Kristīne Kode

Q: What are the most fulfilling and most challenging aspects of your job?

The area I represent is Youth Affairs. I have about 15 years of experience in this field. The target audience I work with is young people in rural areas between the ages of 13 and 30. My work methodology is based on non-formal education in which a flexible environment is created for the development of young people's personalities.

The challenges in my work are, firstly, to be flexible, because the world is changing and young people are changing along with it, and secondly, to be able to regularly increase the work capacity of myself and the work team (youth workers), because mental burnout is a common problem in this area. The fulfilling aspects are – this area is wide, it has no frames (as in formal education) and you can experiment a lot, also the fact that every young person is unique (no two people are the same), and I do really love what I do.

Q: Please describe some examples (things you have personally witnessed) that show how music can contribute to civic engagement among young people. For instance, how through music do young people become more involved in improving their community, or more socially engaged and politically active, or concerned about global challenges?

Through art, the younger generation can express their views and show their position on what is happening in the local community, nationally and globally. Music, I think, has a different energy, a different vibration. A young person can address other young people more effectively through this form of expression. I can recall a good example – young people create Jam session evenings in a youth center (organization), but the topic of music and talks is relevant for youth, or the theme affects the young people themselves. It’s a conversation plus expression through music. I think that the best part is that there is no “right or wrong”, but there is "here and now".

Q: Please describe examples from conversations among young people (things you have personally observed) that show some of the different ways they discuss music.

I have observed conversations about the necessity to feel a musical instrument, or the song one sings must also be felt. It is important for young people to pass sounds and words through themselves. I have also noticed that the process of making music should be voluntary and not imposed. I often hear young people say that they go to music school only because their parents force them to. And I believe that this always has consequences – there is no flow of pure love towards music. I am glad that young people are learning to hear and express themselves in music in an informal environment. That's the way it should be. Free, without external coercion.

Q: Based on what you have seen, how do such conversations change as young people mature (for instance, ages 15-17; 18-20; 21-25)?

Changes in conversation can be felt after the age of 18, when the path to oneself through music has already reached a kind of small peak. Then the young people express their feelings and opinions more convincingly through music.

Q: Based on your experience, have discussions of music and society among young people generally changed across years due to different historical conditions? If so, how and why?

There has always been an element of freedom in music. In Latvia, of course, it has been the most pronounced form of expression in the years of independence (around the 1990s). Nowadays, through music, the new generation talks more about global things.

Q: Do you sense that a shared knowledge of traditional (folk) songs and dances is changing among young people, and if so, how and why?

Traditional (folk) songs are changing their form nowadays. The new generation gives them a modern "taste". Of course, it must be felt ... sometimes supplementing traditions can put them in a different light, it can also damage them. For example, if we transform the traditional songs of the anthem or song festival into a pop, rock style (as an example), then the message that the ancestors have put in the music and words will disappear.

Q: In what ways do you see social media impacting how young people use and communicate about music?

I think social networks undermine the depth of music. Superficiality is felt. Music must be felt and created in life, in flow, in processes. That is my feeling on this issue.

Q: What kinds of discussions have you witnessed stimulated through instrumental music? Can you imagine some new ways this could be achieved?

Discussions about dignity, tolerance, the humanistic attitude.

Q: What kind of new methods in work with young people would be helpful in your work? What should be the purpose of these methods?

Music therapy methods. Methods of finding and developing your voice. Getting to know music and musical instruments through non-formal education.

July 2021