The teacher who teaches life lessons through music. Her students are evaluated in the Voice of Romania style

Antoaneta Luchian challenges her students to push their limits in music class, but also in the debating club she created, and the results are extraordinary. Children learn to play an instrument, but also with their voice, overcome their fear of public speaking and express their ideas clearly.

Antoaneta Luchian, professor of Music Education at the National College of Iasi and the National College “Costache Negruzzi” of Iasi, was designated a Merito teacher in 2023 for the way she uses music to teach her students to be patient, persevere and overcome their constantly the limits.

However, music was not her first choice. She did competitive gymnastics until the 4th grade, when she broke her hand and had to quit. “There was constant music playing in our house. I had gone from a very strict schedule to a freely chosen one, so to speak. My mother then directed me to music”Antoaneta told “Adevărul” how it all started.

She learned to play the flute, an instrument in which she was an Olympian (silver medal in the twelfth grade) at the Art High School in Buzău, but failed to enter the Bucharest National University of Arts. Somewhat surprisingly, he enrolled at the Faculty of Horticulture and does not regret his decision even today.

“I pushed my limits and realized that I can do anything if I set my mind to it“, Antoaneta explains her choice. He realized then that music is the field in which he performs, and the following year he enrolled at the Faculty of Composition, Musicology, Musical Pedagogy and Theater in Iasi, where he specialized in musicology – the scientific study of music.

This was after, for a year, he had been a substitute teacher in a school and understood that this is what he actually wanted to do, although he had initially set out with the idea of ​​becoming a soloist-instrumentalist in an orchestra. “I realized how cool it is to be a teacher and, above all, that you can change a person's destiny”, says the teacher with emotion.

Rigor, work and self-evaluation

In 2010, Antoaneta was on an experience exchange in Great Britain and found that they have a different teaching style. The music teachers there do not tell the students about the artists' lives, but sing their songs together.

“I was shocked, because both in college and in teaching practice classes, I learned that 30% of the class activity must be the musical audition. I was amazed to learn that the students are not even told about Bach and Beethoven, they play Bach and Beethoven on different instruments. It seemed to me something impossible to have 30 students in a class and teach them to play an instrument”, was the teacher's revelation.

Back home, she challenged her students to learn to play an instrument. He chose the blockflöte, a type of flute relatively easy to learn and affordable. Her intention is not for students to perform, but to understand the mechanisms behind performance. He tried it with a class of 5th graders, and at first he remembers it was terrifying to listen to dozens of kids practicing the flute.

“It was a brave gesture and I don't regret it. I think this is the solution to understanding music. It's about rigor, work, patience, self-evaluation and pushing the limits. They are skills that are not taught in school, but which are indispensable in real life”, says Antoinette.

Presentation of rap music in the style of silent film

He tries to get the students to understand the lesson 80% of the class, explains as many times as needed and, if he doesn't succeed, asks a colleague to clarify the one who didn't understand the lesson well. “New students also happen to come to the class. Then I ask a student to become a teacher, and if his colleague manages to recover, I give them both a ten”explains the teacher.

Use the same method in the case of theoretical notions that are not very clear for children. He also often calls on apps, role-playing games, karaoke, vocalize or video lessons that he uploads from YouTube.

“Many think that only Mozart and Beethoven are listened to in music class. Yes, they listen, but they also listen to music from corners of the world that we cannot physically access any time soon”,
let the teacher score.

And the tests are different. Antoaneta informs her students about the date when they will support them and even do simulations.

For example, to present in a 30-second video the favorite artist or music genre. Students show extraordinary creativity, as was the case with one child who had a presentation of rap music in the style of a silent film.

Rating as a show

The singing evaluation is, in fact, a show in the style of Vocea României. In one semester they sing what the students want, a verse, a stanza, with the text in front, without a negative, and in the other they sing a fragment of a musical genre imposed by the teacher.

“I want them to overcome their fear of exposing themselves in public. After the first experience of this kind they realize that they have very beautiful voices, and over the years I observe how they hone their repertoires and choose the right songs for their voice. It's very cool”, says the teacher.

Emphasize seriousness equally. Once in front of the class, the students must sing without grimacing or laughing, a rule also valid for their classmates who are listening. Those who do not comply get a grade two, as do those who refuse to sing.

“In the classroom we need to create a safe space, a comfort zone and it is necessary to understand that we are not there to laugh at our colleagues, but to overcome our personal limits”, points the teacher.

Choir for students who like to sing

In 2008 she started a choir for students in her class who like to sing. The main selection criterion is seriousness. “The contemporary repertoire is so vast that there are pieces for those with a more expressive voice and for those who don't really have a voice. There is room for everyone. The important thing is to come and sing with pleasure”, says Antoinette.

He motivated his students so well that, in 2016, for Christmas, they sang on stage with the National Madrigal Choir, at the Romanian Athenaeum and on the stage of the National Theatre. In 2018, they took fourth place at the National Choral Olympiad and participated in unique events, such as Cantus Mundi Fest, where they sang with the band Vank or artists such as Irina Rimes.

“It was amazing and the children were very happy to be part of this project. I don't select the children, I accept them all, and all these things were a validation that what I'm doing, I'm doing well and that it's possible”, says the teacher.

Referee at the national debating olympiads

He founded the “Speak Out” debate club at the National College of Iași. Debate”, in 2018, at the request of some students from the choir and is now a judge at the national debate Olympiads and the national team.

It all started after he participated in a demo debate at the invitation of a colleague, and because he liked it so much, he then went to international online trainings and competitions in Croatia, France, Korea and Malaysia.

“You can see how the child transforms, from a student who cannot articulate three sentences about himself, to one who can talk at any time about any subject for or against. It's extraordinary”, the teacher explains the evolution of the children participating in the debates.

They overcome their fear of public speaking, manage to organize their thoughts and present them in a coherent form, and document themselves in areas they do not study in school.

Also out of curiosity, Antoaneta Luchian enrolled in a robotics course organized by the European Space Agency, being, moreover, the only music teacher in their history.

ANTOANETA LUCHIAN PHOTO GALLERY

She now aims to buy an Arduino board and, through programming, make it easier to teach students how sound works.

Together with her sister, Ana Maria Rusu, who was also appointed Merito teacher in 2018, and two other music teachers, she created in the pandemic edumuzicala.ro, an educational platform that focuses on interdisciplinary lessons and on subjects that are not found in school curriculum, such as film music, musical culture of the 20th century, music of the peoples of the world.

“I want to stop hearing comments like that or . When I leave the school benches, I want my students to be curious, respectful of other cultures and other people's preferences“, is Antoaneta Luchian's desire for the children she teaches what music means, but also to sing with her voice or an instrument.