The purpose of this study was to find out the effects of appropriate music experiences for toddlers on music aptitude and attitude.
For this purpose, the questions have been set up as follows:
1. What are the effects of appropriate music experiences...
The purpose of this study was to find out the effects of appropriate music experiences for toddlers on music aptitude and attitude.
For this purpose, the questions have been set up as follows:
1. What are the effects of appropriate music experiences on music aptitude?
1-1. Are there any effects of appropriate music experiences for toddlers on tonal?
1-2. Are there any effects of appropriate music experiences for toddlers on rhythm?
2. What are the effects of appropriate music experiences on music attitude?
2-1. Are there any effects of appropriate music experiences for toddlers on participation styles and frequencies during teacher-directed music activities?
2-2 Are there any effects of appropriate music experiences for toddlers on behavior styles and frequencies during spontaneous music play?
The subjects of this study were 56 toddlers who were two years old and enrolled at the Child Care Center in Ansan city. The experimental group was 28 toddlers who were enrolled at S Child Care Center; the controlled group was 28 toddlers who were enrolled at C Child Care Center, both in Ansan city. The experimental group was treated with appropriate music experiences for toddlers for 10 weeks. The controlled group was given no treatment related to appropriate music experiences for toddlers.
The instructional regimine of appropriate music experiences for toddlers was designed by a researcher who considered the toddlers' musical development and the recommended courses of study found in the literature on the subject. This instructional regimine consisted of 29 activities. The researcher constructed 10 principal experiences (musical sense, sing a song, listening, playing an instrument, improvisation, finger play, moving, simple games, word-sound music games and routine music), and these experiences were practiced alone, in small groups, as part of their normal routine.
In order to examine the toddlers' musicality, pre-tests and post-tests were practiced before and after treatment. To test music aptitude, Gordon's (2004) PMMA (Primary Measures of Music Audiation) was used and the tonal and rhythm questions were re-listed in ascending order of difficulty.
To test the music attitude, participation styles and frequencies during teacher-directed music activities, behavior styles and frequencies during spontaneous music play were used. For measuring the first, musical activities were practiced by the researcher. Each toddler's participation styles and frequencies were analyzed per 10 second. For the second, each toddler was observed 120 times (one time is 10 seconds) in routine.
In order to analyze the collected data, t-tests for music aptitude, and ANCOVA for music attitude were applied for the statistical processing. The covariances were the results of the pre-tests.
The final findings from these analyses may be summarized as follows:
1. There was significant difference of music aptitude and attitude between the experimental group treated by appropriate music experiences for toddlers and the controlled group which had no treatment.
There was a significant difference in music aptitude development between the experimental group and the controlled group. Also the tonal test resulted in more improvement than the rhythm test.
There was a significant difference in music attitude in both the participation styles during teacher-directed music activities and behavior styles in spontaneous music play between the experimental group and the controlled group.
In participation styles and frequencies during teacher-directed music activities time, there was significant difference in active participation but no difference in passive participation between experimental group and controlled group.
In behavior styles and frequencies of spontaneous music play, there was significant difference in spontaneous singing, playing, moving but no difference in listening between experimental group and controlled group. In spontaneous singing, there was significant difference both spontaneous vocalization and spontaneous songs. In spontaneous playing, there was significant difference only interesting the instruments. In spontaneous moving, there was significant difference both pre-music moving and musical moving. In spontaneous listening, there was significant difference only listening with other spontaneous music play.