published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Present research provides strong support for the use of creative activities in school music programmes based on evidence that learning music is more effective when students are exposed to authentic, experiential learning activities, rather than verbal descriptions and explanations by the teacher. Based on this background the purpose of this study was to address the need to train music teachers with the confidence and skills necessary to incorporate creative music making in their classroom teaching. The study was divided into two phases. Phase I included a questionnaire survey that investigated the current situation of music teaching in Hong Kong secondary schools. To extend this survey three composers and three curriculum planners were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews in order to survey their opinions and suggestions on creative music making. Based on the literature review and findings from Phase I, Phase II focused on the design of a teacher education programme that would prepare teachers to undertake creative activities in their classroom music teaching. The programme was trialled twice with two groups of in-service music teachers studying at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The trainees were asked to design their own creative projects that were taught during a four-week Teaching Practice session. Findings reveal that the most effective creative projects possessed a logical teaching sequence, addressed students???? musical preferences, and integrated listening and performing activities with the creative task. Findings suggest that Hong Kong music teachers should adopt the techniques proposed in this study when designing and implementing their teaching programmes in order to nurture the musical creativity of their students. Music teacher education programmes in Hong Kong should also consider revising their modules so that they provide more balance between theory and practice, and integrate subject-based knowledge with pedagogical skills. A major conclusion of the study is that music teaching in Hong Kong secondary schools would benefited from a balance between creating, performing and listening activities where teachers apply a student-centred approach to expose their students to active, experiential and reflective learning environments in which creative musical expression is fostered at all levels of student development.

Present research provides strong support for the use of creative activities in school music programmes based on evidence that learning music is more effective when students are exposed to authentic, experiential learning activities, rather than verbal descriptions and explanations by the teacher. Based on this background the purpose of this study was to address the need to train music teachers with the confidence and skills necessary to incorporate creative music making in their classroom teaching. The study was divided into two phases. Phase I included a questionnaire survey that investigated the current situation of music teaching in Hong Kong secondary schools. To extend this survey three composers and three curriculum planners were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews in order to survey their opinions and suggestions on creative music making. Based on the literature review and findings from Phase I, Phase II focused on the design of a teacher education programme that would prepare teachers to undertake creative activities in their classroom music teaching. The programme was trialled twice with two groups of in-service music teachers studying at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The trainees were asked to design their own creative projects that were taught during a four-week Teaching Practice session. Findings reveal that the most effective creative projects possessed a logical teaching sequence, addressed students???? musical preferences, and integrated listening and performing activities with the creative task. Findings suggest that Hong Kong music teachers should adopt the techniques proposed in this study when designing and implementing their teaching programmes in order to nurture the musical creativity of their students. Music teacher education programmes in Hong Kong should also consider revising their modules so that they provide more balance between theory and practice, and integrate subject-based knowledge with pedagogical skills. A major conclusion of the study is that music teaching in Hong Kong secondary schools would benefited from a balance between creating, performing and listening activities where teachers apply a student-centred approach to expose their students to active, experiential and reflective learning environments in which creative musical expression is fostered at all levels of student development.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the curricular content of elementary music in China between 1912 and 1982. The questions addressed were: (1) What changes in elementary music resulted from China's becoming a republic in 1912? (2) What changes in elementary music resulted from China's becoming a socialist country in 1949? (3) What changes in elementary music in the People's Republic of China resulted from the Anti—Rightist Struggle Movement in 1957? (4) What changes in elementary music in the People's Republic of China resulted from the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)? (5) Have changes occurred in elementary music in the People's Republic of China since the beginning of the reform movement in 1978? (6) Did any of the changes affect curricular goals, contents, methods, required materials, and instruction time allotted in a like manner, or did some of these components remain the same while others changed? (7) Were the changes important enough to attribute them to a changed political ideology? After translating all pertinent documents, the goals, contents, methods, materials, and time allotted for the elementary music curricula between 1912 and 1982 were listed and identified. Subsequently, the areas of focus within those categories as well as changes in focus were identified and their importance determined. The findings were: (1) all important curricular changes occurred after 1950; and (2) changed goals resulted in changed teaching techniques; however, changed teaching techniques did not result in the changing of goals.

published_or_final_version / Curriculum Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education