We have many developmental theories contributing to our understanding of children as they meander steadfastly toward maturation. Yet, none have reported on how young children interpret the qualitative meaning and importance of their own music-making experiences. Music created by average, not prodigious, young children is perceived by adults as “play” music rather than “real” music. But do young children take the same view as adults? When Piaget speaks of the young child’s qualitatively unique view and experience of the world (Ginsberg & Opper, 1988), can we assume that his statement encompasses young children’s predispositions related to music-making? Music is understood to occur when people act intentionally to produce and organize sound into rhythm and form. The guiding questions for this study are, What evidence is there to show that, when following an adult music leader, young children can engage in authentic music-making behavior and produce identifiable musical structures that move beyond random sounds or ‘noise’? What evidence is there to show that children's music-making behavior develops according to developmental stages? trek This qualitative field study observed and videotaped over 100 children between 2 and 7 years old who chose to engage in music-making behavior in a socially-rich school environment during structured activities guided by an adult “music leader.” The data gathered from this study suggest that young children’s motivation to make music derive from predispositions unrelated to notions of cultural and artistic expression thereby differing from adult musical needs and are instead based on more primary responses to their own developmental needs and their social environment. Functioning as “music leader,” the PI appeared to serve as an indispensable interface for assuring authenticity in the children’s music-making at all stages of development. The older children did not introduce any novel behavior specifically related to making music. However, due to the progression of cognitive and social maturity across the range of ages, new extra-musical behavior (EMB) slowly emerged at each developmental stage always seeming to enrich the experience relative to a particular group.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Maryland, College Park, 2007. / Compact discs.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / Typescript and manuscript. Vita. For 2 choruses (SATB), 2 speakers, and instrumental ensemble (piano, harp, percussion, flute, oboe, bass clarinet, trumpet, horn, bass trombone, 2 violins, 2 violoncellos, and 2 double basses); performance also requires people to control slide projections and lighting changes. English words. Text for score is from Credo one and Credo two, by Gavin Arthur; text read by speakers before the beginning of the piece is by Jalal ud-din Rumi, a 13th-cent. mystical Persian poet. Includes performance instructions. Includes the compositions "Winter's not forever (on three poems by e. e. cummings) for soprano, female speaker, and six players" (leaves 124-148) and "--And it always will be (for percussion soloist with orchestra)" (leaves 149-186) by the author. "Winter's not forever": for soprano, speaker, flute, horn, bass clarinet, double bass, percussion, and piano/celeste. Description based on print version record.

Opus 25 is a collection of compositions which I created between September 1995 and April 1997. Instrumentation varies; there are works for choirs, chamber ensembles, solo voice, solo harp, solo piano, and orchestra. All the works included in this collection have been performed at some point during this same period, and recordings of these performances can be found on the accompanying cassette. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Includes 1 sound cassette / Graduate

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