Graduate Research Papers
Availability
Open Access Graduate Research Paper
Keywords
Improvisation (Music); Musical ability in children; Music--Performance;
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate if second-grade children could develop a solo improvisation on an Orff xylophone. Participants were five African-American children who attended a model school that followed an inquiry-based approach curriculum. These children also had a chance to learn music from a faculty and the researcher, who had been exploring constructivist methods of teaching music, with a special emphasis on invented songs, instruments, and notations. The three-day study focused on how children were able to create a solo improvisation. The study was guided by the following questions: (1) Can second grade children develop improvisations on a song they have just learned? (2) What kind of improvisations do they develop? (3) Can second-grade children analyze their own improvisations? If so, how do they describe them? In order to analyze their level of musical complexity, a coding, based on Music Educators National Conference (MENC) K-4 performance standard, was developed to analyze the progression of children's improvisation. Children's interviews, done immediately after the improvisations, were transcribed and analyzed to demonstrate children's reflection. The data revealed that all children could improvise. Those who played and improvised other songs in the classroom embedded those songs in their improvisation. Implications are provided for researchers and teachers in the field of early childhood education.
Year of Submission
2011
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Education
Department
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
First Advisor
Linda May Fitzgerald
Date Original
2011
Object Description
1 PDF file (v, 81 pages)
Copyright
©2011 Akiko Yoshizawa
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Yoshizawa, Akiko, "The development of musical improvisation in second grade children" (2011). Graduate Research Papers. 256.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/grp/256
Comments
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