An evaluation of the usability of Ahıska Lullabies as music educational material

Lullabies, with their lyrics, musical structures, and functions, are musical elements shaped directly by the psychology, customs, traditions, and tastes of their respective societies. They contribute significantly to fulfilling the emotional needs of both parents and children. This research aims to identify lullabies within the culture of Ahıska Turks, examine their melodic and lyrical structures, and evaluate their potential use as materials for music education. It is essential in Turkish music research to explore significant cultural elements such as Ahıska folk songs, particularly lullabies, which reflect a comprehensive range of cultural characteristics, and transform them into educational materials. An exploratory sequential mixed-method design was employed in this study. In the first stage, qualitative data were collected from 13 Ahıska women residing in Turkiye, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and the USA. The lullabies gathered were analyzed through descriptive analysis. In the second stage, two field experts evaluated the lullabies’ usability as music educational material using the Scale of Opinions on the Educational Usability of Lullabies. The findings revealed that the 14 lullabies collected from the Ahıska region exhibited rhythmic patterns in 4-time, 9-time, 11-time, 12-time, and free rhythm; melodic ranges spanning intervals of 4, 5, 6, and 8 notes; and syllabic structures with free verse, heptasyllabic (7), octosyllabic (8), and decasyllabic (10) meters. Additionally, these lullabies were identified as belonging to maqams such as Hicaz, Uşşak, Hüseyni, Segah, Rast, and Çargah, encompassing themes including wishes and aspirations, affection and tenderness, religious motifs, poverty and lamentation, complaints about customs and traditions, longing for children, praise, and love. Specifically, 28.5% included themes of wishes-aspirations/affection-tenderness, 14.2% contained complaints about customs-longing for children, another 14.2% expressed wishes-aspirations alone, 7.1% covered wishes-aspirations/praise-affection, 7.1% religious elements, 7.1% affection- tenderness, 7.1% praise-affection, 7.1% wishes-aspirations/affection-tenderness/religious elements, and 7.1% poverty/lamentation. Expert evaluations confirmed that these lullabies possess high efficacy for use as music educational materials.