New Methodologies for Teaching Trumpet and Music Theory to Children in Basic Courses
The recent regulation of the Italian Conservatories have finally established and activated “ad hoc” courses aimed at the didactics for the youngest students (ages 5 and up) named “Basic Courses”. The main aim of these training courses is to introduce students to music and get them to study it from the earliest age and to provide them with the fundamental bases of the instrument. It has been seen that the exposure of children to the study of music produces benefits in lots of fields such as the socio-familiar one (stimulating social interaction, cooperation, etc.) and the educational-training one (stimulating the memory, creativity, auditory perception, ability to listen, expressive capacity, movement coordination, sense of rhythm, etc.) Unfortunately, it happens, in the vast majority of cases that requests for attendance at these courses are directed toward the study of “best known and tested instruments for this age group”, such as piano, percussions, violin, flute, etc. Lots of the most feared instruments, such as the trumpet do not see suitable participation. The reasons related to this issue may be of various kinds: 1) difficulty for younger students to approach to the study of the instrument; 2) lack of visibility and spread of the instrument; 3) limited instrumental repertoire; 4) shortage of methods and suitable books for the teaching of the instrument; 5) lack of knowledge of suitable tools for the support of children’s didactics, to avoid physical problems caused by the excessive weight/size of the instrument and from the early studying of it; 6) shortage of properly prepared teachers, educational and methodological practices for the youngest ones. The main target of this project consists of stimulating and encouraging teachers to re-evaluate the teacher’s role by experimenting with “new” inclusive teaching methods focused on playing and on cooperative learning. The methodological approach to each activity must be playful and must promote 1) dynamics of musical thought; 2) creative process, elaboration, and improvisation; 3) integration and inclusion; 4) metacognition and critical sense; 5) the construction of an imaginary path that may combine every day, the unusual, the traditional and the innovation; 6) the development of a proper basic approach for the trumpet practice [breathing, sound emission, posture, balance, etc.] this path will stimulate students curiosity and bring them to study the trumpet from an early age, channelling them to proper training courses.
Direitos de Autor (c) 2023 Music for and by children
Children’s Play? Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde and the Adventure of Composing Excellent (Classical) Music for Children
Children’s Play? Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde and the Adventure of Composing Excellent (Classical) Music for Children Theoretical Context The paper we will present expands on parts of a master thesis on the music pedagogy of Benjamin Britten. Point of departure of this thesis was Britten’s remarkable sensitivity, as an established classical musician, to the educational urgency of a number of ambiguities shaping the public role of (classical) music in contemporary society. While remaining critical of its shortcomings, the ultimate endeavour has been to develop a post-critical perspective on his work, and thus to reclaim Britten’s most valuable insights into the said ambiguities—including those implicit in some of his musical projects for/with children (e.g., the opera Noye’s Fludde). Aims The paper’s overarching aim is to show how a post-critical pedagogy might help established and/or purportedly hegemonic musical traditions to reassess their own past in terms that affirm undeveloped, ‘minor’ potentialities, rather than criticize major deficiencies. More specifically, we propose to do so for the case of Britten’s children’s opera Noye’s Fludde, in whose genesis we discern a pedagogy that tries to couple a ‘classical’ conception of musical excellence to a contemporary ideal of democratic accessibility and plurality. Methodology Our research has been mainly conceptual-discursive in nature. On the one hand it is based on the study of scientific literature: both on the current state of affairs in music-educational theory (particularly with regard to classical music), on post-critical pedagogy, and on Benjamin Britten, his music(-education)al ideas and compositions for children. On the other hand, for the case of Noye’s Fludde, we have also studied non-textual materials, such as scores, (video) recordings, and documentaries. Findings The paper’s main finding has been that some of Benjamin Britten’s views on the significance and possibilities of composing for/with children are very much worthwhile to be reclaimed (in a post-critical vein) for contemporary practices of (classical) music education. Especially Britten’s keen sense of certain ambiguities endemic, not to say fundamental, to any concrete practice of public music education, seem highly valuable—and perhaps more than ever—in trying to answer particular challenges which the field is facing today. Final considerations Although we agree that the opposite might sometimes seem true, it is absolutely not our purpose to hold a normative plea for the use of Western classical music (let alone Britten’s) in music education. What we do plead for, is a more nuanced and careful appreciation of this tradition (along with others), in view of its irreducible potentiality to inspire us with surprisingly contemporary and practical pedagogical answers. References Hodgson, N., Vlieghe, J., & Zamojski, P. (2017). Manifesto for a Post-Critical Pedagogy. Goleta (Cal.): Punctum. Jorgensen, E. (2020). To Love or Not to Love (Western Classical Music): That is the Question (for Music Educators). Philosophy of Music Education Review, 28(2), 128-144. DOI: 10.2979/philmusieducrevi.28.2.02. Kildea, P. (Ed.) (2003). Britten on Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nannestad, J. H. (2014). Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde : an Analysis and Re-Positioning for Contemporary Use (doctoral dissertation). Boston University. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/11157.
music education ; classical music ; Benjamin Britten ; child performers ; music pedagogy ; post-critical pedagogy
What can writing activity and musical practice tell us about each other?
The Ukrainian folk Song Entertainments for child:
My purpose: to demonstrate Ukrainian folk games and games for children up to 3 years with analyzing their possibilities for musical and mental development. My motivation: I want to popularize Ukrainian folk music child culture and show that it is interesting, relevant and necessary for children today. Our museum have a project which based on using the Ukrainian folk songs and games for baby and their adults. We gathered folk play rythmes for baby from old woman in the Ukrainian villages and use them on the workshops. Some of our workshops you can see on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TvBz_iQFag Traditional Ukrainian song entertainments can be grouped by age: for babies; for children who have begun to sit or walk; for children aged 3­-5 years. So, first the adults sing a song to the child and touch her|his legs, hends and had , so he or she memorizes the sequence of movements, melody, words, and then performs it. Children who are entertained, during the period of their most powerful mental, psychological and physical development, receive extremely important creative training. After all, the song entertainments are enriched with verbal, musical and dramatic creativity, so they form a powerful creative potential, including musical abilities. Therefore, in the process of children's upbringing, the song entertainments should be given as much attention as possible.
intonation hearing; timbre hearing; sense of rhythm; musical memory
The latest legislation of Italian Conservatories finally set up and activated ad hoc courses aimed at the didactics for the youngest students (ages 5 and up) named “Basic Courses”. The main aim of these training courses is to introduce students to music and get them to study it from the earliest age and to provide them with the fundamental bases of the instrument. It has been seen that the exposure of children to the study of music produces benefits in lots of fields such as the socio-familiar one (stimulating social interaction, cooperation, etc.) and the educational-training one (stimulating the memory, creativity, auditory perception, ability to listen, expressive capacity, movement coordination, sense of rhythm, etc.) Unfortunately, it happens, in the vast majority of cases that requests for attendance at these courses are directed toward the study of “best known and tested instruments for this age group”, such as piano, percussions, violin, flute, etc. Lots of the most feared instruments, such as the trumpet do not see suitable participation. The reasons related to this issue may be of various kinds: 1) difficulty for younger students to approach to the study of the instrument; 2) lack of visibility and spread of the instrument; 3) limited instrumental repertoire; 4) shortage of methods and suitable books for the teaching of the instrument; 5) lack of knowledge of suitable tools for the support of children’s didactics, to avoid physical problems caused by the excessive weight/size of the instrument and from the early studying of it; 6) shortage of properly prepared teachers, educational and methodological practices for the youngest ones. The main target of this project consists of stimulating and encouraging teachers to re-evaluate the teacher’s role by experimenting with “new” inclusive teaching methods focused on playing and on cooperative learning. The methodological approach to each activity must be playful and must promote 1) dynamics of musical thought; 2) creative process, elaboration, and improvisation; 3) integration and inclusion; 4) metacognition and critical sense; 5) the construction of an imaginary path that may combine every day, the unusual, the traditional and the innovation; 6) the development of a proper basic approach for the trumpet practice [breathing, sound emission, posture, balance, etc.] this path will stimulate students curiosity and bring them to study the trumpet from an early age, channelling them to proper training courses.
Theoretical background or Context Student engagement is frequently compartmentalised into emotional, behavioural, and cognitive modes, whilst musical engagement is understood to have five forms: appreciative, explorative, directive, evaluative, and embodied (Brown, 2016). Brown (2016) describes how musical activities can activate each of these modes of engagement. However, little is known about how the musical attributes that exist within such musical activities can influence experiences of engagement. Aims The aim of this research was to gain an understanding of how duration-based musical attributes can contribute to forms of engagement amongst 7-11-year-olds. This age group was chosen due to a documented lack of consistency in primary school music education in the UK, which is thought to stem from low levels of both training and confidence (Daubney, Spruce, and Annetts, 2019). The new knowledge provided through this study offers educators the opportunity to understand how musical features can immerse and inspire pupils. Methodology A constructivist grounded theory methodology was adopted for this research, involving in-depth, qualitative interviews with twenty participating teachers who have at least two years of experience teaching music to classes of 7-11-year-olds in the UK. These teachers were selected using purposive sampling. Transcripts were analysed using initial, focused, and theoretical coding, during which emerging themes were strengthened through engagement with existing literature. Results/Findings Interview data demonstrated that there were six duration-based musical attributes which teachers related to Brown’s (2016) musical modes of engagement. These were: The use of ‘natural’ tempo, Sudden tempo changes, Gradual tempo changes, Syncopation, Cyclic rhythms, and Rhythmic simplicity. All six of these attributes were found to be related to both embodied and appreciative engagement. The use of natural tempo and simple rhythms also linked to explorative engagement, due to their facilitation of improvisation, whilst cyclic rhythms and sudden tempo changes were related to evaluative engagement, as teachers identified how they could encourage reflection. Directive engagement was associated with the use of natural tempi, gradual tempo changes, and simple rhythms. This was partially due to the confidence that these attributes can inspire in children. Conclusions/Final considerations This paper is a part of a larger project, which explore attributes of pitch and timbre alongside duration and considers how cultural aspects can contribute to experiences of engagement. In this paper, duration-based attributes that were identified by participants as engaging have been analysed and categorised. This offers clarity and understanding to both specialist and non-specialist primary school music educators with regard to rhythmic and tempo-based features and their relationship(s) with pupil engagement. References (optional) Brown, A. R. (2015). Engaging in a sound musicianship. The Child as Musician: A Handbook of Musical Development, 208-220. Daubney, A., Spruce, G., & Annetts, D. (2019). Music education: State of the nation: Report by the all-party parliamentary group for music education, the incorporated society of musicians and the University of Sussex All Party Parliamentary Group for Music Education, University of Sussex.
Context Companhia de Música Teatral’s (CMT) performing pieces are communication experiences that often involve a high degree of interaction between performers and audiences. Such is the case of a set of small musical-theatre pieces called PaPI (Portable Play to Play). These are multidisciplinary performances where artists explore the common ground between art and playfulness, in a continuum that involves music, dance, theatre and visual arts. They aim to enable younger ones, families and educators to find different poetic meanings in an atmosphere of shared time and space. One of such pieces is PaPI - Opus 8, which was premiered in 2019 and was supposed to tour throughout 2020. Due to the pandemic, many of the performances were canceled. New paths had to be discovered, and the Zoom video-conference platform was chosen as an alternative. A new version of the piece was developed, called PaPI – Opus8.z. Aims This paper will focus on necessary adaptations of the piece imposed by the limits of the platform, as well as exploring what CMT chose to maintain, and what they chose to change. It will also reflect on the different audience behaviors when watching a performance live or through Zoom. Methodology A commonality between the different CMT productions is the focus on blurring of the boundaries between artist and audiences, to transform a performance (one-way) in an experience (omnidirectional). To enhance feelings of co-presence and communication. PaPI – Opus 8 was designed by keeping these aims in mind. The main challenge to adapt it to Zoom was the need to maintain the sensation of a shared time and space between the performer and the audience. Many moments of interaction and dialogue were spread throughout the piece. These moments aimed to show the audience that even though they weren’t in the same “here”, they were in the same “now”. Findings What was apparently lost by the distancing (the notion of a shared space) was retaken little by little with each interaction between the performer and the children. This sense of connectedness is inherent in live performances but needs to be “artificially” reinforced when using a platform such as Zoom. Nonetheless, the limitations of the platform also allowed CMT to lean on using webcams as different points of view into the fantastical world the piece’s character inhabits. These methods enabled the performance to elicit surprise, an essential element of artistic performance. Final considerations The adaptation of Opus 8 to a Zoom performance was in part impelled by the resolve to fight the restrictions on the quality of shared presence imposed by the confinement. The focus was on maintaining and feeding the communicative impulse that accompanies us from when we are babies until adulthood (Dissanayake, 2002; Malloch & Trevarthen, 2010). This impulse is present in all children, and should be fostered whenever possible, by creating shared artistic experiences that enable moments of surprise and, subsequently, growth. No Zoom performance can substitute sharing the same physical space, but it can be a valuable tool for when that shared space is not possible to obtain.
Artistas visitam a escola: uma acção educativa através da criação musical contemporânea numa Escola de Acção Educativa Singular.
As escolas de Acção Educativa Singular (em espanhol CAES) acolhem uma diversidade de crianças de diferentes origens que normalmente pertencem a famílias e bairros pobres classificados como grupos particularmente desfavorecidos. Neste contexto particular, apresentamos uma experiência educacional que visa trazer a criação sonora contemporânea para a sala de aula através da participação de artistas em residência.
Criatividade musical, Aglaya Play, abordagem multidisciplinar, Residências artísticas, Soundscapes, consciência acústica.
Instrumentarium XX1: Experimental Instruments for the Development of Musical Creativity
As abordagens contemporâneas à educação musical devem acompanhar as mudanças na sociedade e representar um grande desafio para os educadores. As necessidades actuais exigem que as escolas avancem para posições abertas e holísticas, incorporando abordagens muito afastadas das visões clássicas, nas quais a música tonal, a notação convencional e os instrumentos tradicionais são predominantes. Os principais quadros de referência são: 1) Teoria do Cognição Incorporada ou Cognição Incorporada (o foco é a manipulação a partir da experiência corporal); 2) Música Baseada no Som (o ponto de partida é o som como matéria-prima a ser manipulada e transformada, expandindo assim a paleta sonora para territórios abertos a novas dimensões, para além do tonal); 3) Design Universal (aplicado à música, garante o design de materiais inclusivos sem limitações de acesso); e 4) O instrumento Baschet (em relação aos sistemas de activação e geração de som: tipos de osciladores, processos de activação, formas de radiação e amplificação, e sistemas de articulação e modulação de alcance). Antes da concepção e construção do instrumentarium, foi realizado um processo duplo: a) foi realizado um inquérito com professores espanhóis activos do ensino pré-escolar, primário e secundário para conhecer as práticas musicais que desenvolvem nas suas salas de aula; e b) foi realizado um grupo de discussão com especialistas para definir as características musicais gerais do Instrumentarium XX1. Um grupo formado por investigadores de diferentes áreas relacionadas com a música (Educadores, Músicos, Artistas Sonoros e Designers) com extensa experiência académica e profissional em educação musical e com experiência em luteraria.
Instrumentarium XX1, Criatividade Musical, Instrumentos Experimentais, Instrumentos Não-Tonais
Composing ‘Australian animals for 1st year pianists’:
Theoretical background or Context As a change from arrangements of folk tunes and reductions of well-known classical works, we (two Australian composers) wrote a book of 22 pieces for 1st year pianists, each piece representing an Australian animal – mammals, birds, reptiles, insects. The combination of words and music has long been recognised as an effective way to engage students when they begin learning to play the piano (Thompson, 1937), and for Cook (1998) music itself does not so much have meaning as potential for meaning, with this potential being a function of the context within which the music is received. Therefore, music and words combined with original drawings creates a multisensory experience for students and teachers. Aims The aim of this paper is to discuss the thinking and creating behind the pieces, especially how we sought to engage students by developing their imagination and creating curiosity about how the animals live and behave through a multisensory approach. Methodology Adopting a practice-led research process in which the research was ‘initiated by an artistic hunch, intuition, or question, or an artistic or technical concern generated by the researcher’s own practice…’ (p. 6, Rubidge, 2005), we drew on our experience as teachers, composers and writers. Results/Findings The context for these animal pieces is multi-faceted. The pieces are short and song-like to interest first year piano students and the pieces can be sung and/or recited, the rhythm clapped to capture the spirit of the music as a prelude to learning the notation, and to make the Australian animals come alive we wrote words and music (Thompson, 1937). Looking at the way animals behave is interesting for children and we sought to create pieces which capture these activities by making the music itself convey meaning (Cook, 1998) through compositional parameters including rhythm, articulation, dynamics, register, harmony and mode. We aimed to enable younger students to focus better, to enjoy the learning process and to perform the pieces with enthusiasm by encouraging them to imagine being that animal. Each piece is accompanied by a drawing of the animal with the aim of assisting teachers to create more stories about the animals. Conclusions/Final considerations By creating a rich multisensory context for each piece, we hope that learning this way will bring an emotional response to the animals, encourage musical appreciation, and create imaginative and engaged performances which can be appreciated by an audience.
1st year pianists; composing; multisensory; imagination
Theoretical background or Context A aprendizagem criativa é um conceito em construção, no qual as crianças são reconhecidas como potencialmente criativas, investigadoras confiantes, construtoras de sentido e tomadoras de decisão (Craft et al., 2008). O foco está no processo de aprendizagem da criança, e no potencial criativo a ser desenvolvido dentro de um campo de conhecimento específico, como a música. Os professores atuam como moderadores do tempo e do espaço, estando abertos para ouvir a perspetiva das crianças e trabalhando em coparticipação: observando-as atentamente, valorizando e compreendendo suas questões, dando-lhes espaço, proporcionando um ambiente de confiança, estimulando descobertas e permitindo-lhes aprender por conta própria. Aims Este trabalho apresenta os resultados de uma investigação de mestrado realizada com o objetivo de investigar o processo de planejamento e ação docente em educação musical na Educação Infantil, discutindo os caminhos construídos por professores para planejar e desenvolver ações em sala de aula tendo como princípios o referencial da aprendizagem criativa. Methodology Os dados deste trabalho derivam das experiências vivenciadas por professores de música durante um curso de formação sobre aprendizagem criativa e o desenvolvimento de planejamentos a partir deste referencial. Em especial, serão apresentados os dados resultantes da segunda etapa desta investigação, que compreende ao acompanhamento da ação pedagógica de duas professoras de música em três turmas de Educação Infantil com crianças entre 2 a 5 anos, no Brasil. Results/Findings Tomando o conceito de aprendizagem criativa como referencial para planejamento e ação docente, os professores procuraram variar os modos de participação, usando diferentes estratégias para dar voz às crianças como caminho para oportunizar que participem ativamente da sua própria aprendizagem e revelem suas perspectivas sobre como aprendem. Foram realizadas propostas de provocações para aprendizagem, registros através de desenhos das crianças, atividades de composição em grupos e trabalhos colaborativos de criações e arranjos, avaliação e retomada das composições por parte das crianças, registros gráficos, e rodas de conversa. Conclusions/Final considerations Através da análise dos eventos ocorridos em sala de aula, os professores avaliaram os caminhos adotados, discutiram a agência das crianças (seus modos de aprender, pensar, resolver de problemas, trabalhar em grupo, expressar-se, compor, avaliar e refletir) e (re)construíram suas perspectivas sobre as crianças, a imaginação, a aprendizagem e a criatividade. As dimensões do fazer musical como ouvir, tocar e cantar deixaram de ser elementos reprodutivos, e passaram ser considerados como pontes para as conexões, imaginação e ideias das crianças. A composição foi o aspecto mais relevante das novas relações que se estabeleceram com o fazer musical representando, para eles, a atividade que melhor permitiu incluir as crianças no processo de construção do conhecimento musical. Os professores apontam que as crianças demonstraram maior envolvimento nas aulas de música e superaram suas expectativas mostrando que são capazes de trabalhar em grupos, realizar atividades de criação, e avaliar as suas produções. Essas evidências indicam que as crianças pequenas podem interagir com um fazer musical reflexivo e criativo.
Educação Musical, Aprendizagem Criativa, Composição das crianças
Theoretical background or Context School and community ensembles are important musical learning environments for young musicians. A large portion of the music they play has been arranged to match it with their developing musical levels. Although an elaborate literature concerning orchestration for professional orchestras exists (e.g., Adler, 2016; Berlioz, 1843; Rimsky-Korsakov, 1913; Sevsay, 2013), few publications address arranging and orchestration for young or amateur players. Often, these books limit themselves to instrumentation instructions only (e.g., Adler, 2016; Eijssen, 2008; Janssen, 2004), although some have addressed orchestration and arranging more explicitly (Erickson, 1985; Oboussier, 1977). Besides these professional oriented publications, we could not identify any scholarly literature concerning orchestration for beginning players. Aims Therefore, the aim of our study was to map the orchestration practices of experienced arrangers for youth and beginner amateur orchestras. It addressed the particular principles of orchestration which are taken into account when writing for beginning to intermediate instrumental performers. Methodology Experienced conductor-arrangers (n = 10) were interviewed about their orchestration practice for youth and amateur ensembles like string, symphony, wind and fanfare orchestras. The interviewer used a semi-structured approach, based on a topic list (Mortelmans, 2018) and a sheet music analysis of one of the arranger’s works. The interviews were analysed using the grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Results/Findings Multi-shaped instrumentation and orchestration quality criteria emerged, which some respondents set off against traditional orchestration notions. Overall, quality of orchestration was seen as reaching maximal musical effect while embracing the constraints and affordances of the amateur ensemble. Key choice, rhythm (notation), attention to tessitura and register, and careful use of dynamics and articulation were regarded as crucial parameters. Many remarks considered the physical aspect of instrument playing. Three ‘levels’ of arranging were mentioned: score preparation, part adaptation and rehearsal adjustments. A concept sometimes called ‘social orchestration’ emerged, meaning all musicians should have enough to play and the melodic roles should be distributed over all instruments. Pedagogical intentions generally arose from musical choices instead of vice versa. Conclusions/Final considerations This study makes the practitioner knowledge of conductors and arrangers for youth and beginner ensembles explicit. Our conclusions can help orchestration teachers to explicitly address amateur orchestras in their lessons, and to inform their approach to orchestration with a wider range of voices from the sector.
Produções musicais criativas das crianças:
Esta comunicação analisa as reflexões de professores de música sobre as produções musicais criativas realizadas por crianças durante o período de atividades não-presenciais na escola básica, em decorrência da pandemia de COVID-19. A pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar como professores de música escutam e atribuem sentidos às produções musicais das crianças (ANONIMATO, 2021), tendo como referencial o ensino e a aprendizagem criativa. O trabalho, de cunho qualitativo, consistiu em estudo de caso instrumental com quatro professores de música que atuavam no ano de 2020 na rede pública de ensino de dois municípios em Santa Catarina, sul do Brasil, com turmas de 1º a 8º ano. Os quatro educadores participaram de um curso de formação voltado ao planejamento de projetos criativo-musicais para o contexto de atividades não presenciais. Cada projeto foi elaborado em formato de podcast, com base numa temática central e composto por um conjunto articulado de sequências didáticas. Estas ofereciam diferentes oportunidades de prática musical e traziam uma atividade para que as crianças desenvolvessem, envolvendo diversas formas de interação: tocar, compor, cantar, improvisar, escutar etc. Com temáticas que abordam a diversidade do Brasil e do mundo, os projetos foram enviados para as crianças, em formato impresso ou on-line. Elas desenvolviam as atividades e enviavam suas respostas aos professores em formato de áudio, vídeo ou texto. Sem a realização de encontros síncronos, os professores acompanhavam a aprendizagem dos estudantes por suas respostas às atividades, buscando analisar e inferir como elas estavam compreendendo e executando o que havia sido proposto. Durante a pesquisa, os professores fizeram a escuta de produções musicais das crianças em encontros síncronos do curso de formação e em entrevistas. Nesses momentos foram assistidas e comentadas as produções das crianças, individual e coletivamente. Os resultados apontaram reflexões dos professores sobre: a originalidade e inovação nas produções musicais; questões relacionadas à performance musical das crianças; como as ideias das crianças se conectavam às suas experiências musicais; e a maneira como elas se envolveram com as atividades. Os professores diferenciaram graus de criatividade nas produções e destacaram diversos elementos musicais e aspectos técnicos. Em suas análises, sobretudo, eles buscaram significados que foram além dos produtos, atentando-se ao contexto em que as atividades musicais foram realizadas. O cenário de suspensão das aulas determinou limites na comunicação entre estudantes e comunidade escolar. Ainda assim, os professores buscaram compreender as ideias das crianças em relação às suas experiências musicais, procurando conhecer os seus interesses e observando como elas se envolveram nas atividades musicais criativas produzidas em casa. Por fim, as reflexões dos professores sobre as práticas musicais dos estudantes puderam fundamentar o desenvolvimento de planejamentos mais significativos, que consideram e valorizam a escuta das ideias de música das crianças na educação musical escolar.
“The things of the land are weird and different”, said The Girl from the Sea. Bringing childhood closer to “contemporary music” through a musical signification strategy.
The present communication analyses A menina do mar (2019), theatre music composed by Edward Luiz Ayres d'Abreu (1989-) after the homonym children's tale (1958) by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen. The tale explores, through the encounter between a boy from the land and a girl from the sea, the fascination and attraction that the unknown exerts on humanity. The score, written for a quintet of actors and nine musicians, was presented in several auditoriums, in a total of more than forty performances. The relationship between text and music will be analysed with regard to its dramatic qualities, while revealing the undertaken strategy of musical signification and reflecting on how the musical resources may or may not offer, in this context, an opportunity to approach the childhood to the sound universe of “contemporary music” and its characteristic "dissonances", "noises", and “extended techniques”, so rarely experienced by large audiences. Focusing on the aforementioned score, the analysis will also take into account, as comparative elements, other musical versions composed after the same story: that of Fernando Lopes-Graça (1961) and that of Sassetti and Raposo (2019). This study takes advantage of the researches made by Gomes (2000) and Santana & Santana (2021), respectively on the original story and on the three known musical adaptations. The analytical approach is here served by the study of musical significance as categorized by Grimalt (2020) and, in particular, by the topic theory as developed by Monelle (2000), inscribing the strategies used in a long genealogy of similar examples that can be heard throughout the history of Western classical music. The analysis resulted in the categorization of different solutions of musical meaning that address, among many others, the ideas of “sea”, “storm”, “travel”, “fire”, or dichotomies such as joy-sadness, light-shadow, movement-statism. Some of the resources, which include clusters, glissandi, multiphonics, various noises, technically inherited by the 20th century avant-gardes and widely used by several contemporary languages, appear as programmatic solutions, hence contributing to reinforce historically consolidated associations. “The things of the land are weird and different”, said The Girl from the Sea. Taking into account the daily musical practices, this ironic inversion is reinforced because the music associated with the sea, in the analyzed score, ends up sounding more “weird” and “different” than the music associated with the land. “Contemporary music” is almost exclusively reserved for the aquatic world; at the same time, there is an invitation for the listener to dive into this “weird” and “different” world. But a final question emerges: if, in this ludic gesture, in this pedagogical effort, “contemporary music” sounds so deeply programmatic, are not we contributing, as creators, to the stigma and prejudice of listening… of what Boulez would perhaps still prefer to call “absolute music”? Or, from another point of view, and based on Ferreira de Castro's (2013) reflection, are we not simply highlighting the “fallacy of objectivity” that certain “contemporary music” inherited from Hanslick's romantic discourse (Bonds 2014)?
How do children construct their understanding of creative music workshops? A discursive investigation into children’s talk through and after creative music workshops.
Title: How do children construct their understanding of creative music workshops? A discursive investigation into children’s talk through and after creative music workshops. Theoretical background or Context Creative activity is associated with better mental health and wellbeing for those with additional support needs (ASN) as it can provide a positive coping strategy (Wilson &MacDonald 2019; All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, and Health and Wellbeing, 2018). However, rates of cultural participation are lower among children and young people with ASN than without (Scottish Government, 2019). Participation in music that has been personally devised or decided on is a powerful channel of creative expression that can radically change how disadvantaged individuals see themselves (Wilson & MacDonald, 2019) Key features of effective music interventions for those with ASN should have choice, interactivity, accessibility and creativity (Wilson & MacDonald, 2019) This presentation reports on a pilot project between a researcher/practitioner and a Community Music organisation. The purpose of this collaboration was to develop and research cross-disciplinary workshops using collage, drama and music. Aims Research aims were to gather children’s views of workshops and investigate 1. Their experiences and what effects, if any, the workshops provided and 2. Processes of decision making through the workshops. Methodology Six 1-hour workshops were held over April and May 2022, with 6 children, (with and without ASN), aged between 10 and 13 years of age. Workshops included warm ups drawn from drama practices and circle songs; the main focus was to create an extended piece of music guided by children’s ideas. Collage was used to create a framework for the piece which included Gaelic song, instrumental sections and dramatic interludes. Informed consent was obtained from parents for their child’s participation in workshops and research and children’s verbal assent was gathered before workshops focus groups and interviews. Workshops were audio recorded as well as interviews and a focus group after the workshop programme. Recordings were transcribed and analysed using Discourse Analysis (Potter, 2004). This approach was chosen to appreciate how conversation between children and practitioners mediated the process of experimentation and decision making in the workshops. Results/Findings Analysis from talk during workshops identified two consistent patterns of description when discussing the creative direction of the piece. These were categorised as 1. authenticity a repertoire which foregrounded children’s choice and opinions about which musical, dramatic and art expression to use and the children’s identity as Gaelic speakers and 2. Building a group focused on creating a larger group identity, the task to accommodate multiple ideas, musical choices, and finding out ‘what do we want to do’ and the importance of ‘becoming a band’. Analysis from focus group and interviews demonstrated that children framed effects from workshop participation as good for yourself, demonstrated in consistent talk about feeling relaxed, happy, motivated to be creative and excited. They positioned workshops as wholesome alternative activity to being ‘on screens’. Conclusions/Final considerations Findings support earlier research about the importance of choice, interactivity, accessibility and creativity. Importantly this extends existing research into community music workshop processes by appreciating the perspectives of children. Repertoires of authenticity, building a group and good for yourself emphasise the importance of social processes and wellbeing for the children in this study.
Os desafios colocados pela sociedade contemporânea ampliaram a questão da aprendizagem colocando-a no centro de discursos educativos e políticos. O desenvolvimento da autonomia, do pensamento crítico e criativo, das capacidades de pesquisa e cooperação, da curiosidade, do aprender a aprender, constituindo a substância de debates nascidos na psicologia cognitiva e sociocognitiva de Piaget, Bruner, Vigotsky e Bandura e nas ideias da escola ativa impulsionadas por Dewey, não só configuram princípios orientadores de discursos curriculares e ministeriais (ex. aprendizagens essenciais), como exigem modelos alternativos e complementares ao ensino expositivo, imitativo, por instrução direta. A Aprendizagem Baseada em Problemas (ABP) constitui um desses caminhos. Apesar do seu estudo aglutinar literatura científica, a aplicação à educação musical está longe de ser consolidada, nomeadamente quanto à reflexão, conceção e tratamento empírico de desenhos de ação consentâneos não apenas com finalidades curriculares, como com aqueles ideais. Propõe-se aqui possibilidades de aprender música através da criação e composição, um caminho que, na linha de pensamento de autores como Burnard, Hickey, Paynter, Priest, Webster e Wiggins, reúne ingredientes que parecem ir ao encontro dos princípios daquele modelo. Paralelamente a definições e características, o texto apresenta a ABP enquanto organizador da ação educativa, visando a reflexão e tratamento no contexto da música. São objetivos específicos contribuir para o esclarecimento sobre o tema, inclusive sobre a pertinência e justificação da proposta em torno da conceção de um modelo de aprendizagem baseado em problemas advindos de desenhos didáticos em torno da composição; atualizar e fundamentar teórica e empiricamente o modelo educativo da ABP, evidenciando a relação e pertinência entre os seus pressupostos e o próprio desenho de investigação realizado pelas autoras, enquadrado no 3ºCEB. Apresenta-se uma revisão bibliográfica sobre ABP, definindo conceitos-chave, e dando relevância a publicações de natureza científica, teórica e empírica, geral e musical, nacional e internacional, assim como documentos ministeriais. A informação recolhida foi organizada em categorias de análise que constituíram a arquitetura do texto. A sustentação da composição como caminho de intervenção que se identifica com o modelo exposto, nascendo de formulações construídas em sala de aula, consolidou-se pelo estudo de autores como os acima mencionados. Sobressaem descrições sobre definição e caraterísticas da ABP, processo de aprendizagem contemplando trabalho cooperativo e professor como facilitador, e, de forma menos assertiva, efeitos para a aquisição de conhecimentos. Evidências empíricas recaem sobre ganhos na memória a longo prazo e na interação social, bem como constrangimentos derivados da adaptação inicial dos professores e alunos, gestão do tempo, avaliação individual e grupal, definição de problemas, sua relação com conceitos prévios, e que sugerem requerer maior investigação. No contexto da educação musical pela composição, destacam-se ideias, relacionadas, sobre thinking in sound, audiation, pensamento divergente e criativo, foco no aluno, trabalho colaborativo, assuntos inerentes à aprendizagem por desafios, também relevada. Conforme literatura, aprender música através da composição assemelha-se a modos de resolver problemas. Ou seja, pensar musicalmente procurando respostas a desafios, sendo inerente ao processo de criação, justifica o desenvolvimento deste modelo como complementar a métodos centrados no professor e caminho de aprendizagem.
Problem-based Learning; Composing; Learning music
Music, wellbeing and engagement in early childhood
Recent research in Music Education and Music Psychology has established important connections between music and children’s wellbeing (Hallam, 2015, 2016; Hallam, Creech & Varvarigou, 2017; Smith, 2021). Consequently, several researchers have highlighted the need to implement more inclusive and democratic practices in formal and non-formal educational contexts, involving all children in participatory and meaningful musical experiences (Benedict et al. 2015; Hess, 2017; Wright, 2015). Following this demand, some scholars have criticized hegemonic Eurocentric approaches to music education, suggesting instead a departure from sound and sounding phenomena as larger categories that might incorporate children’s diverse trajectories and life experiences, and invite all children to participate in truly engaged ways (Recharte, 2019; Thumlert & Nolan, 2019; Thumlert, Harley & Nolan, 2020). This paper reports preliminary findings of a pilot study that is being developed in a Portuguese non-profit association located in the central area of Portugal. This association aims to develop inclusive and democratic projects with children from 0 to 6 years old - that are not integrated in other social facilities such as nursery schools or Kindergartens - and their respective families. One of the main goals of this association is to raise the awareness of children's rights among community members and beyond, namely the right children have to free play since their birth. The pilot study covers 12 music education sessions named “Sound Hunters”, dedicated to the development of an approach to music education with an intense playful component, departing from sound as artistic matter and involving competences related to deep listening, sound exploration and experimentation. All the activities were planned and implemented in an action-research project, using a series of new devices and tools specially created and adapted to children, that could be easily explored and manipulated by them autonomously. The participants included 15 children with ages ranging from 18 months to 5 years old, the association team and the authors as facilitators. This study applied the Leuven Scales (Laevers, 2005) to assess the children’s’ levels of involvement and wellbeing, using data from participant observation, field notes, and video and audio recordings. Results from this assessment were then triangulated with data from informal conversations and interviews with children and the association team. It was found that, during the periods of observation, children evidenced high and very high levels of wellbeing and involvement, especially manifested in their receptivity to the activities proposed during the sessions, self-confidence and self-assurance, and on their levels of attention, interest, and creativity. These findings were then corroborated by what children mentioned during the interviews and informal conversations about their personal experiences during the sessions. In this paper we argue that these findings emerge as a consequence of the opportunities offered to children to make connections with sound phenomena deeply related with their daily lives and interact collaboratively with sounds through participatory processes genuinely opened to creativity and experimentation. Finally, we discuss how this perspective might promote more meaningful and inclusive educational practices, discussing the implications and challenges posed to music education in early childhood.
Early Childhood, Wellbeing, Sound Experimentation, Participation, Inclusion
Conservatório de Música de Sintra has been founded as a nonprofit association and music school since 1974, working with different ages from 6 month to 99 years old. Established as an official music school since 1982, more recently, in 2019, we have extended the educational offer with kindergarten and in 2021 to primary school. One of our school 's main goals is to engage children in democratic practices in the educational process. This is natural in regular education because it was designed within this approach, but it has different challenges in music education, regarding the teaching legacy and tradition, where we are introducing some changes in the curriculum. On one hand, our work in the elementary music program, with children aged from 6- to 9-year-old, has always involved students in the creation process. Improvising with their voices, body percussion and Orff instruments, they have a central role in some of the compositions to be performed. With pandemic situation, and the need to avoid singing groups and choirs, and realizing the performative happiness and self-confidence shown by children through the years in processes involving creation and improvisation, the Conservatório de Música de Sintra pedagogical team decided to introduce a specific subject called “Music Creation and Improvisation” in 2020. This subject helped to work on important skills, contributing to a deeper understanding of music language, allowing children to express musical ideas through singing and playing the same way they talk and write in their native language, in a playful environment. The successful results of this subject reinforced the school view and boosted the introduction of new practical music classes in the official curriculum, such as body percussion and improvisation in 2021. Currently we are conducting a reflexive discussion about these new subjects involving the education community: a survey among students, teacher’s points of view, and parents' opinions, concerning the impact of these classes in the students' global development. On the other hand, the musical approach in kindergarten and primary school is child center based, naturally reinforcing creation processes in strict articulation with multiple curriculum subjects. Our presentation proposal is a commented concert involving teachers and students of the subjects referred above, and practical examples with video support and live music performance. We would like to share practical music projects concerning kindergarten and primary school, Musical Education classes and new improvisation and body percussion classes in official courses, including children with ages from 3- to 15-year-old.
As conexões entre música, infância, e educação são múltiplas. O programa deste painel temático é composto por sete apresentações que abrangem a diversidade. Partindo de um compromisso com a educação musical na e para a infância, apresentamos trabalhos brasileiros desenvolvidos em espaços com diferentes públicos e abordagens e objectivos específicos. Os locais de actuação e reflexão que consideramos são: a Universidade, nos seus cursos de formação de professores e em projectos de extensão, tais como grupos corais e instrumentais em que a colaboração ocorre com outras instituições e com a comunidade em geral; a escola primária, tanto como local de educação infantil quanto como espaço de estágio para educadores em formação; e aulas particulares de instrumentos para crianças. Como grupo, destacamos os seguintes aspectos: a concepção de que as crianças devem ser ouvidas e encorajadas a participar nos espaços de educação musical, e que os educadores têm a responsabilidade de contribuir para o desenvolvimento musical das crianças com materiais adequados, de forma eficaz e democrática; a importância da qualidade na formação de professores como factor decisivo para a melhoria do ensino básico; a centralidade das práticas criativas para promover a construção da autonomia e do domínio da música e a sua relação com outras linguagens artísticas.
Enquadramento teórico ou contexto Este trabalho deriva de estudos desenvolvidos ao longo da última década e constitui a nossa investigação de pós-doutoramento desde 2021. Investiga ideias e práticas de inovação pedagógica na educação musical durante o século XX. Neste contexto, são abordados alguns aspectos, como a criação musical na infância, sobre a qual nos debruçamos aqui. Juntamente com a área da Educação musical e as suas conexões com outros campos como a Psicologia e a Filosofia (Beineke, 2009; Cunha, 2021; Brito, 2007), dialogamos com os Estudos da infância (Sarmento, 2007; Corsaro, 2011) e a História da educação (Cremin, 1961; Jacquet-Francillon, 2004). Objectivos Pretendemos discutir imagens da infância (Sarmento, 2007) e examinar como estas se desenvolveram na educação musical durante o século XX. Mais especificamente, as ideias e práticas abordadas estão relacionadas com a criação musical na infância. Este exame inclui também considerações sobre estética e pedagogia. Ao fazê-lo, podemos igualmente reconhecer as imagens da infância que guiam e justificam a abordagem dos adultos às crianças na educação musical contemporânea, uma vez que algumas destas concepções permanecem hoje em dia, ainda que tacitamente. Metodologia A fim de investigar as ideias e práticas de criação musical com crianças em espaços pedagógicos inovadores, trabalhamos com fontes documentais, tais como revistas pedagógicas, folhetos escolares, fotografias, textos de imprensa em geral, partituras e registos sonoros. As fases de pesquisa e análise de documentos decorrem mais frequentemente num ambiente digital desde o início da investigação e foram essenciais para o trabalho devido a restrições referentes à pandemia. Por isso, considerámos as actuais discussões sobre a metodologia da história digital (Lucchesi, 2014; Brasil; Nascimento, 2020). Mesmo que fizéssemos parte do trabalho em ambiente digital, visitar arquivos e o processo de análise de documentos físicos foram igualmente fundamentais (Farge, 2017). Resultados Os resultados apresentados são as análises de ideias e práticas observadas nas obras de (i) Satis Coleman, no seu Creative Music Studio e na Lincoln School of Teachers College, Universidade de Columbia (NYC, EUA), nas décadas de 1920 e 1930; (ii) Donald Pond, nas suas experiências na Pillsbury Foundation School (Santa Barbara, Califórnia, EUA) entre 1938 e 1945; e (iii) um grupo de professores de música no contexto do Movimento Escola Moderna francês (também conhecido como Pedagogia Freinet) na década de 1970, que denominavam o sua trabalho Musique Libre. Nestas obras, podemos identificar ligações entre a educação musical e as teorias evolutivas, tanto em musicologia como em psicologia; inspiração rousseauiana; entre outras. Conclusões/ Considerações finais As concepções de infância e de música e as suas relações com as práticas criativas observadas em tais exemplos são uma espécie de retrato de experiências na educação musical no século XX. Orientaram e justificaram as acções dos adultos em relação às crianças e foram os fundamentos dos programas e métodos de educação musical. No entanto, estas ideias não foram ultrapassadas. O exame destas concepções permite-nos compreender e reflectir sobre o que constitui hoje as bases de nosso trabalho. Este tipo de consciência é fundamental para os professores que pretendem promover a participação das crianças e o seu desenvolvimento musical através de práticas criativas de uma forma crítica.
For almost as long as the piano has existed, composers have been interested in producing sounds for which the instrument was not conceived. Contrary to this compositional interest in ‘extended techniques’, and the resulting tradition and repertoire, the education of the skills necessary to transmit this interest to audiences has been lacking severely. Considering the multitude of extended techniques, and the size of the relevant professional repertoire, the training of these skills should not be postponed until the student is already at the conservatoire. In collaboration with composer Hans Cafmeyer, the “peyotl” project was set up at the Orpheus Institute, and comprised the development of new music through artistic research, in order to provide teachers at the pre-conservatoire level with the means to approach extended techniques within the traditional piano playing curriculum. While catering to children’s aesthetic horizons, their technical abilities, pedagogical needs, and personal biotope, as well as to the technological constraints of the instrument, the methodology includes collaborative composition and classroom- and peer-testing (involving children and teachers). In 2017, a first volume of pieces has been issued. Now, a second volume is ready, with 11 new pieces for a more advanced level. This lecture-recital will give an overview of the issues, and the ways they have been determined as well as resolved, in the second volume, with live performance of key pieces.
This workshop is based on the pilot project “Sound Hunters: Towards a Pedagogy based on Listening and Sound Exploration in Early Childhood”, that the authors are implementing in a non-formal educational context in Portugal. The workshop aims to sensitize participants to sound phenomena and discuss the meanings that are usually attributed to music and “music making”, by inviting participants to do a Soundwalk in the Conference Venue (inside and outside). This workshop emerges from “a double call” that has recently been made to educators and researchers in the field of music education. A call that asks, on the one side, for a new perspective on the concept of “music” - that might include the entire soundscape that surrounds us (Landy, 2007; Solomos, 2020) - and, on the other side, for more inclusive and democratic practices in music education, that might create learning opportunities for all children (Benedict et al. 2015; Hess, 2017; Wright, 2015). Departing from a roadmap previously prepared, and divided in 4 small groups, participants will be asked to pay close attention to the sounds surrounding them and to “capture” these sounds, using a set of audio recorders specifically designed to be used by children and adults that are not familiarized with music technologies. These tools will be explored previously by all participants with the guidance of the authors, during an introductory moment of the workshop. In the end, participants will share and listen together to the recordings made by the group. After this listening moment, the facilitators will introduce an activity in which participants will have the opportunity to engage in a musical improvisation, using not only the sounds previously recorded, but also diverse sounding objects related to the contexts in which the workshop is being developed. The workshop will end with a brief discussion about the activities and the ways in which they might have affected participants’ ideas about their sonic worlds and about music. At the end of the workshop it is expected that the participants might be able to: (i) Identify sound as part of each person's sensory experience; (ii) Identify, describe and compare different sounds and soundscapes; (iii) Explore, in a creative way, different sound sources and tools related to the perception and appropriation of sound; (iv) Explore the idea of Sound Ecology, relating sounds with the diverse environments in which they usually participate. This process, that seeks to emancipate participants from aprioristic conceptions of what is considered musically valid, is based on two essential premises: The idea that all people are capable of engage with sound and music, regardless of age, gender, physical or social condition; and the idea that music pedagogy should converge towards a practice that includes the entire sound spectrum that surrounds us, in the search to create meaning for the diverse sound worlds that we inhabit and to which we give life. Target audience: Children (2-5 years old), their families, educators, musicians, researchers and general public.
It is known and well documented that children do compose, are motivated by and take much pleasure in doing so, which is also true for students in the beginning stages of their music education, regardless of their age or music proficiency. Some authors have speculated that music creation can be an effective means of music learning, referred in this paper as productive music education (PME), even more than the approaches known as reproductive music education (RME), which comprehends teaching practices based on the reproduction of precomposed materials. From the research on PME, we learn that it: 1) engages students deeply with musical concepts; 2) promotes more engagement and motivation than RME; 3) constitutes a great opportunity for formative evaluation and scaffolding; 4) helps in the acquisition of tools for text comprehension and creation; 5) has positive impact on the individual and social development of students. For those reasons, PME is a teaching tool worth of being considered. This paper describes a study that took place with five children aged from seven to nine studying in the Music School (Escola de Música) of Sociedade Filarmónica União Mourense “Os Amarelos” (Moura, Portugal) for about one year. Bearing in mind the fact that philharmonic music schools are a big part of music teaching in Portugal and that their teaching is heavily based on reproduction and orientated towards performance, the aim of this study was to understand the possible applicability of PME as soon as the first stages of the Portuguese music learning context by observing how students used to a reproductive approach of music would respond to PME. The study was conducted during July 2021. In the first phase, many conversations and interviews with the teachers took place, as a means of understanding the teaching approaches of the school and selecting the participants. The second phase happened in three moments: 1) before the experiment, the participants underwent an initial interview; 2) during the experiment, the selected students participated in sessions composed of creative tasks and put together a concert with the created pieces for their families; at the same time, notes were taken about the ways they related to PME; 3) after the experiment, the students participated in the final interviews. After this, the collected data was analysed. The findings of this study were not contradictory to what literature describes, but rather complementary. We learned that students used to RME can rapidly adapt to PME, even if some resistance at first is normal. The study suggests that the level of resistance can be bigger in students that have been involved in RME for a longer period, what demands for more investigation on the subject. The students also related positively to the concept of form, which was debated and applied during the sessions. In conclusion, PME results in learning and can be claimed from early in the Portuguese music teaching context, even if that context has performance as its goal.
This lecture-recital presents the commented repertoire of the books Piano.Gems 1 and 2 by professors Carla Reis and Liliana Botelho. These books are outcomes of a university extension project aimed at the initial and continuous training of piano teachers that has been developed since 2015 at the Federal University of São João del-Rei, Brazil. Book 1 presents 18 "pattern pieces" composed for beginning students (children or adults). The proposal is a book of rote-teaching repertoire accompanied by videos and pedagogical instructions. In our composition process, we intended to create a musical kaleidoscope, both by the variety of technical-musical skills addressed, and by the diversity of character and sound atmosphere of each piece. The pieces (solos and duos) are organized in increasing levels of difficulty, from the first experiences on the keyboard to the initial intermediate level of piano practice. We also highlight the use of Brazilian musical genres like baião, xote, marchinha de forró, and samba, which are not usually contemplated in this type of didactic publication. The second book presents pieces that represent twelve animals from land, water, and air. It is composed for children from 4 to 6 years old, a sort of musical stories to be played on the piano. The main underlying idea is that the child has to learn the piece "by imitation" and then link it with unconventional scores. The project's experience on digital platforms (YouTube, Facebook and Instagram) has shown that this approach to teaching repertoire - which is based on the concept of music as aural art - is still little known and, at times, stigmatized in the Brazilian context. Due to the fact that this approach forgoes music reading, it is considered by some piano teachers as condescending and, therefore, harmful to the musical development of students. However, we believe that such criticisms are unfounded, since the approach to rote teaching allows us to focus on other important aspects of learning the instrument, such as basic technical-musical skills, musical understanding and performance fluency.
Theoretical background or Context Curiosity is an innate mechanism for children. It is the desire for knowledge, the first manifestation of what is intangible and moves the human being. Curiosity plays a fundamental role and is an important skill for a child to learn. Inspiring and developing curiosity allows children to be available and able to continually grow, learn and question what is around us. Although this construct has gained much attention in the last decade and the seemingly widespread agreement of its importance in the educational content, many strategies/practices and excessively rigid top-down structures existing in the educational and societal context, lead to a diminishing curiosity as children grow. Aims This research aims to (i) understand how early childhood educators manage curiosity in class, (ii) explore experiences of curiosity in the early childhood music classrooms and (iii) analyze the places and relationships of these experiences in music-making in childhood. Methodology This study was conducted using a qualitative, descriptive and interpretative approach. To investigate the research questions, we conducted semi-structured interviews with six early childhood educators to understand how they manage curiosity in classroom. The data were analyzed using thematic coding techniques. Framed by a participatory pedagogy, the second part of the study (ethnographic research strategy) was carried out in a multi-ethnic preschool in northern Portugal over a period of three months. Eighteen self-selected children participated in weekly sessions of experimentation and musical creation, 10 girls and 8 boys. Data collection techniques include (i) pedagogical documentation (the essence of action) of the children in the class context, and (ii) examination of participants' music-making products. The analysis procedures involve a hermeneutic phenomenological approach and implicate a continuous interplay between the action and the musical products of the children. Results/Findings Data analysis and triangulation show that: (i) the educators devote little time to fostering and stimulating children’s curiosity in class; (ii) brings out that the experiences of curiosity in class involve different behavioural characteristics and state aspects; (iii) what captivates and awakens curiosity and pleasure in discovery vary from child to child; (iv) creating music classrooms that opens the door to celebrate curiosity we nurture children's inner quest for musical knowledge, their delight in discovering new sounds and their emerging understanding of the world and music context around them. Conclusions/Final considerations As a complex and multidimensional construct, curiosity is widely beneficial and makes life worth living. Looking ahead is (i) important to define, measure and enlarge curiosity in early childhood and primary education, (ii) promote longitudinal studies to understand how childhood curiosity leads to holistic well-being and sustains its musical development throughout our lives, and (iii) create or take every opportunity to encourage curiosity in child to practice curiosity habits. Promoting curiosity in music classroom implies a predisposition and reconfiguration of the roles and functions of the various actors in the educational context.
Theoretical background or Context "It is necessary to read the world before reading words". For the Brazilian pedagogue Paulo Freire (1989), "reading the world" happens when we understand and apprehend things, signs, relations, in short, our "first readings" of our context. Making an analogy with the acquisition of musical reading, we can infer that the reading of the sound world by the child may occur through a musical experience with the body, the voice, the different sound sources, through imitation, exploration, improvisation, associations with elements of the child universe and also through the graphic representation of musical elements. The approach of the musical notation can be done in an analogous way to what is proposed by the Psychogenesis of the written language (FERRERO and TEBEROSKY, 1985), In studies about the learning of musical writing (BAMBERGER, 1990; SALLES, 1996; FURLAN, 2007; RHODEN, 2010), the authors demonstrate that the genesis of the musical notation of the child occurs in a similar way to the written language: through hypotheses, as demonstrated by Ferrero and Teberosky (1985). Aims In tune with Paulo Freire's thoughts (1989) this paper intends to discuss the processes involved in the acquisition of music reading by the child in the context of initiation to the piano. For that we will approach the repertoire of our own books xxxx, which propose an a priori learning "by imitation" followed by the association to the musical notation. These books are outcomes of a university extension project aimed at the initial and continuous training of piano teachers that has been developed since 2015 at the Federal University of xxxx, Brazil. Methodology The approach by imitation, proposed in the first book, is shown as a previous experience of " reading the sound world through the piano" and which, together with sound exploration and improvisation, enables the acquisition of auditory, kinesthetic and topographical schemes necessary for the musical reading stage. The introduction to musical reading for children, proposed by the second book, brings elements which favors the association of the experience provided by imitation, exploration and improvisation. The theme of animals, closer to the child's universe, may give rise to metaphors which will help in the development of basic piano technique and musical understanding. The non-conventional notation used is closer to the child's thought because it is more concrete and is configured as "hypotheses" that can probably be used by children in the process of acquisition of musical notation. Results The reception of the books has been very positive, both by the academic community, as well as by the external community, which reinforces our conviction in the importance of the rote methodology for piano teaching. Final considerations Offering children a global musical experience in which they can "read the sound world" through imitation, exploration, improvisation, association and graphic representation is what we bring with the proposals of the books xxxx.
Melodic and vocal performance of school-aged children from disadvantaged backgrounds
Melodic performance; Vocal performance; Children;
Crianças ouvindo com todo o corpo em movimento
Theoretical background or Context Listening is a fundamental way in which children relate to music in their daily lives. Palheiros (2006) classified different settings for music listening among children and adolescents, highlighting that, although none of them involve a passive mental attitude, there are different situations where there is no physical attitude—listening not engaging the entire body. On the other hand, ‘active music listening’ is a concept that has been used by many authors, such as Wuytack & Palheiros (1995) and Bastião (2004), and is defined as a way of listening that includes the whole body, in mental and physical engagement with music—therefore, in a conscious musical appreciation, considering the role of an affective and inventive involvement of the listeners in different and diverse ways of sensing and reacting to the music they listen to (Madalozzo & Madalozzo, 2019). In this paper, which is the result of an ongoing post-doctoral study in Education, we assume that music listening takes an important role on childhood cultures (Madalozzo & Madalozzo, 2021), as we acknowledge that it is a central element for signifying and comprehending the world for children. By producing and listening to music with their entire moving bodies, children not only act musically, but interact with the environment around them and, through music, better understand the world. Music listening is a part of the childhood cultures, which children do in a ‘creaCtive way’, both active and creative (Madalozzo, 2021). Aims This research intends to expand the ways in which music is considered when we refer to childhood cultures, highlighting the specific role of music listening on children’s daily lives. It aims to examine the concepts of childhood cultures (Sarmento, 2004) and ‘child body’ (Camargo & Garanhani, in press), leading to the assumption that by moving and listening to music, children are invariably signifying and understanding the surrounding world in a ‘creAtive’way. Methodology This is a bibliographic investigation: a research on children, where the concepts of childhood cultures, ‘child body’, and ‘creActive music listening’ are defined. The last one, that in the process of delineation, will point out to teaching strategies on ‘creActive music listening’ for children designed for Art and Music teachers in a subsequent stage of the investigation. Conclusions/Final considerations By merging key concepts on Music Education and on Childhood Studies and encircling the definition of ‘creActive music listening’, it is possible to formulate a more consistent way to understand music listening on childhood, resonating with a broader view of childhood cultures.