Polyaesthetic Education in Slovakia after 1990 – Resources, Concepts, and Prominent Figures (Juraj Hatrík)

Abstract

The present study chronologically surveys innovative processes in aesthetic education and the impact of music educators who, after the political and cultural changes in Slovakia in 1989, embarked on the path of developing the concept of polyaesthetic education in line with the ideas of its founder, Wolfgang Roscher, and those of the Salzburg School (Mozarteum), Austria. The aim of the study is to clarify how the ideas of 1990s’ polyaesthetic education were applied to the aesthetic education subjects, primarily music education. Theoretical foundations, their adaptation to the Slovak educational environment, and analytical insights into Juraj Hatrík’s (1941–2021) creative work advancing the theory and practice of polyaesthetic education are presented in the section on his projects and music workshops. Hatrík’s projects, due to their originality and authentic affinity to a child’s spiritual world, managed to abandon the space of integrative music pedagogy and consistently followed the principles of polyaesthesis.