The Black Swan: An early childhood music project

Abstract

Music, especially singing with others, is a highly emotive experience and has been a core of an early childhood education philosophy that has promoted a social image of the child, where children are portrayed as competent communicators, individuals with rights and members of a community. How children think and learn has been an on-going emphasis of educational research. By unpacking a specific project that centred around the development of a song and musical sharing we explore ideas of project-based learning in the 21st-century. We discuss aspects of child-centred activity and argue that the role of the adults is often prominent, especially in the early stages of designing a project. The context of this study was an early learning centre with arts-based paedagogical practices that included a combination of ideas from the past, children’s own experiences and more recent research. This contribution offers a nuanced look at a project involving a musician/composer, teachers with specialised knowledge and children accustomed to investigating challenging issues like climate change. Music offers a powerful language for adults and children to tackle ‘big’ ideas. It encompasses intellectual, social, cultural and emotional processes which are inherently political and the product of all participants.

Cultural Identity in Choral Performance Through Digital Media

“…In this article, Acker and Nyland conclude that there is an exploration of musical culture, community, and identity. They used the concept of Vygotskian Perezhivane to link children's emotional experiences with adult culture and history to explain why participation in children's choirs has such an important role in cultural learning and identity formation [8].…”

“…Kastner [3], explains that the presence of non-musical components can actually improve the quality of choral performances. Acker [8], were inspired by a statement by Campbell and Wiggind, editors of The Oxford Handbook of Children's Musical Cultures, which describes the existence of different musical experiences and diverse child populations around the world. The Acker and Nyland article shows the contribution of their thinking to certain interdisciplinary genres by contextualizing and describing a famous children's choir in Serbia performing at Belgrade Orthodox Cathedral (Saborna Crkva).…”

Representation of Local Style in Performance of ‘Cingcangkeling’ on the International Choir Festival

“…In this article, Acker and Nyland conclude that there is an exploration of musical culture, community, and identity. They used the Vygotskian concept of perezhivane to relate children's emotional experiences to adult culture and history to explain why participation in children's choirs has a significant role in cultural learning and identity formation [5].…”