whether chanted by one cantor or a choir, is always

monophonic. When sung by more than one cantor, a pedal or drone, called ‘Ison’,

accompanies the main melody. Throughout its growth, which peaked in the 8th century

(St John of Damascus and St Cosmas the Poet), Byzantine music kept certain distinctive

features. First, instead of major and minor scales, it uses eight modes (‘Echos’) with

various sub-divisions. Secondly, instead of giving the pitch of every note, it uses interval

signs indicating either that a certain note lies so many tones above or below the

preceding note, or that it is a repetition of it. Finally, instead of bars, there are subsidiary

signs modifying the time and expression.1 An example of Byzantine music, in the type

of Parasemantiki notation, which is in use now, is given in Figure 1. In contemporaryGreek society Byzantine music is mainly used for liturgical purposes, expressing the

doctrine of the Orthodox Church, and is thus quite conservative in nature.

Demotiki music is the secular music of the Greek people, created mainly in the rural

areas. It is instrumental and vocal, mainly monophonic, with a great variety of themes

embracing every aspect of human life and emotions (Baud-Bovy, 1984). Music, singing

and dancing, the three constituent elements of the Greek folk tradition, are fully

integrated and cannot be considered separately (Bottolmey & Raftis, 1984; Caraveli,

1982). The origins of Demotiki music are to be found in antiquity (Baud-Bovy, 1984;

Kapsomenos, 1990; Michaelides, 1948), but as a tradition it developed in a liberal wayand was inuenced by other cultures and ethnicities. Its peak period is regarded as

lasting from the late Byzantine period to the end of the 19th century. An important point

is that Demotiki was developed on a local rather than a national basis, and for a very

long time it kept its local characteristics. An example of a Demotiki song in Paraseman-

tiki and Western notation is given in Figures 2(a) and (b), respectively. Demotiki music

is very much alive in contemporary Greece. Compared to Byzantine, it is of more

spontaneous character, and even when sung by the same people it has always been

subject to changes in style, lyrics, melody and instrumentation.



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The effects of schooling on the teaching of Greek traditional music 143

(A)

(B)

FIG. 2. ‘The nightingale sent me a message’, Demotiko song in (A) Parasimantiki notation; (B) Western

notation. From the book Demotika Tragoudia of Epirus kai Moria by Spyridonas D. Peristeris (1994).

At the beginning of the 20th century, as a result of modernisation and urbanisation,

people brought Demotiki into the cities paving the way for the development of a new

urban folk music style, Rebetika. The accelerating urbanisation of the population turned

Greece from the essentially rural society, which survived until the end of the 19th

century to an urban one.2 The emigration of approximately one third of the population



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144 Z. Dionyssiou

of the Greek state from Asia Minor to the mainland, along with the massive urbanisation

of the population, was the turning point for the creation of Rebetika.3 Rebetika songs

were developed mainly by the Greek immigrants from Asia Minor living on the fringe

of the city-societies under extremely difcult conditions, since the beginning of the 20th

century. These songs shared elements with rural folk music (Demotiki), but they were

mainly the outcome of the blend of many traditions of the eastern Mediterranean, and,in the beginning, had lyrics both in Greek and Turkish. However, for most of the

century, Rebetika did not gain mass acceptance and was banned as dangerous in the

1930s and 1950s, being regarded as marginal music addressed to the underworld and

closely connected with ‘pot’ (cannabis) smoking. Other contemporary musical genres

that borrowed elements from Demotiki and Byzantine, as well as Rebetika, are Laika

(Popular)4 and Entechni (Art Popular).5 These genres are not discussed in this paper.

Despite the dual nature of many Greek musical styles, in which eastern and western

elements co-exist, for many decades Middle Eastern and Asian inuences in popular

music were considered a threat to Greek national culture. Even recently, styles thatincorporated Eastern inuences were treated with caution by the media and the public.

Banning the Eastern inuences was also one of the aims pursued by the military

dictatorship (1967–1974), as well as trying to unite diverse styles into one national

tradition. This resulted in the transformation of folk music into staged folklore perfor-

mances and the expansion of a musical nationalism, which converted most popular

Greek music into the commercial bouzouki sound.

Towards the end of the military dictatorship, Greek folk music was rediscovered, rst

through an interest in Rebetika, which became a symbol of protest against oppression

and expressed the yearning for political freedom. Interest then gradually moved to

Demotiki music and songs, especially during the 1980s. The rediscovery of traditional

Greek music paved the way for the appropriation of the vast range of urban and rural

traditional musical styles, which now seem to be recovering their idiomorphic character

in the musical scene. Local musics that had been altered to t the national sound in the

1970s are being rediscovered and Byzantine music is becoming more widespread beyond

its liturgical use. This folk revival of the 1980s and 1990s can be seen as a reaction of

the people to the national folklore that was imposed from above by the dictatorship. It

was also a response to globalisation, which, especially after the great increase of Anglo-American popular music, threatened modern Greek musical culture with

homogenisation (Ewbank & Papageorgiou, 1997, p. 68).

Within this spectrum, as Wallis and Malm (1984) suggest, countries affected by

globalisation plan their national policies so as to ensure the life of their national

traditions, and strengthen the inherited national music identity through developing

national music styles and forms. The next section discusses the introduction of music

schools in the educational system, which now has a constitution that facilitates the

dissemination of the Greek national tradition.

The Structure of Music Education in Greek Music Schools

In Greece, secondary education is centrally controlled by the Ministry of Education,

spans 6 years, and provides free schooling for pupils aged 12–18 years. It is divided into

two distinct levels, the gymnasium and the lyceum. The gymnasium is the compulsory

3-year lower secondary school and the lyceum is the optional 3-year upper secondary

school. The music schools are a special type of secondary institution, covering both the

gymnasium and lyceum, where particular attention is given to the subject of music. They



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TABLE 1. Music syllabus of lower secondary music schools

Music syllabus 1995—Gymnasium (age group: 13–15)

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Music subjects Hours per week Hours per week Hours per week

Music theory and practice 3 2 2

History of music — 1 1

Traditional Greek music (Byzantine –Demotiki) 4 4 3

Hymnology — — 1

Choral singing 2 2 2

Music group (of pupils’ choice) 3 3 3

Core musical instrument: Piano 1 1 1

Core musical instrument: Tabouras 1 1 1

Optional instrument /s 2 2 2

Theatre/drama 1 1 1

Total of music teaching hours per week 17 17 17

are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, and an artistic committee, called

‘Kalitechniki Epitropi’, is responsible for their arts and music curriculum. The rst pilot

music school was established in 1988 at Pallini, near Athens. Since then, 25 more music

schools have been gradually established in different towns and cities in mainland Greece

and its islands.

The broad aims of these schools are those of general secondary education, as statedin Law 1566 issued in 1985 by the Greek Ministry of Education. The specic

educational aim to be achieved was stated in the Ministerial Decision for the Foundation

and Operation of Music Schools (C2/3345/2.9.1988): ‘The aim of the music schools is

to provide sufcient musical knowledge to enable the pupils to follow musical careers

if they wish to, without this becoming an impediment to their basic secondary

education’6 (Gazette 649/Sect. B/7.9.1988). This was, and still is, the underlying

philosophy justifying the existence of these schools.7

Music Curriculum

The music schools’ curricula reect the attempts of the Artistic Committee and the

Ministry of Education to implement the aims set out to be achieved by the schools. Apart

from the general subjects taught in all secondary schools, music-related subjects occupy

a large amount of the daily timetable, featuring Western (meaning Western European Art

or classical music) as well as Greek traditional music. Between 1988 and 1999, three

music curricula were issued for the gymnasium and three for the lyceum. This was

deemed necessary, as experience was gained on how music schools should operate moreefciently and effectively. The large number of music curricula reects the readiness of

the responsible bodies to adapt and use past experience to formulate new approaches and

ideas. Tables 1 and 2 list the music subjects for each of the 6 years of the music schools,

as drawn from the curricula of the year 1998–99. The present curriculum of the music

lyceum, apart from the compulsory musical subjects, includes a series of optional

subjects.

It is important to note that the establishment of the music schools introduced the

teaching of traditional Greek music for the rst time in the formal Greek educational



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146 Z. Dionyssiou

TABLE 2. Music syllabus of upper secondary music schools

Music syllabus 1995—Lyceum (age group: 16–18)

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Music subjects Hours per week Hours per week Hours per week

Harmonisation 2 2 3

Dictation 2 2 3

Traditional Greek music (Byzantine –Demotiki) 2 2 2

Core musical instrument: piano 1 — —

Musical instrumen t (of pupils’ choice) 1 1 1

History of music—usic analysis 1 — —

Music groups 2 2 2

Total of compulsor y music subjects 11 9 11

hours per week

Optional music subject s 2 2 2

Total of music teaching hours per week 13 11 13

system. In the past, the only places where some styles of traditional music were taught

were the colleges of Byzantine music and a few conservatories of Western European

classical music, while in primary and secondary general education, Western music had

dominated school music-making.

The total numbers of teaching hours per week devoted to Western and traditional

music subjects in each of the 6 years are given in graphical form in Figures 3 and 4.Signicantly more teaching hours are devoted to Western music than to traditional Greek

music. While the balance between Western and traditional music is kept more or less

equal in the gymnasium, in the lyceum traditional Greek music occupies only 38% of the

music timetable, against 62% occupied by Western music. Furthermore, all theoretical

subjects such as History of Music, Harmony, Dictation and Music Analysis refer mainly

to Western music, the exception being hymnology. From these facts, as well as the

existence of an extended curriculum, and guidelines for the teaching of only one

instrument, the piano (Ministerial Decision C2/3100, 8/5/1995 in Gazette 424/

16.5.1995), one may infer that the Western music education offered in Music Schools is

better organised than the traditional music education. This is not the intention of the

Artistic Committee, but is caused by the fact that there are not, as yet, ofcially

recognised studies in Greek traditional music (apart from the Byzantine music courses),

with specic curriculum content, aims and objectives. Progress is being made in this

direction, but more work needs to be done.

Proles of Music Teachers

The teaching staff of every music school consists of teachers responsible for general

subjects, and those responsible for music-related subjects. The teachers of general

subjects are required to have some involvement with music or art (C2/3345/2.9.88,

Gazette 649/section B/7.9.1988). Concerning the teachers of music-related subjects, three

different types of appointment are available. These are permanent appointments, substi-

tute positions and hourly-paid positions. A music teacher can only be appointed to a

permanent post if he/she has a degree either in Music Studies or Musicology from

a University or in Western or Byzantine music from a Conservatory.



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FIG. 3. Total teaching hours per week for compulsor y Western and traditional Greek music subjects in eachyear of music schools.

Figure 5 shows the percentage distribution of types of appointment of music teachers

who worked in the music schools of Greece in the academic year 1998–99. Among all

music teachers working in the country’s music schools, only 32% are in permanent

positions. This is explained by the fact that until now, mostly Western and to a less

extent Byzantine music were taught in higher education institutions (music conserva-

toires and colleges)—Demotiki music was taught in only a few conservatoires—and onlydiplomas in Western and Byzantine music are formally valid. Demotiki music teachers

can only be appointed to substitute or hourly-paid positions, unless they have additional

qualications in Byzantine or Western music, in which case they are preferred over those

who do not.

This fundamental difference that exists among teachers of Western, Byzantine and

Demotiki music, in terms of their types of appointment, introduces us to the argument

that they represent three different musical worlds in the school. These musical worlds

have been treated differently by the system and have been accommodated in the music

schools in different ways. Taking into consideration the Western trend in general musiceducation in Greece, the introduction of traditional Greek music in schools needs to be

investigated.

FIG. 4. Percentages of teaching hours for Western and traditional Greek music teaching per week.



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148 Z. Dionyssiou

FIG. 5. Types of music teachers ’ appointments .

The Research Question

School music constitutes a different world from music out of school, in the community.

With reference to the Greek music schools, this is seen as problematic from two points

of view: on the one hand, it has been argued that school music is ‘pseudo music’, music

made to t into classrooms, curricula and timetable, and music that is being taught as

a ‘subject’ (Ross, 1995). On the other hand, any style of traditional music refers to a

musical world that represents something entirely different from a ‘musical subject’. It is

‘music learned but not taught’ (Rice, 1985). To learn traditional music is to acquire the

tradition through social and cognitive processes, to live the tradition through partici-

pation and personal involvement in it, to be able to reect on it and continue the tradition

(Rice, 1994). With regard to the situation in the Greek music schools, the question that

this paper investigates is what happens when traditional Greek music is brought into

schools? The purpose of the present study was to examine the teaching of traditionalGreek music in the music schools, to associate the current situation with traditional

teaching procedures used in the teaching of these styles outside formal education, and to

investigate the results of current teaching methods for pupils and teachers. Music

education has a lot to gain by considering methods of teaching from domains other than

formal education.

Research Methodology

The data discussed in this paper derive from eldwork carried out in Greek music

schools between April 1998 and June 1999. Over the rst 3 months the researcher had

visited four music schools, and conducted a pilot study by distributing questionnaires to

music teachers, having semi-structured interviews with music teachers and semi-struc-

tured group interviews with school pupils, as well as observing some music lessons. The

main research instruments, the questionnaires and the interviews were formed on a

semi-structured and open-ended basis aiming to explore the situation of the music

schools from the points of view of teachers and pupils. Analysis of the pilot question-



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naires and interviews led to the reformulation of the main questionnaire, as well as the

main issues of discussion in the semi-structured interviews that followed.

In November 1998, 680 questionnaires were distributed to all music teachers through-

out the 26 music schools of the country; 313 replies were gathered by the end of the

academic year 1998–99. Because of the absence of information concerning the total

number of music teachers working in music schools for that academic year, the responserate of the questionnaire survey cannot be precisely estimated;8 approximately, it ranges

between 45 and 52%. During the months November and December 1998 the researcher

visited 10 music schools in different locations on the mainland and conducted interviews

with music teachers and with heads of the schools, and group interviews with groups of

between three and ve pupils. Some participant observations of music lessons had also

been conducted. Finally, one member of the Artistic Committee was interviewed by the

researcher.

The mixture of quantitative and qualitative methodologies and analyses in the research

aimed to examine music-making in schools in terms of Greek traditional music frommany different angles. In this paper special attention is given to changes in traditional

music-making since its institutionalisation in schools.

Findings and Discussion

Boundaries and Tensions in Music Schools

Music teachers often formed groups within the schools according to their specialism.

This was evident even from the rst contacts with them and during the pilot study.

Teachers often created boundaries among themselves by projecting their specialism,

which was very important to them; it featured as a kind of musical identity. Grouping

of music teachers labelled ‘the Westerners’, ‘the Byzantines’ and ‘the Traditionalists’

(referring to the teachers of Western (classical) music, Byzantine and Demotiki respect-

ively) were apparent among all three named categories. These ‘boundaries’ were studied

particularly through the teachers’ questionnaire and their interviews.

In the sample of 313 music teachers, a signicant majority (67%) taught Western

music; 20% were teachers of Demotiki music and 9% were teachers of Byzantine music(see Figure 6). This is explained rst by the fact that the music curriculum requires

signicantly more teaching hours to be devoted to the study of Western music than to

traditional Greek music, and secondly by the open choice that the curriculum offers for

the optional musical instrument study. This was conrmed by a small-scale census of the

optional instruments studied by pupils in four music schools for the academic year

1998–99 (two schools were from the major cities of Athens and Thessaloniki, and two

from two peripheral cities). The sample was the total number of pupils of these four

schools (n5 898 pupils). Among them, 71% studied a Western instrument and 29%

studied an instrument for Demotiki music. These data show a clear preference of thepupils for the study of Western classical music instruments, for reasons that should be

further investigated. Therefore, the small number of traditional music teachers in schools

is because of the low demand for the study of traditional musical instruments.

The three main types of teachers’ specialisation, as Figure 6 shows, are Western,

Demotiki and Byzantine. Additionally, a number of teachers are involved in more than

one style. As the Venn diagram (Figure 7) shows, there are only eight teachers who teach

Western and Demotiki and ve who teach Byzantine and Demotiki. There is no teacher

simultaneously involved in teaching Western and Byzantine music, a fact that suggests



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150 Z. Dionyssiou

FIG. 6. Teachers’ specialisation .

a polarisation between Western and Byzantine music in the schools, with Demotiki often

being in between the other two musical worlds. This situation is graphically depicted in

the Venn diagram of Figure 7. The relatively low number of teachers who are involved

in the teaching of more that one musical style shows that the management of the schools

prefers appointing teaching staff who specialise and not teachers of general musicalknowledge.

Hence, Western, Byzantine and Demotiki musical subjects appear as separate in the

school curriculum and in actual practice, and they rarely integrate. Teachers of tra-

ditional Greek music teach almost exclusively Byzantine and Demotiki music, with

teachers of Byzantine music more often teaching Demotiki than vice versa. This is

because the school curriculum merges Demotiki singing and Byzantine chanting, and

both are taught nearly always by Byzantine music teachers. Almost all teachers of

Western music base their lessons on Western classical music (95%), although a

signicant percentage (40%) reported the use of Greek music9 as well.

This teaching of music in three separate domains results in pupils seeing these styles

as two or three different worlds. Many pupils during the group interviews expressed

dissatisfaction with this situation. The following extract is an example.

FIG. 7. Venn diagram of music teachers’ teaching prole.



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Researcher: Is there anything you don’t like in your school?

Pupil: In traditional music. … we don’t have enough musical instru-

ments and we don’t study musical analysis and history of

traditional music … Why do we study harmony and analysis

of Western music only?

(Group of 15–16-year-old pupils)10

Not only do they see the styles as different worlds, they also nd it difcult to relate their

knowledge of one with another.

This dichotomy between the traditional and the Western musical domains affects

mostly the teachers of traditional music and especially those of Demotiki. Some teachers

of Demotiki music expressed clearly in the interviews that these musical styles are two

different worlds.

Teacher: These musics are two different worlds … you cannot see it differ-

ently! And when I say worlds, I mean not in terms of the music, butin terms of feelings, experiences, thoughts, way of life. …. In

general there is a big gap. In this school we don’t have problem in

terms of communication, but naturally the good relationships comes

among the teachers of the same specialisation. I have become closer

to teachers of traditional music. It was not my aim, it just happened.

[Teacher of traditional music (Demotiki)]

The above example comes from one of the schools where the best relationship between

traditional and Western music teachers was reported. In other schools, some teachers

reported that they felt isolated by the schools’ system and by the Western music teachers.

Teacher: Despite what they all say in school, that all styles are equal and they

are all worthwhile, I doubt they have even one record of Demotiki

music at their home. But, did you hear what they say? On the

outside everything is all right! [Teacher of Traditional music

(Demotiki)]

In most schools, teachers tended to socialise with teachers who shared their specialis-

ation. In a few schools this did not happen, and this could be associated with their

professional co-operation in school musical life, as well as the very signicant role thatthe school head teachers play in this respect.

This differentiation does not mean that Western music teachers are not happy with the

teaching of traditional Greek music in the schools, rather the opposite. Nearly all music

teachers, both those of Western and of traditional musical subjects, seemed happy about

the teaching of Greek traditional music in the music schools. As one music teacher of

Western music, with no specialist interest or knowledge of traditional music, puts it:

I particularly like the fact that traditional music is being taught (in the school).

I believe that currently the music schools are the only ‘greenhouses’ in whichtraditional music is being ‘cultivated’. (Teacher of Western music)

However, the data show that teachers of Western music have a different understanding

of traditional music from their colleagues of Demotiki and Byzantine specialisation in

ways that will be discussed later in this article.

Most of the teachers comment in their questionnaire replies about the need to retain

the Greek cultural identity in music, or to continue the creation of Greek culture. Many

also mention that the rich Greek musical traditions offer the best way to know and

develop modern Greek culture. Greek traditions seem to them to be the basis of modern



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152 Z. Dionyssiou

Greek culture both for the teachers of Western and those of traditional music. This

nding supports Dawe’s (1999) comment about the Greeks’ strong sense of their own

identity.

Finally, the gender of the teachers is another feature that might inuence the teachers’

understanding of each other. While the distribution between male and female teachers of

the schools is more or less equal in the overall picture (45% females and 55% males),when investigated by specialisation, things appear differently. Western music seems to

be a female-dominated area (62% females and 38% males), while Demotiki and

Byzantine music are opposite (only 12% of Demotiki teachers are females and 88% are

males, and of Byzantine music teachers only 11% are females and 89% males). This

association of women with western and men with traditional music was reected in the

pupils, in terms of which was their favourite music, or what their choice of optional

instrument. Hence, most of the girls who were interviewed preferred Western music and

chose to study a Western musical instrument as optional, while most of the boys reported

the opposite: Demotiki was their favourite style and they usually studied a Demotikimusical instrument.

From Aural-based Towards Text-based Learning of Traditional Music

Until very recently, Greek folk music (Demotiki) was taught orally, without the aid of

notation or any written scores. People learned to play or sing in their family environ-

ment, in live performances and social gatherings, interacting with accomplished musi-

cians. In some cases, this interaction took the form of private tuition which, supercially

looked similar to the teacher–student relationship existing in modern societies, but the

relationship was, in fact, very different. The traditional method of learning music can

best be described by the well-known phrase, ‘learn how to steal’ (Anoyiannakis, 1979,

p. 29).11 A consequence of the traditional way of teaching was the variations in music

when the same piece was played by different performers or by the same performer at

different times. This variety made the music sound fresh and up-to-date every time it was

performed, and made the people who performed it or listened to it active participants in

its re-formulation and dissemination. Until the introduction of Demotiki in the music

schools, folk music was not taught formally in institutions, apart from somemusic colleges or conservatories, in which cases there was no curriculum, no specic

content, no diploma or ofcial degrees in folk music.

The same method of teaching was originally true for Byzantine music, which was

passed on in a similar way from the mature cantors of the church to the younger ones.

However, the difculties of its theoretical system, as well as the need to retain, as much

as possible, a homogeneous character in Byzantine music throughout the Ottoman

Empire, led to the reform of the Byzantine musical system in 1814 and the introduction

of their New Method (Romanou, 1985). This New Method is the Parasemantiki notation

that has been used since then for Byzantine music. As a result, oral learning wasgradually rejected as insufcient and vague, because it could not report the tradition

precisely. Gradually the new way of teaching and writing Byzantine music spread among

the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire and much later, in 1903, it was introduced in the

School of Byzantine music of the National Conservatory of Athens. The institutionalisa-

tion of Byzantine music had thus taken place much earlier than the establishment of

music schools.

According to the curriculum of music schools, the core instrument used in the teaching

of instrumental traditional music is the tabouras. This stringed instrument of the



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lute-family, has centuries of tradition in the music of the Greek people and throughout

the eastern Mediterranean (Anoyiannakis, 1979), though it was not very much in use in

Greece after the 1920s. In the Great Theoritikon of Music (U« wrhtikon M«ga thÖ

MousikhÖ), published in 1832, the great reformer of Byzantine music, Archbishop

Chrysanthos of Madytos, regarded the tabouras as the most appropriate instrument

for learning the theory of Byzantine music (Anoyiannakis, 1979, p. 211). Even today,the curriculum of the music schools uses the tabouras because it is still considered

the most appropriate string instrument for studying the theory of traditional music in

practice (I. Papachronis, Member of the Artistic Committee, personal communication,

1999).

As for Demotiki’s notation system, the story is rather more complex. Demotiki music

was not read from scores until recently. The Western notation system was often used by

Greeks and foreigners in the last and present century, but only for documentation

purposes. On the other hand, some collectors of Demotiki music preferred using the

Parasemantiki notation (notation for Byzantine music), regarding it as the most accurateand appropriate notation system for Demotiki (Bouvier, 1960). This debate still exists;

we could, however, say that Parasemantiki can document better the vocal Demotiki and

some instruments of the Greek tradition, while Western notation is denitely easier for

the performers. Since the establishment of the music schools, the pressure for a notation

system for Demotiki has increased amongst teachers and pupils of the schools. Teachers

of the tabouras are free to choose the notation of their preference. However, the great

majority of them have never studied Byzantine music, therefore they are likely to choose

the Western system.

Music teachers working in the music schools now use different methods for teaching

traditional Greek music, depending on a variety of factors. In my survey the attitude of

the teachers towards these methods was inferred from a series of questions regarding the

techniques applied in the classroom. The questions were decided upon after the pilot

study and then explored further in the main study. It has been found that the techniques

used by music teachers vary among the following: ‘use of books on the theory of music’,

‘Western music scores’, ‘Parasemantiki scores’, ‘listening to recorded music’, ‘the

teacher performs/sings in the classroom’, ‘recording of the lesson’, and ‘aural learning’

(without the aid of notation). In the main questionnaire there were ve possible answersto the questions on the use of each technique, namely ‘always’, ‘frequently’,

‘occasionally’, ‘rarely’ and ‘never’.

‘Scores in Western notation’ are used by a mere 7% of the teachers of Byzantine

music, as opposed to 90% of the teachers of Western music. Of the Demotiki music

teachers, 49% use scores in Western notation. The situation is completely reversed in the

case of ‘use of Parasemantiki’ (the notation of Byzantine music). The majority (86%) of

teachers of Byzantine music use Parasemantiki notation, while only a very small fraction

(1%) of Western music teachers use this notation. Of the Demotiki teachers, 25% use

Parasemantiki. It is of interest to note that there is not one clear choice amongst theteachers of Demotiki music; most of them show a preference towards Western notation

(49%) as opposed to the use of Parasemantiki (25%). This reects the fact, also deduced

from questionnaires and interviews, that the teachers of Demotiki music who have

knowledge of Byzantine music, tend to base their teaching upon Byzantine music theory

and notation, while others prefer to teach Demotiki which they regard as a musical style

quite separate from Byzantine. It must be noted here that the notation of Western music

is easier to learn than Parasemantiki, and also that, most instrumental teachers report that

instrumental folk music is easier to read from Western staff notation.



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154 Z. Dionyssiou

From the discussion of types of scores used in folk music teaching, it is clear that there

is not a dominant style of notation for the teaching of Demotiki music in music schools.

The questionnaires and interviews show that Demotiki music teachers who have

knowledge of Byzantine music teach folk songs almost exclusively through the Parase-

mantiki notation and the theory of Byzantine music. This leads to a situation, which

could be named as ‘Byzantinocentrism’, and which prevents Demotiki developing freelyand dynamically, as it did in the past. The following interview extract is from a teacher

who does not see any boundaries between folk and church music.

Researcher: Do you think that it is right to relate Byzantine music to

Demotiki songs?

Teacher: It is not that we related them, their nature is such, Demotiki

songs were born out of Byzantine music. They are useful to

interpret Byzantine music…. I always try to apply the knowl-

edge I have of Byzantine music and its theory to the teaching

of Demotiki.

(Instrumental teacher of Demotiki music)

Similarly, teachers with a Western musical background apply the theory and notation of

Western music to Demotiki. An example is the interview extract given below.

Researcher: Do you teach instrumental Demotiki music using the staff music

scores?

Teacher: Of course, I teach everything using Western music scores.

Teaching without scores is problematic and difcult. The aim,the general aim of music in schools, is for the children to become

musically literate. If we want them to learn practically, it is

better to send them to a village to stay with an old man; they will

then learn to play the instrument in the traditional way, but they

will not have learned ‘music’ ( His emphasis)…. If I teach music

by ear, it is more difcult for the child to learn how to play,

while by learning notation the pupil comes to a good result easier

and sooner. When the child reaches a satisfactory level, then the

teacher can introduce the Parasemantiki notation. Our aim is toteach Western notation rst.


In such teachers’ methods, literacy in Western musical notation is regarded as the main

aim of music education. Such an approach seeks to over-simplify the teaching of

traditional music, and contradicts Rice’s ndings (1994, 1995) concerning the notion that

tradition is learned as a whole and not by acquiring only certain musical skills. Views

similar to what the above extract reveals may well have detrimental results on traditional

music. The different approaches by different teachers seem to confuse pupils, who veryoften expressed displeasure and dissatisfaction about their fusion. This is demonstrated

here by the following extract from a group interview with pupils.

Researcher: Are you pleased with the teaching of Demotiki music? Would

you like to say something about it?

Pupil 1: Yes, about Mr. P. ( A teacher of Demotiki music). I believe that

he has confused traditional with Western music in his mind and

he thinks that traditional music is written in Western music

scores. He always teaches from music scores.



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Pupil 2: Yes, also he always uses expressions from Western music. All

the time he says ‘forte’, ‘crescendo’, ‘piano’, ‘pianissimo‘….

(Group of 13–14-year-old boys)

The widespread use of scores by the teachers and pupils for traditional music is as a

result of the strong inuence on traditional music of the Western-style conservatories and

their teaching methods. This situation in the case of Greek music education inevitably

reminds us of Campbell’s (1991) ndings about the inuences of Western-style methods

of music education upon the teaching and learning of traditional music (Campbell, 1991,

p. 193).

There are, of course, some music teachers of Demotiki music who do not base their

teaching notation and theoretical systems, but try to make use of the aural way of

learning in their teaching. Of Demotiki music teachers, 52% reported that they practise

‘aural learning’ in the classroom, whereas only 13% of the Western and 29% of

Byzantine music teachers use this method. The use of aural learning by the teachersof traditional music seems less common than one would expect, given that aural learning

was the tradition—the ‘stealing’ method.

Other methods that assist aural learning are ‘listening to pre-recorded music’.

Approximately 60% of the teachers of Western and Byzantine music never use this

method. Of teachers of Demotiki music, 41% play pre-recorded music in their lessons

and use this as a learning method. Exactly the opposite occurs with the method ‘the

teacher performs/sings in the classroom’, which seems to be a favoured activity: 54, 85

and 79% of the Western, Demotiki and Byzantine music teachers respectively, perform

or sing in the classroom in order to assist their teaching. ‘Recording of the lesson’ wasthe least popular among the teaching methods. Only 3% of Western music teachers and

4% of the teachers of Byzantine music use it, although there is wider use by teachers of

Demotiki music (31%). This is explained by the fact that recording is the best

documentation of a lesson, since scores are still considered by many teachers to be

insufcient. These teachers appear to have the clearest understanding of the nature of

Demotiki music-making in the wider society. Some of them are very critical of the

‘formal’ teaching approaches mentioned above. The following interview extract is

typical of this attitude.

Researcher: Do you approach Demotiki music in the same way that the

Byzantine music teachers do?

Teacher: No!!! Those teachers have a ‘Byzantine conscience’ (His empha-

sis) … Probably, they didn’t have any knowledge of Demotiki

music before they were appointed to a music school. I don’t

think they ever had anything to do with Demotiki…They had

never spent time on this kind of music … and now they are

appointed to teach it!

Researcher: What methods do you use in the teaching of tabouras?Teacher: After the pupils have acquired some technical skills, I play

myself and from tapes the musical pieces suggested in the

ofcial teaching guide. I repeat this regularly until they reach the

point that they can play the pieces themselves……..The aural

method is the best. It trains pupils to learn how to listen to

music. Pupils are able to play the full piece or melody from

memory … .




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156 Z. Dionyssiou

Many pupils also supported the aural method of teaching as being clearer and giving

them the best training in comparison with the use of scores. A characteristic pupil’s

interview extract is given below.

Researcher: Evgenios, you said that you‘re learning clarino.12 Do you use

scores?

Pupil 1: Usually the teacher plays a piece and I learn it there and then. Herarely gives us scores.

Researcher: … do you prefer playing from scores?

Pupil 1: I get more confused when I use scores; I prefer to learn by ear.

Pupil 2: It’s a matter of what you‘re used to. My guitar teacher used to

teach me to play pieces by ear and now I nd playing from

scores confusing.

(Group of 15–17 year-olds)

The aural method also often results in a better understanding of tradition and of musictheory as well. In the following extract a pupil who learns the clarino in an oral way and

by recording the lesson, nds it easier to understand the theory of traditional music when

this is explained through musical practice on the instrument.

Researcher: Do you see any difference in the way traditional and Western

music teachers teach?

Pupil: In Western music we do more theory. In traditional music,

usually the teacher demonstrates the theory by playing the

instrument. I nd the second method easier. In Western music,

you have to know the music quite well to understand its theory.

Researcher: What teaching method does the clarino teacher use?

Pupil: He teaches only orally, we never use music scores. He records

a tape with the pieces of music, we take it home and listen to it

a lot.

(Group of 15–16-year-old pupils)

However, it is the teachers’ responsibility to make this method work, they have to lead

the children into their musical experience using only the music. As a pupil has said in

an interview:

Pupil: The score helps, I believe, but it is far more important what you learn

without the score. I mean when the teacher performs to show you how

to play it and then you play it according to what you have heard, this

is what counts!

(Group of 17-year-old pupils)

Pupils understand the difference between aural-based and text-based teaching methods,

and consider the aural-based methods more effective.

From Innovation and Re-creation Towards the Preservation of Tradition

The low use of aural learning methods and the high use of music scores show the

tendency to teach Demotiki and Byzantine music in more xed ‘classical’ ways, similar

to those applied in the teaching of Western music. One indicator of this tendency is the

extent to which teachers base their work upon theoretical study of their subject.

The ‘use of books on music theory’ is mainly used by the teachers of Byzantine and

Western music: 61% of the former and 50% of the latter use this method in their lessons,



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as against 31% of the teachers of Demotiki. This is not surprising, given that both

Byzantine and Western music are very much based on their own theoretical systems,

while Demotiki does not have a formally accepted theory, but is based mostly on

personal interpretation in terms of a given tradition. However, the 31% of Demotiki

teachers base their teaching upon Byzantine music theory, converting Demotiki tradition

into a formalisation that did not exist before.The number of teachers who teach Demotiki music and songs in a formal ‘classical’

way, using either Parasemantiki (25%) or Western scores (49%), as well as those who

try to teach it through the Byzantine music theory is rather signicant. This might lead

to a kind of scholasticism resulting in many arguments about the proper intervals, the

specic mode and the authentic interpretation of the scores. One teacher reports the

situation very clearly.

Researcher: You said that you disagree with some opinions of traditional

music teachers. Which opinions do you mean?Teacher: Traditional music is centuries old and over the years the ner

details of its development have been lost. There are people who

indulge in historical reconstruction, trying to discover the truth

as it used to be years ago. We have now arrived at the point

where the most important question for some teachers is whether

the right interval was 7, 6 or 5 units. The scholasticism that

existed in Western Europe in the Renaissance exists today in the

heads of many Greeks who occupy themselves with Greek

traditional music. The traditional performer never had to facethis problem in his life. In judging an interval he was not only

using his ear, but his soul and his friends’ reaction at the same

time. Even inaccurate notes had a place in his performance.

When the people who call themselves theoreticians of traditional

music try to nd the truth and set things in order, they make a

mess. I can conrm that there is a muddle in Demotiki music at

present … Usually to try to discover the theory of Demotiki

should be the least important aspect. But now the reverse is

taking place; many try to approach Demotiki through theory.(Instrumental teacher of Demotiki music)

This formalisation of Greek tradition is also proved by the limited musical styles of

Greek music taught in school. The ofcial curriculum, under the heading ‘Traditional

Greek Music’ or sometimes just ‘Greek Music’, envisages the teaching of Byzantine and

Demotiki music only. Other styles of urban folk and contemporary popular Greek music

are not suggested at all. The eldwork, however, showed that a only a small number of

teachers choose to use a varied repertoire including Rebetika, Laiki, Entechni, Jazz,

Ethnic and other styles of Greek and non-Greek popular music.It is rather surprising that most teachers of traditional music have negative attitudes

towards Rebetika, Laika, Foreign and Greek Pop and Rock, Jazz and Ethnic music. Of

Demotiki music teachers 73% reported no use of Rebetika in the classroom, 81%

non-use of Laika, and 97% of Jazz. One would expect that teachers of traditional Greek

music would be more open towards using Rebetika and Laika in the classroom.

However, their attitude towards them is very negative.

In the teachers’ questionnaire they were asked whether we should accept re-creation

and innovations in traditional music or preserve it to maintain it closer to what it was.



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158 Z. Dionyssiou

Answers to this question reported the teachers’ beliefs about innovations in traditional

music as opposed to preservation of it. Of Demotiki music teachers 40% show a

preference for preservation and 39% for creativity and innovation in traditional music,

while 18% favoured both. Of Byzantine music teachers, the great majority (64%) is in

favour of preservative approaches, 29% of both, while only 7% favoured creative ones.

Of Western music teachers 48% show a preference for preservation of traditional music,while the rest are divided between creative approach (27%), no response (10%) and both

(15%).

These numbers suggest that there are different attitudes in the three types of music

teachers towards traditional music. Byzantine teachers in their great majority believe that

traditional music should remain authentic and untouched by innovative approaches. This

might reect their own lack of contact with innovative approaches in Byzantine music

through their own education. Similarly, Western music teachers tend to see traditional

music as a style that should be kept as authentic and unchanged as possible. Demotiki

music teachers are divided exactly in half. The division of Demotiki music teachers intwo groups, those who support preservation and those who support innovation, reects

again their division between those who approach Demotiki through Byzantine and those

who see it as a distinctive musical style.

Teachers’ differing views are clearly reected in pupils’ opinions. An important

consequence of the formalisation of the teaching of traditional music is that many

teachers and pupils have distanced themselves from live music creation. Hence pupils

feel more comfortable in the classroom or the music hall rather than in a ‘ panigyri’,13

which they nd a boring experience.

Pupil 1: I don’t like going there.

Pupil 2: I have been to panigyria sometimes, but I don’t like them very

much.

Researcher: Would you prefer to attend a concert of traditional music or a

panigyri?

Pupil 1: A concert, of course.

Pupil 2: Me too.Researcher: Why?

Pupil 2: Because they are different in quality. The musicians who per-

form in a concert cannot be of the same standard as the

musicians who play music in a panigyri.

Pupil 1: This is not the only reason. Sometimes a traditional musician

who has been brought up learning to play the clarino might play

really nicely! Simply, the whole situation is not attractive. In a

panigyri too many things are taking place, … while in a concert

you expect to listen to something specic and you listen to thisonly. There is not such confusion (as in a panigyri); there is

quietness, you can focus your attention on music.

Pupil 3: I have been in panigyria, but I found nothing attractive there.

Maybe because the people only cared about funfairs, making

jokes, eating, drinking and dancing.

Pupil 2: But still … we cannot forget that this style of music was born in

panigyria and not in concert halls.

Pupil 3: Yes, but panigyria are so different today from what they used to



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be. I didn’t nd any great musicians playing in those I have

attended. I didn’t like them.

(Group of 16–17-year-olds)

Another group of pupils report that they do not agree with creative and innovative

approaches to traditional music. They report that music should be kept as it was.

Researcher: Do you prefer to try to improvise on traditional music, rather

than keeping it as it is?

Pupil 1: I believe that we have to keep it as it is.

Pupil 2: There have been some efforts to modernise traditional music,

but, as we see, the result is not very good.

Pupil 1: If you change it, then it is not traditional music anymore. If we

change it, we will destroy it.

(Group of 14–15-year-olds)

Preservation versus innovation in traditional music is denitely not an easy issue.However, as the interviews have shown, most teachers tend to teach traditional music as

a static tradition instead of giving the students place for creativity and innovations in this

tradition.

From Local Traditions Towards a National Tradition

The tabouras is the compulsory instrument for studying traditional music in most music

schools. Although it can best demonstrate the intervals of Greek musical scales, in some

areas of Greece it does not have any history and stands as an imposed tradition. This maywell have an impact on the teaching of Demotiki music, because a style of such great

variety is taught primarily on one instrument. Additionally, many instruments that

feature in local traditions are not much represented in music schools.

Approximately 30 songs are suggested for teaching as a repertoire for tabouras. Such

suggested content in every subject is a very common aspect of the curriculum in the

centrally controlled educational system of Greece. Therefore, the teachers consider

the suggested repertoire for tabouras as compulsory and gradually these songs are

becoming the basic repertoire of traditional music on the tabouras throughout the

country. This may well be interpreted as a move away from the local repertoire and

locally based folk music creation to a nation-wide repertoire, and towards a national

tradition.

The fact that many teachers of traditional music do not teach in their place of origin

reduces the possibilities for the teaching of local repertoire. Even those who teach in the

place of their origin have usually come across this tradition through scores, records and

‘pan-Hellenic’ repertoire collections; very few teachers learn the tradition through live

experience, and very few were brave enough to report their lack of knowledge of local

repertoire. Pupils who have come in contact with local music in places outside the schoolrealise the difference between the songs they are taught in school and those that are sung

in the community. However, some impediments, such as the high dependence on scores,

hinders them from extending the school repertoire to include more local songs.

Researcher: Tasoula, have you heard in your village songs and pieces that

you have not studied at school?

Pupil 1: Of course … many. There are pieces completely unknown by

most in the school. I think that these songs—the local songs—

will be completely forgotten soon, … because they are unfam-



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160 Z. Dionyssiou

iliar to most. Already in marriages and panygiria and everywhere

they have stopped (being performed). In panygiria you listen to

all the same songs over and over again, which are the same

everywhere: ‘Milo mou kokkino’, ‘Thalassaki mou’ and so on.

Only a few old people, two or three grannies and grandpas in

every village, can sing them.Researcher: When you listen to local songs, the unknown ones, do you like

them?

Pupil 2: Because I haven’t listened to many of those, I am moved. We

listen to the Pan Hellenic ones all the time, and … . I get bored.

Researcher: Would you like to learn some of the local ones at school?

Pupil 1: It is difcult for people to collect them. We would like to learn

them of course, but it’s difcult.

Pupil 2: It would have been nice, but who is going to transcribe them on

a score?(Group of 15-year-old pupils)

The following interview extract reveals a shift towards the national forms of traditional

music, along with the preservative attitude of the pupils. Pupils do not care to approach

the tradition of their area through attending local village fetes ( panigyria); they prefer

attending concerts by folk music groups that are well known throughout the country.

Traditional music for them has left its local-based creation behind, and tends to acquire

a nation-wide character. Thus, the formalisation in the teaching of traditional music leads

pupils to consider it as another xed music style that should remain untouched by

changes and local variations.

Researcher: Do you feel any closer to the music of your area, Thrace?

Pupil 1: Music is not only related to Thrace! (with some negative feeling)

Pupil 2: Well … maybe … sometimes we feel closer to songs from our

area.

Researcher: But you said earlier that you don’t like panigyria. How is it that

you feel closer to the songs of the area?Pupil 2: We don’t go there, why should we? Do you have to go to

panigyria if you like traditional music? There are other places

where you can listen to traditional music.

Researcher: Like where?

Pupil 2: Like ‘Eleftheria’.14

Researcher: Do you mean something like concerts?

Pupil 2: Yes.

Pupil 1: And the concerts we perform ourselves where we play traditional

music.(Group of 13–14-year-olds)

As both extracts show, pupils’ musical taste for the popular and local-based characteris-

tics of Demotiki has changed considerably; they prefer concerts and formal xed music

performances to more live forms of this tradition. Has tradition changed so much in the

contemporary way of life, that attending a concert of traditional music is much preferable

to participating in a village fete? Do these pupils’ attitudes reveal the dramatic changes

that are taking place in traditional music through the way it is taught in school?



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Conclusions

This paper has argued that since the introduction of Greek traditional music in one type

of formal secondary education (the music schools), certain alterations are taking place.

More specically the following changes have been reported:

· traditional music becomes more and more formal; it loses a great deal of itsimprovisatory character and it is used more like a formal xed style: is shown by the

exclusively text-based performance of Byzantine music and the increasing use of

scores in the teaching and performance of Demotiki music;

· it tends to acquire a uniform and national character, with the same songs, instruments

and ways of performing throughout the country;

· concert-like performances of traditional music tend to replace the integration of

playing, singing, and dancing, on which traditional music has been based for centuries;

· music-making in school in terms of Greek traditional music is limited to folk

(Demotiki) and church music (Byzantine) only in their most conservative forms;

· teaching methods for traditional music work in favour of the score-reading technique;

folk music education is becoming text-based, departing from the old ‘learn by

stealing’ or ‘learn by ear’ techniques;

· pupils’ taste for traditional music has changed considerably: they prefer concerts of

traditional music in concert halls than participating in the live forms of this tradition;

· personal involvement and expression of the performer through traditional music are

not encouraged in school: both teachers and pupils tend to limit their performances of

music to the use of scores and rarely feel that they can play an active part inreformulating this tradition through making it more personal.

These features of the formalisation of folk music-making are partly a result of how it is

taught in school. Of course, schools do not have the reputation for facilitating aural

learning, learning through improvisation, or including much ‘authentic music’ in their

curriculum. However, contact with ‘authentic music’ and ‘real musical worlds’ may have

a strong effect upon the attitudes of students towards music in school and the musical

condence of teachers (Swanwick & Lawson, 1999). Also, as Kanellopoulos’s study

(1999) has shown, improvisation can be both a process and a product that willturn classroom music-making into an experience full of thoughtfulness and shared

internationality.

However, the limiting effects of schooling upon traditional music should not be

charged to the school system only. Furthermore, we cannot dismiss the remarkable effort

of music schools to offer pupils the opportunity to study traditional music today. Music

schools are still building their music education prole, and they certainly have a lot to

offer in the teaching and learning of traditional Greek music. The majority of the

traditional music teachers appointed in music schools have come close to this tradition

through their own ways, either through studying it or through their life experience. Theycannot be praised or condemned for any of these. The education of music teachers

characterised by Chrysostomou (1996), as based on a ‘competence-based model of

learning’, results in enhancing teachers’ technical knowledge rather than encouraging

pedagogical considerations on how to teach their subject. Music schools should be aware

of the insufciencies of the education of their music teachers and try to ll in the gaps

with extra education for their music staff. Seminars and educational programmes could

be helpful. The aim should be to help teachers gain the theoretical background they are

lacking and not to offer them ready-made advice. The musical styles taught should



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162 Z. Dionyssiou

continue to be treated individually, but some inter-subject knowledge would be very

effective for teachers of all specialisation as well as pupils.

In this paper, it is not suggested that aural-based ways of learning music should totally

replace text-based music education. It is rather suggested that we should take advantage

of the already-used methods of teaching and learning traditional musics. The introduction

of traditional music in formal education could work as a ne example of investigatingthe aural method of teaching further, and not be seen as a chance to transform folk

music-making into a formal ‘classical’ body of knowledge. It is also suggested that more

attention is needed on local musical traditions and on working on creativity and possible

innovations with reference to these. All musical styles, as well as contemporary Greek

musical creativity, have a lot to gain and to share with the musical traditions of Greece.

NOTES

[1] For Byzantine music see also: Tillyard (1923), Romanou (1985), Dragoumis (1966).

[2] In 1920 the 23% of the populatio n of Greece lived in cities and the 62% in rural areas, while

according to the latest census of 1991, 59% of the population live in cities and 28% in rural areas

(National Statistical Services of Greece).

[3] For Rebetika songs see: Holst (1977), Holst-Warhaft (1998), Gauntlett (1991), and Butterworth &

Schneider (1975).

[4] The modern popular style of Greek songs and music (Laika) is often associated with the bouzouk i

and accompanies modern popular entertainment . Some of its main creators are Kaldaras,

Nikolopoulos, and the singers associated with it: Kazantzidis, S. Dionyssiou, Marinela, Linda, as

well as Metropanos, Sfakianakis, Demetriou, Terzis, who represent the new generation in Laika

songs.[5] The artistic Greek music genre that combines traditional , popular and artistic elements in its sound.

Its main creators are Hatzidakis, Theodorakis , and Xarhakos , while some contemporary composers

continue this style.

[6] My translation.

[7] Papachroni s (Member of the Artistic Committee) (1998) Personal communication .

[8] Some music teachers worked in more than one music school on separate days of the week.

Therefore, the exact number of the music teachers could not be precisely calculated , as the Ministry

of Education holds records of music teachers per school and not an overall number. It is estimated

that the number is between 600 and 700.

[9] The body of musical works composed by Greek composers following the style of the Westernmusic tradition. Some representative s of the style are Kalomiris, Skalkotas, Layrangas,

Konstantinides , etc.

[10] All interviews and questionnair e extracts given in this paper are translated by the researcher .

[11] For writings on methods of teaching and learning in traditiona l Greek music see Papadakis (1983),

Chianis (1966), Mazaraki (1984).

[12] The clarinet used in Greek folk music.

[13] Village fete.

[14] A series of cultural events (concerts of popular singers and groups of traditiona l and modern music,

theatre performances , etc.) taking place in this specic city every summer.

REFERENCES

ANOYIANNAKIS, F. (1979) Greek Popular Musical Instruments (Athens, National Bank of Greece).

BAUD-BOVY, S. (1984) Dokimio gia to Elliniko Tragoudi (Monograph for the Greek Song) (Nauplio,

Pelloponisiak o Laograko Idryma).

BOTTOMLEY, G. & RAFTIS, A. (1984) Shared tasks and communal celebrations in rural Greece: the study

of cultural practices, Journal of Intercultura l Studies, 5, pp. 22–32.

BOUVIER, B. (1960) Demotika Tragoudia apo Heirographo tis Monis Ibiron (Demotiki Songs from

Manuscripts in the Ibiron Monastery) (Athens, Institut Francais D’ Athenes).



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