Extract
This study explores ways to develop focused musical listening skills with six- to eight-yearolds. Groups of children listened to short musical extracts and decided upon a best-fit match from a selection of patterns, colours and textures. At all times their `expert' status was emphasised to keep self-esteem as high as possible and maximise response levels. In requiring children to make an `expert judgement' it was hoped that concentrated listening could be better sustained and actively fostered. Results suggest that listening skills were developed, musical self-esteem enhanced and verbal responses scaffolded. The greatest measurable progress was made by the less able musicians and those with low self-esteem.
Introduction
Musical perception takes place inside the brain; we cannot tap directly into it. If we want to know if someone is perceiving or not, we have to ask them to sing, speak, write or move, for instance, and then measure how well they do that. Any problem may result from difficulty with the singing, speaking, writing or moving itself, rather than the perception. (Mills, 1991: 149)
My experiences in the primary classroom have led me to believe that children frequently equate musicality with the ability to sing well or play an instrument. Sadly, this association often leads to low musical self-esteem in those children who regard themselves as having neither singing nor instrumental skills. This research aimed to raise the profile of non-performance- based activities in the classroom and enhance musical self-esteem. The findings are based on a qualitative exploration of ways in which young children respond to music, how they perceive themselves in relation to music, and how all of these factors affect their musical self-esteem.
Listening to music is an active, perceptual experience that requires sustained concentration. This is a skill which most young children find difficult. However, I believe their responses are often underestimated because of poor concentration span rather than lack of musicality and much potential goes undetected. A further conjecture from my classroom experience is that young children only communicate a fraction of their response to music because of the limitations of their language skills. This is a disquieting thought when one considers how many judgements and assessments are based on verbal responses. Consequently, this study, in seeking to explore and develop listening skills in young children, also investigates ways of using non-verbal stimuli to maximise, as well as partially scaffold, the verbal response. Above all, it values the child's response for its own sake, not because it mimics an adult response or the judgement of a professional musician.
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