Research Proposal for Master of Music

(Music Education Kodály)

Minke Kullberg 3283828 January 2021

Please read or download the PDF, or scoll down for the web-version of this reasearch proposal.

Title

Comparing elements of aural skills training in music education to auditory activities in phonological awareness training to explore possible transfer effects in cross-curricular music programs in Dutch primary education.

Introduction

As a music educator in primary schools and working closely with primary school teachers, I have noticed many similarities between music education and early language education. The auditory activities in both types of training tend to focus on the same phonological aspects: rhyming, first and last sounds, blending and segmenting sounds. These types of activities help to develop phonological awareness (Anthony & Francis, 2005). Teaching phonological awareness has a positive effect on the reading and writing skills of students and play an important part in developing as a reader (van Kleef & Tomesen, 2008).

In addition to affecting primary functions such as listening, language acquisition, reading skills and emotional intelligence (Mieras, 2010), music training is a proven alternative approach to train phonological awareness (Patscheke, 2019; Jaschke, Degé & Schwarzer, 2019, Kempert, 2016; Moreno, 2011; Gromko, 2005).

Kodaly believed that effective school music education needs the presence of three things: well-trained educators, teaching material, and time (L. Nemesz, personal communication, August 2020). Dutch primary schools spend typically 2 hours per week on cultural education and 22% of that time is spent on music (van Essen, 2019). In 2014 Stichting Leerplan Ontwikkeling (SLO) identified an overloaded and fragmented primary school curriculum (SLO, 2019). Since then, updates have been made to stimulate working more cross-curricular, but that also means less time can be spent on specific musical skills, such as aural skills and music literacy, and more time is spent on composition and improvisation. This study aims to contribute to research-based cross-curricluar music education, without it becoming a secondary objective. Thus showing the importance of more time for music education and more inclusion in primary school education; just as Kodály said: “Music for everyone, not just the elite”.

Research Purpose

In this research is hypothesized that certain musical elements (such as pitch, rhythm and timbre) and certain auditory activities (such as inner hearing or imagination of sound) will be found in both music programs and language programs at primary schools. In the research area of the transfer-effect of music education this study will focus on identifying the overlap between the activities in both programs and the most important (musical) elements. It will contribute to a research-based cross-curricular program applicable to many primary schools, primary teachers and music educators.

Research Question

Which similarities are found between aural skills training in music education and auditory skills training in Dutch phonological awareness training and how can they be incorporated into a music program?

Sub-questions:

Follow-up Questions

Preliminary Literature Review

Neuroscientist Patel (2008) describes how every child is born into a world with two sound systems: a musical one and linguistic one. He hypothesized that sound categories in language and music, with respectively phonemes and tones as their smallest elements, are based on the same shared sound category learning mechanism. This mechanism focuses on musical elements in music (e.g. pitch, rhythm, and timbre) and sound elements in phonology (McMullen & Saffran, 2004). After a systematic literature search and screening through title and abstract, 16 relevant studies on music and phonological awareness were identified. 7 of those studies focused on the relation between music and phonological awareness, 9 focused on the effect of music education on phonological awareness or vice versa. The diversity of the musical methods used in these studies (e.g. specific programs or general musical approaches) is considerable and confirms Jaschke’s e.a. (2013) recommendation that more uniformity in musical interventions is needed.

Figure 1: Music educators in number of studies: Fifteen research articles recurrently referred to these educators in particular.

Three effect studies (Degé, 2011; Patscheke, 2019; Kempert, 2016) used the German book “Musik und Tanz für Kinder” (Nykrin, Grüner & Widmer, 2007) as a specific music training. In 10 out of 15 articles music educator Gordon was mentioned, whose Musical Aptitude Test was used to show the relation between musical aptitude and phonological awareness. Gordon’s Music Learning Theory, describes processes involved with music learning and listening, wasn’t used in a music program. The Kodaly-approach (8/10) and Orff-Schulwerk (5/10) were mentioned in both effect and relational studies and was incorporated in music programs in those studies. Unfortunately no specific training description of lesson plan was mentioned.

The Kodály-approach and the Music Learning Theory both use syllables for rhythm and tonal solfège, next to the staff notation and names. Kodály and Orff let children experiment with language, internal speech and body-rhythms. The repertoire is based on the language of the “mother-tongue” and preparing children for reading-readiness, in a rich musical environment, through kinesthetic, aural and visual activities and singing, which is a key feature (Sarazin, 2016). These first steps pathway from sound to symbol (Houlalan & Tacka, 2015) are very similar to the steps in phonological awareness training; objectifying the sounds we hear and understanding the bigger structure of a language. This is the focus of my study and contributes to designing research-based cross-curricular music program to train phonological awareness.

Research Methods

Form of documentation and presentation

Project planning

Figure 2: Infographic of Timeline and Processes of this Study

Figure 3: short version projectplanning

References

Anthony, J.L., and D.J.F. (2005). “Development of Phonological Awareness”. Current Directions in Psychological Science 14, no. 5: 255–259.

Culp, M.E. (2017). “Three Investigations of Phonological Awareness and Music Aptitude”. Journal of Research in Music Education 65 No. 3 p 328-346.

Degé, F., and Schwarzer, G. (2011). “The Effect of a Music Program on Phonological Awareness in Preschoolers”. Frontiers in Psychology 2 Article 124.

Essen, M. van, Termorshuizen, T. and Broek A. van den. (2019). Landelijke Monitor Cultuuredcuatie Primair Onderwijs 2018-2019. rijksoverheid.nl (2-12-2020)

Gromko, J.E. (2005). “The effect of music instruction on phonemic awareness in beginning readers”. Journal of Research in Music Education 53, p199-209.

Houlahan, M., and Tacka, Ph. (2015). Kodály Today. New York: Oxford University Press.

Jaschke, A.C., Eggermont, L.H.P., Honing, H., and Scherder, E.J.A. (2013). “Music Education and Its Effect on Intellectual Abilities in Children: A Systematic Review”. Reviews in the Neurosciences 24, no. 6, p 665-675.

Kleef, M. van, and Tomesen, M. (2008). Werken Aan Taalbewustzijn. Nijmegen: Expertisecentrum Nederlands,.

Kempert, S., Götz, R., Blatter, K, Tibken, C., Artelt, C., Schneider, W., and Stanat, P. (2016). “Training Early Literacy Related Skills: To Which Degree Does a Musical Training Contribute to Phonological Awareness Development?”. Frontiers in Psychology 7, article 1803.

Mcmullen, E., and Saffran, J.R. (2004) “Music and Language: A Developmental Comparison”. Music Perception 21, no. 3, p 289–311.

Mieras, M. (2010). “Wat muziek doet met kinderhersenen”. Amsterdam: Jeugd Cultuur Nederland fonds.

Moreno, S., Friesen, D., and Bialystok, E. (2011). “Effect of music training on promoting preliteracy skills: Preliminary causal evidence”. Music Perception 29, p. 165 – 172.

Patel, A.D (2008). Music, Language, and the Brain. Oxford, USA: Oxford University Press

Patscheke, H., Degé, F. and Schwarzer, G. (2019). “The Effects of Training in Rhythm and Pitch on Phonological Awareness in Four- to Six-Year-Old Children”. Psychology of Music 47, no. 3, p 376–91.

Sarazin, Natalie (2016). Music and the Child. Albany, NY: SUNY Milne Opentextbooks

SLO, (2019) Nationaal Expertisecentrum Leerplanontwikkeling. “Samen Bouwen Aan Het Primair En Voortgezet Onderwijs van Morgen.” Curriculum.nu, rijksoverheid.nl (2-12-2020)