MY TEACHING MOBILITY IN BELGRADE: Yeon Ju Jeong, University of Sarajevo
Yeon Ju Jeong,
University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Erasmus+ Mobility for Training at:
University of Arts in Belgrade, Faculty of Music
It was a wonderful experience for me to have a teaching visit to the Faculty of Musical Arts in Belgrade. And I was happy that I can join my experiences with the great work that experienced colleagues were doing with their students in the field of violin performance.
The core work of my mobility was the masterclass with violin students. But, it was a pleasure to also be able to perform at FMU as well, with a wonderful pianist Uki Ovaskainen, so the exchange was not only about our pedagogical practices, but also the artistic ones.
Of course, the work with the students was the core part of the mobility. The organisation of the masterclass was impeccable. My impression was that the students were of a very high standard and had a good learning attitude. I thought they were smart, serious, and well educated, and also well prepared for the masterclass. The class atmosphere was very good, which made the work a true joy. I found the whole experience energizing and inspiring.
I was also very impressed with the warm and professional hospitality – the colleagues from FMU were so friendly and supportive! I was able to work very comfortably and also to create wonderful professional and personal relations at the same time, primarily thanks to the efforts of Prof. Gordana Matijević.
The mobility had an extra value for me: coming from Korea, it was a pleasure to finally get to know Belgrade, and I found in it many similarities to my home town Seoul. Sightseeing with Gordana showed me that Belgrade was a very big and also very beautiful city. Also the visit to the museum gave me an opportunity to get to know Belgrade’s rich history and culture. Also, in a busy metropolis that it is, the banks of the Danube and the Sava rivers were so peaceful and beautiful. Finally, the food was excellent, and the freshwater fish dishes I ate at the river were a revelation for me!
In the end, I would like to thank the Erasmus+ programme and the Faculty of Musical Arts in Belgrade for giving me the opportunity for this experience, which was very useful for my work and future institutional networking. In particular I would like to thank the University of Arts in Belgrade and the FMU International Offices, who have helped me a lot in preparing the administrative groundwork for the work. I also wish to thank my colleague pianist Uki Ovaskainen for a wonderful artistic experience in our joint performance. And finally, would like to thank Professor Gordana Matijević, who was always helpful and kind and deeply caring, and also gave me a chance to learn from her! I hope that this mobility will create new opportunities for Belgrade’s FMU and Sarajevo Academy to work closer together, especially in the field of violin performance – Sarajevo and Belgrade are so close, and I now see that it would be very good if we had more student exchanges, which would be of great benefit to our students in Sarajevo.
