The Active Musical Room: Fostering Sensorimotor Discoveries and Musical Creativity in Toddlers

Abstract

In the current study, we investigate the implementation of a musical workshop in an early childhood education setting. The workshop is based on a shared space for musical creativity (the Active Musical Room) comprising six different musically relevant objects, which toddlers were free to explore and play with. Inspired by Delalande’s Pedagogie musicale d’éveil, the workshop was facilitated by a teacher who developed strategies to help the toddlers’ musical engagement. Data sources for this case study included semistructured interviews with the teacher and school principal, video recordings of each session, field notes and observations made by nonparticipant observers, and questionnaires completed by parents of the toddlers. Categories concerning three interrelated dimensions of interest emerged from our analyses: the decisions of the teacher, the affordances of the objects in the room, and the creative potential of each toddler. Although generalizations cannot be proposed given the nature of the study, our results point to the recursive interplay between the exploratory drive of the toddlers, their sensorimotor ability, and the constraints afforded by the environment in which they are situated (i.e., teachers, objects).

Meaning-making and creativity in musical entrainment

“…We refer here to the natural inclination of infants to generate sensorimotor relationships with their surrounding environment, thereby acquiring basic musical skills in the process (Delalande and Cornara, 2010 ; Schiavio et al, 2017 ; Peñalba et al, 2021 ). As infants explore and develop the motor skills necessary to manipulate objects, their movements can reflect early forms of music-like behaviors (Trevarthen, 1999 ): they can grab objects that are particularly affording of a given musical action (e.g., a squeezable toy that produces a funny sound), improving at the same time motility and perceptual abilities, including the capacity to associate sounds to movements.…”

Improving students’ interest in music subject through practical learning in junior high school

“…Music learning for junior high school students requires direct experience, such as practicing what is being learned to have an interest and motivation in learning (Young, 2010). Music learning requires a series of activities (Harrop-Allin, 2010;Herdiati & Saputra, 2021) to provide hands-on learning experiences and strategies (Peñalba et al, 2021). Music learning activities do not always go well as expected, based on observations conducted by the researcher at school in Jakarta.…”

Creatividad musical en Educación Infantil: análisis de las actividades de los proyectos educativos

“…Aunque en contextos educativos musicales la interpretación y la percepción ocupen una posición privilegiada, entendemos que debería haber un equilibrio entre las competencias interpretativas y creativas. Si se tiene en cuenta que la creatividad musical se desarrolla ofreciendo al alumnado un amplio abanico de situaciones musicales creativas (Cuadrado, 2019;Peñalba et al, 2021), podría considerarse que el número de actividades musicales creativas es reducido. Por el contrario, debe destacarse muy positivamente que los libros más utilizados sean los que más trabajan la creatividad musical, que, con independencia de que el profesorado sea consciente o no de este hecho, es una evidencia de buen criterio de selección de material.…”

“…En relación con la formación del profesorado, según Peñalba et al (2021), en la creatividad musical de los niños y niñas intervienen tres dimensiones: las decisiones del docente, las posibilidades de los objetos de la clase y el potencial creativo de cada uno. Debe mencionarse que las percepciones y actitudes que tienen los docentes de Educación Infantil hacia el juego musical y las de su alumnado no siempre coinciden (Koutsoupidou, 2020).…”