My Academic Advisor Natalia Sergeevna Gulyanitskaya

The article describes the academic legacy of Natalia Sergeyevna Gulyanitskaya – Doctor of Art History and Professor, who for thirty years has headed the Department of Harmony and Solfeggio (currently – Music Theory) of the Gnesin State Musical and Pedagogical Institute / Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. The author of the article is her student who wrote his thesis and dissertation under her supervision. The article is written in the genre of selective reminiscences about the brightest moments of communication with the academic advisor. It touches upon significant events (namely, the defense of the author’s doctoral dissertation in September 1987), their interpretation in a historical perspective (an innovative theme related to the concept of “contemporary harmony”), as well as scholarly and pedagogical approaches in the musicologist’s course of lectures and the author’s individual lessons with her. Particularly highlighted is the complexity of the subject for the students of the generation of the 1970s – 1980s, distinctly different from the established school harmony course, which, nonetheless, has aroused great interest and stimulated research activity among music scholars. All of this in total is aimed at comprehending not only the teacher-student relationship, but also the issue of the initial formation of a musicologist. What presents to be of paramount importance here? The instruction of basic materials, such like finding previously inaccessible musical repertoire or academic sources? Exposure to the methodology of the humanitarian disciplines and the terminological lexis in the sphere of the most recent contemporary music? Or, perhaps, the special atmosphere of respect and trust that prevailed in the classes of outstanding music instructors? The article does not answer these questions, since it remains within the modest confines of private experience. However, the author would like to draw attention once again to the issue of personality in music education, presuming that even in the present day it has not lost its relevance

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