The purpose of this study was to build upon recent research dealing
with the ways children of primary school age operate when
composing original music. Through examining the musical and
structural content of the musical products, and linking these
features to working procedures in the composition process, the
aim was to explore the interaction between process and product,
and to identify any effects attributable to gender, age, or computer
use.
Control of the circumstances in which the compositions were
generated made possible the examination of the activity of the
subjects during the working period, providing data which was
linked to features of the compositional products for possible "cause
and effect".
Compositions were collected from 60 primary school children aged
7, 9 and 11 years. Half of the students in each age-group used the
computer to help them work out their music. There was equal
gender representation in each subgroup.
The working session of ten minutes for each child was recorded,
and later analysed, to discover the pattern of activities taking place
during the composition process.
A second procedure was then undertaken which involved analysis of
the final versions of the compositions of each subject. The pieces
were evaluated by a panel of six judges who identified levels of
achievement on a range of musical and structural items. The
process and product data were analysed to ascertain the influence
of gender, age and computer use. Any significant interactions
between process variables and product variables were also noted.
The research design proved to be useful and functional in providing
empirical data that allowed detailed statistical analysis. The major
significant results related to the process were:
1. Age was a significant factor in subjects' use of the
compositional activities (i.e. exploration, development and
repetition [implying closure] of musical ideas).
2. Computer-users developed their musical ideas more
quickly during the compositional process than non-computer
users.
3. There were significant 2-way interactions between age
and computer use.
The judges' evaluations of the product generated data that
supported previous research that found a developmental sequence
of stages in musical composition. Age was shown to be a significant
influence in all factors derived from the developmental model. The
significant period was between seven and nine years in all cases.
Although significant differences attributable to gender were not
revealed overall, females were predominant in the high scoring
groups on some product variables.
The influence of the computer emerged most clearly in profiles of
subjects who received high/low scores from all judges in each of
the main product variables. In the high scoring groups, computer
users outnumbered non-computer users in every case.
Little is known of the effects of the use of the computer by young
children for composition. Further research is indicated in order to
understand the impact of the computer on the creative and
cognitive processes in music. There is a need for greater
understanding of its role in this area of music education.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218707 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Livermore, Joan, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Joan Livermore |
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