Session Information
Contribution
Description: A great amount of research concentrates, the last decades, issues regarding children's musical creativity and particularly the ways children improvise or compose. However, little has been written on what we, as educators, can learn on this issue from children themselves (Hickey,2003; Shehan Campbell, 2002; Younker 2000, Burnard 2000). This paper examines the musical, social and educational dimensions of creative activities in the music lesson. More specifically, secondary school students' beliefs and attitudes towards creative activities (improvising and composing) are explored both from the perspective of the students and the researchers.
Methodology: A school based collaborative research project is reported, where, two researchers designed a series of lesson plans, which were then taught by them, in different classes of children aged thirteen - fourteen, in an urban secondary school in Nicosia. The design of the music lessons was based on the threefold of composing, performing and listening and the lessons explored a variety of musical concepts. The lessons were videotaped and then analyzed. The research method used was mainly participant observation combined with the use of a questionnaire given to children at the end of each unit, where they were asked to comment on the creative activities that took place during teaching.
Conclusions: Both the questionnaire and video analysis showed that creative activities created an excellent environment for learning to emerge, enhanced deep understanding and critical thinking and allowed children to socialize and interact with their classmates. Furthermore, children were given the chance to express themselves through their musical creations and feel the joy of learning, a feeling that is hard to find in contemporary schooling. Although many children were quite nervous, shy, stressed and not confident at all, especially at the beginning of the creative process, it seems that the satisfaction of the experience and a successful creation was a unique and valuable feeling that is worth for all children to feel.
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