Intergenerational Learning Through Music: A Case Study

Author(s):

Almudena Ocaña (presenting / submitting) María Luisa Reyes (presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

14 SES 02 A, Policies and Actions to Promote School-Family-Community Links II

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-08

15:15-16:45

Room:

103.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Angelika Paseka

Contribution

Learning means to restructure, reconstruct and rewrite in a consciously and orderly way the meanings individuals built up throughout our history, generally as a result of the interactions in everyday situations and the considerations about the knowledge emerged from the experience to broaden our horizon toward new experiences and new knowledge (Pérez Gómez, 2010).

Our study echoes the need to foster a real dialectic and bidirectional relation between theory and practice for what De la Blanca et al. (2007) suggest the design and experimentation of research projects which promote innovation and investigation experiences. To that end, we have developed an educational space within the university on Early Music Education in which university professors, music teachers, teacher trainees and families participate.

We start with the perspective that the music experience is a shared experience (Custodero and Johnson- Green, 2007), one in which the sense of belonging is crucial (Kawachi and Berkman, 2001), and emerges from the mutual effort between young children and the people around them (Custodero and Johnson- Green, 2007). Music education is an enterprise with social roots and it affects the development of identity, personal relationships and the personality (Hargreaves, Marshall and North, 2005).

Boys and girls do not start from a music vacuum (Delalande, 1995) but what they need is to reinforce the existing trend toward music expression by means of an enhancing ludic action in order for it to be present in their everyday life. The methodology used in the sessions is based in E.E. Gordon’s Music Learning Theory (MLT) grounded on the premises that music is learnt the same way as language. As it is the case with verbal language, the variety, repetition and complexity of music stimuli will provide the child the opportunity to build and increase his/her music vocabulary (Gordon, 1997). We work on an educational project that emerges from the thought of music aptitude as another intellectual competence (Eisner, 1987 and Gardner, 1987), understanding intelligence as the ability to solve problems or to make products valued by a society.

Small (1989) warns that some of the problems of education nowadays derive from conceiving learning as a preparation for life, whereas, conversely, learning should be regarded as a basic experience of life itself. This is the reason why we choose an informal learning within a community. To achieve the objective is paramount the presence of adults (fathers, mothers, grandparents, or any other person with strong emotional bonds with the children), and to participate actively in the sessions, reinforcing the teacher’s model, and always with full respect for each child’s aptitudes and abilities. Working with music allows the silence to be part of the communicative act as a space to activate the inner dialogue in which the real comprehension takes place, and which favours expression and creativity. These group factors allow musical activity to reinforce family bonds through the shared experience, which in turn, favours the establishment of a relationship based on listening and dialogue within the family.

The aim of this research is to know and understand the implications and influences that the development of this activity has on participants. Form this aim, we ask ourselves some questions: a) What are the repercussions of this program on future teacher’s formation?; b) How does the program faculty live the experience in the classroom?; c) What is the perception of the families about their participation in the workshop?

Method

The idea of researching within this space is inherent to its own essence since it defines a natural educational space placed with a continuum between families, teacher trainees, music teachers and researchers. The case study is a suitable methodology to know and comprehend this reality since, as Stake says (1998:20), the real mission of the case study is the itemization, not the generalization. A particular case is taken into study until it is well known, but not to see how different it is from others, but to see what it is, what does it do. Uniqueness is emphasized. The program we present in this case study is framed within the interpretative paradigm which considers that teaching offers a great technical indeterminacy, being science and art at the same time, for the separation between theory and practicum disappears, and because the teacher becomes a “reflexive practitioner” which investigates the action to innovate (Cabrerizo, Rubio and Castillo, 2010). To approach the case, we have used the following research tools: a) Sessions observations in the classroom from October 2013 to June 2014. A video recording of the workshops was systematically done. In addition to the fix video camera, which allows having a global view of what is happening; a novice researcher specialized in music teaching methodology has been incorporated to film close-ups of the most significant events, allowing us to observe the processes more in detail. b) Group and individual interviews to the families in specific situations, at the beginning, towards the middle of the workshop and at the end. Besides, on a weekly basis, comments and suggestions proposed by adults when attending the workshop are collected. Video-graphic documents of music activities developed within the family context are analyzed. c) Interviews to teacher trainees. d) Interviews to music teachers and analysis of their class diary.

Expected Outcomes

The workshop means a learning space for all participants since it allows reflecting on the knowledge that arises from the experience of broadening horizons towards new experiences and new knowledge, as Pérez Gómez (2010) points out. Faculty members, researchers and families develop their own learning process through the experience, accompanying children, breaking with preconceptions about music, teaching, learning, and the relationships. A considerable change in families’ expectations is achieved in reference to the aim of the workshop, most of which are based on the idea that their children could play an instrument, and then little by little they become conscious of the large amount of processes triggered thanks to music activity, as Campbell states (1998). The over-reaching effects on relationships are emphasized as an essential trait. Learning among piers makes more sense as it is experiences firsthand, in an everyday natural way. Since the hallmark of workshop is the families’ participation, in turn it means an important achievement for the teacher. Integration between families and teachers within the classroom generates, at first, some uncertainty that progressively transforms into a relation of collaboration and mutual trust that facilitates the attainment of the goals. Progressively, a real learning community is built up around music and silence, one in which everybody is compelled to readjust the learned roles. Sharing becomes a key element in the perception of the different agents. Families, students and teachers positively value the shared learning. Families say that is not usual meeting with education professionals who openly express their apprentice attitude. They fell very well before the honesty of teachers explaining their own apprenticeships.

References

Cabrerizo, J., Rubio, M.J., Castillo, S. (2010). El prácticum en los Grados de Pedagogía, de Magisterio de Educación Social. Formación, desarrollo e instrumentos. Madrid: Pearson Educación. Campbell, D. (1998). El efecto Mozart: aprovechar el poder de la música para sanar el cuerpo, fortalecer la mente y liberar el espíritu creativo. Barcelona: Urano. Custodero, L.A., & Johnson-Green, E. (2007). Caregiving in counterpoint: Reciprocal influences in the musical parenting of younger and older infants. Early Child Development and Care, 178(1), 15–39. De La Blanca, S., Lucena, M., Parrilla, I. y Luengo, F. (2007). Un Prácticum reflexivo investigativo (pp.301-314). In A. Cid, M. Muradás, M. A. Zabalda, M. Sanmamed, M. Raposo, M.C. Iglesias (Coord.) Actas del IX Symposium Internacional sobre Prácticum y Prácticas en empresas en la formación universitaria: Buenas prácticas en el prácticum (pp. 301-314). Poio: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Delalande, F. (1995). La música es un juego de niños. Buenos Aires: Ricordi. Eisner, E. (1987). Procesos cognitivos y currículo. Barcelona: Martínez Roca. Gardner, H. (1987): Estructuras de la mente: la teoría de las múltiples inteligencias. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. GORDON, E.E. (1997). Learning sequences in music: skill, content, and patterns: A Music Learning Theory. Chicago: GIA Publications. Hargreaves, D.J., Marshall, N.A. y North, A.C. (2005). Educación musical en el siglo XXI: una perspectiva psicológica. Eufonía. Didáctica de la Música, 34, 8-32. Kawachi, I., & Berkman, L. (2001). Social ties and mental health. Journal of Urban Health, 78(3), 458–467. Kushner, S. (2002). Personalizar la evaluación. Madrid: Morata. Pérez Gómez, A.I. (2008). ¿Competencias o pensamiento práctico? La construcción de los significados de representación y de acción. En J. Gimeno (Ed.), Educar por competencias, ¿qué hay de nuevo? (pp. 59-103). Madrid: Morata. Pérez Gómez, A.I. (2010). Aprender a educar. Nuevos desafíos para la formación de docentes. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 68, 37-60. Small, C. (1989). Música, sociedad, educación. Madrid: Alianza. Stake, R.E. (1998). Investigación con estudio de casos. Madrid: Morata. Tafuri, J. (2006). ¿Se nace musical?: cómo promover las aptitudes musicales de los niños. Barcelona: Graó. Zenatti, A. (1991). Aspectos del desarrollo musical del niño en la historia de la psicología del siglo XX. Comunicación, Lenguaje y Educación, 57-70.

Author Information

Almudena Ocaña (presenting / submitting)

UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA

DIDACTIC OF MUSICAL EXPRESSION

Granada

María Luisa Reyes (presenting)

University of Granada

Didactic of musical expression

Granada

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