Abstract
During the research entitled Teaching Creative Music, the focus is on getting to know creative music, which is becoming more and more widespread in Hungary, however using it, but still takes up little space in our music education, and its impact in high school and university environments is limited. The Kodály Concept contains a number of well-established practices also László Sáry’s collection of Creative Music Exercises (Sáry, 1999), mainly evoking Christian Wolff and John Cage, evoking the work of Stockhausen, also works well, but there is no teaching aid for the secondary school classes (9-12) based on different combinations of systematic vocal and rhythmic tasks – although in the 2017 NAT [“National Curriculum”], creative music activity as a reproduction is included as a requirement among the development tasks. There is also less experience among those pursuing higher music studies in terms of methodological preparation at the national level.
We believe that much more student-based assignments should be used in high school singing and music education so that their classroom motivation and musical creativity can develop further, and their subject-related knowledge deepen.
We are interested in the “rehabilitation” of this field, as there are a lot of opportunities in the creative music exercises, during which repetitive activity and musical creativity are essential, and Odena and Welch have already studied the latter (Odena–Welch, 2007).
Music pedagogical research supports the need to study the field, as high school students are undermotivated in their lessons and their musical creativity is not sufficiently exploited (Deliège–Wiggins, 2006).
In this article, we would like to explore an analysis of some of the practices of a creative music course over a semester in terms of how student activity and creativity changed during the 9 hours of the practice (measured with 3 groups per week). For all of this, we also use elements of Teachout and McKoy’s model, who examined music teacher attributes in terms of teacher success and failure.
Introduction
During the research entitled Teaching Creative Music, the focus is on getting to know creative music, which is becoming more and more widespread in Hungary, however using it, but still takes up little space in our music education, and its impact in high school and university environments is limited. The Kodály Concept contains a number of well-established practices also László Sáry's collection of Creative Music Exercises (Sáry, 1999), mainly evoking Christian Wolff and John Cage, evoking the work of Stockhausen, also works well, but there is no teaching aid for the secondary school classes (9–12) based on different combinations of systematic vocal and rhythmic tasks – although in the 2017 NAT [“National Curriculum”], creative music activity as a reproduction is included as a requirement among the development tasks. There is also less experience among those pursuing higher music studies in terms of methodological preparation at the national level.
We believe that much more student-based assignments should be used in high school singing and music education so that their classroom motivation and musical creativity can develop further, and their subject-related knowledge deepen.
We are interested in the “rehabilitation” of this field, as there are a lot of opportunities in the creative music exercises, during which repetitive activity and musical creativity are essential, and Odena and Welch have already studied the latter (Odena–Welch, 2007).
Music pedagogical research supports the need to study the field, as high school students are undermotivated in their lessons and their musical creativity is not sufficiently exploited (Deliège–Wiggins, 2006).
When we are talking about the conscious development of musical methods, we are actually thinking of musical experiments which later became developments, and have finally crystallized into good practices that have proven themselves over time. As in the pedagogical conception of the 20th century, the ideas regarding the upbringing of children are changing and various reform pedagogical tendencies are beginning to develop, experimental music pedagogical tendencies appear (Pukánszky–Németh, 1998).
Following this explosion of new directions in music pedagogy, it is not a coincidence that, in addition to developments, music research has also come to light. It is not a coincidence either, that in addition to examining different musical skills, importance was attached to creativity and motivation.
Some ideas focus on the student, others on the educator, or on developing good practices. There are researches – this only proves the diversity of the field – which also affect other disciplines, the latest ones deal with the contemporary appearance of music and ICT competencies.
One of the latest Hungarian musical developments is carried out by the Liszt Ferenc University of Music within the Subject Pedagogical Research Program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Dr. habil László Norbert Nemes is the leader of the research conducted by the Active Music Learning research group, who have carried out their work until 2016–2020. This methodological research is based on the Kodály concept, examining partner schools of music.
Donna J. Gallo examined the professional development of career beginner singing and music instructors with the aim of determining the quality of musical mentoring in light of the grants provided by the school. The results showed that in the first year, instructors received significantly lower quality mentoring support (Gallo, 2018).
Deliége and Wiggins immersed themselves in the study of musical creativity (Deliége–Wiggins, 2006), while Rensburg's book specifically targets the creative teacher who teaches in a music class. He put together exercises through the simplest rhythms to the most complex techniques. Each chapter in the volume contains lesson ideas for inspiration. The author explains that she wants to encourage the creative process (Rensburg, 2013).
In 2014 the Institution for Education Research and Development coordinated a programme regarding “Possibilities of successful complex artistic education in schools” (TÁMOP-3.1.1-11/1-2012-0001) within a project“ Public Education in the 21st.century, 2nd phase, 3.rd subproject, nr.6331, entitled: “Development of complex artistic education programme”.
This is the first Hungarian research that calls one of its three branches of art: “creative music” (music, drama, visual education) The professional representative of that field is Bánk Sáry, the contemporary composer whose father is László Sáry, the Hungarian creator of creative music exercises (Pallag, 2014).
The volume, edited by Liora Bresler, summarizes research from several branches of art and tries to maintain the connection between theory and practice (Bresler, 2007).
Music has become vulnerable to digitization in recent decades. Internet access has become widespread worldwide, and new media platforms are enabling radical changes in the way music is created and consumed. Born examines these developments and systematically seeks to advance the condition of contemporary music research while contributing to social and media theory as well. Her project is based on six music and digitization studies in six countries: Argentina, Canada, Cuba, India, Kenya and the United Kingdom. A comparative analysis of the obtained research data shows some striking trends. The line between professional and amateur musicians is eroding and it is becoming increasingly difficult for musicians to make a living. Informal music economies are expanding, while copyright law lags behind this reality. The social dimensions of music are transforming. The ideas of “digital heritage” encourage the local recording and online archiving of traditional music, while the internet is transforming our relationship to musical history. Based on this, Georgina Born develops a new framework for contemporary music studies. The interdisciplinary nature of the project results in the creation of an innovative theory that focuses on musical mediation, integrating social, anthropological and media theory elements (Born, 2013). In comparison, Odena's research also focuses on music therapy and music psychology (Odena, 2012).
Abramo and Reynolds specifically explore creative music teacher qualities (Abramo–Reynolds, 2015), and Odena and Welch write about the change in opinions of music educators about creativity (Odena–Welch, 2009).
The GiantSteps project created instruments which help amateurs and professionals in creating electronic music. Its main goal was to eliminate barriers in present digital music producing and creating more efficient, inspiring, cooperative, affordable and more user-friendly music creating systems.
Some of the ideas elaborated in the project were included in commercial applications and instruments, this way approaching large audiences, and being used by artists like: Björk, Coldplay, and the formation Nero-from the UK.
The company called Native Instruments, the industrial partner of the project, became the producer of hardware and software used by DJs. The results greatly helped the efficiency of musicians ‘ work,: the amateurs with little experience are able to create excellent quality soundtracks, they can mix and synchronise, and the professionals are assisted by intelligent functions, focusing on the creative process.
The industrial partners (Native Instruments and Reactable Systems) released five commercial products and three updatings during the project and further editions are expected in the near future. The instruments and data developed by the project are accessible source codes in GitHub.
Music is one of the most abstract branches of art, but its transfer effect is now indisputable. Even the ancient Greeks attributed a great role to music education, they believed that it played an important part in shaping personality. Ilona Barkóczi and Csaba Pléh proved all this with a four-year longitudinal research in 1977 (Barkóczi–Pléh, 1977).
In this article, we would like to explore an analysis of some of the practices of a creative music course over a semester in terms of how student activity and creativity changed during the 9 h of the practice (measured with 3 groups per week). For all of this, we also use elements of Teachout and McKoy's model, who examined music teacher attributes in terms of teacher success and failure.
Teachout–McKoy (2010) music teacher attributes for teacher's success and failure
Teachout and McKoy examined music teacher attributes for teacher success and failure. All of this was found in an impact assessment of training to develop the role of a teacher in terms of the effectiveness of music education for university students, factors attributable to the success and failure of music education, and confidence in pursuing a career as a music teacher. Participants (N = 18) included students who received teacher role development training (n = 9) and those who did not receive such training (n = 9). No significant difference was found between the two groups for any of the dependent variables. However, the main differences in impact were found between the level of concern and areas attributable to the success or failure of teaching.
The five teacher-attributes in terms of success and failure are the followings:
-
effort
-
background
-
classroom environment
-
musical ability
-
affect for music
This study was a preliminary attempt to examine the early effects of role development training on the fields of music education at university. In developing the above-mentioned elements, the claims of Becker and Carper (1970) about role development, which they believe take place when people
- a) are able to accept and see their profession,
- b) provide an opportunity to learn professional knowledge, including professional tasks,
- c) are able to identify with the group that plays this role by committing to organizations or institutions similar to certain professions, and
- d) are able to recognize and accept the social position of the professional group from the point of view of non-professionals.
Data and methods
This research done in higher education environment also aims to show that our national music-teacher training hardly ever uses or totally lacks creative music exercises (Abramo & Reynolds, 2015). Our investigation also reveals the reasons for this.
We will also discuss the future vision, professional commitment and motivation of future music teachers in a university environment.
In order to conduct the study, during the 2019/2020 academic year I was observing music lessons in nine–nine secondary schools. I have documented the video of each particular lesson and made a description of each lesson, regarding the methods of teaching music, the students' activity, musical creativity and the usage of creative musical exercises. After finishing this phase, the students were asked to fill in a questionnaire, and I made a focus group interview with them, where they shared their opinions about their class participation, assignments, and their music teacher's work.
I also interviewed the music teachers, during the interviews they were able to think subjectively, self-reflectively and report on their work as music teachers.
I also conducted an interview with the head of each institution, in which I asked about the music education taking place in the institution, the work of the colleagues majoring in music, and their relationships with the students.
I visited several Hungarian universities (Győr, Pécs, Budapest, Szeged, Miskolc, Eger, Nyíregyháza, Debrecen), where music teacher training takes place.
I interviewed the university instructors to examine how the methodological channeling of creative music practices is implemented in the music courses.
I also interviewed some students there about what they thought of their future work as music teachers.
At the ELTE Institute of Art and Music, I recorded the hourly work of first-year prospective music teachers in a two-year Creative Music course, and at the beginning and end of each semester the participants filled in a questionnaire that examined their changes in music teacher attitudes.
At the end of both semesters, I had a focus group discussion with some students.
Hypothesis 3, question and expected result of my research:
Hungarian secondary school music education strengthens students' passivity and enriches their negative experiences related to music, as they mainly encounter music history concepts in textbooks, so skills development is pushed into the background.
With the help of creative music exercises, music lessons can be made much more interactive.
It teaches students to collaborate, simultaneously develops their concentration, creativity and musical skills, and facilitates the processing of the curriculum (Nemes et al., 2016–2020).
What are the possibilities and limitations of introducing creative music exercises into Hungarian secondary school music education?
Based on the interview with the teachers and the focus group interview and based on the questionnaire with a group of students from the observed classes, I am expected to demonstrate that elements of the methodology of creative music exercises are worth introducing in high school music education.
Interviews with lecturers from higher education institutions, interviews with one student and focus group discussion, analysis of a semester's recorded creative music seminar, pre- and post-questionnaire survey of students and documentary analysis of university sample curricula and program descriptions show both serve.
The research group was the participants in a semester-long Creative Music course who mostly prepare to become a music teacher. 1 I was carrying out the research in 45 min long classes for 9 weeks in three groups. The sampling took place with young people aged 18–23 years, with 29 participants, in the framework of attendance education.
Our sampling in research was done with a qualitative method, through voice recording.
I selected 3 from the exercises used in the lessons for analysis, and I also used the activity level of the whole lesson as a basis.
Each time there was one:
-
–vocal creative musical exercise, including solmization. The basic practice was constant, but was implemented differently each week by the students, based on minor modifications/instructions.
-
–rhythmic exercise that did not change, it was a recurring element of the lesson from week to week.
-
–creative musical exercise that was currently a novelty to find out how students react to it.
Through the exercises I examined the:
-
–changes in group activity levels observed in the task
-
–changes in the level of musical proficiency of groups
-
–feedback from groups on the implementation of the exercise
The groups were separated by 1/C, 1/CC, 1/CCC. I marked the level of skill and activity on a 4 grades scale. Where we did not mark the assessment in the grids of the table, that particular task did not take place in that lesson, and in the case of new exercises, the students had already entered the repetition phase.
Basically, the order of the exercises was the same in all groups, only in 1–2 cases was necessary making a difference (depending on the current problematic nature of the exercises and time).
Analysis of vocal creative music exercise (Fekete, 2019) (solmization)
Task description: the basic exercise was based on the relative solmization. Students should use improvisational sounds to continuously improvise different melodies, paying attention to correct intonation.
All groups showed a very active or rather active attitude over the 9 weeks.
The 1/C group was very active in 3 cases and more active in 2 cases.
The 1/CC group was very active in 2 cases and more active in 2 cases.
The 1/CCC group was very active in almost all cases.
In 2 cases, the implementation of the task required the creativity of the participants and on both occasions the participants showed a very active attitude.
| The level of group activity observed in the task from week to week | |||||||||||||
| Creativity (yes = 1, no = 0) | Very active (4) | More active (3) | Rather not active (2) | Not active (1) | |||||||||
| 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | ||
| week 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 2 | 1 | 4 | – | 4 | – | – | – | ||||||
| week 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 5 | 1 | – | 4 | 4 | – | – | – | ||||||
| week 6 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | |||
| week 7 | 0 | 4 | – | 3 | – | – | – | ||||||
| week 8 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 9 | 1 | 4 | – | 4 | – | – | – | ||||||
In terms of the level of musical proficiency of the groups, the difference between the teams can be seen. While the participants here were mostly very skillful or rather skillful, 3 times it turned out to be rather clumsy.
The 1/C group showed an improving trend from week to week, moving from a rather clumsy state in the first week to a very skillful measurement level in week 9.
The 1/CC group also started from the rather clumsy in the first week to the very skillful level in the 3rd week, but at the end of the process it stopped at the rather skillful level.
The 1/CCC group started from the very skillful category in the first week, they performed 2 times rather skillful, but in the last week they also reached the very skillful level.
In week 3, each team completed a very skillful level.
| The level of musical abilities of the groups from week to week | ||||||||||||
| Very skillful (4) | Rather skillful (3) | Rather clumsy (2) | They can't do the job at all (1) | |||||||||
| 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | |
| week 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| week 2 | – | 3 | – | 3 | – | – | ||||||
| week 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| week 4 | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| week 5 | – | 4 | – | 3 | – | – | ||||||
| week 6 | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | |||
| week 7 | – | 3 | – | 2 | – | – | ||||||
| week 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 9 | 4 | – | 4 | – | – | – | ||||||
It is obvious, that during the semester the level of activity of the students was very versatile, especially when they had to formulate individual opinions about the tasks.
In the first week, the task was influenced by the power of novelty, which was actively indicates or rather indicates. Due to some instructions, there was minimal variation in the implementation of the exercises from week to week. Thus, no independent feedback was formulated from the second half of the semester.
Of all the groups, the 1/CCC group proved to be the most active in this field during the semester.
| Feedback from the groups on the implementation of the exercise | ||||||||||||
| Actively indicates (4) | Rather indicates (3) | Rather not indicates (2) | Not indicates (1) | |||||||||
| 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | |
| week 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
Other feedbacks from the group:
For the first time, all three teams agreed that:
-
–It was difficult to pay attention because it disturbed them that the pairs doing the practice were working simultaneously.
-
–The longer they did the exercise, the more they were able to immerse themselves in it, thus hearing each other.
Group 1/C indicated that they do not yet know the solmization hand signals with confidence.
For the first time, the 1/CC group verbalized, that
-
–they had difficulty with making eye contact with their partner during practice;
-
–they were not able to react as fast as their partner hand signaled;
-
–it turned out that some also manage to hear each pair singing at a different volume.
In the weeks that followed, recurring thoughts included that:
-
–following a quick hand signal is still a problem in pairs;
-
–they believe that it is easier to imagine the intervals first and after that singing that a particular sound also becomes easier;
-
–the practice seems easier and easier;
-
–over time, it was possible to be compared to the external sounds of the other pairs
“I love this practice because it helps me develop so well and is also creative.”
Leader's comments:
For the first time:
-
–all three groups accurately reported practical errors;
-
–the longer they do the practice, the more relaxed and at the same time the more skilled they become;
-
–on every new occasion, when they have to start the task, the participants have to “offer” the common start sound, but they do it too high-pitched or too low-pitched;
-
–they are rather shy or timid while performing the exercise.
During the first session it turned out that 1/C is doing intonation really nicely, but they have problems with solmization hand signals. The course of activity needed to be helped with guiding instructions and feedback.
The 1/CC team put in a lot of effort, although they did not get the job done perfectly.
The 1/CCC team was the most skillful, they had the most routine when doing tasks for the first time. We could give them extra instructions, move on to the next step of the task, but it also turned out that they gradually became proportionately tired.
In the upcoming weeks, a recurring observation for each group was that:
-
–the students' reaction time during practice is getting faster;
-
–they dare to sing more and more boldly;
-
–they still talk more than they need to, if someone accidentally spoils the practice, they immediately sound (notice) the mistake, so the leader also needs to give a lot more instructions, suggesting the participants ignoring mistakes made by the others;
-
–fewer and fewer instructions are enough for performing the exercise.
By the end of the semester each group intonated clearly.
Analysis of rhythmic and/or body rhythmic creative music exercise (Fekete, 2019) (“Kínai templom”)
Task description: this exercise is based on a well-known poem “Kínai templom” [“Chinese Temple”] written by the famous Hungarian poet Sándor Weöres (1913–1989), to which a determined rhythm formula is associated. The task contains bound musical and text elements.
The condition of the 1/C group was extremely fluctuating after the weeks, eventually closing more active in the last week.
The 1/CC group was very active in 4 cases and more active in 3 cases, and finally closed the semester very active.
The 1/CCC group was very active in 5 cases and more active in 3 cases and showed a very active level during the last meeting.
| The level of group activity observed in the task from week to week | ||||||||||||
| Very active (4) | More active (3) | Rather not active (2) | Not active (1) | |||||||||
| 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | |
| week 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 2 | – | 4 | – | 2 | – | – | ||||||
| week 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| week 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| week 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
Except for 2 cases (rather clumsy), the groups closed the semester in a very skillful and rather skillful state.
The 1/C group started at a rather skillful level and also produced this in the last lesson.
1/CC showed the greatest direction of development, as it started from a rather clumsy level and closed the semester at a very skillful level.
The 1/CCC group remained stable throughout the period, showing a very skillful level for 4 weeks, then a rather skillful level for 3 weeks, and finally closing the semester in a very skillful state.
| The level of musical abilities of the groups from week to week | ||||||||||||
| Very skillful (4) | Rather skillful (3) | Rather clumsy (2) | They can't do the job at all (1) | |||||||||
| 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | |
| week 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |||||||||
| week 2 | – | 4 | – | 2 | – | – | ||||||
| week 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| week 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
The exercise brought less and less diversity week by week due to its rigid musical formula, and because the main aim of it was its implementation as skillfully as possible.
This means that individual thoughts could be formulated more actively mainly during the first session, and it can be seen that in the following weeks, the participants focused on “musical skillfully” as accurately as possible.
In the 2. week the 1/C group tended to be in the rather indicates category, remaining inactive.
The 1/CC group showed inactivity throughout the semester in terms of practice feedback.
The 1/CCC group showed actively indicates category during the first week, then they turned totally inactive.
| Feedback from the groups on the implementation of the exercise | ||||||||||||
| Actively indicates (4) | Rather indicates (3) | Rather not indicates (2) | Not indicates (1) | |||||||||
| 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | |
| week 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
Other feedback from the group:
On the first two occasions the participants were mainly talking about the exercise. At first, not everyone understood exactly how to do the task. They were able to define exactly, that the exercise develops memory, attention, concentration, strengthens the ability of doing three activities simultaneously and independently from each other.
Leader's comments:
For the first time, the facilitator uses far more instructions for 1/C group to help participants understand the process.
The 1/CC group was much more tired, understanding the task more slowly.
In the case of the 1/CCC group, there was much more time left to practice, as the previous tasks were completed very quickly, and the team reacted extremely quickly to everything.
In the following often arose that:
-
–the students were showing the task at a fastening tempo, not at a steady pace;
-
–they managed to show the practice individually from week to week;
-
–they are becoming more skillful, differentiated, there can be seen a difference between those who had practiced more (they can show the task without mistakes) and who had exercised less or not at all.
-
–even if the student spoiled the practice, she still knew how to correct it, so she understood the task.
At times, students were more tired (1/C), and there were those who learned the text faster than their peers (1/CCC).
By the end of the semester, the participants performed their task confidently, however minor problems occurred with keeping the tempo.
Analysis of reactions to a new task
In the 7th, 8th, and 9th weeks of the course, no new tasks emerged at all.
Each time, except week 1, creativity of the participants was required to complete the new exercise. It can be seen that in almost all cases the students were very active, exception was one case, but even then, they showed more active level. The exception case was where participant creativity was not required, and all three groups were in a very active state. So, the new tasks activated the participants.
| The level of group activity observed in the new task from week to week | |||||||||||||
| creativity (yes = 1, no = 0) | Very active (4) | More active (3) | Rather not active (2) | Not active (1) | |||||||||
| 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | ||
| week 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| week 2 | 1 | 4 | – | 4 | – | – | – | ||||||
| week 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| week 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 5 | 1 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| week 6 | 1 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| week 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
The level of skillfulness of the groups observed in new exercises was developing week by week until each group reached the very skillful level.
| The level of musical abilities of the groups from week to week | ||||||||||||
| Very skillful (4) | Rather skillful (3) | Rather clumsy (2) | They can't do the job at all (1) | |||||||||
| 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | |
| week 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| week 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |||||||||
| week 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| week 5 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| week 6 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| week 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
The groups were characterized by actively indicates or rather indicates almost every time when it came to new tasks.
There was a varied trend in this: not indicates.
| Feedback from the groups on the implementation of the new exercise | ||||||||||||
| Actively indicates (4) | Rather indicates (3) | Rather not indicates (2) | Not indicates (1) | |||||||||
| 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | |
| week 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| week 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| week 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Other feedback from the group:
All three groups agreed on the followings in case of new tasks:
-
–the task requires concentration, attention (including complex attention), focusing;
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–the task develops hearing, ability to independently perform three different activities, keeping tempo, sense of rhythm;
-
–when they were working simultaneously it was difficult to get the main idea acoustically.
On some occasions it occurred to the participants that a particular task was interesting for them, it was “enigmatic” it “sounded well”, it helped practicing music periods . The leader was responsible for the successful effectuation of the exercise, and some tasks made it possible to create an atmosphere of trust among the participants.
There was even a participant, who gave feedback about how and with which age group she would use a task, even giving reasons why doing it within a choir practice, or doing it with beginner or advanced groups.
Leader's comments:
At the beginning of the semester:
-
–the groups were definitely active, and this attitude characterized also the second half of the semester;
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–it was difficult for the participants to share their attention to focus on more things simultaneously;
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–they had difficulties with understanding instructions.
Compared to the beginning, by the end of the semester:
-
–they understood the instructions faster, they also became more skilled in execution;
-
–it was enough to summarize each exercise in a few sentences;
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–they bravely improvised;
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–their intonation became more clear.
Summary
The objective of my analysis was to demonstrate the changes in the level of activity and musical skillfulness of the participants with the help of the measured exercises. In strong connection with this, based on their feedback on the exercises, I could also show how their creativity, and professional attitude as teachers unfolded.
During the semester, one of the 5 attributes of Teachout and McKoy could not be measured: affect for music (5.).
The background (2.) and the classroom environment (3.) it became measurable except for the first time, in all hours: it was observable.
The effort (1.) and the musical ability (4.) attributes were detectable each time.
Looking at the whole lesson, the students were in most cases very active or more active.
| Appearance of student activity in lessons | ||||||||||||
| Very active (4) | More active (3) | Rather not active (2) | Not active (1) | |||||||||
| 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | 1/C | 1/CC | 1/CCC | |
| week 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 2 | – | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | ||||||
| week 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |||||||||
| week 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| week 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| week 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
Summarizing the level of activity observed in the three tasks, it can be seen that the 1/CCC group showed outstanding activity and basically each team represented a very active or more active attitude.
In cases where the practice required individual creativity from the participants, the groups were very active in all cases.
Summarizing the level of musical abilities, it can be perceived that the 1/CCC group produced a stable very skillful degree throughout, while 1/CC showed an improving trend in this field. The 1/C group can also be perceived as stable, mostly maintaining a rather skillful measurement level.
Student feedback was variable in all three exercises, as the vocal task was almost the same throughout, and in the case of its variable elements, the participant reaction proved to be more active.
The monotone nature of the rhythm exercise did not allow proper feedback, however, the new tasks greatly helped reflectivity.
The participants basically were not accustomed to giving opinions and with explanatory and analytic discussions. It was also observable that the novelty of the exercises (at the beginning of the semester especially the first two tasks) urged them to speak about their observations every time.
By the end of the semester, the participants improvised more bravely, they became more relaxed, their musical skills (intonation, sense of rhythm) developed, and they also became more persistent in their attention and independent skills. They could exactly define the main point of a task, its drawbacks, and the key to its success.
The research, and within it the Creative music course deepened the participants' perfection and routine in creative music, strengthened their attachment for their subject, their professional attitude as future teachers of music, their reflective skills, and reinforced the Teachout and McKoy attributes.
In our view in the future it would be worth doing a follow up research throughout an academic year in order to find more detailed, more subtle results, moreover the research could be done on all types of creative musical exercises. Finally, it would also be worth conducting written inquiries with the students/participants at the end of each session so as to find information and collect data about their perception/image of a music teacher. This would be useful in getting new information about the possibilities of further use of creative music exercises.
Additional Materials
Additional materials are available: https://kodaly.hu/kodaly_mta-lfze/publikaciok-bemutatok-107339.
References
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My intention was to do the research during two semesters, but with the pandemic situation this objective could not be fulfilled.
