Musical Beginning in an Intercultural Environment
Author(s):
Roberto Cremades Andreu (presenting / submitting) Oswaldo Lorenzo (presenting) Lucía Herrera Torres
Conference:
ECER 2012
Network:
20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Format:
Paper

Session Information

20 SES 05, Music Education in an Intercultural Environment

Parallel Paper Session

Time:
2012-09-19
11:00-12:30
Room:
ESI 3 - Aula 1
Chair:
John Willumsen

Contribution

This study examines the factors that motivate children from 4-8 years old to begin their musical studies at the school of music and dance in Melilla, Spain, an intercultural environment, because now, more than ever, the study of music has gained relevance in the Spanish society, as the increase in music students in the last years illustrates (Ministry of Culture, 2009), as well as the growth of academies and schools of music dedicated to the musical amateur, without sacrificing the quality of education that is provided in other educational institutions (Organic Act 2, 2006).
The main objectives of this research were:
-    To investigate the motivations to take up musical studies of children who are attending the School of Music and Dance of Melilla.
-    To examine the relationship between different variables of comparison in relation to children’s motivation in musical training.

Method

The participants in this study were 139 students, 92 girls (66,2%) and 47 boys (33,8%), 91 Western children (65.5%) and 48 Non-Western children (34.5%), that were studying the subjects Music and Movement, Introduction to Musical Language, and Musical Language -solffegio-, at the School of Music and Dance of the city of Melilla, Spain, and whose ages ranged from 4 to 8 years. This study focused on this age range, 4-8 years, as Schools of music and dance were structured and organized according to it, as indicated by the Order of July 30, 1992, which regulates the conditions for the creation and operation of the Schools of music and dance in Spain. This way, a not probabilistic casual sample was selected, by which the researcher deliberately intentionally chose people from the population under investigation, which in this case were those that met the established age range (Buendía, Colas & Hernández, 1998). The information of this research was collected by means of a semi-structured interview. To elaborate it, previously the children’s capacity of responsiveness was taken into consideration, and how best to formulate the questions.

Expected Outcomes

The results shows that children begin to study music because they like music, although at this age vocation for music is not clearly defined, and thus, those parents are observed that exert a greater influence in the desire of children to study music. In general, it can be said that the students who attend this center derive a high level of satisfaction from the different activities, which is reflected in the huge number of students who apply for admission. In addition, it must be pointed out that despite the cultural diversity of the city, music lessons are mainly demanded by students of Western origin, while the characteristics of music in itself favor the inclusion and socialization of all students attending the School of music without any distinction, including the Non-Western students (North & Hargreaves, 2008).

References

Buendía, L., Colás, M. P. & Hernández, F. (1998). Métodos de Investigación en Psicopedagogía. Madrid: McGraw-Hill. McPherson, G. E. (2005). From child to musician: Skill development during the beginning stages of learning an instrument. Psychology of Music, 33, 1 (2005) 5-35. McPherson, G. E. (2009). The role of parents in children's musical development. Psychology of Music, 37, 1 (2009) 91-110. Ministry of Culture (2009). Anuario de Estadísticas Culturales 2009. Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura. Available on: http://www.mcu.es/estadisticas/MC/NAEC/2009/Capitulos2009.html North, A. C. & Hargreaves, D. J. (2008). The social and applied psychology of music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Organic Act 2/2006, de 3 de mayo, de Educación. BOE de 4-5-2006. Rodríguez, I. (2006). Redefiniendo el trabajo cualitativo con niños: El uso de la entrevista de grupo aplicada al estudio de la tecnología. Empírica: Revista de metodología de ciencias sociales, 12 (2006) 65-88. Schellenberg, E. G. (2008). The role of exposure in emotional responses to music. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31 (2008) 594-595. Sichivitsa, V. O. (2007). The influences of parents, teachers, peers and other factors on students’ motivation in music. Research Studies in Music Education, 29 (2007) 55-68.

Author Information

Roberto Cremades Andreu (presenting / submitting)
Faculty of Education. Complutense University of Madrid
Department of Musical and Corporal Expression
Madrid
Oswaldo Lorenzo (presenting)
University of Granada
Vicedean of Research, Posgraduate and International Programs
MELILLA
Lucía Herrera Torres
Faculty of Education and Humanities. University of Granada

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