ERIC Number: EJ848133
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-7356
EISSN: N/A
An Experimental Study of the Effects of Improvisation on the Development of Children's Creative Thinking in Music
Koutsoupidou, Theano; Hargreaves, David J.
Psychology of Music, v37 n3 p251-278 2009
This article reports a quasi-experimental study of the effects of improvisation on the development of children's creative thinking in music. The study was conducted in a primary school classroom with two matched groups of 6-year-old children over a period of six months. The music lessons for the experimental group were enriched with a variety of improvisatory activities, while those in the control group did not include any improvisation, but instead were didactic and teacher-centred. Children in the experimental group were offered several opportunities to experience improvisation through their voices, their bodies, and musical instruments. Webster's Measure of Creative Thinking in Music-MCTM II (Webster, 1987, 1994) was administered before and after the six-month teaching programmes (i.e., pre-test and post-test) to assess children's creative thinking in terms of four musical parameters: extensiveness, flexibility, originality, and syntax. Analysis revealed that improvisation affects significantly the development of creative thinking; in particular, it promotes musical flexibility, originality, and syntax in children's music-making. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.)
Descriptors: Experimental Groups, Control Groups, Creativity, Music, Creative Activities, Syntax, Musical Instruments, Creative Thinking, Matched Groups, Thinking Skills, Young Children, Music Education, Teaching Methods, Singing, Instructional Effectiveness, Elementary School Students, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A