FACILITATING CREATIVE AND

COLLABORATIVE MUSIC MAKINGCHUA Siew Ling, CHAN Yen See, HO Hui Ping & SURIATI Suradi

Teachers’ Conference 2014 | 4 June 14

LET’S START WITH AN ACTIVITY!

In pairs, create a short 2-line song / rap / rhythm

(3 mins)

INTRODUCTION

Value of Music Education• Imagination, perspectives, alternate

modes of thinking• Positive impact on academic, social

and emotional developments• Strengthen sense of identity

How can music pedagogies (creative

and collaborative music making) better

nurture 21CC?

Experience – Concept – Application 7 Principles of Student-Centred

Arts Learning

CONTEXTUALISING PEDAGOGIES WITHTEACHER-LEADERS

Student –centric PrinciplesSTAR Champions 21st Century

Competencies• PAM Research• Teacher-researchers for

Arts Pedagogical Research Fund

Kodaly / Orff / DalrozeCommunities of Practice

World Music PedagogiesSTAR Associates developing and trialling: • Balinese teaching packages after

learning journey to Bali (OPAL)• teaching of local music traditions

Informal and Non-formal Approaches• STAR Associates piloting

pedagogies

Principles of Student-centred Arts Learning• Knowing students (psychology/development in art/music)• Making learning relevant through contextualising learning of arts• Providing choices and empowering students to make decisions (in the arts processes, learning goals and criteria of success)• Facilitating reflection-in-action, reflection-on-action and critical

thinking• Facilitating creativity in art and music making • Creating a ‘flow’ (fluency, pacing, aesthetic flow)• Creating a conducive arts learning environment (e.g., organisation

for instruction, collaborative learning)

21ST CENTURY COMPETENCIES &

SYLLABUS LEARNING OUTCOMES

WHY CREATIVE MUSIC-MAKING?

• “The act of creating is itself of value”(Abeles, Hoffer and Klotman, 1984)

• To encourage students to be fluid, flexible, convergent divergent and lateral thinkers, and risk-takers

• To creatively express “ new musical ideas through composing, to find broad and specific musical ideas when listening, to interpret music when performing” (Blair, 2009)

WHY CREATIVE MUSIC-MAKING?

• Build upon each other’s ideas, and generate more ideas that will fit into each other’s

• Push the limits of students’ knowledge and ability• Generate new ways of viewing situations that are

outside the parameters of standard conventions (Marzano et al., 1992)

WHY CREATIVE MUSIC-MAKING?WHY CREATIVE MUSIC-MAKING?

LET’S COLLABORATE

1. Now in pairs, turn to another pair and perform your composition

2. Each pair will give feedback and add a small idea to the song/rap/rhythm that was presented (2 mins each pair)

3. Comment on your experiences

LET’S COLLABORATE!

WHY COLLABORATIVE MUSIC-MAKING?

WHY COLLABORATIVE MUSIC-MAKING?

• Pedagogical approaches situated in social environment are supported by social perspectives of learning (Rallis, 1995; Ravenscroft, 2011; Wenger, 2009)– According to S. Vygotsky’s (1978) social constructivist view

of learning, learning takes place in a social environment with people’s interactions

– Students are “stakeholders in the learning process, regardless of the particular field, […] and learn in ways that are far more enduring in their application to life situations” (Vega & Tayler, 2005)

• A form of learning that denotes “socially distributed knowledge or distributed cognition” (Mehan, 1984)

• It shapes the classroom’s learning environment• The creative work now belongs to everyone and

“students are very much turned on when they are involved in making the decision that affects everyone” (Johnson, 2000)

WHY COLLABORATIVE MUSIC-MAKING?

Creative and collaborative music making approaches can be found in

established and well-researched music pedagogies (e.g., Orff, Informal, Non-formal)

• Natural and authentic platform to facilitate critical thinking and reflection allow students to: – hear different views and refine their thinking– experience higher-order thinking and self-consciousness

about one’s thought processes (Swartz & Perkins, 1990)– engage in reflection-in-action (Schön,1983; 1987)– construct their own understanding, improve on their

creative approach, and achieve insightful learning

WHY COLLABORATIVE MUSIC-MAKING?

CREATIVE + COLLABORATIVE MUSIC-MAKING?

Experience of Doing + Reflection = New knowledge, meaning and

understanding

What does creative and collaborative music making look like, and what can it achieve?

WHAT DOES CREATIVE AND COLLABORATIVE MUSIC MAKING LOOK

LIKE, AND WHAT CAN IT ACHIEVE?

Creative, Collaborative composition (Primary level)

Click to play video

EXAMPLES OF PRACTICE

Click to play video

Creative, Collaborative composition (Secondary level)

EXAMPLES OF PRACTICE

WHAT DOES RESEARCH SAY ABOUT CREATIVE AND

COLLABORATIVE MUSIC MAKING?

Teachers’ Observations:• Increased student motivation• Increased student confidence• Fostered appreciation, shown by parents through their

feedback

“Music lessons were the reason

I came to school!”

IMPACT OF PEDAGOGIES ON STUDENTS’ ENJOYMENT OF

MUSIC LESSONS98.1% (314 out of 320 students responses) were positive.Students enjoyed especially:

•collaborative learning with friends (23.8%)•instrumental playing (20.6%)•creating (14.7%) •performing (10.3%) (congruent with teachers’ observations)

• Peer learning is a predicting factor for their enjoyment of music lessons

• There are statistical differences in - students’ perception of

their ability to create their own music

- students knowing how to contribute to the group

- students wanting to do well in music lessons

Item % of SA & APre- Post-

I am able to create my own music.

42.1 67.0

I feel confident in music lessons.

62.9 75.6

I have the skills to make music with my friends, without needing the teacher’s help all the time.

51.1 70.4

I have learnt to work better in a group in my music lessons this Semester.

- 94.8

I know how to contribute to my groups during music lessons.

79.4 86.9

FINDINGS FROM RESEARCH ON INFORMAL LEARNING & NON-FORMAL MUSIC TEACHING

FINDINGS FROM PAM RESEARCH

• Music lessons nurture 21CC:- Strong student-centric orientation- Greater student empowerment in making musical

decisions (i.e., opportunities for students to think critically and creatively)

- Greater depth of engagement in artistic experiences (creative and collaborative music making)

FINDINGS FROM PAM RESEARCH

THANK YOU!