The Benefits of Music in Teaching Catholic Religious Education in Croatia

Abstract

Music viewed from the real praxis could trigger positive religious emotions as the path of beauty in those searching for the meaning of life or the higher one in God. The article aims to encourage interdisciplinarity in teaching Catholic RE in Croatia, presenting many benefits of music and examples of positive practices that music can encourage in students. The main purpose of this paper, after recognizing the needs and difficulties of interdisciplinary teaching primarily for teachers in Croatia, is to create a model of implementing music content efficiently in Catholic religious education (RE) in Croatia. The research finds the necessity to unite experts from three fields to make interdisciplinary teaching efficient and progressively constructive: religious education pedagogy and music pedagogy combined with music practice itself through professional conductors. Nevertheless, the text seeks to expose an easily applicable model that leads to efficient and progressive interdisciplinary teaching, which is also the main aim of the work. The research is significant as this model could be examined in different subject areas, highlighting that singing in class could encourage religious sensibility and help improve spiritual and religious competencies. The research findings showed that the advantages and specifics of choral singing could be integrated into the religious education curriculum, making RE more dynamic and challenging for students. The research is based on a literature review, a data analysis, as well as participant observation (teacher and conductor) as methods to prove advantages and possibilities of how to implement music into the RE curriculum.

1. Introduction

Observing music in an interdisciplinary context challenges researchers, and the areas of interest are increasingly branching out. Research has found many benefits of music for children from early childhood and throughout education. Some teachers integrate music instruction with other subjects because it creates a positive atmosphere for work and motivates students to absorb more demanding content.

This research aims to find links between the formed choirs and common singing in the class. Studying different singing groups allows us to reveal the benefits of music and its possible integration into teaching Catholic religious education and religious competency acquisition. Using contemporary choral practice and current approaches to a choir in an interdisciplinary context could improve teaching quality and performance.

This work examines the approaches to musical works in Croatian primary and secondary education and differentiates the primary from secondary music goals of learning a particular musical piece. Active involvement in music includes singing or playing. The paper focuses on singing, considering it a primary and broadly applicable musical activity. We highlight examples that clearly show the positive effects of music as an incentive for music content integration into interdisciplinary teaching.

Given that the topic of this paper connects Catholic religious education and music as a possibility to upgrade the initial teaching content, the research results bring some features of the essentiality of music and its impact on an individual’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual states. Implicating the educational, socializing, and integrative role of singing, we investigate the effect of singing on religious sensibility that directly affects religious competencies. This interdisciplinary work will echo the Catholic RE curriculum that deals with significant topics and areas that can trigger other multidisciplinary approaches. A comparison of two different groups (a formed choir and common singing in the class) yields results that can encourage future research on the relationship between Catholic religious education and music.

2. Results

2.1. Music as a Path to Beauty (Via Pulchritudinis1)

2.1.1. The Specificity of Musical Language

Music as art related to a specific moment occupies a special place among other art forms. Musical notation as a form of expression and language has developed through a century-old rationalization of musical parameters. For a deeper understanding of a particular piece of music, in addition to learning the musical language and notation, more detailed scientific and analytical knowledge as well as the study of music (solfeggio, polyphony, harmony, and a formal analysis based on musicological facts) are needed.

Music as a medium is unique because it is closely related to time and its transience, which determines it, thus supporting the claim that it is the most abstract of all arts. Its elusiveness, organized through musical language and notation, and realized through sound, penetrates the various pores of the human being, society, and the world. The teaching of music in Croatia takes place mainly through the system of music schools2; the elementary music school lasts 6 years, and children attend it between the ages of eight and fourteen. An enhanced knowledge of the musical language requires the gradual acquaintance of its features, but music as a medium is compatible with other sciences and arts. Many students attend both secondary music school (high school of music) and grammar school between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. It lasts 4 years and ends with graduation work and a concert. If the students attended regular classes and followed the music school system, they would have completed 10 years of music school by the time they enroll in a music academy. Students are educated in various elements of musical expression, from the basic ones (musical notation) to more complex ones (polyphony, harmony, and musical forms) and musical reproduction (playing and singing), and later, they enroll in a music academy.3 Considering this, it is not rational to burden the teacher of a non-musical subject, such as religious education, with music–academic content in the RE curriculum. However, given the centuries-old relationship between music and Catholic education, and especially in today’s time, when educators seek new teaching strategies, there is a need to integrate content from different disciplines to better master and apply teaching material. Therefore, this research will serve as an incentive for upgrading the privileged dialogue between two disciplines via pulchritudinis, highlighting their individual and joint goals and the benefits of such collaboration.

2.1.2. Singing as a Special Form of Music Making

Music content in teaching Catholic RE refers to listening to music, from pre-schools to secondary schools (Rojko [1996] 2012, p. 71). The purpose of listening to music is to know music and develop musical taste. “One of the methods to increase students’ attention and boost their active listening” (Rojko [1996] 2012, p. 71) consists of some tasks set before the students immediately before listening exercises. They can be musical (determining the form, instruments, and style) or non-musical (related to the text template, the context of the template, symbolism, etc.) and thus closely related to the content of Catholic RE (if it is on a Catholic-based text template).

Depending on the type of performer, performative practice in music is primarily divided into vocal, vocal–instrumental, and instrumental. From the (early) beginnings of music making, it is hard to resist the impression that singing is the first human instrument that has brought people together and bridged cultural, religious, and sociological divisions for centuries. This research starts from the assumption that most children can sing and produce a voice, i.e., a sound, and they like common singing. Children respond to singing with great enthusiasm, and music “has the power of shaping and molding the spiritual dimension of the child.” (Bianco et al. 1999, p. 20). Singing is a phenomenon in various European and world cultures as a form of spontaneous musical expression and learned singing practice. Singing accompanied numerous ancient civilizations, and through different ways of singing and access to the vocal body, it is still present today in different cultures and environments.4 Combining music and poetry into a unique artistic expression, singing has often been associated with religious and spiritual texts since ancient times. Observing singing as an idealized speech, Ivo Lhotka-Kalinski claims that the voice can evoke emotions in the listener more strongly than an instrument (Lhotka-Kalinski 1975, p. 4). It is precisely the synergy of poetry with music that enables singing to be widely used, because the problem of the text and the understanding of the topic of singing is largely connected to (non)musical areas and thus opens up space for more focused communication between different, especially humanistic and artistic, disciplines.

One of the goals of this research refers to the possibilities of listening to music and singing of school-age children in an interdisciplinary teaching process. Children listen to music from their first lullabies throughout their growing up. Today’s practices encourage vocal techniques even at a younger age.5 Given that the target group are children who attend Catholic RE classes and who have not passed additional tests of musical knowledge and skills, we need to point out that, although musical predispositions can help and influence the development of a child’s singing voice, they are not prerequisites for the inclusion of all children in the process of musical expression in class, as a complement to teaching RE. Namely, we refer to different goals encouraged with singing: the primary musical goals that strive to acquire musical-singing and artistic competencies, and the secondary ones connected with the benefits of singing for other scientific disciplines (i.e., Catholic RE in primary school). So, music takes on a functional and educational role because it mediates the implementation of non-musical content in the RE teaching process.

Learning about beauty through music, becoming closer to the spiritual dimensions of the word that has been set to music, and active participation (with one’s voice) in the singing of various spiritual and liturgical contents that nurture and shape composers’ inspiration for centuries are just some of the functional–educational goals that are encouraged with the interdisciplinary nature of religious education and music teaching. By setting the sacred texts to music, a composer adds nobility and service to the word, which nourishes spirituality. The centuries of spiritual music tradition in Croatia have enriched musical culture, maintained fundamental musical practices, and brought the aesthetics of its time. Spiritual music is a powerful educational tool for developing children’s sense of beauty and the refinement of artistic approaches. Having a good ear for beauty also affects spiritual levels and enables an understanding of more abstract religious content in the Catholic RE curriculum.

2.1.3. Choral Singing

What Is Choral Singing?

Choral singing, in principle, includes several singers who simultaneously perform a selected piece of music, which can be of different genres: classical, pop, gospel, traditional (ethno), or specific for a musical period (Medieval–Gregorian chant, Renaissance, Baroque, classical, Romantic, and 20th/21st century). A choir is a singing body that includes singers, a conductor, and other organizational factors that accompany the work of such a body (organization of space for choir rehearsals and planning of concerts, competitions, choir trips, and other activities). While solo singing can develop numerous benefits in individuals and bring them closer to the musical language and artistic–intellectual reflections and understandings of a musical style, time, and context, this work highlights the various benefits of singing together, for a singing group and individuals—all to apply such an approach to interdisciplinary teaching.

Through physical preparations, the singers train to be ready and fit to meet the vocal and technical demands of the upcoming public performance. Mental readiness includes rest, concentration, and poise. In many cases, such practice affects the development of self-confidence in public performances, the skill to react quickly, and determination in shaping own opinions, desires, and attitudes (cf. Bonshor 2014, pp. 52–56). Choral singing has a social dimension6 as it not only draws young people away from “forbidden” spaces but also gives them the impetus for a new reality, where a positive way of thinking develops through the approach to art and artistic and vocal–technical growth. Singing shapes and changes attitudes, bringing them together even after choir rehearsals.7

Choral singing as a phenomenon, observed from the singer’s point of view, also brings non-musical benefits, of which the singers particularly emphasize socializing and making friends.8^,9 In the annual surveys of the author’s work with a choir, singers in most cases emphasized the atmosphere at rehearsals and a human factor (good company, pleasant interlocutors, humor, and hanging out after the choir rehearsal) as more important or at least as important as the choice of repertoire and musical-artistic achievement.10 Considering that it is an amateur choir with very different profiles of singers, many of whom do not have obvious common interests, through the choir and singing, they are very connected and build common empathy, attitudes, and even moods.

The Benefits of Active Music as an Incentive for the Integration of the Musical Content in Teaching Catholic RE

Due to its wide application and integrative role, we can observe music from the perspective of other scientific disciplines (neuroscience, otorhinolaryngology (cf. Clarós et al. 2019), speech therapy, psychology, and medical humanities, among others). Knowledge about music based on interdisciplinary research can encourage the application of musical content in teaching processes unrelated to music. By actively participating in music and singing songs together in class, children not only remember the text and specific content they need to learn but also create dialogue through music, creating a sense of belonging and togetherness in the class, along with numerous other benefits that are immediately acquired: they develop an aesthetic sense; are refined with music works that promote musical and artistic values; and create a strong bond of art and the Catholic faith, related to the teaching content. The educational role of music can, in the long term, influence the creation of students’ attitudes and thinking based on the spiritual–musical outcomes presented to them.

Music can complement the RE content, create a positive atmosphere for work, and motivate students to learn more demanding content. Singing together can provide numerous benefits through education, from the children’s first days to throughout their schooling and growing up. When examining musical genesis, it is worth indicating the connection between language and music as sung words. Starting from the claim that singing developed from language, the Canadian scientist Bryan Levman opens up the possibility that music and language, although diverging in their present form, developed through a similar process, i.e., from the human need for expression (cf. Levman 1992, p. 147). In recent decades, various scientific disciplines have involved research on the impact of singing on human health. This kind of research is nothing new because even in Plato’s time, artists and scientists were amazed by the power of music, while Levman, speaking about musical origins, points out “Music has been important to humankind in all ages in all cultures“ (Levman 2000, p. 186). Guided by the idea that the first words spontaneously imitated the environment or psychological state, i.e., emotional expression, he also speculates about the primacy of language and music: “The first language was sung, not spoken“ (Levman 1992). Greek philosophy discusses the various effects of music on body chemistry and subjective feelings, expressing an awareness of the therapeutic effects of music.

The experience of working with a choir can prove that singers build self-awareness, self-esteem, confidence in performance and their abilities, and empathy for a choir colleague who, for example, is not doing well or needs a little more time to master a musical goal. Also, empathic feelings that initially develop through music, often with strangers participating in the same choir rehearsal, grow to a human level, and members later approach each other more easily, enter into communication, travel together, and accept differences in the group. We can apply the mentioned features to a class because children who happen to be in the same classroom are usually strangers with different upbringings, habits, and preferences but manage to build relationships with each other over time. Since the 1940s, interdisciplinary humanities researchers, especially medical humanities, have been conducting numerous studies based on care for human health as a preventive measure, finding a source of creative ideas in diagnostics and solutions to medical problems in building a bridge between medicine and art (Nemoy 2016, p. 8). Work with singers has revealed that active engagement in music and singing helps in the development of human qualities such as feelings of empathy and compassion. Downie (1994) states that the common feature of healing and art is morality. Making music overwhelms us both physically and emotionally. Downie claims that this involvement in music creation makes us aware of our (health) difficulties, i.e., it develops the possibility of identifying with others who suffer. The peculiarity of singing, besides musical knowledge and skill acquisition, has additional value if we consider community music as socialized music that includes identity, heritage, group solidarity, healing, bonding, celebration, and other benefits (Avery et al. 2013, p. 2).

In addition to humanistic medical sciences that include art in their research, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany studied the correlation of cardio-respiratory synchronization in locally coordinated activities. They recorded the highest synchronization among singers who sang in unison under a conductor. Singers singing in unison, similar or the same parts, demonstrated more simultaneous heart rates than the choir. The combination of higher frequencies showed higher synchrony than the lower ones (i.e., deeper voices) (Müller and Lindenberger 2011). Furthermore, a study from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden proved the coupling of heart rate variability to respiration in music structure, and unison singing showed the highest synchrony of the singers’ hearts (Vickhoff et al. 2013).

While neuroscience studies the impact of joint singing on people who have experienced a heart attack and its benefits on patients with Parkinson’s disease, psychology investigates its effects on secretory immunoglobulin A (s-IgA), cortisol, and emotional states in choral singers and on the wellbeing of older adults who suffer from depression and preservation of voice quality (Kreutz et al. 2004). Otorhinolaryngologists investigate the impact of singing in a children’s choir on the reduced development of vocal difficulties in children. Interdisciplinary research within behavioral medicine recognizes the positive effects of music on a person’s immunity and emotional stability.

The above examples are just some of the wide ranges of scientific disciplines that study the benefits of music, especially choral singing, on the physical and mental health of people of different ages. We did not evaluate the artistic levels of this kind of musical activity but rather its functionality and convenience as a medium for interdisciplinary application, the broad application of music, and especially active participation in music making. So, this study serves as an incentive for its application in the teaching of Catholic religious education.

2.2. Music and Catholic Religious Education in the Interdisciplinary Teaching Process

2.2.1. Music Integrated into the Catholic RE Curriculum

The Catholic RE curriculum for primary and secondary schools, approved by the Ministry of Science and Education in 2019, deals with the relationship between music and religious education in two ways: through the content and recommendations for the adoption of educational outcomes, foreseen for some classes and some musical expressions, such as, for example, the familiarity with songs from Taize, or the research of the Croatian passion heritage (cf. Catholic Religious Education Curriculum 2019, p. 96). Other forms are cross-curricular topics and other subjects, including musical culture. The relationship between the subject of musical culture and the Catholic RE for primary and secondary schools realizes in a song as a way in which the students express their love for God (B domain) (Catholic Religious Education Curriculum 2019, p. 115). The RE Curriculum suggests that students sing Advent and Christmas carols and other spiritual chants throughout all years of religious education, achieving the B and C domain outcomes in the subject of musical culture. The discovery of Christian motifs and the influence of Christianity on Croatian society and Croatian culture in musical art and tradition also connect the two subjects (Catholic Religious Education Curriculum 2019, p. 115).

In this way, by directly referring to the contents of the musical culture subject, the RE curriculum supports their integration, especially Croatian musical heritage and tradition. However, it needs not to remain closed in tradition and heritage. It suggests the singing of contemporary spiritual songs and those sung in the ecumenical community of Taize. Young people love singing them, as evidenced by the many Taize groups in Croatia, prayer gatherings, and world youth meetings. By proposing familiarization with spiritual songs of the recent time, RE curriculum opens the door to aggiornamento, i.e., internal spiritual renewal, which manifests in the founding of many bands, and organizing many concerts of spiritual music in Croatia. One of these concerts is Look Through the Heart, which takes place once a year and gathers around 50,000 young people from Croatia who sing modern spiritual songs the whole night, pray, worship, and celebrate faith together, expanding their religious competencies.

2.2.2. Religious Competencies That Music Expands

F. E. Weinert defines competence as the ability to meet individual or social demands or to carry out an activity or task successfully. It also refers to combinations of those cognitive, motivational, moral, and social skills available to (or potentially learnable by) a person or a social group that underlie the successful mastery through appropriate understanding and actions of a range of demands, tasks, problems, and goals. Competence also implies willingness and readiness to apply these skills responsibly in various contexts (cf. Weinert 1999; cited after Garmaz 2012, p. 440). Competences include appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Among the essential competencies that should guide educational systems, some do not belong to the content of any particular subject but should be encouraged through all classes (e.g., social or learning skills) and the so-called cross-curricular goals: critical thinking, creativity, initiative, problem solving, risk assessment, decision making, and constructive emotional management (Garmaz 2012, p. 431).

Religious competence (cf. Garmaz 2012, pp. 427–51) according to U. Hemel highlights different dimensions of religiosity: religious sensitivity (the affective dimension of religiosity is fundamental); religious content (the cognitive dimension of religiosity is, e.g., documented using the Creed, or in the basic knowledge of biblical texts and church historical developments); religious behavior (the pragmatic dimension of religiosity is, e.g., displayed in rites and prayers, as well as in community and humanitarian activities); religious communication (the basis for this communicative dimension is a religious vocabulary and a religious grammar, to be able to, e.g., articulate one’s religious feelings and attitudes, the religious dialogue with different denominations, religions, and world views); and a religiously motivated lifestyle (a special dimension of religiosity that encompasses all other dimensions). Hemel also believes that religious competence can be encouraged in the learning process, through methodical guidance that religious education especially develops and nurtures (cf. Hemel 1988, pp. 675–90; cited after Garmaz 2012, p. 444).

The interdisciplinary study of religious education and musical culture offers many opportunities for expanding religious competencies, especially in the dimension of religious sensibility, religious content, religious communication, and religious shaping of life. Singing different music pieces and musical content acquisition encourage religious sensibility, communication, imagination, emotions, and life-shaping inspired by beauty (via pulchritudinis) and lead to life betterment.

2.2.3. Interdisciplinary Teaching Process

Secondary sources, mainly numerous drawings and records, testify to the importance of music to humanity throughout all times and cultures. The Old Testament book of Job gives us an account of singing as “all stars of the morning were singing with joy, and the sons of God in chorus were chaning praise” (Job 38:7). Joshua mentions the sound of trumpets: when the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed, so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city (Jos 6:20). In (2 Sam 6:5), we find mentions of many instruments. Considering the strong influence of Christianity on music and music making throughout the centuries in Croatia and Europe, but also considering that the artistic and cultural heritage based on Christian inspiration nurtured numerous generations, the integration of some works from the rich musical legacy into the teaching content for some classes would expand teaching opportunities. It would also encourage listening and performance of art created on the pillars of the Christian word, and would generally affect the introduction, presentation, and reproduction of sacred and religious art.

Although it is clear that music as a medium can complement the RE content, knowing how to apply such an approach in Croatian schools is still vague. Catholic religious education teachers are aware of possibilities and the growing need for introducing new learning materials to students but do not always find the incentive to use such content in class. The reason for this is the more systematic preparation of students and the provision of available materials that would save their preparation time.

Interdisciplinary teaching is a challenging process due to the limited time for its implementation, student engagement, speed and access to students’ singing in class and creating closeness with music, and interdisciplinary learning outcomes. The uniqueness of different types of knowledge in recent decades has increasingly occupied researchers. They grounded their modernized approaches to teaching on the Platonic idea of harmonic unity in which music plays a significant role due to its distinct interdisciplinary nature. Based on research conducted in Cyprus, a preschool teacher and two researchers organized six half-hour workshops for preschool children for 2 weeks (two per week). As suggested in the early childhood curriculum, in addition to musical content and physical education, the workshops included the creation of graphic schemes after music listening. Children managed to master essential musical concepts of harmony (high and deep harmony) and tempo in a short period, demonstrating their understanding of music content in different ways (graphically drawing or physically moving pillows) (Economidou Stavrou et al. 2011). The interdisciplinary aspect of music workshops facilitated the understanding of abstract musical concepts in the preschool class. The possibility to express their content understanding in different (non-musical) ways supports interdisciplinarity and open teaching.

Preparation for the Introduction of Musical Content in Teaching Catholic RE

We highlighted some benefits that can motivate teachers to integrate musical content into teaching Catholic RE. However, there are also some obstacles in choosing music content and an approach to it. To make interdisciplinarity successful, the cooperation between the teacher of Catholic RE and the music pedagogue is a prerequisite. We propose collaboration between an active professional musician and an experienced conductor who can assess, encourage, and develop musicians to perform as best as possible. This kind of cooperation can result in clear and efficient guidelines for the development of an interdisciplinary process, make it easier for teachers of Catholic RE to use music in class, and create a positive attitude in children towards the described teaching process, music, and the content covered in the Catholic RE curriculum.

To reach interdisciplinary teaching goals, in addition to preparing musical content for teachers, we propose creating a suitable atmosphere and preparing students for such a process.11 Expecting students to cooperate and engage in new content unrelated to the subject can cause strong rejection and discomfort. We propose to teach them how to listen to music or sing freely without developing feelings of disinterest and reluctance. To efficiently implement interdisciplinary teaching, it is essential to create an impression of acceptance for musical expression among students. Uninhibited expression through music or unhindered singing is often a trigger for creating a sense of community (cf. Hullam 2015, vol. 15, pp. 85–88), confirmed through practice with amateur choirs. Regardless of the quality of the sound of such singing (because the focus here is not the acquisition of musical skills and abilities but the functional and educational role of music), students should feel equal and assured that they will not be ridiculed or mocked because of their musical weaknesses and insecurities. The development of self-confidence12, free movement within the musical language, and the breaking down of original, innate, or developed barriers to musical expression are primarily the responsibility of professional musicians who can recognize, quickly analyze, and eliminate such difficulties, all to bring students closer to music and vice versa.13^,14

Furthermore, the textual template of musical examples15 should meet clear quality criteria and correspond to the age of students and RE curriculum content. It is desirable that the textual template of the musical example, which will complete the teaching, sensitizes the catechetical–theological attitudes about true beauty, inviting teachers and students to delve into its deeper meanings and symbolism. We propose to observe an entire piece of music and its authentic beauty that resists (especially today) the challenges of kitsch and artificiality. Connecting beauty with the truth and magnificence of artistic creation, the languages of Christian musical art, through selected musical works with contemporary approaches to their application, can bring stakeholders closer to true beauty and bring them to different spiritual dimensions of refinement and spiritual fulfilment.

Adding musical content in RE class refers to listening to music and singing as other activities would create a counter-effect and reluctance among students because not all of them come with the same musical incentives, predispositions, and awareness of music making. Although some students naturally develop their musical and technical abilities, others achieve it through schooling (in any form). There are also situations in which students do not have the opportunity to improve their predispositions. Accordingly, many students may not initially feel comfortable if the teacher insists on singing, especially without prior preparation. Amateur singers who start singing in a choir feel discomfort, anxiety, and difficulty accepting that they can achieve great results with their voices. With proper practice, but also in cooperation with other singers, negative feelings and inhibition in singing eventually grow into self-confidence, affirmation, and self-awareness, but they also develop a sense of empathy towards other choir colleagues who face similar singing challenges. Preschool children in Croatia (5–6 years old) show similar discomfort when singing as the first graders of music school (7–9 years old). The cause of such a feeling can be the underdevelopment of the singing apparatus, ignorance of how to use it, and different psychological barriers hindering individuals’ singing development. If the teacher does not recognize individual children’s weaknesses in singing, the same discomfort may follow them for many years. Involving all (or even most) students in active participation in the religious–musical part of a lesson is certainly one of the primary goals and approaches to developing a positive opinion about the interdisciplinary teaching process. Discomfort, distance, and skepticism of students towards active singing in the class can reduce singing activities, an opportunity for such expression, and finally development of their musical skills or predispositions. The question is whether such emotional states are the focus of recent research in Croatia and to what extent? Why do we lack more systematic and efficient models of teaching children to sing, which have been active in (professional) choral practice for decades?

We contrasted amateur choir singing (a group of uneducated or partially trained singers) to the singing of elementary school students (not tested in musical knowledge and vocal techniques) to identify their similar obstacles. We can apply the existing models from contemporary choral practice to the student population to foster their inclusivity in teaching RE.16 In the following subsection, we propose how it would be possible to create conditions for interdisciplinary classes in today’s Croatian education system.

2.3. Instead of a Conclusion

Awareness of the many benefits that come from listening, and especially playing music, is one of the motivations for conducting this research. Music defined through sound and shaped using musical language, with its specific parameters, has since long encouraged researchers to look at its possibilities and contributions to numerous civilizations, both throughout history and in relation to today’s challenges. This kind of research has recently become more frequent in medical and therapeutic research, including education studies. The task of this research was to single out the benefits of active music, especially singing, so that the numerous benefits of such an activity could be applied in the classroom.

Analyzing the Catholic RE curriculum, it is evident that it encourages interdisciplinarity, and countless musical literature based on Catholic spiritual and religious texts testifies about it. Referring to religious competencies, it becomes clear that the relationship between religious education and music is not questionable per se, but its application requires a further analysis to achieve the desired goals. The musical content has not been the focus of interdisciplinary research so far, not in the way to facilitate the teaching of Catholic RE supplemented with music content.

We investigated possible ways of implementing the interdisciplinary teaching process, focusing on two work groups, apparently distant, but observed through the prism of joint singing: a class and an amateur choir. We highlighted the similarities between classroom singing (without singing criteria) and choir singing, whose members passed an audition. We observed many similarities between those groups, which suggested applying proven methods of contemporary choral practice. Actually, to avoid improvisation while teaching RE with musical content added, we observed inconsistency and discomfort among students, as they were not prepared for the new study model. As from the experience of the conductor, it is possible to make a line between scholars being unprepared to make music in the RE class and (not very experienced) singers entering the amateur choir. While very similar uneasiness in the choir is alleviated and further removed, in the classroom, we mostly miss that step. When children are not responding to the teacher’s musical demands, it is hard to improvise and obtain the results from it while not holding the whole set of tools that are used in the conductor’s everyday practice. Therefore, when we observed some issues in the class and linked them with amateur choir singing, we began to be aware that a conductor’s education is necessary to get the preparation for interdisciplinarity done while avoiding improvisation from the RE teachers. Actually, a conductor’s “ice breaking” tools and skills are very vivid nowadays in practice; therefore, we would like to encourage the use of proven skills to make the whole interdisciplinary process more compelling and inviting. Nevertheless, the constructive, proven, and easy-to-use methods that could help children to be involved in interdisciplinary teaching, especially singing, already exist in the field of modern conducting. It is important to emphasize that this kind of interdisciplinary teaching does not have exclusively musical and artistic goals in which students would learn concepts of musical culture and musical literacy. We assume that carefully selected musical works can improve teaching RE content and encourage the possibility of creating a positive working atmosphere, socialization, and inclusivity in the class. As a widely applicable medium, music supplements the teaching content and has numerous benefits for students.

The teachers of Catholic religious education can expand the teaching content and their performance possibilities through dialogue and discussions with students (singers) about valuable musical works. However, students’ preparation for interdisciplinary teaching is essential to ensure their involvement and active engagement. It implies the cooperation between the Catholic RE teacher and the music culture/music theory teacher or the (professional) conductor. The benefits of this kind of cooperation can create joyful student participation in singing selected songs that enrich the Catholic RE curriculum, and such collaboration can trigger interdisciplinary teaching of other subjects. The goal is to teach children, using fast and effective modern methods, how they can be involved in the class singing, regardless of their musical predispositions, and to encourage the development of the basic principles of music making. This approach aims to provide the prerequisites for the successful interdisciplinary process and to create positive effects of music making and participation in such classes.

Musical content that can refine children’s aesthetics and supplement the religious education curriculum should be carefully selected because it is reading material for young listeners/performers. It should be a high-quality text template expressing musical and artistic values, referring to the teaching material and corresponding to the appropriate age of students.17 Examples of valuable musical works can enrich the subject and promote dialogue through art and artistic beauty. Musical works of early and contemporary composers can directly influence the mastering of religious topics and a better understanding of abstract concepts and shaping of catechetical–theological attitudes about true beauty.

3. Discussion

Singing in a choir has long been a source of many benefits for children, and this research aims to draw attention to them and offer some examples that can serve for a simpler and broader use of music in teaching religious education in Croatian primary schools. Although the literature on this topic, especially in Croatia, does not provide many sources, this work highlights the importance of collaboration between religious education teachers and music culture teachers or practical musicians, especially conductors.

The Catholic RE curriculum encourages interdisciplinarity, but there has been no systematic use of musical content in religious education classes, and music content is used arbitrarily, according to the teacher’s preferences. This work aims to find the most effective model according to which music can be part of the Catholic RE curriculum within the framework of the Croatian education system and to create motivation for both students and teachers to apply musical content. The use of additional literature, by which we mean mainly the selection of musical examples and encouraging students to sing in class, can initially create resistance because teachers are faced with the great challenge of entering the area of the musical profession, which is not their primary profession, but also requires a lot of time for preparation. Therefore, this research aims to encourage, facilitate, and create conditions for teachers’ use of musical content in teaching Catholic RE, proposing a new and efficient interdisciplinary approach.

Based on previous knowledge about the interdisciplinary nature of teaching Catholic RE, the work aims to encourage cooperation with professional musicians, primarily teachers of music pedagogy and music theory, but also practical musicians or conductors who can effectively apply age-appropriate teaching methods and musical tools to facilitate and speed up the interdisciplinary teaching. Although music pedagogy teachers work with children’s choirs in elementary schools, conductors can offer a different approach to music and abstract music concepts, thus creating conditions for interdisciplinarity. Based on the experience of working in music schools (from pre-school age and primary and secondary music education to an academy), with different age groups in choirs, but also with cultural and artistic societies whose members sing and dance at the same time, without musical knowledge and skills testing, the authors propose two main steps for the implementation of interdisciplinary teaching.

The first step includes preparation for an interdisciplinary teaching process with musical content through extracurricular workshops, in which, for example, second-graders (aged seven or eight years) would have several hours during the year18 with a professional conductor who, based on vocal conductor training, can effectively provide children with opportunities for music development, regardless of their initial predispositions.

Through just a few hours of playing music and musical activities, students would obtain the basics of practicality, performing music education, which they can easily use in the practice of other subjects and interdisciplinary teaching. This kind of direct encounter with music can encourage and release many hidden predispositions in students, which they may not show in formal classes, as evidenced with the Orff Schulwerk approach that promotes students’ active practice of music, regardless of their musical talent and predispositions, and all to awaken the artistic potential in each individual, and offering every student a context in which such potential can be exercised or developed (cf. Johnson 2006, pp. 1–6). Students can participate in singing workshops in an extracurricular program, regardless of musical competence. Students who already have a positive feeling towards singing will more easily join singing in Catholic RE classes. Creating the foundations for musical expression and learning songs outside the lessons will enable students to react better to the additional music content introduced through singing.

The second step includes writing a handbook that involves RE teachers and music theorists, i.e., experienced music pedagogues. Conductors can suggest repertoire, appropriate, and artistically valuable examples based on their expertise and broad knowledge of musical literature. With a joint contribution, a handbook can unify topics from the Catholic RE curriculum and adequate musical works. Such an interdisciplinary religious-based music manual can facilitate the integration of music content in the teaching of Catholic RE.19 The manual would contain examples that students can listen to with a specific goal and those they can (learn to) sing.20 It would offer ready-made schemes that teachers of Catholic RE can implement in classes. The teachers would use it as additional content, which can trigger other ideas and incentives. The manual directly affects the motivation of teachers to implement musical content, offering tools and clear instructions, goals, and outcomes for using some examples in mastering specific teaching content. A manual can help teachers of Catholic RE to overcome the first barriers in contact with music, which is not the primary goal of the subject. Acquaintance with selected musical works can enrich general knowledge and students’ sense of beauty and complement the spiritual content of teaching units. The described content could help students master abstract concepts and experience the non-verbal benefits of music. Even in a minimal percentage, music works can complement, refresh, and offer students new dimensions of understanding religious content. For the contents of religious education and music to gain their desired value and create prerequisites for achieving teaching goals, conditions for their adequate application are essential.

Music can make the interdisciplinary process flexible and integrated into the general education system through several steps. Future research will investigate the demands for interdisciplinary teaching as the modern education approach, its advantages, and its impact on understanding abstract content and shaping moral, spiritual, and aesthetic values as essential elements of educational unity.

4. Materials and Methods

We used an analysis method to deal with the specific benefits of actively playing music through singing. We analyzed psychological–sociological factors that directly develop through singing in a choir and reference literature, which we complemented with the authors’ experiential practice of conducting and artistic leadership of choirs, orchestras, and different types of ensembles (from amateur to professional, more than 15 years of experience). The comparative method indicated the approaches that can be used in choral-singing practice in elementary school classes as proven examples easily applied in the teaching process. The synthesis method in this research combines catechetical–religious and pedagogical knowledge with musical–theoretical knowledge. The main contribution of this work is the proposed model for an interdisciplinary teaching process based on contemporary professional choral –conductor practice and synthesis of humanistic disciplines.

Based on detected phenomena, problems, and benefits, the synthesis method yields conclusions about the similarities of working groups (an amateur choir and students in one grade of elementary school). Such comparison resulted in the need for broader use of existing approaches from professional choral–conductor practice and their application in interdisciplinary Catholic RE. Namely, modern, fast, proven, and efficient approaches, with an experienced conductor, can show visible progress in interdisciplinary teaching in just a few hours. The proposed interdisciplinary approach is novelty applicable to the Croatian general education system. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first approach that considers the importance of preparing an interdisciplinary process and meeting the demands of modernity and the challenges of today’s teaching by applying practical methods from professional musical performance practices in teaching Catholic RE.

5. Conclusions

Integrating musical content into the teaching of Catholic RE, or generally in interdisciplinary teaching, has numerous advantages that, on the one hand, can provide a teacher with broader opportunities to present certain content, and on the other hand, music as a medium can easily reach students and influence their psycho-physical, but also emotional and spiritual, states. It might be pretentious to build layers of understanding of musical material in a limited time, but the musical part of the lesson can be compelling for students. With this research, we want to encourage interdisciplinarity in teaching Catholic RE in Croatia, presenting many benefits of music and examples of positive practices that music can encourage in students. Recent literature deals with the beneficial role of music in health prevention and therapeutic purposes. We propose an interdisciplinary approach that integrates musical content into teaching RE in Croatia, based on cooperation between Catholic religious education teachers and music pedagogues/theoreticians and practical musician–conductors.