The author first makes the point that the socio-political state of a nation is determined in a large way by the education of its youth, beginning in early childhood. Since music is so important to the South African culture, she insists that music education is essential for a healthy social environment. Music therapists are recognized as health professionals and music is similarly valued in the classroom, but lack of structure and accessibility deter integration of music in education. In addition, a tendency to adopt Western practices may eliminate musical traditions if they are not taught in schools. Woodward cites M. Xulu in claiming that there is also a bias toward "art music" and a devaluing of traditional music or "music of the people." The idea that music should be nonfunctional, abstract (some might even say absolute, but that's another argument), and intellectual rather than functional is a relatively recent Western idea that tends not to bother about everyday music that is actually valuable and central to culture.
Another problem in South African musical education is the lack of materials. If using a multicultural approach, the only readily available materials are for Western music--notation, instruments, theory, etc. which simply do not capture the essence of traditional African music.
Teachers, also, need to learn not only the music itself and the styles, but appropriate teaching methods which may differ from what they are accustomed to. The author posits that the best way to go about bringing change in South African early childhood music education is through legislation for the school systems, providing an educational foundation on which musical learning can be built.
I didn't have a huge reaction to this article, which seems very logical and frankly, much more bureaucratic than I was expecting for this sort of class. It makes sense though, to tie in a socio-political background, because the state of the education system both influences and is influenced by the socio-political state of a nation.
I am also glad to see that an emphasis on traditional musical forms is being made; the Western canonical tradition has taken over much of the musical world, to the loss of many rich and varied musical styles that are now seen as "wrong" or "not as perfect." With an expanding global society, it is increasingly more important to be able to keep one's cultural arts to preserve them for the next generation.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Music Therapy
The premise of this article revolves around music therapy as a means of lessening pain and making hospital stays easier for children 3-17 with different types of cancer. It focused on measures of pain and comfort, using music in difficult situations such as taking medicine, dealing with needles, etc. They kept track of the way the children felt before and after sessions ranging from 15-45 minutes and how interactive the activities were.
Not surprisingly, the children tended to report tha music distracted them from their pain and the medical procedures and relaxed them. Interestingly, they tended to report that the music made them happier and made them forget, at least temporarily, about their illnesses. This article reminds me of Oliver Sacks' work as he reported in Awakenings, with music seeming to have almost druglike properties. In Awakenings, Sacks studied the effects of both L-dopa and music on catatonic post-encephalitic Parkinsonian patients. The music had fascinatingly better effects, with no side effects like L-dopa, than drugs. Similarly, in this article music has shown to have better effects, at least on the affective states, of hospitalized children. One might argue that it is a conditioned effect; in Western culture, music is associated with relaxing, recreation, and higher intellectual venues, all of which go directly against the everyday life of hospitalized children in chronic pain. I would argue that as long as it seems effective and improves the children's lives, then it is a worthwhile endeavour. As a scientific treatment, however... I think there is definitely something important in music therapy, but as yet it cannot be proven using scientific methods.
Not surprisingly, the children tended to report tha music distracted them from their pain and the medical procedures and relaxed them. Interestingly, they tended to report that the music made them happier and made them forget, at least temporarily, about their illnesses. This article reminds me of Oliver Sacks' work as he reported in Awakenings, with music seeming to have almost druglike properties. In Awakenings, Sacks studied the effects of both L-dopa and music on catatonic post-encephalitic Parkinsonian patients. The music had fascinatingly better effects, with no side effects like L-dopa, than drugs. Similarly, in this article music has shown to have better effects, at least on the affective states, of hospitalized children. One might argue that it is a conditioned effect; in Western culture, music is associated with relaxing, recreation, and higher intellectual venues, all of which go directly against the everyday life of hospitalized children in chronic pain. I would argue that as long as it seems effective and improves the children's lives, then it is a worthwhile endeavour. As a scientific treatment, however... I think there is definitely something important in music therapy, but as yet it cannot be proven using scientific methods.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Fostering Young Children's Representation, Planning and Reflection
This article compares three models of early childhood education. The High/Scope model is based on a constructionist view where the child is an active learner. The child learns thought personal interaction with the world and with others and also through introspection about those physical interactions. In education, the model uses a plan-do-review system where the teacher helps the child make a detailed plan for play, carry out the plan, and the review the plan afterwards, sometimes the next day.
The Tools of the Mind model is based on Vygotsky and focuses on the development of self-regulation and deliberate behaviours. Teachers and students are involved in extensive planning, including discussion of the roles the child will take in play and discussion of previous play.
The work in Reggio Emilia focuses on teachers' extensive observation and documentation of children's activities and a study of that documentation. Teachers encourage children's use of graphic representation as a means of communication that is simpler than language.
I think all three models have a lot in common; they all stress planning and review, but I feel that the main difference is in the level of involvement of the children in the instrospection into their own activities. Very young children might not benefit much from being expected to think and plan in great detail, and I also think free play is incredibly important. It seemed like none of the models allowed for play without hyperanalysis. While I think that structure is very important in a child's life, I also think children should be given the ability (and encouraged) to be creative in their play.
The Tools of the Mind model is based on Vygotsky and focuses on the development of self-regulation and deliberate behaviours. Teachers and students are involved in extensive planning, including discussion of the roles the child will take in play and discussion of previous play.
The work in Reggio Emilia focuses on teachers' extensive observation and documentation of children's activities and a study of that documentation. Teachers encourage children's use of graphic representation as a means of communication that is simpler than language.
I think all three models have a lot in common; they all stress planning and review, but I feel that the main difference is in the level of involvement of the children in the instrospection into their own activities. Very young children might not benefit much from being expected to think and plan in great detail, and I also think free play is incredibly important. It seemed like none of the models allowed for play without hyperanalysis. While I think that structure is very important in a child's life, I also think children should be given the ability (and encouraged) to be creative in their play.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Musical play: a case study of preschool children and parents
In this rather broad study, the experimenters wanted to know how preschool children play musically when given a free rein, and how the role of the parent and a parent's behavior influences children's free music play. They observed 18 children over ten weeks in several different kinds of sessions and when the experimenters were involved in the play, they allowed themselves to be led by the children's exploration. They coded for three different types of play; in unfinished play, a child in free music play is interrupted in the middle of doing something and shows a desire to continue. In extinguishing play, there are behaviors by others that interrupt free music play and result in the ceasing of the play. Finally, in enhancing play, the role of others serves to encourage free music play. The experimenters found that parents can be very instrumental in the music play of their children, and that the role of others may have implications for peer-to-peer relationships and also artistic expression in the context of a family system.
While I was initially confused by the presence of a "prologue" and "epilogue," and I am much less accustomed to this extreme of qualitative research, I think the broadness of the inquiry adequately matches the broadness of possible findings. In a free play environment, there are an infinite number of different things that could happen, and especially in a realm of inquiry that is relatively young, research questions must be necessarily broad. I also think that this kind of research finding has implications for all kinds of areas, not just music in preschool children's lives. Especially in secondary and post-secondary arts education, there is a rampant obsession with correction and perfection that begins even in primary school, where children are only permitted to repeat back a rhythm pattern or paint with a certain kind of brush, on a certain kind of paper, or even in literary arts where sonnets and quatrains and limericks are taught but no one would even think to suggest allowing freeverse, let alone writing in a style like Joyce or Faulkner. The same is true in fine arts and performing arts; in music, composition is taught as "something other people do" and children are taught simply to play the music, not to play with it or allow any sort of creativity, even with nuance of expression. The modern conservatory's obsession with canon is a larger version of the oppressive ban on creativity that begins early in life when parents engage in extinguishing behaviors toward play. Encouraging free play, especially in arts, engenders creativity, builds confidence, allows children to integrate modes of perception, even exercises their linguistic skills. I read on the main blog that one of the moms noticed her child loving the song "Yankee Doodle" and even changing the words around to create a humorous version. Without parents exhibiting enhancing behavior toward play, those creative exercises are less likely to happen.
While I was initially confused by the presence of a "prologue" and "epilogue," and I am much less accustomed to this extreme of qualitative research, I think the broadness of the inquiry adequately matches the broadness of possible findings. In a free play environment, there are an infinite number of different things that could happen, and especially in a realm of inquiry that is relatively young, research questions must be necessarily broad. I also think that this kind of research finding has implications for all kinds of areas, not just music in preschool children's lives. Especially in secondary and post-secondary arts education, there is a rampant obsession with correction and perfection that begins even in primary school, where children are only permitted to repeat back a rhythm pattern or paint with a certain kind of brush, on a certain kind of paper, or even in literary arts where sonnets and quatrains and limericks are taught but no one would even think to suggest allowing freeverse, let alone writing in a style like Joyce or Faulkner. The same is true in fine arts and performing arts; in music, composition is taught as "something other people do" and children are taught simply to play the music, not to play with it or allow any sort of creativity, even with nuance of expression. The modern conservatory's obsession with canon is a larger version of the oppressive ban on creativity that begins early in life when parents engage in extinguishing behaviors toward play. Encouraging free play, especially in arts, engenders creativity, builds confidence, allows children to integrate modes of perception, even exercises their linguistic skills. I read on the main blog that one of the moms noticed her child loving the song "Yankee Doodle" and even changing the words around to create a humorous version. Without parents exhibiting enhancing behavior toward play, those creative exercises are less likely to happen.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
DeVries: Music at home with children under five
In this study, Peter DeVries wanted to know more about what kind of musicking was happening in the homes of children under the age of five. A survey was sent out to parents of children in three Australian preschools, and then two focus groups were created in order for parents to discuss more thoroughly the answers to the survey and to comment on each others' opinions. 63 parents responded to the survey and the focus groups had 5 parents in one and 6 parents in the other.
Many of the parents admitted that they had few to no musical activities on a regular basis, citing mainly lack of time and lack of confidence in their own musical abilities as excuses. Most parents were under the impression that school took care of whatever musical education their children needed and added that besides, music wasn't as important as reading or math, anyway.
As far as the method is concerned, there was really only one thing that stuck out to me. It is never stated in the article which parent was in the focus group or answering the surveys and if the other parent was asked questions as well or kept informed. I found this worrying; after all, in a self-declared "unmusical" household, it is not likely that everyday musical events would be discussed between parents, so how could one parent be sure of the other's musical interactions with the children? If parents are not aware of the music that spontaneously happens (as when children hum to themselves or tap rhythms), then a Daddy and daughter duet in the car on the way to the grocery store is not likely to be a topic of conversation at dinner, so the other parent may never know what sorts of musical things are going on, and so could give misleading answers in the survey or focus group.
The other thing that struck me about this article was the misinformation the parents in the focus groups were flaunting. There seems to be an epidemic of parent insecurity about their own musical abilities and a projection of that insecurity onto their children in the form of differentiating "real music" (formal training) and "not music," which is everything from children making up their own songs, playing with toy instruments, etc. Parents do not seem to value musical exploration in children, and they also seem to be unaware of most of their musicking. I think that if parents were more aware of the music that occurs naturally when children are allowed to explore, then they would feel more inclined to encourage musical expression in their children.
Many of the parents admitted that they had few to no musical activities on a regular basis, citing mainly lack of time and lack of confidence in their own musical abilities as excuses. Most parents were under the impression that school took care of whatever musical education their children needed and added that besides, music wasn't as important as reading or math, anyway.
As far as the method is concerned, there was really only one thing that stuck out to me. It is never stated in the article which parent was in the focus group or answering the surveys and if the other parent was asked questions as well or kept informed. I found this worrying; after all, in a self-declared "unmusical" household, it is not likely that everyday musical events would be discussed between parents, so how could one parent be sure of the other's musical interactions with the children? If parents are not aware of the music that spontaneously happens (as when children hum to themselves or tap rhythms), then a Daddy and daughter duet in the car on the way to the grocery store is not likely to be a topic of conversation at dinner, so the other parent may never know what sorts of musical things are going on, and so could give misleading answers in the survey or focus group.
The other thing that struck me about this article was the misinformation the parents in the focus groups were flaunting. There seems to be an epidemic of parent insecurity about their own musical abilities and a projection of that insecurity onto their children in the form of differentiating "real music" (formal training) and "not music," which is everything from children making up their own songs, playing with toy instruments, etc. Parents do not seem to value musical exploration in children, and they also seem to be unaware of most of their musicking. I think that if parents were more aware of the music that occurs naturally when children are allowed to explore, then they would feel more inclined to encourage musical expression in their children.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Singing Practices in 10 Families with Young Children
Lori Custodero studied 3-year-old children from 10 families in New York, chosen from a larger telephone survey about music in the household. The study used home visits, interviews, and parent journals to document singing practices in everyday life in these families. Socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds were diverse. The study looked at the different functions of singing in households, like traditional cultural songs, songs that accompanied routines, songs for play, songs to direct children's attention, and songs for aesthetic purposes.
I found it interesting that many of the parents did not realize how central music was to their lives until they paid attention to it. It is common for people to sing or hum to themselves absentmindedly without realizing it, and parents often do the same with children, to fill silence or because talking to young children in a sing-song voice seems to come naturally to mothers. I was glad to see that Custodero cited Dissanayake; it reminded me of Dissanayake's work "Becoming Homo Aestheticus" and also a paper (I can't find the author) that I read in a cognitive science class that was about the developmental function of babytalk in mother-infant communication. Studies have suggested (and I also believe this to be true, just from my own personal observation) that incorporating music into routines helps children to learn; musical mnemonics are more easily remembered than strings of data, and associating certain songs with routines like hand-washing or shoe-tying helps to both entertain children and structure their routines.
The part I found most interesting was the one mother who said that she used songs to make her children behave. When they would fight, she would redirect their attention to singing together, taking up any cognitive faculty they would otherwise be using to fight. This application of the cognitive economy theory is particularly useful in young children, whose brains focus best on the concrete rather than the abstract and have not yet learned to run on multiple lines at the same time. It also reminds me of the ancient classical ideas that music can control one's emotional state. That idea seems so attractive to people for whatever reason that it has gone through the medieval with different church modes, the baroque with the doctrine of affections, it's touched upon in some texts in terms of what, exactly, absolute music expresses; obviously, even in the present, people who are not trained in music history tend to believe it. It's a huge testament to the power of music in society.
I found it interesting that many of the parents did not realize how central music was to their lives until they paid attention to it. It is common for people to sing or hum to themselves absentmindedly without realizing it, and parents often do the same with children, to fill silence or because talking to young children in a sing-song voice seems to come naturally to mothers. I was glad to see that Custodero cited Dissanayake; it reminded me of Dissanayake's work "Becoming Homo Aestheticus" and also a paper (I can't find the author) that I read in a cognitive science class that was about the developmental function of babytalk in mother-infant communication. Studies have suggested (and I also believe this to be true, just from my own personal observation) that incorporating music into routines helps children to learn; musical mnemonics are more easily remembered than strings of data, and associating certain songs with routines like hand-washing or shoe-tying helps to both entertain children and structure their routines.
The part I found most interesting was the one mother who said that she used songs to make her children behave. When they would fight, she would redirect their attention to singing together, taking up any cognitive faculty they would otherwise be using to fight. This application of the cognitive economy theory is particularly useful in young children, whose brains focus best on the concrete rather than the abstract and have not yet learned to run on multiple lines at the same time. It also reminds me of the ancient classical ideas that music can control one's emotional state. That idea seems so attractive to people for whatever reason that it has gone through the medieval with different church modes, the baroque with the doctrine of affections, it's touched upon in some texts in terms of what, exactly, absolute music expresses; obviously, even in the present, people who are not trained in music history tend to believe it. It's a huge testament to the power of music in society.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Journal Club Entry #1
Summary:
The researchers in this study were interested in infant preferences relating to two versions of an unfamiliar children's son--unaccompanied vocal and accompanied vocal. They used the head-turning technique to determine the length of each child's listening to excerpts of a Chinese children's song sung by a female 9-year-old child (because previous studies have shown that children prefer higher pitches and children's voices). They ran an ANOVA for interactions between gender, age (5, 8, and 11 months), and stimulus and found that children of all the age categories preferred the unaccompanied song version.
Discussion:
Overall, the research looked valid. The sample size was large enough and the stimuli were randomized through the conditions. However, the "world music" accompaniment to the accompanied song version may be problematic. I think using uncharacteristic combinations of instruments may introduce another variable. It is not clear how much discriminating ability children have at that age as far as separating genres of music (mostly based on levels of exposure to a variety of music), but varieties of world music each have a set of distinctive holistic qualities, so using bagpipes to accompany a child singing in a Mandarin dialect may sound just as strange to an infant as it would to us.
Other than that, I find the results common sense; children's perceptive capacities are not rrefined, and so extra stimulation would be less enjoyable. However, I would be interested in a study involving mixed world music/ accompanied and unaccompanied version of a song, and synesthetic children at a preschool (if identifiable) and kindergarten age.
The researchers in this study were interested in infant preferences relating to two versions of an unfamiliar children's son--unaccompanied vocal and accompanied vocal. They used the head-turning technique to determine the length of each child's listening to excerpts of a Chinese children's song sung by a female 9-year-old child (because previous studies have shown that children prefer higher pitches and children's voices). They ran an ANOVA for interactions between gender, age (5, 8, and 11 months), and stimulus and found that children of all the age categories preferred the unaccompanied song version.
Discussion:
Overall, the research looked valid. The sample size was large enough and the stimuli were randomized through the conditions. However, the "world music" accompaniment to the accompanied song version may be problematic. I think using uncharacteristic combinations of instruments may introduce another variable. It is not clear how much discriminating ability children have at that age as far as separating genres of music (mostly based on levels of exposure to a variety of music), but varieties of world music each have a set of distinctive holistic qualities, so using bagpipes to accompany a child singing in a Mandarin dialect may sound just as strange to an infant as it would to us.
Other than that, I find the results common sense; children's perceptive capacities are not rrefined, and so extra stimulation would be less enjoyable. However, I would be interested in a study involving mixed world music/ accompanied and unaccompanied version of a song, and synesthetic children at a preschool (if identifiable) and kindergarten age.
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