A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice by moe_star

A Reﬂective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice

A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice

A publication by the Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. No part of it may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR).

Published by Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR) 2 Malan Road

Singapore 109433 http://www.star.moe.edu.sg

ISBN: 978-981-09-8446-5

Co-operative Learning Structure in Group Music

Composition

Adela Josephine Juying Primary School

Use of Reflective Practice in Developing Students’ Listening and Ensemble Performing Skills in Guitar Ensemble Co-Curricular Activity

Chen Li Yan, Huang Yewei Martin

St Patrick’s School

Becoming a Reflective Practitioner: A Music Teacher’s Exploration of Singing Games

Allen Losey, Mohamed Salleh Mohamed Yasin Tampines Primary School

Benefits of Informal Learning Pedagogy and Popular Music with Normal Technical Students: SelfDirected Learning through the Use of Technology

Pauline Fong Liew Yueh

Jurongville Secondary School

Acknowledgements

The Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts would like to express our appreciation to our following partners in the co-construction of arts pedagogical knowledge:

Arts and Heritage Division, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY)

National Arts Council (NAC)

Research Consultant Associate Professor Lum Chee Hoo, National Institute of Education, Singapore

Principals, staff and students of

• Jurongville Secondary School

• Juying Primary School

• St. Patrick’s School

• Tampines Primary School

APRF is supported by Arts & Culture Strategic Review (ACSR).

Foreword

This edition of music research by teachers bring to light different refracted lenses of inquiry into music education practices in our classrooms. We often teach in ways we feel most comfortable, habitually and iteratively. We want to challenge our own thinking and find new wonderful ways of re-shaping and re-designing our classroom practice. We can only move into these adaptive ways of learning when we re-discover our own practice again.

These teacher-writers encourage us to actively engage in a continuous process of exploration and reflection to better inform and enhance our music teaching-learning cycles. They share here their collective experience and transformation of practice for purposeful teaching and learning with the arts fraternity. The dialogic spaces support reflective inquiry that strengthens not only the professional music teaching practice, but also deepens shared knowledge in the co-construction of knowledge on arts education pedagogy in Singapore classrooms. Exciting times.

Rebecca Chew Academy Principal Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts

Arts Pedagogical Research Fund

This publication is made possible by the Arts Pedagogical Research Fund (APRF), supported by the collaboration between the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY). APRF serves to support arts teachers in developing pedagogical understanding via research, and teacher-researchers undergo a year-long professional development programme organised by the Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR).

The APRF Professional Development programme aims to deepen teacher-researchers’ understanding of pedagogical research through workshops and research consultation sessions with research consultants. With sessions spread out through the year, teacher-researchers are supported as they embark on each stage of research.

Through the stages of research, teachers develop a deeper understanding of music pedagogy and engage in reflective dialogues with a community comprising STAR officers, research consultants and fellow teacher-researchers. Most importantly, they also develop a spirit of inquiry and a critical stance towards their teaching practice which will continue to support their classroom practice beyond the pedagogical research.

To find out more about APRF, please visit the STAR website: www.star.moe.edu.sg

“I used to think group music composition is not feasible for Primary 4 students as it is complicated and requires students to have a certain level of music background. I also believed the process might be too much trouble to manage as it could get disruptive when students discuss their composition.

Now I think that group music composition, if facilitated properly, is a meaningful learning process which helps to build students’ music understanding as they learn from one another. Through the research process of analysing students’ conversations and interview transcripts, I also found that students find the composition process rich and meaningful. My research findings further inform that composition helps to develop students’ social-emotional competencies and 21st Century Competencies.

Co-operative learning structure is so useful in facilitating students’ composition process. When students are given a certain role to play, they can be more focused and contribute to achieving the group goal. Moreover, there is individual accountability and everyone is engaged in the learning process.”

Co-operative Learning Structure in Group Music Composition

Adela Josephine

Juying Primary School

Abstract

This research examines the use of co-operative learning structure in group music composition activities for Primary 4 students. Students collaborated in small groups of five to six members over five lessons of one-hour duration each, working on two compositions. Ten students from two groups were the target group of the study. Their group discussions were transcribed and analysed. Besides lesson transcriptions and fieldnotes, other data collection methods included interview transcriptions and reflective journaling which students completed at the end of the study. The findings of the study indicated that co-operative learning structure helps students in working on their compositions as students’ musical understanding were enhanced and students’ interactions within the group allowed them to develop social and emotional competencies as well as 21st Century Competencies (21CC). Moreover, co-operative learning provides opportunities to develop students’ leadership capacity as the group-elected leaders were required to help the group achieve their group goals; in this case, creation and performance of a group composition.

Introduction

As a music teacher teaching in a neighbourhood primary school, I had my own initial reservations about teaching music composition, although creating music is one of the learning outcomes of the General Music Programme. I perceived that music composition required a certain level of musical knowledge and understanding, and was therefore not within everyone’s ability, much less primary school children with little or no musical background. However, since the Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR) launched a new initiative in 2012 on studentcentric principles in arts learning, I started reflecting on my classroom teaching. One of the principles that struck me the most was facilitating creativity in music making. I began thinking of ways in which I could provide opportunities for my students to create or improvise music. How do I start? How much parameter should I set for beginners?

With the belief that “the one who does the work does the learning”, student-centric teaching is about providing opportunities for students to be actively engaged in the learning process (Doyle, 2011). This made me review my role as a teacher; from being the only one giving information to being a facilitator in helping students discover or explore the information on their own. Putting this in the context of teaching composition, I saw merits in allowing students to be in-charge of their own learning by allowing them to create music. I consciously started providing my students opportunities to create or improvise, but limited them mostly to creating or improvising movements or adding on simple instrumentation or body percussion. Although there were times I allowed my students to improvise some melodies on their recorders or Orff instruments, these activities were mostly done on a one-off basis.

Literature Review

Children’s composition has increasingly become the interest of researchers over the years. One of the main reasons is that music composition activities are crucial in reinforcing musical concepts (Wiggins, 1989) as they engage students in experiences that require them to think musically and expand their musical understanding (Blair, 2009). Composition helps students develop problem-solving skills in making musical decisions (Dunbar-Hall, 2002) and also creates in students ownership and pride for their own creation (Wiggins, 1989).

With these benefits in mind, I was even more motivated to research on this topic. However, I was geared towards researching on group music composition rather than individual music composition, as social interaction is seen as an essential ingredient in the learning process (Vygotsky, 1978). Previous research has shown that group music composition facilitates communication of music among group members, which will lead to musical development (Ginocchio, 2003). As students work together towards a common goal, they can fill in the gaps in one another’s understanding, enabling the overall competence of the group to move forward (Wiggins, 2005).

In my process of reflection, I wondered if there was a structure that could be applied on group music composition activities to facilitate the composition process, helping students to develop both their musicality and social skills. Since co-operative learning structures have been widely researched on and proven to have many benefits, I wanted to apply co-operative learning into group music composition activities. I hoped to see the workings of these benefits, such as promoting higher achievement rather than competitive or individualistic learning, resulting in higher-level reasoning, more frequent generation of new ideas and solutions, and greater transfer of learning from one situation to another (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1991). As most research on the application of co-operative

1. How does cooperative learning structure facilitate group composition?

learning structure was done in the context of core academic subjects and in Western classrooms, this research was to ascertain if the benefits highlighted in the rich literature of co-operative learning structure could also be seen in the Singapore upper-primary music classroom.

Research Purpose and Questions

The purpose of this study is to examine the use of cooperative learning structure in group music composition for upper primary students. The following questions were raised for the study:

2. To what extent does co-operative learning structure help to develop students’ musicality and social skills?

3. What are students’ views on cooperative learning structure in doing group composition? Does it help them in carrying out the task?

4. What are the skills students need to have in order for co-operative learning structure to be successfully implemented in group composition?

Methodology

Implementation of Co-operative Learning Structure

Co-operative learning structure is a way of organising instruction that involves students working together to help one another learn. This means structuring learning tasks so that students must serve as one another’s resource in order to be successful (Sapon-Shevin, 1994) in solving a problem, completing a task or achieving a goal (Li & Lam, 2005).

Students should work in small groups of between four to six members (Slavin, 1984) and each member has a role to play such as group leader, time-keeper, scribe, and so on. These roles have to be decided amongst the students, rather than be prescribed by the teacher. Since the class for this research consisted of thirty-five students, they were divided into seven groups of five, chosen randomly to ensure there was a good mix in each group. Each group was heterogeneous with mixed-ability students of gender and ethnicity mix; this was to ensure that everyone had equal opportunity for success (Slavin, 1986). Students remained in this group for the duration of the study. Each group was given a task to complete (in this case, music composition) within a stipulated time (Slavin, 1991). They were also given time to plan their composition and practise together (Wiggins, 1994).

The group goal was to complete a composition, with notation, and to perform the composition as a group. Each group member was required to contribute ideas, to work together with others, and to motivate one another (Slavin, 1991). However, an important element of cooperative learning structure is individual accountability to ensure there is no free-rider problem (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1991). This individual accountability means, when evaluating the group music composition, that there should be a form of evaluation to determine if every student has contributed and played his / her part in their group music composition. This was done through the implementation of peer evaluation at the end of the study.

To ensure a rigorous data collection process, ten students were focused on from two different groups (i.e. Group 1 and Group 2). They were observed during the lessons and interviewed after the lessons. For the benefit of understanding the findings and discussion section, the participants’ roles are illustrated in Table 1.

Group 1

Student A (leader)

Student B (assistant leader)

Student C (noise controller)

Student D (time keeper)

Student E (scribe)

Group 2

Student F (leader)

Student G (assistant leader)

Student H (noise controller)

Student I (time keeper)

Student J (scribe)

Designing the Group Music Composition Activities

Before the study commenced, my Primary 4 students had been given exposure to basic musical elements such as beat, rhythm, melody, tempo, dynamics, structure, and form (Wiggins, 1989). They revised these musical elements in the first two weeks of the study. They were also introduced to the concept of ‘melodic and rhythmic ostinato’ where they were provided with opportunities for random exploration (Wiggins, 1994) and they were engaged in sufficient performing and listening experiences prior to the composition (Wiggins, 2005). These elements were crucial in their ensuing group composition. Due to this consideration, the study was conducted in Term 3 instead of Term 2 as initially planned.

The study lasted for five weeks and consisted of onehour lessons with two major composition activities. The first composition activity was to create a piece of work by combining musical elements introduced in the first three lessons of the study. It served as a scaffolding for students’ second composition, which would be a new composition composed from scratch. I was particularly interested in the second composition activity as its success depended on each group being able to understand the first few lessons and then transferring their learning into creating something new. Furthermore, the second composition task had fewer parameters set for them.

Table 1: Roles of Each Participant in the Research Study

The main instruments used for the composition were Orff instruments (xylophones and metallophones) and handheld percussion instruments. There were eight musical concepts focused in this study to facilitate music composition activities: beat, rhythm, melody, rhythmic ostinato, melodic ostinato, bordun accompaniment, pentatonic scale and form in music (in this case, ABA form).

Lesson Concepts Task

• Beat vs. rhythm

• Melody

• Pentatonic scale

• Bordun accompaniment

• Rhythmic ostinato

• Melodic ostinato

• Composition Activity 1

• Change the lyrics of the song

• Change the melody of the song using pentatonic scale

• Choose bordun accompaniment style

• Create a rhythm ostinato

• Create a melodic ostinato using pentatonic scale

• Perform the piece as a group with

- 1 person singing the new lyrics

- 1 person playing the melody

- 1 person playing the bordun accompaniment

- 1 person playing the rhythmic ostinato

- 1 person playing the melodic ostinato

• Form in Music

• Composition Activity 2

• Performance

Table 2: Task Overview

• Compose a song in ABA form with melodic and rhythmic ostinato

• Perform the newly-composed piece as a group with

- 1 person singing the new lyrics

- 1 person playing the melody

- 1 person playing the bordun accompaniment

- 1 person playing the rhythmic ostinato

- 1 person playing the melodic ostinato

I designed the tasks such that they were given in bitesizes with proper scaffolding so that students were able to internalise the concept one at a time. Students were provided with clear instructions written on the whiteboard (Wiggins, 1994) and they were given prompts on which musical elements to focus on (i.e. melody, melodic ostinato, rhythmic ostinato, and so on) (Peterson & Madsen, 2010). Students were allowed to use graphic notation or alphabets (letter names) instead of staff notation, whichever they were more comfortable with, so that they could channel their creativity naturally (Auh & Walker, 1999). The first composition task had more prescriptive parameters (i.e. the rhythm pattern for the melody) set for the students to work on, whereas the second composition activity allowed students free reign with the rhythm patterns for their melody.

In Lesson One:

Students were only asked to change the lyrics and the melody of the song. Here, the rhythm patterns were prescribed for them. For beginners, I deemed it advisable to prescribe every aspect of the composition except for the melody. Before the composition exercise, I determined the rhythm and meter signature commensurate with the students’ level of understanding (Brophy, 1996); in this case, the meter signature chosen was 4/4. Students were also asked to change the melody of the song using a five-tone scale set – pentatonic scale, which is good and manageable for beginners (Ginnochio, 2003).

In Lesson Two:

Students were tasked to create various 1-bar rhythm patterns using stick notation before deciding on a rhythmic ostinato to accompany the song. Afterwards, they were to add pitches to the rhythm pattern to turn it into a melodic ostinato. Students were provided with opportunities for random exploration while figuring out the task (Wiggins, 1994).

In Lesson Three:

Students were tasked to piece everything together as they needed to come up with a performance with the set parameters. The task was given in such a way that everyone needed to be involved and serve as one another’s resource to complete the task.

In Lesson Four:

Students were introduced to a more complex concept of form in music – namely, the Ternary (ABA) form. They were then presented with the second composition activity that required them to start their composition from scratch, and applying the musical elements they had learned previously. They performed at the end of this lesson, and they were given suggestions on which areas to improve upon by Lesson Five, at which they had their final performance.

Data Collection

Lesson Recordings, Transcriptions and Fieldnotes

Since two groups were observed, there were two separate video cameras capturing the group discussions and students’ interactions at every lesson. In addition, each of the ten students under observation had an individual audio voice recorder to pre-empt any video camera malfunctioning and resulting loss of data. This was especially helpful during Lesson Four when the video cameras ran out of battery, and the second half of the lesson was not video-recorded. The recordings of each group from each lesson were then transcribed word for word by the research assistant using the video file, checked against the audio file from each individual voice recorder, to ensure accuracy in transcribing the discussion. It was interesting to discover that although both groups were in the same lesson completing the same tasks, the lesson recordings and transcriptions captured very different discussions and responses from each group.

I felt that the most significant data source for this qualitative study came from the edited version of lesson transcriptions when I added the field notes; particularly noting down students’ behaviour and body language. Since the nature of the research questions required me to study and

analyse the process of completing the task (rather than just focusing on the end product which was the composition piece performed), I felt that the minute details of students’ reactions to a particular situation were very useful.

Student Interviews

I conducted four interview sessions; each done after every lesson, with the exception of Lesson Five. The duration for each interview was between 20 and 25 minutes, with interviews being conducted at 7a.m. before the school’s daily flag rising ceremony at 7.25a.m. Due to timetable constraints, the interviews were conducted two days after each lesson and there was a need to recap what students had done in the lesson, as some of them could not remember the exact details of their conversations and discussions.

The main purpose of the interviews was to discuss the lesson they had undergone. Students explained their musical decisions and their group decisions in other areas; such as their strategy or approach in completing the task, the members’ roles, and the choice of instruments. They also talked about the dynamics of the group.

The research assistant then transcribed the interviews so that the data could be processed. However, since the interview was recorded on an audio recorder (without video), the research assistant had some difficulty at times in identifying the conversation source, since there were at least five students at one interview. Although she used voice recognition software to extract samples of the students’ audio voice from the video recordings and matched them with the audio recordings from the interview sessions, accuracy might have been compromised.

Reflection Journal

At the end of the study, students completed a two-page journal with some guiding questions to gather how they felt about the activities.

Q1. Do you enjoy working in a group? Why?

Q2. Does working in a group help you complete the tasks assigned to you? How?

Q3. What are the benefits of working in groups for you personally?

Q4a. What are some of the problems you encountered when working in groups?

Q4b. How did your group go about solving the problems?

Q5. If you were given a choice to do a similar composition, would you choose to do it in groups or on your own? Why?

Q6. How do you feel about your group’s composition? Are you satisfied with the outcome? Why?

Q7. Do you now feel more confident about composing music? Why?

Q8. If you are given another chance to learn more or do another music composition, would you do it? Why?

Table 3: Guiding Questions in Students’ Reflection Journal

Data Analysis

Preliminary Coding

Since I was handling multiple data sources requiring complex analysis, I decided on a two-step coding process. The first process was to scribble some notes on the right hand column of the transcription scripts, jotting down phrases that captured the essence of the data. I also copied the phrases (i.e. the preliminary codes) onto another piece of paper. The purpose of this was to collate all the phrases before categorising them.

Before categorising the codes, I also jotted down some phrases containing key ideas from the literature review pertaining to the topics of ‘co-operative learning’ and ‘music composition’. This helped me re-word the codes when categorising them. While re-wording the codes or categorising them, I was working out response to the research questions in my head. Therefore, when I interpreted a particular behaviour or discussion displayed by students, I would relate it to the vocabulary within my literature review. This flowed into the second process, which was to re-word the codes before categorising them further. The lesson transcripts were coded first, before I moved on to the interview transcript, and finally, the reflection journal.

Categorising and Labelling Codes

The re-worded specific codes I gathered from the first coding process were categorised into a more general codes category such as ‘Leader’s role’, ‘Interactions between peers’ and ‘Group decision making’. After that, I further grouped these general codes categories into a theme such as ‘Working in groups’, ‘Music composition activities’ and ‘Teaching and instructional methods’.

The specific codes were then labelled according to the categories. This helped in analysing the data, especially when I wanted to quote from students’ script on a particular idea.

C Working in groups

Table 4 below shows a sample of the specific codes organised into the categories that fall under the theme ‘Working in groups’.

C1 Interaction between peers

C1.1. Peer coaching (pointing at notes, clapping the rhythm, singing the notes, counting the beat)

C1.2. Peer correction

C1.3. Peer demonstration

C1.4. Asking peer for clarification of concept/task

C1.5. Explaining concept / task to peer

C1.6. Consulting peers for opinion

C1.7. Guiding peer to practise his part

C1.8. Peer support (holding the paper, removing the F & B on instrument)

C1.9. Peer checking

C1.10. Peer reminder (to stay on task, to complete the melody part)

C1.11. Giving peers instruction

C1.12. Disagreement

C3 Group decision making

C4 Leader’s roles

Table 4: Sample of Code Category

C3.1. Dominant personalities dominate the discussion

C3.2. Members suggesting ideas

C3.3. Questioning the credibility of input

C3.4. Discussing the unsure parts repeatedly

C3.5. Members stating weaknesses & preferences of roles / instruments to play

C3.6. Conforming / yielding to one idea

C3.7. Voting on who to play the instrument (Group 2) / lyrics

C4.1. Leader asking members’ preferences

C4.2. Leader reminding pupils to stay on task

C4.3. Leader mediating disagreement

C4.5. Leader cueing when to play the parts (performance)

C4.6. Leader assigning roles to members

C4.7. Leader scolding non-participative members

Discussion

From the field notes gathered throughout the five lesson observations and students’ responses in the small group interviews and the reflection journal, I found that cooperative learning structure helped in facilitating group composition activities. Although the end product, i.e. the performance quality, varied from group to group in a class of mixed musical abilities, what was more important was the notable snippets of conversations and behaviours captured, transpiring from students’ collaboration in a group.

The findings can be categorised into these three themes:

1. Social-emotional learning and development of 21st Century Competencies

2. Enhancement of students’ musical understanding

3. Development of students’ leadership capacity

Social-Emotional Learning and Development of 21st Century Competencies

The nature of the tasks allowed students opportunity for responsible decision-making; from choosing the roles of the group members to the actual composition activities. Students were given opportunities to plan how they would want to solve their composition task. It was rather interesting how the two groups, Group 1 and Group 2, adopted different approaches to solve their composition tasks. Although they adopted different strategies to complete their compositions, they ultimately displayed quality control, wanting the best outcome for their group.

Group 1 started off by appointing the members to play a certain instrument and the respective part (e.g. Student B will play melody and Student D will play bordun), then working out the composition together. From the very beginning, the group leader, Student A, asked for members’ preference, assessed the members’ playing skills and then assigned them their respective roles. When Student D could not play the bordun accompaniment, Student C was asked to replace him. For the next four lessons, the members struck to their original roles and strived to improve their own individual parts. They completed the activities quite quickly since they figured out the parts together. Mostly Student A and Student B dominated in decisionmaking. They had plenty of time to practise their composition pieces over and over again so they were ready to perform. Moreover, Student A and Student B were very supportive of their group members, encouraging them and teaching them if they were unable to play the part. Group 1 worked really well and rarely had any arguments in the process.

Group 2 approached their tasks differently – mostly using ‘first-comefirst-serve’ basis in choosing their individual part or instrument or using ‘scissors-paper-stone’ to resolve conflicts. For the first three lessons, they separated the parts.Each part was done by a different person. For example, Student A did the lyrics, Student B the melody etc. However, by the fourth lesson they realised that their strategy was not working well, especially when they kept changing instruments at each lesson. Since they argued a lot, they normally did not have enough time to practise, resulting in them always being unready to perform. For the second composition activity, they changed their strategy by working out the parts together. They even had one round of everyone trying out the instrument (part) to determine the most suitable person to anchor that part. They managed to practise and put up a decent performanceat the end. They also went further by notating their composition using staff notation.

Throughout the five lessons, I observed that students were generally able to think critically, and assess options and possibilities before making sound decisions in completing their composition. During the post-performance conferencing, when asked about their decisions, for example in choosing a certain rhythm pattern or a certain tone set, students were able to give sound reasoning that showed that these decisions were satisfactorily thought through. Some of them also made mistakes but overcame the challenges. They displayed the Emerging 21st Century Competency ‘critical

thinking’. They were also able to communicate effectively, express their ideas, manage the information given to them from the first few lessons, and apply the knowledge into their composition activities. In doing so, they displayed ‘information and communication skills’; which is one of the Emerging 21st Century Competencies as well (MOE, 2010). These two Emerging 21CC were developed through the nature of the tasks, which required them to collaborate and co-operate in order to solve a complex problem (i.e. a problem that consists of multiple parts to solve).

It was also evident that in the process, students gained self-awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, and also exercised self-control to minimise conflicts within the group. There were also some instances in which the group analysed the members’ weaknesses and strengths before making a decision.

No, I am not good at singing. Can I play the percussion instrument please?

[Student I, Personal Communication during Lesson]

So we chose Student B to play the melody because she is very clear and she can play the complicated notes really fast.

[Student A, Personal Communication during Lesson]

Besides self-awareness, it was evident that students learnt how to be socially aware that everyone had different ideas and they had to appreciate and respect the differences. From the transcripts of the group discussions, it was evident that as the lesson progressed, they argued less and were less critical of the ideas suggested. Feedback was given in a constructive manner. Their relationship management skills also developed.

Sometimes when I made a mistake, my group mates did not scold me. They tried to understand and encourage me because… everyone makes mistakes.

[Student J, Interview]

We learn that not everybody can play everything. We need to put in our best… doing the most suitable role to help the group.

[Student B, Interview]

Enhancement of Students’ Musical Understanding

The beauty of group work, that allows students to work towards a common goal, is the opportunity to learn from one another.

Peer Coaching

There was notable evidence that students who were musically-inclined added value to their group mates’ learning. For example, in Group 1, Student B, the most musical person in the group, always helped her group mates to keep the beat by tapping or gesturing the beat. She even coached Student C in playing the bordun accompaniment correctly as he had the tendency to lose time. When he played the 4/4 rhythmic ostinato and came to the last beat which was a rest, he had a tendency to speed up during the rest and not keep to the rhythm. Student B had to gesture the rest to him. Similarly, in Group 2, there were many instances when Student G, the most musical person in the group, corrected her peers during the process. Every time Student I played the rhythm wrongly

on his percussion instrument, she would stop the practice and guide him. She was also the one who directed the whole practice by conducting the group and specifically instructing them when to come in.

From the lesson videos, peer coaching happened mostly through peer demonstration in either singing or playing an instrument, especially during the first two lessons when students had just been exposed to the concepts. This was before students had put everything together for their composition. For example, when Student C asked Student A in Lesson One how to play the different types of bordun accompaniment, Student A took over the xylophone and demonstrated the three different types of bordun. She then suggested he play another pattern as it sounded more complicated compared to the other two patterns.

Peer Correction

From the transcripts, it was found that students used precise music terminologies (specifically the eight concepts focused in the study) in their discussion. Another piece of notable students’ behaviour was peer correction when someone misinterpreted something. For example, Student A corrected her group members who were confused between melody and melodic ostinato: “No, that one is melodic ostinato, the melody is this one, following the lyrics of the song.” Student J from Group 2 also corrected her peers by explaining the difference between rhythmic ostinato and melodic ostinato: “Rhythmic ostinato is only the rhythm, only clapping like using ‘ta, ta’. Melodic ostinato adds the melody played on the xylophone.” Musical concepts were reinforced during peer correction.

My group mates corrected me from the mistakes I made so that is how I succeeded in playing my bordun accompaniment.

[Student C, Reflective Journal]

Peer correction also happened in instances like correcting the way an instrument should be played. For example, Student A showed Student C that he should hit in the middle of the xylophone keys, and Student G told Student H that he was not supposed to use the stick to hit the bongo.

Peer correction further took place during the practice for the performance, where the musically-inclined members did some quality control of the performance. For example, Student A corrected Student D saying, “Student D, you sing it too fast. Try to do it slower.” Of course, it was followed by peer coaching and in this case, Student A and Student E taught Student D how to sing the melody at accurate tempo.

Consulting Peers

It was heartening to observe how the coaching and correcting part did not turn out to be one-sided as there were many instances in which members who were not so musically-inclined asked the more musical members for help. For example, in choosing a percussion instrument to play the rhythmic ostinato, Student J asked Student G whether it was better to use the egg shaker or tambourine. Student H asked Student G to teach him how to sing the melody, “How to sing again?” On a separate occasion, Student D asked Student A what he should play for rhythmic ostinato before she replied, “tika tika ti ti rest” while demonstrating how to play the rhythm on the percussion instrument. Student C also clarified with Student B which notes to remove for the pentatonic scale, “Which are the notes we have to take out, B and what ah?” as he removed the bars from the metallophone.

Besides asking for help, there were also instances where students consulted each other for decisions. For example, Student B consulted Student A in deciding whether she should play the higher octave or lower octave for the melody played on the xylophone.

Justifying Musical Decisions

In Lesson Three when students performed their first composition activity, I questioned my students’ musical decisions from “why this percussion instrument” to “why this rhythm pattern”, then posing some reflection questions so that they were able to learn by reflecting and therefore, improve their performance.

Group 1’s performance was neatly conducted by Student B, but I realised that it was quite short with everyone starting and ending in unison after just a few bars of music. So I posed the group a question, “What do you think you can do for the introduction?” To my surprise, Student A replied, “Bordun play first.” However, I did not want to stop there but probed further by asking, “Why do you think the bordun should start first?” She then replied, “So that it can control the beat first.” From her response, I gathered that she understood the rationale behind the decision made. I also asked the group, “What should come in after the bordun?” and Student B replied, “percussion instrument playing rhythmic ostinato.” They also explained that they would improve their performance by coming in one at a time, but Student B would still conduct by giving the signal for each part to come in.

Notation of Group Composition

I asked my students to come up with a score of their composition and some of them surprised me by writing down the notation. They were only given a drawing block to draw their score on and were required to submit it by the end of the day. Some groups wrote simple stick notations and some went further to write in staff notation. This showed their musical understanding throughout the five lessons.

Pictures 1 to 4: Sample of Students’ Compositions

Development of Students’ Leadership Capacity

When each group was asked to decide on their individual roles (group leader, assistant group leader, scribe, time keeper and noise controller), both groups almost unanimously chose those with the most dominant personality. Both group leaders who were elected, Student A and Student F, displayed qualities of assertiveness and outspokenness, which helped them to lead their group. The next most outspoken member in the group became the assistant leader. The decision was somehow unanimous and these students naturally assumed the leadership roles.

From the observations and field notes jotted down, there were a lot of noteworthy leadership behaviours displayed by the four of them: reminding peers to stay on task, mediating disagreement among peers, making final decisions (in the event of disagreements in the group; as seen in Group 2), reprimanding non-participative members, reiterating teacher’s instructions to peers, checking if a member was on task (especially when tasks were divided and done by different individuals), confirming group decisions, and maintaining discipline during discussions by maintaining the noise level. As I coded the transcripts, I realised that the five lessons had given the leaders good opportunities to develop their leadership skills.

To me, it was interesting to observe Student A as I found her to be a very responsible and caring leader. She was the only one who asked for members’ preferences throughout the activities such as asking which instrument they wanted to play or what lyrics they wanted to write down. She facilitated the group discussions well and managed to evaluate members’ strengths before deciding who should be playing a certain instrument. Initially, Student D wanted to play the bordun but when she realised that he could not keep the beat all the time, she asked Student C to try playing the bordun instead. Although Student C was not

that good initially, she felt that it was the most suitable role for him and even made effort to coach him. She showed the greatest initiative compared to other group leaders as she was decisive in how they were to proceed to complete the task. For example, she told her group members that they should change the melody first before changing the lyrics of the song as she felt the melody was more difficult to work on compared to the lyrics.

Another interesting observation from both groups was that both group leaders were more assertive than the assistant group leaders. Yet, the assistant group leaders, Student B and Student G, were the most musical in their respective group. Even at the last lesson, Student E commented, “We worked well together but without Student G, we won’t be able to work together. She was guiding us.” Similarly, in Group 1, Student B was the group “conductor” as she always guided the group in practising the piece.

Although the group leaders seemed to be quite assertive, I found that they were also encouraging. Student E spurred her group on at the last practice before the performance, “Two more minutes to practise. Look at the clock. When we start, only one minute left. Just do, just do it.” Student G also repeatedly told Student H and Student I, who were sometimes detached and easily distracted, “Just try lah!”

Limitations and Recommendations

One limitation of the study was the short time frame in conducting the activities. The short duration was further compounded by the lack of continuity in the music lessons due to disruption in between weeks by public holidays and school events. Thus, the time lapse between lessons meant that some students might have forgotten what they had done in the previous lesson.

Since only ten students were studied in-depth, it is not viable to generalise the findings across the Primary 4 cohort in Singapore. My recommendation is to replicate the study with another group of Primary 5 or 6 students who are better able to verbalise their thoughts and perform higherorder reasoning and thinking skills.

This study can also be extended to analyse the depth of students’ thinking by using some visible thinking tools as they work co-operatively and solve complex problems in groups.

Implications and Conclusion

This study has many implications concerning students gaining from co-operative learning, and music teachers can be greatly encouraged to give students opportunities to create in groups as the learning acquired is priceless. It is also advisable that given tasks be spread across a few lessons so that students have opportunities to work with one another over a longer period of time. This will allow them to solve more complex problems. To set the stage for success, teachers can present the tasks in bite-sizes and give proper scaffolding during the process. This will create a conducive environment to learn where students are assured that the tasks are doable and they are given support to succeed. When students are more ready to solve a more complex problem on their own, teachers can then empower the students to make more decisions in solving the problem. This approach will encourage students to take ownership of their own learning.

As reflective practitioners, educators should exercise our professional judgement whether we can stretch our students further by challenging them with more complex problems. With a student-centric approach in music learning, our role as teachers shifts from simply imparting knowledge to that of helping our students discover knowledge. As such, there is a need for mindset changes and for us to develop facilitation skills or questioning techniques to provoke

critical thinking. This will also equip teachers to be better lesson facilitators. If we are able to conduct student-centric lessons in our classroom, our music lessons will not only enhance students’ musical understanding but also allow them to internalise their learning and develop their socialemotional competencies (SEC) and 21CC. For example, if we continuously get our students to reflect on their own actions and decisions over a course of time, not only will our students have a deeper understanding of the content but they will also likely be more reflective and critical in their thinking.

Finally, I strongly encourage music teachers in the fraternity to try out similar activities of co-operative learning simply as the students themselves gain the most out of enjoying the learning process. At the end of this study, I realised that there is so much learning taking place during these group composition activities and truly, this has countered my initial reservations about teaching music composition. I now believe that through music lessons, we can impart students with 21st Century Competencies to prepare them for the future.

We get together to work on the task and we can hear different, funny and better ideas from each other.

[Student G, Reflection Journal]

We all had fun and enjoyed ourselves very much while composing the song.

[Student B, Reflection Journal]

I learnt something; you will never know you can if you never try. We succeeded in solving the problems by telling each other’s mistake and asking them to improve.

[Student C, Reflection Journal]

References

Auh, M. & Walker, R. (1999). Compositional strategies and musical creativity when composing with staff notations versus graphic notations among Korean students. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 141, 2-9.

Blair, D. (2009). Stepping aside: Teaching in a student-centred music classroom. Music Educators Journal, 95(42), 42-45.

Brophy, T. (1996). Building literacy with guided composition. Music Educators Journal, 83(3), 15-18.

Doyle, T. (2011). Learner-centred teaching: Putting the research on learning into practice. Virginia: Stylus Publishing.

Dunbar-Hall, P. (2002). Creative music making as music learning: Composition in music education from an Australian historical perspective. Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, 23(2), 94-105.

Ginocchio, J. (2003). Making composition work in your music program. Music Educators Journal, 90(1), 51-55.

Johnson D. W., Johnson R. T. & Holubec, E. J. (1991). Cooperation in the classroom. Edina: Interaction Book Company.

Li, M. P. & Lam, B. H. (2005). Cooperative learning. Retrieved from http://www.ied.edu.hk/aclass/

Ministry of Education, Singapore. (2010). Competencies for the 21st Century. Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/ press/files/2010/03/21st-century-competencies-annex-a-to-c.pdf

Peterson, C. W. & Madsen, C. K. (2010).Encouraging cognitive connections and creativity in the music classroom. Music Educators Journal, 97(2), 25-29.

Sapon-Shevin, M. (1994). Cooperative learning and middle schools: What would it take to really do it right? Theory into Practice, 33(3), 183-190.

Slavin, R. E. (1984). Students motivating students to excel: Cooperative incentives, cooperative tasks and student achievement. The Elementary School Journal, 85(1), 53-63.

Slavin, R. E. (1986). Using student team learning. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Center for Research on Elementary and Middle Schools, Johns Hopkins University.

Slavin, R. E. (1991). Cooperative learning and group contingencies. Journal of Behavioural Education, 1(1), 105115.

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. In Mind and Society (pp. 79-91). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Wiggins, J. (1989). Composition as a teaching tool. Music Educators Journal, 75(8), 35-38.

Wiggins, J. (1994). Children’s strategies for solving compositional problems with peers. Journal of Research in Music Education, 42(3), 232-252.

Wiggins, J. (2005). Fostering revision and extension in student composition. Music Educators Journal, 91(3), 35-42.

“Through pedagogical research, we learnt that we have to go beyond considering the instructional methodologies of teaching and learning music, to consider how we as teachers can give our students a deeper learning experience to build their understanding in the music making process. Thought must be given to what is the most appropriate approach even as we provide a range of music learning experiences to meet the varied learning needs of our students.

Pedagogical research has given us the opportunity to develop a better understanding of how students look at music, how teachers look at music teaching, and how we can make it meaningful for both parties.

Assessing our current practice builds our understanding of how students are learning, affirms our existing good practices and gives us a way forward in developing approaches which are more likely to be successful in sustaining students’ interest and passion for music learning.”

Use of Reflective Practice in Developing Students’ Listening and Ensemble Performing Skills in Guitar Ensemble Co-Curricular Activity

Chen Li Yan, Huang Yewei Martin

St. Patrick’s School

Abstract

This research study examines the use of reflective practice as a tool to capture students’ music learning in listening and ensemble performing skills. Students’ perception and views on the role and effectiveness of reflective practice in facilitating their music learning are also explored in this study. Data were collected from these reflection journals, video recordings, and reflective dialogues. The qualitative results revealed that reflective practice creates a platform for students to become more aware, and hence, take greater ownership of their own musical learning. This acquisition and practice of soft skills in reflective practice in music learning are aligned with the development of the 21st Century Competencies and social and emotional competencies for which Singapore schools are equipping our students. Results of the findings carry implications for teachers to explore the approach in infusing and promoting a reflective culture for our students that supports the teaching and learning of these competencies and skills.

1. To what extent is the use of reflective practice effective in examining the musical learning experiences in students?

Introduction

The Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) has been steadily making the transition towards student-centric values-driven education through the teaching and learning of thinking skills and 21st Century Competencies (21CC) (MOE, 2014). The 21CC framework (MOE, 2010) focuses on the importance of equipping our students with the values, competencies and outcomes they must have to thrive in today’s rapidly changing society. With the growing nation-wide emphasis on development of skills for lifelong learning, we realise the increasing need to develop students as reflective learners. Using reflective practice to help students identify their own strengths and weaknesses as well as make responsible decisions, we sought to raise self-awareness in our students and inculcate in them a greater ownership of their learning, which are part of the social and emotional competencies specified in the 21CC framework.

According to the MOE 2015 Primary / Secondary General Music Programme Syllabus, music learning plays a role in developing 21CC in our students. The processes of creating and performing ensemble music provide a natural platform and opportunity to engage our students in decision-making. This is in line with the greater emphasis on Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) in schools as another important platform to develop these competencies. In our school, structured reflective practice, such as use of reflection journals and reflective dialogue, had been used widely in our students’ leadership training camps. However, it had not been widely extended to the CCA groups, in particular, the music CCA groups in our school. In our study, we sought to experiment and examine the use of reflective practice as a tool to capture students’ musical learning experiences on an instrument. The research questions that we addressed are:

2. How can reflective practice facilitate the development of ensemble performing skills in a new ensemble setting?

3. What are the students’ perceptions concerning the value of using reflective practice in their musical learning experiences?

Literature Review

The ability to step back from events to evaluate the effectiveness of actions, make judgements, exercise responsible decision-making, and explore possible alternatives, are important skills for students to develop. The results of the findings provided some evidence for the development and acquisition of soft skills, in line with 21CC.

While reflection engages students in a metacognitive thinking process (Burwell, 2005), it also enables them to reconstruct their experiences and deepen their reflection. It is a vehicle whereby students can articulate their thinking skills that go beyond being mere knowledgebased and practice-based. This critical thinking skill makes practice more efficient because when musicians possess a certain amount of metacognition about their practice, they can think about what they need to do in order to improve (Parncutt, 2007). According to Bolton (2005), this level of self-evaluation is also recognised as part of the development of an independent learner.

One approach for facilitating reflective process is through the use of the learner journal, which is an accumulation of material based on the writer’s process of reflection (Moon, 1999). Burnard and Hennessy (2009) also noted that journaling is an approach to providing a platform that stimulates reflection as it not only allows the capturing of thinking, but it also helps the writer to connect knowledge and ideas. Journaling is also a vehicle used for logical extension of the types of thinking in class (Knowlton, 2013).

Learning seems to be enhanced during journaling when students develop a greater awareness of their own thinking and monitor their learning progress. This has the potential to allow students to set realistic learning targets for their own development. It is generally recognised that the journal provides a focusing point in encouraging the writer to make sense of information about the subject matter (Burnard & Hennessy, 2009). In the study by Latukefu (2009), the student participants highlighted that writing assisted them in thinking

and problem solving. The journals provided an opportunity for students to solve a problem by thinking about the solution, carrying out the solution and then refining the solution, if needed. The benefits of journaling is further supported by Dart et al. (1998) as their findings revealed that journal writing aided reflective and metacognitive thinking, as well as provided a means for reconstruction of experiences.

Next, the use of reflective dialogue in the reflective thinking process, highlighted by Lamb (2011), is also a powerful tool to develop reflective thinking skills. Hatton and Smith (1995) shared similar findings that the most common type of reflection was descriptive, leading on to dialogue reflection where further issues and alternative explanations were discussed. Hence, it is important to provide opportunities for verbal interaction to engage in dialogue in order to facilitate reflective action.

Taking an active role in musical dialogues, students can be given exposure to think in a broader context, to identify problems, and to offer effective solutions. This is crucial in providing a richer profile of students’ musical understanding. Results of many studies provide evidence of the use of reflective thinking in the process of music composition (Martin, 2000), but relatively few studies have examined the effectiveness of reflective thinking on students’ learning progress of musical skills; particularly in the areas of listening and ensemble performing skills.

Methodology

Change of Ensemble Setting

For our study, the current Guitar CCA ensemble setting of only regular prime guitars was changed with the introduction of new guitar instruments. The idea for this change began when the guitar ensemble members attended a concert performed with varied guitar instrumentation. Much curiosity was generated among the members when they

saw the new instruments and were enthralled by the different tonality and pitch range that each of these new instruments produced. That spurred us to explore what kind of new experiences these instruments with distinct build and exclusive tones could bring to the ensemble. Hence, we introduced a Soprano Guitar, a Guitarron and a Bass Guitar in the ensemble setting of our study.

Selection of Participants

The study was carried out in a guitar ensemble CCA group in an all boys’ secondary school in Singapore. Eleven 15year old Secondary Three students who had received at most 2 years of guitar training were selected to participate in this research project. However, for a qualitative approach for an in-depth study, we focused only on four members. They are presented in this report using fictitious names: John, William, Matthew and Lucas. These four members were the ones selected to play on the newly introduced instruments (Soprano Guitar, Guitarron and Bass Guitar). The selection of members to the new instruments was done primarily with the matching of the physical size of the instruments with the physical build of the member.

Design of Reflection Journals

Our reflection journal was designed with guiding questions to prompt reflective writing and to encourage more focused and in-depth reflection. We crafted questions that were exploratory and scaffolded, so as to get members to focus on their thinking and to participate in the reflection.

Adapted from the tools for ‘Making Thinking Visible’ (Ritchhart & Perkins, 2008), the use of thinking routines as learning tools was explored to help direct students’ thinking and improve their learning.

Two routines were selected to guide our design of questions in the reflection journal to help structure the students’ thinking and deepen their learning.

A. The ‘See-Think-Wonder’ routine was applied in our designing of Reflection Journal 1 (Appendix 1) to set a platform for students to make and inquire on their observations.

B. The ‘Connect-Extend-Challenge’ routine, adopted in our Reflection Journal 2 (Appendix 2), allowed students to make connections to prior knowledge, extend their ideas and discuss their challenges.

From Reflection Journal 3 to 5 (Appendices 3 – 5), students were given greater space and flexibility to reflect on any relevant subject areas. However, there were still some guiding questions provided to help direct their thinking.

The Reflective Practice Lesson

A briefing was first conducted for all the members during the last week of the June holidays on the objective of the research study and their role in this study. Details such as completing a journal at the end of CCA practice sessions and videoed reflective dialogues between selected members and teacher-researchers were also highlighted during the briefing.

The study was implemented between July and September 2014 of Term 3, from Week 2 to Week 11. Every guitar practice session lasted about 2 hours and all the 11 members wrote an entry in their weekly reflection journals after practice.

Journal 1 in Term 3 Week 2 Journal 2 in Term 3

Journal 5 in Term 3 Week 11 (September Holiday)

Handwritten journals were done for the first two journals and subsequently for Journal 3 to Journal 5, the mode of journaling was switched from handwritten to email. Members were allowed to complete their reflection at home and submit via email by the following day.

There was an inclusion of instructor’s feedback in Journal 3. All the emailed submissions of the members’ Journal 3 reflections were forwarded to the instructor for him to read and provide comments. These comments were then given back to the members to read in the following week.

A short interview with the instructor was also conducted on the following week to get his perspective on the reflection journals. The instructor’s responses in this report are presented using the fictitious name Mr Tan.

Data Collection and Instrumentation

Data was collected in the form of reflection journals, audio recordings of instructor interviews, as well as video recordings of practice sessions and small group reflective dialogues with the four selected members. Some of the questions asked in the reflective dialogues with the four selected members were extensions of the journal questions, prompting them to share a deeper reflection in greater detail and eliciting more responses.

Data Analysis

The video recordings of practice sessions and small group reflective dialogues were transcribed for data analysis. Results of the transcripts and members’ responses to the reflection journals were then coded and categorised into various themes that were inherently connected to the research questions of this study to present the findings.

Findings

The following accounts for the six most prominent themes identified from our data analysis. The themes are: (a) Learning Experiences; (b) Listening Experiences; (c) Technical Challenges; (d) Emotional Challenges; (e) Impact of Instructor’s Feedback; and (f) Perceptions on Reflective Practice.

Learning Experiences

We felt that the majority of the data analysed fell into the category of addressing the members’ learning experiences. For example, the following was what John wrote:

I learnt that the flat, natural and sharp signs are located on the left of the note. I also learnt that a sharp is one semi-tone higher than a note while a flat is one semi-tone lower… I learnt that a crotchet is one beat and that a dotted note is multiplying 1.5 beats to it.

[Journal 04, 1 Aug 2014]

From this entry, we can picture how John might have struggled with recognising flats and sharps on his guitar at the beginning. However, by his fourth journal, he could describe the differences between the flats, sharps and dotted notes in his music rather confidently.

Another common thread found within the students’ responses was about the development of instrumental skills and how it affected the musical sounds produced. This was what William commented on his first attempt to play his new instrument, the Guitarron:

...put hand at an angle and when you play, you play in a circular motion and at the largest angle of hand of the circle. Your hand is closed to about hundred and seventy degrees when you play…

[Reflective Dialogue 01, 11 July 2014]

It is worth noting that the introduction of reflective practice has given us an opportunity to keep track of the development of William’s individual instrumental skills, as seen in his third reflection journal:

I used more hand strength to get the note out and sound nice. This will come with practice as it trains my strength over time.

[Journal 03, 25 July 2014]

Similarly, John also discussed his own instrumental skills, in particular, new playing techniques such as pizzicato and tambour.

(pizzicato) ...placing the side of your palm on the saddle and using your thumb to play the strings. This will produce a muted sound.

[Journal 03, 25 July 2014]

(tambour) …tapping the bridge with your thumb while holding a chord. One thing that helped me was that I already knew the chords. Another thing that helped me was that I was already used to tapping the bridge because I had a part earlier in the piece that required me to do it.

[Journal 02, 18 July 2014]

We believe that with the introduction of reflective practice, it provided the members a focus point where they could make sense of and develop their understanding towards their individual musical learning as seen in the above journal entries.

Clear statements of their learning experiences existed within most of their reflection journals. As the members reflected upon their ideas, they not only understood the content, but also gained experience and developed deeper understanding of themselves. Thus, we agreed there was potential for developing greater awareness in their learning processes through the use of reflective practice.

Listening Experiences

We observed that with the change of an ensemble setting through the introduction of new guitar instrumentation, it resulted in members examining and articulating the different tonality and pitch produced by these new instruments:

Crisp and soothing sopranos, complimented by the booming and mellow Guitarron meant a bigger diversity in terms of sound. It gives more energy to the music we play due to the different ranges... these new parts make the piece sound very nice and appealing to the audience because of the range of the sound…

[Journal 03, 25 July 2014]

On another level, we also managed to make use of the members’ reflective dialogues to further validate the above comments. The following entry allowed us to consider that the members were now more aware of how these different sounds complement each other in the ensemble:

…it’s like re-energised, this whole ensemble was reborn with new sound. Because it was just all the same instruments but now we have deeper bass and much richer substance. So now it’s more, it’s different, it’s fun, it’s energising to hear more sound, more lively music instead of the same old guitar.

[Reflective Dialogue 03, 25 July 2014]

Similarly when we introduced a higher-grade prime guitar (from 2C to 4P prime guitar and Z series prime guitar) to the ensemble, the members who had the change revealed the following in their last reflection:

…especially with the new instruments, the two new 4Ps and the Z Series… I can say that the instrument sounds truly amazing. It seems much easier to play as well. I was able to play a certain part of a song which I could not play on my old guitar. That made me really happy. Sound wise, the 4P sounds much clearer and louder, and it seems to sound brighter and I like that...

[Journal 05, 8 Sept 2014]

The above entries showed us that reflective practice provides potential as a tool for the development and acquisition of a musician’s listening skills. It is reasonable to understand the members’ anxiety and excitement towards their new listening experiences since this was the first time they were introduced to the playing of these new instruments. Nonetheless, we felt it might be worth exploring the continual effects of this novel experience.

Technical Challenges

From the data collected, we gathered entries that described some of the various challenges, in terms of instrumental skills, that the selected members were facing. For example, the following was what Lucas had to overcome when playing his new instrument, the Soprano Guitar:

…the fret board is very small… When pressing the string it’s very painful on my finger…

[Reflective Dialogue 01, 11 July 2014]

…tension of string on soprano is very high… very hard to press… learnt to play the soprano with skin and nails.

[Journal 02, 18 July 2014]

Likewise, we found a similar entry from William, with regard to the physical challenge he faced when playing his new instrument:

Because after playing for a while the shoulder gets tired and then my hand tends to shrink back a little bit. And then it goes out of position instead of playing the right string. I end up playing one string higher or lower.

[Reflective Dialogue 01, 11 July 2014]

And again:

The notes are also difficult to find as there are no frets on the Guitarron so I have to use my hearing to get the right pitch. This adds more multitasking as I not only have to read the notes and count... but also have to ensure that I get the right pitch.

[Journal 03, 25 July 2014]

We feel that the challenges mentioned above could also be due to the members’ lack of experience and prior knowledge on how to best handle their instruments. Nonetheless, we believe that the implementation of reflective practice allowed them to pen down these concerns and made them aware of these challenges while in the process of wanting to improve on their handling of their new instruments.

Another form of technical challenge that we also identified from the data collected was the grasping of certain elements of music, like rhythm. For example, Matthew wrote the following:

Confusing part is the rhythm when playing without the other sections… hard to catch up…

[Journal 01, 11 July 2014]

We found a similar entry from William’s reflection journal:

…unorthodox 6 beat timing (rhythm) is different from the songs we were used to…

[Journal 03, 25 July 2014]

Similarly, John mentioned the following:

I learnt that a crotchet is one beat and that a dotted note is multiplying 1.5 beats to it. This was very useful and something new I learnt today. Today, I also learnt a new rhythm exercise that was different variations to the C major scale. This helped me improve my rhythm.

[Journal 04, 1 August 2014 ]

We believe that rhythmic playing will remain a constant challenge for most of the members throughout the research study and even beyond. This is inevitable as they progress to more challenging pieces of music where rhythmic playing can become more complex. However, as we observed from John’s final entry, it showed us that aided by reflective practice, there were some signs of improvement in grasping the rhythm and a sense of understanding on how to improve their rhythmic playing.

Emotional Challenges

We made observation of this particular category as we were interested to find out if the technical challenges, mentioned previously, had any impact on the members’ emotional wellbeing. We were duly rewarded with some interesting entries and recorded dialogues that allowed us to examine the members’ affective development. Matthew, in particular, was very expressive about the challenges that he was facing:

It’s one of the biggest things I am shameful about, because rhythm is something so important about music, yet here I am, not being able to do it correctly or understand fully what it is.

[Journal 03, 25 July 2014]

And again:

…not familiar with the song and percussion part yet. We often come in late and I feel worried when we play because I would be stressed out that I’m playing the wrong part.

[Journal 03, 25 July 2014]

However, not all entries that we were able to identify were negative. For example, the following was what John wrote about the ensemble group’s progress:

…More people can play their part. Correct tempo… Good, we’re making good progress.

[Reflective dialogue 02, 18 July 2014]

Similarly, Lucas wrote the following positive and glowing comment:

…feel happy about the improvement that I have achieved… Over the past few weeks, I have grown my nails to play the soprano with a better sound and also trained my fingers to press the high tension strings.

[Journal 04, 1 August 2014]

From the statements above, it is significant to know that through reflective practice, these members were again more aware of the progress they were making and how they felt about it.

Impact of Instructor’s Feedback

With the introduction of the instructor’s feedback, we were interested to find out what kind of impact or effect it had on the members’ musical learning. The following was from one of the entries made by John:

…I also wrote that I didn’t know how to play louder… Mr Tan took that into consideration and he told me to use more force and… that’s why I can play much louder (today)…

[Reflective dialogue 02, 18 July 2014]

We managed to find a similar entry from Matthew:

…the feedback is very helpful to the way we learn… we’re telling him (Mr Tan) about our problems and he writes back on how we can help ourselves instead of relying on him…

[Reflective Dialogue 04, 1 August 2014]

Another entry, by William, was also akin to what Matthew and John wrote:

…it (the feedback) was encouraging and we felt assured that we are not alone in our troubles…

[Reflection Journal 04, 1 August 2014]

In general, most entries that we collected highlighted a positive response towards the introduction of feedback as part of their reflective practice. We realised members observed that their instructor took their concerns into consideration and thus, helped make their subsequent practice sessions more fruitful.

It is also worth noting that through providing feedback, it also helped members reflect on what was taught in the previous practice and, moving ahead, how to better apply the skills taught into the next few practice sessions. We feel that the following entry made by John aptly describes this:

…Mr Tan’s comments were really useful today… now I can read the notes because I know the semi-tone difference between sharps and flats… And the angle of attack on the strings… as I could play much louder today…

[Reflective Dialogue 04, 1 August 2014]

Perceptions of Reflective Practice

Reflective practice seems to provide opportunity to reconstruct the ensemble members’ experiences and deepen their thoughts. This was found to be the case for the majority of members in this study, with the journal acting as a means of documenting their rehearsal processes, recording their development as a performer, and helping them to recall what they had learnt on a specific day. From the entries submitted, we were able to evaluate the effectiveness of their learning as they progressed. For example, Matthew commented the following:

I feel the reflection journal for me is a great tool… when I look back at those things, oh this could be improved on or I wish I could have done this or maybe I could have done this better. When I look back I want to see… what I read, what I wrote before, I want it to be better than who I am currently… I feel like it gives me a sort of a goal.

[Reflective Dialogue 03, 25 July 2014]

From Matthew’s comment, we concur with his belief that reflective practice can be used as a possible platform for members to reflect on their own performance and identify their own areas of weakness. Matthew further reinforced his belief through one of his journal entries:

…figure out and really think of my flaws in the instrument I play... allowed for me to recognise the problem in my music playing and allowed for quicker fixing than just sweeping the problems under the rug.

[Journal 04, 1 Aug 2014]

This supports previous research findings which emphasised that such a level of self-evaluation is recognised across all areas of discipline as being important in the development of the independent learner (Bolton, 2005). It can further be used to motivate members in the achievement of a variety of specific performance skills.

Other than feedback from the members, we were also able to gain some insights from the instructor with regard to the use of reflective practice:

…it’s

a good avenue for me to tell the student what I feel and it’s a very intimate way. They don’t have to see my face or feel that I’m scolding them… it’s a good way to dialogue and to record... the dialogue can continue...

[Interview with instructor, 1 Aug 2014]

We were able to see that reflective practice provided both the instructor and the ensemble members with the opportunity to develop a productive interactive relationship through a constant exchange of views. Members sought advice from instructor on music related performance problems. On the other side, viewing students’ reflections about how they played, the types of challenges they faced, and how they attempted to overcome these challenges, the instructor was able to better adjust the level of guidance and insight to offer to the members. The journal entries from the members further provided the instructor a profile of their growing music understanding.

However, we also recognise that students need the time and space after an event to record their questions and actions, and to critically reflect on these events and processes through writing, conversation and interaction with peers (Smith, 2001). This was typified by the entries from two members who highlighted the negative factors in the processes of reflective practice:

…generic answers… a model answer kind of thing. Not something that they actually think about, just to get it over with...

[Reflective Dialogue 03, 25 July 2014]

...honestly I feel that it (reflection journal) only helps temporarily as:1: It depends on our moods how sincere our reflections are

2: Not everyone agrees with having to write a reflection journal

3: Most of us lose interest after a while

[Journal 04, 1 Aug 2014]

As seen from the above responses, we observe that to garner a rich and fruitful experience from reflective practice, it is worth exploring how best to implement this, as external factors like time and spatial constraints can have an effect on the way the members approach their reflection.

Discussion

The experiences recounted in the students’ reflection journals indicated that reflective practice created a platform for students to be more aware and in control of their own musical learning. However, even with evidence of students’ narrations of their learning and listening experiences, there were concerns and observations that there was a lack in the development of ideas. The students acknowledged that they faced challenges in handling instrumental skills and rhythms, but they gave generalised journal entries and did not expand on explaining the basis or details of their challenges. There was little analysis of their own actions that should have progressed into thinking of how they could have overcome those challenges.

The predominance of the ‘generalised explanation’ can be explained by Elliot (1995) who argues that students cannot articulate meaningful ideas about music. Though the guidelines for the journals asked the students to reflect on their experiences and challenges, students may have interpreted literally that what was expected of them was simply a report of ‘content covered’, and hence, they wrote with less depth of reflection. As described by Knowlton (2013), journals are neither objective assessments nor applied performance, and students did not put in the time and effort writing their journals. Learning how to use a journal to be reflective and seeing the differences between writing descriptions and writing a reflection may be the stepping-stone for richer journal entries.

Another significant observation from the findings is that instrumental techniques emerged more often than musicianship in reflection journals and dialogues. Musicianship could be too abstract for the students to describe; so it is reasonable for students to feel it is more important to focus on writing about techniques instead. Knowlton (2013) commented ‘technique is concrete and fundamentals of techniques are more easily communicated than are the abstraction of musicianship’.

Limitations

One of the limitations of this study was the short time frame of the research. This limitation may have affected the quality of the reflections collected over the 11 weeks. As the students had to do one reflection every week for at least four consecutive weeks, this led to some of the reflections being repetitive, contributing to a loss of noteworthy reflections.

The timing and venue to implement reflective practice was another limitation. After observing two weeks of reflective practice, we realised that asking the students to complete a journal and sit through a reflective dialogue immediately after a two-and-a-half-hour rehearsal and a long day of school, was actually a tall order. The quality of the reflections could have been affected as the students were giving generic and repetitive answers so as to get it completed as quickly as possible.

Recommendations

One recommendation is to give students the option to complete the reflection journal in the comfort of their own home and submit it through electronic means (i.e. email) within 24 hours. It is worth mentioning that we managed to implement this recommendation in our research study on three separate occasions and the outcome of this change was encouragingly positive. However, further testing on this submission method over a longer period of time is needed in order to be sure of its positive results. This brings us to our next recommendation of implementing reflective practice over an extended period of time so as to prevent repetitive answers in the students’ reflection. Our suggestion is to implement it once per term, ideally in the final week of each term. However, further investigation will also be required to determine if our claim is true.

Conclusion

This study set out to examine the use of reflective practice, like reflective journaling and dialogue, in developing our students’ listening and ensemble performing skills. The journal entries and dialogue transcripts collected showed that reflective practice can provide a viable platform for students to become more aware of their individual challenges and strengths in their pursuit of music knowledge and skills. Furthermore, students were able to exercise their decision-making skills in such reflective practice, re-thinking the ways in which they approached music performing and, hence, broadening their experience and knowledge. With reflective practice, not only did students demonstrate progress in their music learning, but there was also evidence of positive effects on their emotional wellbeing in the learning process. From the data collected, we as CCA teachers also gained deeper insights into why and how to better promote a reflective culture in our quest to infuse 21CC into the Guitar Ensemble CCA.

References

Bolton, G. (2005). Reflective practice: Writing and professional development (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

Burnard, P. & Hennessy, S. (Eds.). (2006). Reflective practices in arts education. Netherlands: Springer.

Burwell, K. (2005). A degree of independence: Teachers’ approaches to instrumental tuition in a university college. British Journal of Music Education, 22(3), 199 – 215.

Dart, B., Boulton-Lewis, G., & McCrindle, A. (1998). Change in knowledge of learning and teaching through journal writing. Research Papers in Education, 13(3), 291-318.

Elliot, D. J. (1995). Music matters: A new philosophy of music education. New York: Oxford University Press.

Hatton, N. & Smith, D. (1995). Reflection in teacher education: Towards definition and implementation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11(1), 33-49.

Knowlton, D. S. (2013). Content analysis of students’ journals in a percussion methods course. Research Studies in Music Education, 35(1), 51-65.

Lamb, R. (2011). Lifelong learning institutes: The next challenge. The LLI Review, 6, 1-10.

Latukefu, L. (2009). Peer learning and reflection: Strategies developed by vocal students in a transforming tertiary setting. International Journal of Music Education, 27(2), 128-142.

Martin, J. A. (2000). Developing musical thinking: A study of the composing process of tertiary-level students. Retrieved April 2014, from http://repository.nie.edu.sg/jspui/ bitstream/10497/1602/1/MartinJeffreyAlan.pdf

Ministry of Education, Singapore. (2010). MOE to enhance learning of 21st century competencies and strengthen art, music and physical education. Retrieved October 2014, from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/2010/03/moe-toenhance-learning-of-21s.php

Ministry of Education, Singapore. (2014). Opening Remarks by Ms Ho Peng, Director-General of Education, at The Principals’ Forum and PISA 2012 Problem Solving Results Launch on 31 March 2014, 2.30pm at Victoria Junior College. Retrieved October 2014, from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/ speeches/2014/03/31/opening-remarks-by-ms-ho-peng-atthe-principals-forum-and-pisa-2012-problem-solving-resultslaunch.php

Moon, J. (1999). Learning journals: A handbook for academics, students and professional development. London: Kogan Page.

Parncutt, R. (2007). Can researchers help artists? Music performance research for music students. Music Performance Research, 1(1), 1-25.

Ritchhart, R. & Perkins, D. (2008). Making thinking visible. Educational Leadership, 65(5), 57-61. Retrieved April 2014, from http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_ files/06_AdditionalResources/makingthinkingvisibleEL.pdf

Smith, M. K. (2001). Donald Schön: Learning, reflection and change. The Encyclopedia of Informal Education. Retrieved November 2014, from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-schon.htm

Appendix 1

ST. PATRICK’S SCHOOL

Name:

REFLECTION JOURNAL 1

SEE

What are some of the changes that I see in the new ensemble setting?

THINK

What do I think about these changes made?

Use of Reflective Practice in Developing Students’ Listening and Ensemble Performing Skills in Guitar Ensemble Co-Curricular

WONDER

I wonder ...

Warm ups

Sectional

Combined

Any other reflection for today’s practice?

ST. PATRICK’S SCHOOL

Name:

REFLECTION JOURNAL 2

CONNECT

What are my strengths and weaknesses in music playing as a performer? What are some strategies that worked for me in the past that have helped me in my playing of my (new) instrument? (At least 3)

Warm ups

Sectional

Combined

EXTEND

What new ideas / strategies can I use to improve at my next practice session?

Brainstorm on at least 2 ideas / strategies and elaborate! Any idea is possible.

Warm ups

Sectional

Combined

CHALLENGE

What is still challenging or confusing for me? (At least 1)

What questions do I have? (At least 1)

Warm ups

Sectional

Combined

Any other reflection for today’s practice?

ST. PATRICK’S SCHOOL

Name:

REFLECTION JOURNAL 3

Comment on your learning points (i.e. techniques, musical terms) for the past few practice sessions.

You may use some of the guiding questions below to begin with.

• What have I done to adapt myself for the change in the playing of the new instrument?

• When was my best experience in listening to the new ensemble setting? Why?

• In your opinion, how does a successful rehearsal sound and look like? Why?

• What would I need to know or do in order to achieve success?

Appendix 4

ST. PATRICK’S SCHOOL

Name:

REFLECTION JOURNAL 4

Comment on your practice sessions conducted in the new ensemble setting so far. You may use some of the guiding questions below to begin with.

• How does the new ensemble setting impact me in my music learning and ensemble-ship in terms of listening and performing?

• How do I feel about the new learning experience?

• How can I extend this new learning experience to my academic and personal development?

• How has reflective journaling facilitated me in my music learning?

• How have instructor’s comments on your reflection journal impacted your learning?

ST. PATRICK’S SCHOOL

Name:

REFLECTION JOURNAL 5

You may use some of the guiding questions below to begin with.

• What do you find in your / ensemble’s progress since the start of learning the piece in this new ensemble setting till your first stage performance of the piece?

• Describe your thoughts on the progress. What would have contributed to the progress?

• Has reflective journaling helped you in this progress of learning the piece? If so, describe in what way the journaling process has helped.

• How does it make you feel playing this new instrument? Why would it make you feel that way? How do you think it will benefit the ensemble?

• Is there any difference in the tone quality, ease in playing or volume projection? If so, describe how it is different.

“Pedagogical research is not about collecting a bag of tricks but delving deeper into how my pupils can learn in the best way possible. It is a very useful reflective process where I am really able to look deeply at my own classroom teaching and how it impacts my pupils’ learning at the end of the day.

Through literature review, I was inspired by the works of other researchers. Going from lesson planning to execution, to reflecting, to exploring possibilities with my mentors, I’ve learnt to be a conscious reflective practitioner, not just for this research project but for my daily teaching and interaction with my pupils and my fellow colleagues.

The APRF professional development journey over the course of the year was well-paced with intermittent workshops to give us just-intime information for us to carry out our research. I enjoyed the workshops and consultation sessions as they were a good platform for the different teams to share and contribute ideas to one another’s research. I have made new friends with fellow music teachers from other primary and secondary schools, and the professional exchange will continue beyond this.”

Becoming a Reflective Practitioner: A Music Teacher’s Exploration of Singing Games

Allen Losey, Mohamed Salleh Mohamed Yasin

Tampines Primary School

Abstract

This qualitative paper summarises the insights gained through the establishment of a reflective practice by a primary school music teacher while researching the use of singing games in the classroom for a Primary 3 class. It describes how singing games can be used effectively to engage pupils’ learning and creativity. It further presents how a teacher can leverage on cycles of reflective practice to hone her pedagogical skills. While the findings from the research on singing games are included for completeness, the greatest insights were gained from establishing a reflective practice and this is emphasised accordingly.

1.

What does the designing and teaching of singing games in the local context look like? What do pupils learn in the process of engaging in singing games?

Model and Objectives

The teacher’s personal journaling and reflection practice found in this paper closely resembles the model of reflection presented by Larrivee (2000). A basic outline of the reflection cycle that was implemented is as follows:

1. Lesson planning

2. Pre-lesson discussion with mentor

3. Conducting singing games in my music class

4. Post-lesson observation discussion with mentor

5. Personal reflection after each session to assess where improvements could be made on lesson delivery to maximise impact on pupils’ learning

There were three primary objectives for utilising singing games in the music classroom:

1. Maximising engagement of pupils;

2. Facilitating the acquisition of music concepts;

3. Enabling pupils to demonstrate their creativity in the musicking process.

The research questions that were investigated are:

2.

What pedagogical shifts occurred in the reflective and mentoring journey for the music teacher?

What implications are there for local music education in the teaching of singing games to children?

This paper begins with context about singing games and the methodology employed in the research, then proceeds to address these questions beginning with those related to the reflective process, then findings about singing games, and ending with a discussion on implications for local practitioners.

Introduction: Why Singing Games?

The Importance of Play

The need to play is fundamental to children, and much of their activities are centred on the notion of play (Sandberg & Heden, 2010). Mead (2009) supports this notion by pointing out that play, besides creating feelings of fun and joy, is able to allow children to develop their identity, self-esteem, and allow for socialisation between individuals to take place. It not only exposes what children know and what they do not understand, but also what they are interested in (Burriss & Tsao, 2012). Malone and Tranter (2003) state that play allows for children to learn, experiment and be creative, thus enabling them to be better problem-solvers. It also enables children to construct their own meaning of different situations through communication and negotiation (Samuelsson & Carlsson, 2008).

Free Play versus Structured Play

‘Free play’ is defined as what children do during their “free activities” (Wallerstedt & Pramling, 2011), where the children initiate the activity (Samuelsson & Carlsson, 2008). Children enjoy free play as it is a break from the “teacher-controlled activities” within school, where they are left with little adult intervention or supervision and they get to “make of it what they will” (Blatchford, Creeser & Mooney, 2006). It is also an opportune time for children to learn how to socialise with one another (Sandberg & Heden, 2010).

‘Structured play’, on the other hand, as coined by Walsh (2011, p.110) can be described as follows:

“The idea of playful structure invites teachers and children to initiate and maintain a degree of playfulness in the learning experience, even when the learning intentions demand a supportive structure. … (It) not only recognises play as a valuable mode of learning in its own right but also invites playfulness to be infused into every activity.”

To further add to this, Mclnnes (2011, p.123) suggested that “it is the playful approach and attitude that is taken into an activity, rather than the play act itself, which is beneficial for learning.” He concluded that children who were given a choice under playful conditions showed excellent performance and engaged behaviours when compared to children in a formal learning setting.

It is interesting to note, as Samuelsson & Carlsson (2008) summed it up, that children’s learning and play are intrinsically interwoven in a child’s everyday life. “…children do not stop learning when taking their break outside the bounds of the classroom or the lesson” (Wallerstedt & Pramling, 2011, p.12).

As this research paper will reveal, my approach towards singing games evolved over the observation period from highly structured play to less structured play after much personal reflection and discussion with my mentor.

Methodology

In keeping with the self-reflective nature of this paper, it continues henceforth in first-hand, auto-ethnographical approach to the methodology by the first writer. The first writer was the principal teacher-researcher, with the second writer conducting the post-intervention focused group discussions with the pupils and being involved in data analysis. Having my co-teacher-researcher conduct the Focus Group Discussion allowed for greater objectivity, as pupils could be more open with their thoughts in the absence of the teacher-researcher who had conducted their lessons.

The Teacher and the Class

It should be noted that prior to the observed sessions, I had already been teaching the class of Primary 3 pupils for one term. Certain routines had been established with the class, such as greeting/goodbye songs, singing posture, and songs to instil classroom management and seating arrangements.

Pupils had also been introduced to clapping routines which aid the pupils in adopting discipline and good listening skills.

I began my research assuming that my Primary 3 pupils would enjoy playing with each other regardless of gender. Through my initial observations of the class, I did not feel that there were any apparent cliques. However, as the lessons progressed, it became apparent that there were groups of pupils who tended to play amongst themselves, and boys and girls did not interact that much. Thus, I took steps in my lesson plans to change this situation.

From the start, I adopted a “playful” approach in my lessons; even for warm-ups. I included physical toe to head movements to get their little bodies ready for class; such as ending with the little “blast-off” star jump which they all looked forward to. To increase the suspension of their jump, I would lower my voice and decelerate my tempo then suddenly shout out a loud “Blast OFF!”. At other times, warm-ups would involve a siren vocal exercise with a pupil conductor leading the class in roller coaster movements.

The Design of Singing Games

Singing games are defined as “any structured activity in which there is an element of suspense and challenge and in which the participants have fun” (Hotchkiss & Athey, 1978) and which involves singing.

Kodály also strongly believed that singing games involving movement are very critical for a child’s musical development in which “singing connected with movement and action is a much more ancient and, at the same time, more complex phenomenon than is a simple song” (Kodály, n.d.). The use of singing games is to get “the children (to) beg to sing them over and over again. Keeping practice fresh is not a problem” as Walker (2011, p.117) shared in her study of singing games.

A. Freezing game

Bearing in mind the notion of play and structured play, the pupils were systematically taught using songs with so-mila-do as the initial building block. Songs were accompanied by games and specific tone sets (See Appendix 1). Pupils were taught solfège with hand signs, and musical concepts such as stepping the pulse, clapping the rhythm and pulse, note value, quarter rest, bar lines and times signature. They also learnt to play the different games through clapping, composing, and creating new lyrics to the clapping games.

Here are two examples of how singing games were used:

In lesson two, my learning objective was to teach the quarter rest. To allow my pupils to experience it, I introduced the “Teddy Bear” song through rote singing. At the end of each phrase, they had to freeze. I made use of the freezing game everyone was very familiar with. My pupils were to walk on the pulse and at the end of the phrase, they struck a pose and froze in position! The only guideline for them was to respect their friends, that was, not to touch their friends when playing the game, but they could be as creative as they wished in their poses. I first “demo-ed” with some silly poses which prompted my pupils with some ideas and everyone had a good laugh. Then it was their turn. There were squeals of laughter as my pupils played the singing game. I had to remind them that it was a singing game and they should be singing and not laughing! At the end of the lesson, my pupils had sung the “Teddy bear” song countless times without complaint, and in fact, they wanted to continue playing! By the end of the exercise, they had internalised the tone set, had experienced the quarter rest, and were able to point it out when we went on to sing the solfège of the song.

B. Chasing game

In the lesson where I was teaching them to sight-read “Mouse, Mousie”, my pupils played a game “Duck, Duck, Goose” after they successfully learned the song. They first sang the song for a few rounds, aiming to be nominated as the best singer. The selected child then walked and clapped on the pulse, circling around the others who were seated in a big circle, and the last person who was tapped at the end of the song then ran in the opposite direction. My pupils loved this game! They wanted to play it repeatedly. They sang the song countless times over, and cheered for their friends who were running. They had fun; enjoying the musical game yet learning. They were internalising the intervallic leap of the fifth apart, from so to do

The specific implementation of singing games which I used in my intervention changed over time as I adjusted the approach based on my critical reflection, utilising a reflection process similar to that documented by Larrivee (2000).

Research Methodology

The study was conducted for 11 sessions from March 25 to July 30, with a break period in-between to cater to the semestral examination and the June holidays. The intervention was conducted once a week for a period of an hour during the curriculum music lesson, taught by the main teacher-researcher.

For our research, a Primary 3 class was selected. The pupils and their parents were informed of the purpose of the research and a letter of notification was sent to the parents. A reply to indicate the parents’ consent was consolidated which allowed us to proceed with the research.

I engaged a mentor to guide me in planning and delivering a singing games approach for the music lessons. The mentor was well-versed in music pedagogies and able to give advice on my design of singing games. Prior to each lesson, he provided pre-lesson feedback on my lesson plan in relation to its likely effectiveness. He afforded me opportunities for reflective conversations which are “important for further development of a reflective teaching practice” (Stanley, 1998, p.588).

During the Lessons:

A. Video recorders were used during the intervention to document the lesson flow, teacher-and-pupils’ interaction and pupils’ reactions in the music class.

B. My mentor was present to observe the flow of the lessons but adopted a “fly on the wall” approach so as not to disrupt the lessons.

The videos were later used as a tool for the teacher’s journal writing and self-evaluation. Many researchers have long used video-cases as a method of instruction as it provides a strong foundation for observation and discussion (Hourigan, 2006). Not only can video-cases help pre-service teachers become more reflective, it also allows them to help close the gap between theory and practice (Abell, Bryan & Anderson, 1998); (Boling, 2007); (Kale, 2008).

At the end of each lesson:

A. A post-lesson discussion was conducted with my mentor where I would reflect on how the lesson went and he would give feedback and suggestions on what he felt were done well, what the gaps were, and how I could build on the lessons learnt. Feedback and guidance from the mentor is not only found to be vital to encourage reflection, but should also be a regular part of the classroom method (Barry, 1996; Powell, 2000).

B. I wrote a personal self-reflection on how I felt my lesson went, how I felt while conducting the lesson, and what I could do to improve my lesson. Selfreflection, according to Larrivee (2000), boosts our level of awareness which not only allows us to spot contradictions, but also to re-assess our choices. (Teacher’s reflection notes are provided in Appendix 2).

C. Pupils were asked to fill up a weekly reflection log as a checkpoint for their learning for that lesson and to assess how engaged they thought they were. Data collected from the weekly reflections were coded. (A sample of the reflection log can be found in Appendix 3).

At the end of the intervention period:

A. Pupils provided overall feedback through a questionnaire and in-depth interview.

B. Focused Group Discussions were conducted by my co-teacher-researcher Mr Salleh.

C. Lessons were transcribed and field notes included. The video recordings were transcribed for analysis and field notes were taken and coded alongside with it to provide a triangulation of data.

The Reflective Practitioner

Reflection on Action for Educators

Demands on teachers have changed due to the changing landscape of education: the policies, the pupils and the technology that is available. Teachers need time and the tools to reflect on their teaching (Burnard, 2008).

Classroom teaching is a process in which unexpected things frequently arise, often upsetting our most thought-out and well-laid lesson plans. As educators, we often have to think on our feet and make adjustments according to the flow of the lessons and the dynamics and knowledge of our pupils (Beck & Kosnik, 2001). Thus, knowingly or unknowingly, we are practising reflection-in-action (Schon, 1983) where we draw upon internalised knowledge to inform and guide current behaviour in the immediate situation (Wilson, 2008).

Reflection on practice, according to Schmidt (2000), is where most efficient practitioners learn from; by looking back at the end of the day at the ambiguous aspects and reflect and question their assumptions, roles, strategies and framing of the situation. This aspect of reflection has to be intentional to be effective.

Reflecting on one’s past is important as we can then use it to envisage other scenarios and thus select a course of action to maximise the potential for achievement of our goals and objectives in the future (Wilson, 2008). Reflection on the future is used to project possible future encounters, pitfalls and counter measures to ensure a higher possibility of success.

Being reflective, or doing a reflection, is not merely an act of thinking or filling up a 3-2-1 form. What is more critical for a purposeful, reflective and effective teacher is the integration of content knowledge, skill sets, a disposition of openness to change and learning, and dedication to student success (Dewey, 1991).

Need for Critical Reflection

We all come into the teaching profession coloured with our own experiences, beliefs, assumptions and values – often unexamined and untested (Argyris, 1990). Thus, it is important to critically reflect so as to delve deeply into and uncover our unquestioned beliefs, assumptions, and expectations. It enables us to question our current practices, constantly applying new lenses with which to view and assess our skill sets and reshape our perspectives. Engaging in critical reflection enables us to bring our commonly held beliefs into question, which in turn may lead to feelings of ambiguity and vulnerability. It takes time to negotiate these feelings of frustration, insecurity, and rejection; and time to accept that these feelings are part of change (Larrivee, 2000).

There are different approaches and models to practise reflection; from simple journal entries (Barry, 1996) to median complexity examples, such as the Rivers of Musical Experience (Burnard, 2012). There are also complex models of Scored Developmental continuum facilitating the practice of reflection on action and reflection for action by Thorsen & DeVore (2012) which is based on LaBoskey’s conceptual framework of the reflective abilities (LaBoskey, 1993).

Stage 1 Examination

LaBoskey (1994) also stressed the importance of choosing effective methods for promoting reflection and implementing meaningful analysis of outcomes that result from reflection.

Current practice

Questioning

Challenging

Desire for change

Inner conflict

Stage 2 Struggle

Stage 3 Perceptual shift

Surrender Uncertainty Chaos Reconciling

Personal discovery New practice

Transformation

Diagram reproduced from Larrivee (2000)

Fear

Through this research project, I started to explore and question certain elements of my teaching practice and beliefs. This project has motivated me to use self-reflection as a means to improve myself as a music teaching practitioner. Through self-reflection, I have discovered new dimensions of myself, increased my awareness of how I perceive and react to my pupils, and brought to light some of my unconscious assumptions and ways of responding to them (Larrivee, 2000).

During my journey, I came to depend on the model for reflection described by Larrivee (2000) which spells out the stages in transforming my teaching practice. The model was only a guide and I did not move neatly from my current practice to my transformation, or linearly through the stages. At times I felt that I was making progress. At others, I felt that I was going backwards through each lesson cycle and each reflection as I questioned my old ways of thinking; doubting my readiness to implement the new pedagogy. According to Larrivee (2000, p. 304), “this uncertainty is the hallmark for transformation and the emergence of new possibilities. This internal struggle is a necessary and important stage in the reflective process.”

Inner Conflict Resulting from Reflection

I am a strong believer in Kodály’s philosophy and approach. I am convinced that the foundations of a good tone set should first be established for my pupils so that much more could be done at a later stage. With the correct tone set foundation, I can explore moveable do, inner hearing, sight singing, and finally instruct my pupils to improvise on an instrument or with their voice. My assumption was that only those fortunate few who have attended music lessons outside school are able to read music, and thus have the grounding to do creative improvisation work. As a music teacher, I am very conscious of the need to provide good quality music education with a proper grounding to the general population. I held the view that there was no better way to do so than with singing games while incorporating the Kodály method of delivery and the Curwen hand signs.

To make the repetition of certain notes or pitches less monotonous, singing games were introduced. While repeatedly playing a particular singing game, I wanted my class to be continually engaged with singing, cognitively undergo learning of the tone set yet having lots of fun. I also wanted to “dissolve barriers between students and teachers, allowing everyone to share in the exuberance of the moment” (Hotchkiss & Athey, 1978, p.40-41), to create a safe environment for my pupils to explore and create their musical world of sounds with me. As pointed out by many researchers and curriculum developers, singing games have been used and incorporated in many schools’ curricula in many countries to not only teach musical concepts but motor skills as well, since the games “add fun to the repetition required for skill development” (Wheat & Hargrove, 2009).

Since my pupils began without the building blocks of a good tone set and correct pitching, I assumed that they would not be able to be very creative with music, and that I would need to equip them with the right skill sets before they could exhibit musical creativity. Thus, my music lessons towards the beginning of the intervention period were generally structured like this:

a. Warm ups

b. Singing of familiar songs / singing games

c. Learn a new song, play the new singing game

d. Learn the solfège and hand signs along with music concept

Initially, I also felt that even with the use of singing games, I needed to complete the teaching of the associated musical concepts and solfège for any new song that was taught. In hindsight, I realise that I failed to discriminate between the actual demands of teaching and my own self-imposed demands (Larrivee, 2000) for the lesson.

Reviewing my video-recorded lessons challenged my assumptions about the way I teach; allowing me to critically examine my beliefs and values about teaching and learning (Clarke, 1995; Bailey, 2000; Boling, 2007). This method was useful for me as it allowed me to recognise my blind spots in the classroom which I was not aware of while conducting my lessons, just as Larrivee (2000, p. 304) pointed out,

“…reflection during, or simultaneously with, our actions is difficult because of the multiple demands we have to juggle in the classroom.”

It was not always pleasant to look through my videos; cringing at my own pitching and inaccuracies in singing, which in turn led to my pupils’ inaccuracies in singing and pitching which I consequently had to spend more time to re-teach and correct.

Through the video recordings, I observed that my lessons were very teacher-centred and the games played were highly structured, hampering pupil interaction. In their own weekly reflections and interviews, the pupils were able to verbalise the learning objective of my lessons and understand the musical concepts taught. However, in this approach of teaching where the musical concepts were taught at the conclusion of the lesson, the element of fun and high level of engagement of the pupils was no longer apparent, and they did not seem to enjoy the solfège and “theory part” of the lesson. In fact, they struggled through the solfège, hand signs and the pitching with the sight reading exercises. It dawned upon me that there was a need to change my approach.

Reluctant to let go of the “foundation” block belief, I trialled different strategies to engage my pupils in solfège. I used more sight-singing activities where my pupils created their own melodies with the solfège that they had already learnt. Yet, after a period of experimenting and critically reflecting, I came to the realisation that solfège and hand signs might not be necessary for my pupils to show their creativity.

I observed that with further literature review, consultation with my mentor and research consultant, and professional development (Orff certification Level 1), I began to open my mind to other strategies to engage my pupils better.

…to recognise my ability and skills along with my learning from this experience to reconstruct my assumptions about my practice. This allows me to be open to new ideas and factors that I have not considered and the ability to change and adapt to new strategies

[Hickson, 2011, p. 837]

Pedagogical Shift and New Approach

After a period of personal discovery, reflection and consultation, I adopted this new structure:

a. Warm ups

b. Singing of familiar songs / singing games, through speech and using more movement

c. Learn a new song, play the new singing game (structured but less regulated)

d. Creative component (self-exploratory, create new lyrics)

I spent less time correcting pupils’ accuracy in solfège and hand signs, and covered these only for a part of the song at each lesson.

I decided to shift my pedagogical approach towards the Orff approach where I would start with speech and incorporate more movement and the feel of the pulse through the use of body percussion. I encouraged and welcomed pupils’ suggestions and improvisation even from the onset of warm-ups. For example, they would come up with their own creative body percussion improvisation to a familiar greeting song like “Good Morning”, and the whole class would imitate it. At first, my pupils were unsure of what to

do, seemed lost, and did not know what to make out of the situation. However, with my encouragement and assurance that there were no wrong answers, and that I accepted every suggestion, this spurred more ideas. My pupils ended up exceptionally keen to share their creative ideas.

I empowered my pupils to take charge of their own learning, instead of having me “spoon-feed” them. I also reduced instruction time. At times, they had to figure out new clapping games by themselves. In one event where I was teaching a new clapping game, I demonstrated it twice and then left it to my pupils to explore and learn how to play it. They were given the option to freely choose whomever they wanted to play with. This created opportunities for friendships to be built. This was supported in the pupils’ weekly reflections and Focus Group Discussion (FGD), where they mentioned that they managed to make more friends. Marsh (2008) found that playing group games allows for inclusiveness and encourages cooperative behaviours to emerge.

Clapping games were usually played in twos or fours. My pupils had to figure out for themselves which was the best way to play the clapping game. Wiggins (2001) suggested that children might engage more productively in musical activities in pairs or small groups.

It was observed in the video recordings that the less skilled pupils would model and observe the more adept pupils; just as Marsh (2008) also indicated. They were also aware of each other’s learning progress and differences. Pupils supported each other’s learning by adjusting their level of performance through “scaffolding” such as slowing down the game for a less skilled player. They also challenged each other by playing it much faster as well.

Another interesting observation was made when pupils started creating their own lyrics to a game they were familiar with. They were able to communicate and negotiate with their friends while coming up with their own renditions of

the clapping game. This also allowed my pupils to maintain interest and participation, while familiarity with the song increased (Marsh, 2008).

With this new approach, I discovered that my pupils were creative even without my intervention.

With children’s media exposure being enriched through television and radio programmes, video and computer games, and applications on smart phones (Hilton, 2009), I should not assume that my pupils are not able to demonstrate creativity without my guidance. As mentioned by Lum (2009), “a large part of children’s musical behaviours stemmed from their exposure to the mass media.” He also mentioned that children create musical inventions from play. I should be able to tap on this capability. My pupils have had 8-9 years of informal musical experience before they stepped into my classroom and I should make more room for creativity and exploration.

An example of their creativity can be seen in the singing game of “Four White Horses”:

Four white horses, on a river

Hey, hey, hey, Up tomorrow

Up tomorrow is a rainy day

Come on down to the shadow play

Shadow play is a ripe banana, Up tomorrow is a rainy day

My pupil’s own creative rendition of “Four White Horses”: Four white tigers, on a river

Hey, hey, hey, Up tomorrow

Up tomorrow is a lazy day

Come on down to the shadow play

Shadow play is a ripe pineapple, Up tomorrow is a lazy day

The pupils only changed the words of the animals and fruits but they intuitively knew to choose words that had the same number of syllabus.

In singing the “llama” song:

Have you ever, ever, ever in your long legged life, seen a short legged llama with his googled-eye wife?

Pupil’s rendition:

Have you ever, ever, ever in your big-nose life, seen a “fatty-bom-bom” King Kong with his ugly-faced wife?

The pupils not only changed the lyrics but also the rhythmic structure of the song to fit in their own lyrics.

By naturally integrating the teaching of music concepts as I taught the songs, I did not have to spend too much time on it and avoided turning it into a theoretical exercise. I wanted pupils to experience the music they were learning. In the clapping games, the activities were sometimes confusing as my pupils were performing at least two tasks at the same time: singing a rhythm and clapping another (rhythm / pulse with variations). Yet, as they played the games countless times tirelessly, they began to internalise the melody. Subsequently, they were able to sing the song in solfège with ease.

I realised that they could learn the solfège and hand signs and pitch better after they had sung the songs and played the games for at least two weeks. This revisiting of familiar songs firmly planted the tone set in my pupils’ minds and I did not have to teach the song and the solfège together in one sitting. In actual fact, they could sing the solfège with greater accuracy in pitching when I taught songs and introduced the solfège in subsequent lessons. I did not need to be so adamant in finishing teaching the solfège and hand signs before they had internalised the songs.

I also learned that my pupils loved singing games and they play it beyond the classroom. Pupil A in her FGD shared that she taught the games to her friends and practised during recess. She shared also that she demonstrated the games to her grandmother. Pupil B mentioned that she also played the games with family members and friends at the playground.

Marsh (2008) found that these play songs are seen to forge a link between the classroom and the playground, thus allowing children to practise musical materials learnt in their own time.

Reflective Process

Coaching from my mentor also played an integral role in developing my reflective thinking skills (Barry, 1996; Smith, 2002) as his questioning and feedback provided me with opportunities to think deeper. My research consultant, during our group and individual consultation sessions, often inquired if I was trying to teach music as if I was “in Hungary back in the 1960s?” He challenged me to rethink my approach and delivery of my music lessons. I questioned myself if I could allow my lessons to be more pupil-centric and allow my pupils more space to be creative. I wondered if composition was a possible way to show how creative my pupils were. Even as I wanted to encourage creativity in my pupils, I did not know how to scaffold and document their creative process.

In keeping with Larrivee’s model (2000), I recognised my fear of change and the implications to my belief system. I was torn, having to accept that pupils could exhibit creativity without first establishing a firm foundation of music concepts, and my observations in practice that the solfège and hand signs could be a stumbling block rather than an enabler. I experienced feelings of vulnerability and found myself out of my comfort zone. It was definitely a disconcerting period of time for me.

My mentor provided me a platform to deconstruct my lessons and helped me to reconcile my beliefs and assumptions, thus allowing me to achieve the depth and breadth of critical reflection that I otherwise could not have gained by myself. After every lesson, my post-lesson discussion would focus on how I felt the lesson had gone, why it went the way it did, and what I could have done to make it better for my pupils’ learning (Hickson, 2011). My mentor also contributed ideas and suggestions that I found invaluable in helping me close the gaps identified in my lessons.

During the research, my co-teacher-researcher Mr Salleh was another sounding board for me as we discussed the level of engagement of the pupils in the music class. I also made friends with fellow researchers and as we shared our research projects, we formed a support group. The safe environment and supportive culture within the group gave room for us to expose our vulnerabilities and question one another, without feeling judged (Hickson, 2011).

Pupil Learning Resulting from Singing Games

Data collected from the surveys, questionnaires, interviews and field notes were coded. From our findings, we categorised the data into three domains, namely cognitive engagement, behavioural engagement, and socialemotional engagement.

Cognitive Engagement

Pupils learn better when learning is scaffolded and when they are sufficiently challenged cognitively. Learning from and with peers help pupils generate meaning in their learning. Peer interactions also help to build their social interaction skills which are part of the pupils’ development

of 21CC. Through social interactions, pupils learn how to manage their emotions which lead to building self-esteem and self-confidence.

From our findings, pupils were able to vocalise the intended learning objectives and made use of the desired vocabulary. They were able to sing the solfège accurately with the correct hand signs most of the time.

Pupils also demonstrated their ability to transfer their learning to new situations. After learning the quarter rest through the freezing game in a simple “Teddy Bear” song with only 2 notes (so-la), it was very easy for them to point out rests in new songs. When I sang “Peas Pudding Hot” in the ensuing week, my pupils could accurately pick out the places where the rests were supposed to be without me telling them.

Pupils also internalised the solfège of the songs and were able to perform the hand signs without audio cues. I applied little mini tests (learning assessments) that were “game-based”, where I hand-signed the songs that my pupils had learnt. Once they recognised the song, they would raise their hands and whisper their answer to me. A correct answer would warrant them a sticker. The game was well received and I was able to assess my pupils. Gardiner (2000) discovered a way to measure the musical skills and concepts acquired through a detailed battery of “Learning through Music examinations” developed at the Conservatory Laboratory Charter School in Boston. They found that “knowledge of a song is measured not simply by being able to repeat it after it has been learned, but to repeat it with and without the words, while clapping the underlying beats, or while pointing to the pitches of the melody”. This is often part of a Kodály lesson where pupils are asked to do this on a regular basis, thus showing that learning has taken place before more complicated pitches or rhythms are added.

Behavioural Engagement

Over the period of intervention, more pupils were able to show more focus over an extended period of time and became more engaged in their learning. Pupil B has always had problems staying on task as she is often distracted, fiddling with her personal belongings such as her coin pouch, her skirt, her hair, and distracted by the friends around her. With the use of signing the songs, even in games as a means to assess learning, she was able to stay on task more consistently throughout the lesson. This was also evident in her personal reflections.

As indicated in Marsh’s research (2013), children have a tendency to repeat the clapping game right from the beginning rather than break it into component parts and restart at the place where they ran into problems. Yet, they remain engaged for the whole period of time.

The class was taught a new singing game called, “Have you ever seen a long-legged llama?” They were taught three different phrases in different cycles. First, they learnt:

Have you ever, ever, ever, in your *long-legged life, seen a *long-legged llama with his *long-legged wife.

The lyrics marked with an asterisk were replaced with shortlegged and google-eyed, before all three were combined in one song.

When the different groups of pupils (one or both) got lost or stuck, they would always end up in giggles and try it out again right from the start; seldom from the place where they made the error.

Social-Emotional Engagement

The lessons were planned in such a way that it provided opportunities for pupils to learn from one another. Working in smaller groups of two to four helped the pupils interact and guide each other in learning the musical concepts better. Through the group work, I observed that pupils were able

to manage their own internal conflicts. They were required to work with one another in getting the correct rhythm for the clapping games, and any disagreements or difficulties faced during the practices were resolved amicably. They learnt to be more patient with each other and listened more to their friends’ suggestions.

In one of the lessons, it was observed that Pupil C had problems interacting with the male pupils. Encouragement from peers and the teacher helped the pupil to overcome this problem. By the end of the intervention period, Pupil C was more open to listening to others and interacting more with her friends. She even stated in her reflection that she had made new friends through the music lessons. She noted that she needed to learn about teamwork. She learnt how to clap with her friends in order to play the game.

The singing games also provided opportunities for pupils to exhibit their leadership capabilities. In one of the lessons, it was observed that Pupil D was able to lead her team well. She noticed at the beginning of the session that her peers in her group were not able to sing and clap to the song “Four White Horses”. She got her group to stop playing the game and concentrated on getting the group to sing the song accurately first before leading them to the clap. She also gave suggestions to change the seating position so as to better facilitate the group clapping.

Another child, Pupil E, organised the group discussion by allowing each member to provide input on how the clapping game could be conducted. She listened to each member before providing her input.

Through observations and the pupils’ reflection, it was noted that a number of the pupils had gained greater selfconfidence and self-esteem. They were more confident in providing their input and responded to the lessons better. The pupils mentioned in their reflection that they enjoyed the music lessons, and had fun playing the singing games and learning the new songs.

Discussion

We begin our discussion with this question: What implications are there for local music education in the teaching of singing games to children?

Singing games are a powerful tool in engaging pupils in the music classroom. It allows for learning to take place in a fun way that is highly engaging and effective. Singing games help inspire pupils to reinforce their learning outside the classroom.

However, as a word of caution,

“If teachers latch onto techniques without examination of what kinds of teaching practice would be congruent with their beliefs, aligned with their designated teaching structures, and harmonious with their personal styles, they will have just a bag of tricks.”

[Larrivee, 2000, p. 294]

As important as it is for music teachers to upgrade our professional development by attending courses and then trying out the newly learnt strategies in our music classes, it is equally important that we take the time to establish cycles of critical reflection.

There is a need to avoid getting stuck in a rut of habitual routine devoid of critical reflection. It would be useful to start with a simple personal journal to question our beliefs and to chart our own growth and development. I also found video recording of one’s lessons a good personal check point, and it should not be feared or viewed as performance assessment but for our personal growth.

Meaningful learning results when a person is able to actively construct and find personal meaning within a situation.

[Falk & Dierking, 2000, p. 41]

With reflection, one is able to develop, transform and improve one’s own teaching whether as a beginning teacher, as experienced practitioner in the formal sectors of schools or higher education, or as artist educator.

[Hennessy, 2009, p.186]

In addition, participating in communities of practice to share and support each other’s professional growth can also be an effective platform and motivator for critical reflection (Lave, 1991).

As Larrivee (2000, p.306) very aptly sums it up, “The path to developing as a critically reflective teacher cannot be prescribed with an intervention formula… it must be lived.”

Limitations

The following are limitations that might have impacted the results drawn from the study:

i. We acknowledge that this research is based on the sharing of a small sample of two teachers and readers will need to adapt the insights to their own unique circumstances.

ii. This research was conducted on a Primary 3 class (pupils aged 8-9 years old), with little or no knowledge of solfège or hand signs at the start of the intervention.

Opportunities for improvement:

i. The mentor pre- and post-observation conversations could have been recorded and transcribed so as to better document the questioning and reflection.

ii. Weekly FGD after every lesson could have been done with the pupils to triangulate the findings. It was challenging due to the limited time we had with our class and the timetabling of teacher researchers and pupils.

Conclusion

While singing games, when used appropriately, is an effective strategy to engage pupils in their musical learning and an outlet for their musical creativity, teachers should not see it as a panacea.

It is important for educators to continuously employ cycles of critical reflection for their own teaching as all of us enter the teaching field with our own set of values and biases, pre-conceived notions and coloured lenses which at most times go unchallenged. Circumstances for teaching evolve all the time, with external factors such as emotions of the pupils, their readiness to learn affecting learning. As such, teaching is as much an art as it is a science. When we are in the midst of busy everyday-teaching, we might lose sight of what is important – why we teach, who we teach and how we teach. To critically reflect (e.g. through video recording, peer observation) on our own lessons might make us feel vulnerable and disconcerted at times, but it is truly an efficacious way to grow ourselves and benefit our pupils. Critical friends can be good sounding boards who enable us to see our blind spots and who grow alongside us.

These are the insights that I have gained in my personal journey and I am confident that reflective practice will afford great benefits to any educator’s teaching practice.

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Appendix 1

Singing Games Played in Music Lessons Organised by Tone Sets

Game Song

Tone set

• Double circle “Hello, what’s your name?” s-m-l

• Freeze “Teddy Bear” s-l

• Jumping and clapping “Peas Pudding” s-m-d

• Choosing partner “IckleOckle” s-m-l, s-m-d

• Passing on pulse & clapping “Apple Tree” s-m-l-d

• Chasing “Mouse, Mousie” s-d, s-m-d

• Composing “Bee, Bee, Bumble Bee” s-m-l-d

• Exploring instruments “Nenne, Reiko” s-m-l-d-r

• Clapping (pair) “客人来” s-m-d-r

• Clapping (pair) “Llama” s-m-d-r

• Clapping (4 people) “Four White Horses” d-r-m-t-l-s

• Clapping (4 people) “客人来” “Four White Horses”

s-m-d-r d-r-m-t-l-s

Appendix 2

Excerpts of Teacher’s Reflections

Teacher’s Reflection: Lesson 1

• Pupils had a very fun engaging lesson which incorporated:

○ Game

○ Social and emotional competencies

- Building friendship

- Respecting each other’s personal space

○ Listening

○ Singing throughout the whole lesson (Building tone set)

○ Stepping to the pulse

- Answers not readily given by teacher but explored by pupils

○ Creative movement which embodies the music concept incorporated into game

○ In between, lost some pupils’ attention but able to get them back

○ Lost a few more pupils at the end of the lesson when they had to do a summary

○ Teacher has some pitching issues (need to be more aware of it!)

○ Teacher was generally able to get the class moving from one activity to the next in a very engaging manner

Teacher’s Reflection: Lesson 2

• Lesson is heavy going after mid-point

• I wanted pupils to strive for precision and accuracy in stepping the pulse

• Pupils got tired and lost interest in the lesson

• However, pupils are patient enough to run through the entire lesson

• Pupils who are very interested in music were able to get the music concepts and give their own explanations

○ Don’t over sing; I play a game.

○ Use another song

Teacher’s Reflection: Lesson 3

• Pupils were very patient to sit through a ‘theory’ lesson

○ Able to apply their learning of the (rest) in Teddy Bear into the new song Peas Porridge Hot

• Pupils not able to jump on beat

○ Double circle game too difficult?

○ When is the right time to land?

○ Psycho-motor skills of pupils not developed?

○ Teacher’s instructions not clear

• The other parts of the game was more manageable for the pupils

Teacher’s Reflection: Lesson 4

• Pupils enjoyed a new warm up and then able to move to a warm up that they know and are familiar with (Roll your shoulders)

• Pupils learnt the rest concept well in Teddy Bear and thus able to transfer their learning to the new song, Peas Pudding Hot

• Pupils are able to correctly indicate where the bar lines should be, but still had problems with the tas and ti tis

• Pupils are able to find the solfège of the song with teacher’s help

• Pupils very quickly learnt 1 new song, Ickle Ockle, and find similarities

○ Rest and the s-m-d tone set at the end of both songs

• Lesson might be heavy going on the tone set and the accuracy of it

○ Pupils are very patient and persistent through the exercises

• Pupils able to sight read and teach themselves a new song from the tone set s-m-d though the jump is much bigger from so to do

○ Needed some help from teacher but managed to get it

• Pupils all were very engaged when they were able to play the chasing game (Duck, duck, goose) for Mouse, Mousie song

○ Able to walk/tap on pulse

○ Singing with enthusiasm, with correct pitching

○ Cheered for one another

Teacher’s Reflection: Lesson 5

• Pupils are more familiar with the new warm-ups and they really enjoy doing it

○ Big smiles and giggles while doing it

• Teacher gives opportunity for Solo singing as an FA to check pupils’ understanding of pitches and sense of pulse

○ Accuracy is there for pitching and

○ Confidence of pupils for Solo singing

• Recap / Review of previously learnt songs to reinforce the concept of rest and the notation value

○ Hello, How Are You?

○ Peas Pudding Hot (Jump = Rest)

○ Ickle, Ockle

○ Mouse, Mousie (Pupils forgot as it is the newest song learnt)

• Teacher revisited Mouse, Mousie through rhythm (ta and ti ti) and solfège

• Teacher taught new song Apple Tree by note and got pupils to pass a red ball on the pulse.

The last person who gets the ball will play a clapping game with a teacher, then a friend first in 2s, then 3s, then 4s, others play the boomwackers

• Teacher introduces sight-reading of a new song to pupils which the still have much difficulties with

○ Not familiar with rhythm

○ Not familiar with the tone set

• Pupils really enjoyed the games but find it a challenge to do the ‘theory’ part of the lesson on rhythm

○ Accurate pitching is still the issue

Teacher’s Reflection: Lesson 6

• Most pupils are more familiar with the tone set of s-m-l-d

• Able to do inner hearing of the songs by themselves thus able to recognise the songs found in the game

• Pupil are able to recognise the different songs through the solfège

○ Learnt the songs

• Hopefully to scaffold their 1st compositional writing

○ Teacher scaffolded the 1st line of the song and the last ending note do where the song goes back to the tonic

○ Teacher also scaffolded the rhythmic notations of the composition where pupils needed more help

○ Pupils were also able to work in groups

- Natural leader emerges (usually pupils with a stronger sense of rhythm and solfège leads) e.g. Pupils Ir, Am, A, Kh

• Able to lead, coach, praise, encourage, team mates

• Though the musical idea is there, but accuracy in pitching correctly is not seen in many groups.

Teacher’s Reflection: Lesson 7

• Inner hearing game as an AFL was quite effective as it gives me a gauge to whether pupils are able to:

○ Know the hand signs

○ Know the pitch and the tone set

○ Memorise the solfège for the different songs that they have learnt

• Pupils still like it as a game even though it was an assessment

• Some pupils know what have prior knowledge of what a lullaby is, able to share that it is something that they listen to before they sleep

• Respecting other cultures and remembering the greetings from a previous song that we’ve learnt (Not laughing at the “konnichiwa” the pronunciation of the words of the song)

• Pupils are exposed to different genres of music, gave an example of improvisation to a rock song – repeated some phrases.

• Japanese lullaby is a relatively long song compared to the previous ones learnt

○ Have a tendency to scoop on the ‘R’

○ Able to recognise the ‘R’

○ Able to tell if the song is completed

○ Able to recognise some phrases that are repeated

○ Able to memorise the solfège at the end of the lesson

○ Not able to do the hand signs

○ Solo singers had a good pitching

○ Pitching still an issue but with guided scaffolding able to sing it correctly themselves

• Instruments is a big draw to them

○ Learn discipline

○ Learn to watch

○ Learn conducting and thus able to keep the tempo

○ Learn to explore with the instruments

○ Learn the solfège

Teacher’s Reflection: Lesson 8

• 1st part of the lesson, pupils are more engaged. They are empowered to take charge and lead the class through their own improvisations and creations

• Most pupils to enjoy the clapping games but apparent that it is something that girls are better at (Lit Review)

○ Ke Ren Lai (+ Chinese song)

A bit more challenging to remember the lyrics and the clapping pattern though it’s repeated 4 times. (Especially for non-Chinese speaking pupils + boys)

• Pupils enjoy the progression of vocalisation of words and phrases to the note singing and clapping (Orff method)

○ Clapping games engages most but not all especially those who can’t coordinate/ refuse to play with their friend

• Creative process of coming up with their own movement - (Adjectives and animal) Is it too much? - Lyrics: Scaffolded but some pupils are not focused. However, some are: Able to have interesting creations: Pupils L and Rs (Vid)

Teacher’s Reflection: Lesson 9

• The scaffolding is important: should provide the initial tone set so that pupils know where the do is and thus able to place in pitch the rest of the notes.

• Teachers should know the score and the song very well (should work on it)

• Pupils enjoyed movements with singing and it should be included as it engages them

○ Giving pupils time to explore and create

○ Engages them

○ Pupils had enough musical sense to know what fits in doesn’t fit. (Evidence from video and literature review)

○ Transcripts and notations

• Pupils do not necessarily start from where they are stuck, they start from the beginning.

• Pupils really enjoyed the lesson

Teacher’s Reflection: Lesson 10

• Pupils enjoy the movement and the games

• They are not used to creating different sounds on their own but with more exposure it will be easier

• They like to be able to lead the class and play “follow the leader games”

• More stable in their hand signs and intervals do-mi-so

• Able to discern higher and lower pitches (not sure whether they learnt to read my visual cues). Some are good at hearing. E.g. Pupils Am and A

• Pupils have learnt discipline to observe the game and imitate “air” play before they actually embarked on it

• Whole song approach did work eventually with the Y

• Song is nonsensical and does not really have a flow. Rather difficult to remember.

• Group work engages them in problem solving. Most children cannot be on task when they are in groups of 4 to work through the game as they distract each other.

• Teachers should consider vocalising the ‘Y’ as an ‘um’, so as to get pupils to view that ‘Y’. As recommended by mentor.

Teacher’s Reflections: Lesson 11

• Based on mentor’s suggestion to vocalise the ‘Y’, it enables more accuracy in singing of the song

• Also suggested by mentor, to use a familiar tune to incorporate the 4 person clapping game would be easier for them to work through the pattern of the clapping game

• Dynamics is very important in the engagement of pupils activities

○ At Primary 3:

- Some group dynamics as still not working well (E.g. Pupils Y, HY, I, C.)

- Some group dynamics are okay (natural leaders and actual followers)

- (E.g. Pupils KH, AM, Yf, Sn)

- (E.g. Pupils LU, A, T, B)

• Pupils are musically intuitive: banana – pineapple, papaya (only one group changes to mangle that was able to change the rhythm as well) (due to media exposure)

• Pupils like to be able to showcase what they have come up with

• Some pupils think deeper than just the surface discussion (Pupil Am’s group: polar bear discussion)

• Pupils like the challenge: erasing the words of the lyrics

Appendix 3

Reflection Log

Class:

What did I learn? (Music Concept)

I enjoyed learning today’s lesson

‘s Weekly reflection log

Date: Week:

Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree 1 2 3 4 5

Describe how you enjoyed / not enjoyed the lesson.

For today’s lesson, I:

a can sing the songs learnt today from memory

b can sing the songs learnt today in so fa

c can clap on the rhythm of the songs

d can remember the songs and music concepts that were taught previously

e feel very confident that i’m singing the songs accurately

f believe that I’m a good singer

g enjoyed playing the singing games with my friends

h show respect for myself and others in the music class

i enjoy participating in the activities in the music class

j work well with other students

k follow directions the first time they are given by my teacher

l participated fully throughout the whole lesson without being distracted by my friends or things around me

m learn to take turn when doing the activities

n am able to make better friends through the singing games

Strongly agree Strongly disagree

Describe what you’ve learnt / your feelings while playing the singing games with your friends. 1 2 3 4 5

“I used to think that as a teacher, I merely need to teach and the students will certainly develop understanding. I thought that this was an appropriate way to educate students in music. I believed in employing just one pedagogy and not to “corrupt” my teaching by blending two pedagogies together.

Through the process of pedagogical research, I have learnt to appreciate the relevance of various pedagogies. We can use a mixture of pedagogies to meet the needs of our students, and I do hope it is not too late for me in considering new possibilities as a teacher.

While I still find pedagogical research challenging, I no longer see it as a mammoth task. The step-by-step approach to research which the Research Consultant brought us through was valuable in helping me space out my research. Engaging in research methodology such as coding an interview was new and refreshing learning. The APRF journey over the course of the year has provided me good professional learning and I would consider doing this again.”

Benefits of Informal Learning Pedagogy and Popular Music with Normal Technical Students: Self-Directed Learning through the Use of Technology

Pauline Fong Liew Yueh

Jurongville

Secondary School

Abstract

This research paper focuses on how self-directed learning can be developed with the use of technology, informed pedagogically by the Informal Learning approach. The research was carried out with a class of Secondary One Normal Technical students over a period of 14 weeks. Students were tasked to work in pairs to perform a popular song of their choice. Students were given access to laptops with Internet connection, with which they could access online resources. Working with their partners, most of the students were able to play their selected popular song on the keyboard during a Teachers’ Day tribute in school.

Introduction

Music lessons for our first-year secondary school students at Jurongville Secondary School (JVSS) revolved around the teaching of World Music where they were taught instrumental techniques, specifically on the Guzheng and the Angklung. Lessons were teacher-centric with students imitating what the teacher demonstrated. This meant that students became reliant on instructions and directions given by the teacher. Based on observations of previous batches of Normal Technical students1, students tended to be disengaged in such a teacher-centric learning environment. Students were often found to be restless and distracted during lessons, and in the end, did not learn to play the instruments well.

Yet, once outside their classroom music lessons, it was observed that students seemed to be interested in playing and listening to popular tunes. Students were seen trying their hand at an old piano in the school canteen. This enthusiasm was unmatched in the music classroom, especially that of the Secondary One Normal Technical (NT) class.

Looking at how the students were interested in popular music and seemed motivated to listen to and learn their favourite songs, I decided to explore ways in which technology and popular music could be harnessed to improve students’ self-directed learning in the music classroom.

Another thing that stood out was how the students played the piano without any help from any teacher. They played in pairs and used resources accessible on their mobile phones as a guide. Resulting from these, they were able to play popular pieces of music rather proficiently.

1 The students were observed from 2012 to 2013.

I therefore gave the possibility of using such an approach in the music classroom serious consideration. After reading up on the Informal Learning approach by Lucy Green, I decided to examine how beneficial Informal Learning pedagogy of popular music could be with our NT students in developing their self-directed learning, with the incorporation of technology as well.

Literature Review

With plenty of informal learning pedagogical resources to fall back on, I decided on using the Informal Learning model as proposed by Green (2008). This model is based on five principles:

i. That learners always start with music that they know and like

ii. That the main learning practice involves copying recordings of real music by ear

iii. That learning takes place alone and, crucially, with groups of friends, mostly without adult guidance or supervision

iv. That learning is not progressively structured from simple to increasingly complex, but holistic, idiosyncratic and haphazard

v. That listening, performing, improvising and composing are all integrated throughout the learning process.

Folkestad (2006) further reinforced the four aspects that informal learning is different from formal pedagogy:

i. The situation where learning takes place: students can be trained musicians, both in and out of classrooms

ii. The learning style of students: students can pick up music skills through “written music or by ear” (p. 141)

iii. The ownership of learning: students have greater ownership of learning

iv. The intentionality: students can decide if they can learn how to play in a formalised setting or learn to play in a self- regulated setting

Green clearly articulates the need for students to be able to choose music that they are familiar with and interested in. There should also be meaning in the music that they like. Green (2005) asserts the need for students to identify themselves with the music chosen.

Folkestad reminds us about the ever changing educational landscape we are in where the usual teaching methods of teacher-centricity are challenged and can be best summarised in the following sentence:

“This perspective on music education research presents the notion that the great majority of musical learning takes place outside schools, in situations where there is no teacher, and in which the intention of the activity is not to learn about music, but to play music, listen to music, dance to music, or be together with music.”

[Folkestad, 2006, p. 136]

Folkestad also advocates a collaborative approach incorporating modern technology and the design of music activities relevant to this new era.

The Use of Technology:

YouTube Videos as the Main Facilitator

YouTube is one of the most popular websites with students and it is worth investigating the huge power it has in Informal Learning pedagogy. Technology has definitely affected how students learn music over time. Cayari (2011) states that students find it easier to search for popular music videos online as technology has changed the way music is recorded and disseminated. YouTube is part of a growing online music community where learners go when they need to communicate, learn, listen to and distribute music (Salavuo, 2006). Students learn to play popular music from the videos, where learning is not progressively straightforward and is unstructured; unlike the case of trained musicians (Green, 2006).

These new technologies also necessitate changes to teaching styles and the role of the teacher. Teacher-centric practices of the past become increasingly irrelevant.

Odam & Paterson (2000) suggest getting students to work either in pairs or individually, each with a workstation and a set of headphones. When students do not understand how to play certain parts of a song, they need not consult the teacher. Instead, they simply have to replay the videos.

Characteristics of 21st Century Competencies, Self-Directed Learning and Student Centricity

With the implementation of an informal approach to music learning, the focus will be on student-centric learning, with particular emphasis on self-directed learning in a group.

Green (2008) advocates for choice to be given to students to choose their group members, and facilitating an environment where learning can take place independently for students, with intervention from teachers only when necessary. When students are in their groups, there is conscious peer direction and unconscious learning through peer observation, imitation, and discussion. When peer learning takes place, students can be taught by a peer, rather than by a teacher. This has several benefits, including the absence of power differential between peers and complex technical vocabulary used by the teachers (Green, 2008). Also with the informal learning approach, the intensity of peer-directed learning is especially high when they work in their friendship groups.

Methodology

Participants

To carry out the research and implement this programme, I selected one class of Secondary 1 students who could be better engaged with the hands-on activities. This was done with the goal of improving their engagement in music learning.

For research purposes, I focused on two students, Serene and Joy2 as they were most regular in their attendance, and thus, tracking their progress would yield the most information. They also appeared to be close friends, compared to the rest of the friendship groups seen in the class; which fit the main premise of informal learning pedagogy.

The profiles of the class and the two selected students are in Table 1 and Table 2 respectively:

No. of students 38

No. of Girls 13

No. of Boys 25

Class learning attitude

Core Subjects

Music teachers

With the large number of boys in class, the class was generally vocal during lessons. They could be rather disengaged during lessons unless under a rather strict teacher.

English, Mathematics, Science, Mother Tongue, Social Studies, Art, Food and Consumer Education, Design and Technology, Computer Application, Physical Education

Two co-teachers with a main teacher3 (July to August)

One co-teacher and a main teacher (August to Sept)

Duration of music lessons 1 hour 15 minutes per week

Table 1: Profile of Sec 1NT Class Under Study

2 The girls’ names have been changed.

3 The main teacher is the teacher-researcher.

Names Joy Serene

Age 13 13

Race Chinese Chinese

Observable behaviour

Language used in the research

Prior kno9e to playing keyboard

Soft-spoken, quiet, and studious Chatty

A mixture of English and Mandarin

• Has a mini-keyboard at home

• Knows how to play quite a number of popular tunes with both hands

• Goes by aural understanding of songs

A mixture of English and Mandarin

• Has a mini-keyboard at home

• Knows how to play some tunes, mostly with right hand

• Relies on YouTube videos to learn music

Procedure

This research study took place over 14 weeks; from May to September in 2014. Students were assigned to work in pairs on a laptop and a keyboard. Each pair could also work on a keyboard with the help of an audio splitter.

The learning outcomes of the programme were:

• Students should be able to develop knowledge and skills related to basic piano keyboard techniques and fingering.

• Students should be able to play and coordinate at least a verse or chorus of a popular song in pairs.

Table 2: Profile of Two Case Studies

Wk Syllabus Learning Outcomes / Objectives

1 Sing / Play Melodic and Rhythmic Instruments

Individually and In Groups

I took on the role of a facilitator and carried out the following teaching plan:

Teaching Strategies / Suggested Activities / Resources

Teaching Strategies:

1. Instruct students on forming groups and getting into their friendship groups (Ideal size: 2 members in a group).

• Play a tuned instrument: Keyboard

Form Friendship Group (1)

2-3 Sing / Play Melodic and Rhythmic Instruments

Individually and in Groups

• Play a tuned instrument: Keyboard – C position notes

• Play Ode to Joy in pair

Develop Understanding of Music Elements / Concepts

• Understand and distinguish various note values in a piece of music

Form Friendship Group (2)

2. Issue resources and alert them on being accountable for the resources, especially the keyboards.

3. Instruct students on working with their partners in recognising different palettes of the keyboards.

4. Guide students on finding suitable tutorial videos online (on learning the keyboard) with suitable keywords. Students are welcome to share videos with other groups.

5. Brief students on the pedagogy of working in groups independently without much help from the teachers.

6. Share timeline of lessons with students.

7. Assist students in looking for suitable popular songs that they would like to play on the keyboards.

Resources:

• Keyboards / Laptops / Earphones

Teaching Strategies (Formal and Informal):

1. Students are to access videos on the Shared drive to learn how to play C position notes (RH) and to differentiate the different note values.

2. Students are to go through these videos and learn how to play Ode to Joy after understanding C position notes (RH).

3. Once students as a friendship group can play Ode to Joy well, students will then be allowed to play a popular music piece of their choice.

4. Students are encouraged to find a popular song of their choice, find suitable tutorial video clips, and learn how to play the song in pairs.

5. Students are reminded to finalise their grouping with submission of their names to the teachers.

Resources:

• Keyboards / Laptops / Earphones continue ...

Wk Syllabus Learning Outcomes / Objectives

4-9 Sing / Play Melodic and Rhythmic InstrumentsIndividually and In Groups

• Play a tuned instrument: Keyboard – C position notes

• Play Popular music in pair (RH / LH)

• Synthesise playing between the two or three students

Develop Understanding of Music Elements / Concepts

• Understand and distinguish various valued notes in a piece of music

• Model selected rhythms presented in a song

10 Presentation Day

Teaching Strategies / Suggested Activities / Resources

Teaching Strategies (Formal and Informal):

1. Students are reminded to play Ode to Joy well before they can move on to chosen piece.

2. Encourage Students to play Ode to Joy well by giving them some tips. Live demonstration to certain groups could be considered.

3. Monitor the rest of the class who are already practising their choice songs.

4. Regular checks and observations on their progress. Resources:

• Keyboards / Laptops / Earphones

Present with confidence a chosen song in friendship group. Students to be assessed using a set of rubrics.

Table 3: Teaching Plan for Sec 1NT

The students were given as much room as possible to explore the music that they enjoyed, with the teachers only facilitating their search for materials and managing misbehaviour. However, as things progressed, it was observed that the students required more help and thus, mini-milestones were instead given to them before they embarked on their song selection. This was in the form of an informal assessment of the students playing the song Ode to Joy. This song was selected as the set piece as it

was familiar to most of them. In addition, its simple melody made it achievable for students to learn aurally. When they were done with Ode to Joy, they were allowed to proceed with their choice song.

Some students needed some form of help in searching for song pieces as they could not find the appropriate tutorial videos. They were given some tips and also encouraged to ask their friends, if they needed more help. Prior to the performance task day, some re-organisation was necessary as some partners were absent, and those who were present were instead asked to be runners and ushers for the Teachers’ Day concert. Most of them who were involved were given a chance to run through the songs before the rest of the invited teachers were ushered in as audience.

Collection of Data

Information on students’ reactions and responses to the pedagogy was gathered in several ways.

a. Pre-search survey4: The students did a survey before the start of this research. The questions posed were targeted at finding out about their music abilities, their learning styles towards music learning, and how much they enjoy creating music.

b. Video recordings were included to capture the interaction between Joy and Serene.

c. Interviews with Joy and Serene, and some other students were conducted to understand their music learning styles.

d. Post-research survey5 was carried out to find out more on how they felt about learning music.

4 The pre-research survey questions are in Appendix 1.

5 A sample of the post-research survey results are in Appendix 2.

Results

The purpose of this research was to examine the benefits of Informal Learning pedagogy and popular music on our NT students, studying how the use of technology impacts their self-directed learning. The observations fall into two categories: (i) general classroom behaviour, and (ii) detailed tracking of two case studies.

General Classroom Behaviour

The following observations on students’ behaviour and attitudes during music classes were made:

Phases General Behaviour

Term 2 Students were very excited when they knew that they would be working with their friends. They were even more excited when they knew they could learn a piece of their own choice. Yet, soon after, the excitement died down and they became unruly.

Attitudinal issues arose when they could not agree on the songs they wanted, and some took the liberty to surf the net and ended up without any learning outcome by the close of a particular lesson. Subsequently, they were not constructive in their activities.

Thus, I had to provide instructional videos similar to those found on YouTube. I wanted them to learn some basics of keyboard music through mastering a familiar classical piece, Ode to Joy. I therefore included a score and a demo video on how the piece could be played. With my input, they were then visibly more focused in their learning. Another motivator was the rule that they had to master playing the set piece first before they could continue with their song choice. With these in place, they became more attentive. Some students who were not able to complete Ode to Joy asked for help from their friends. This meant the demo videos were not frequently accessed, with students seeming to prefer direct help from peers.

After some time, most of them managed to get the piece performed to requirement and they were more than relieved to continue with the original task.

Phases General Behaviour

Term 3

Performance Day

With the audio splitters, the classroom was visibly quiet and students seemed to be more engrossed in learning their selected song. However, there were some who were still searching for their songs after 4 weeks. The reason for this delay was due to group partners who were either absent in the previous weeks, or were taken out of class for behavioural issues.

Nonetheless, most were generally more motivated in learning their songs. There were times when some students were moving around the classroom and unfocused in learning their songs. This usually occurred when they were unable to find the songs they wanted on YouTube. Some even had to drop the songs they had in mind when they could not find suitable videos. They had to also take into consideration if their group partners were familiar with the songs they wanted.

Once the students realised that it was compulsory to put up a performance, there was a greater sense of urgency to practise the verse or the chorus of their songs. The excitement intensified when they went around and heard the progress of the other groups. It was quite obvious that they enjoyed their friends’ mini-renditions and they wanted to outdo each other.

Most of the students were excited and nervous, and it was heartening to see them giving their best in their performances. Sadly, a few students did not get to perform, as their partners were absent. Yet, they willingly contributed to the concert as helpers and stage hands. The teachers, especially their subject teachers who were invited, were generally impressed with the class’ performance.

Case Study of Two Students

In addition to the observations on general classroom behaviour, I paid close attention to the behaviours of Serene and Joy.

Phases Behaviour of Serene and Joy

Term 2 The two girls were initially at a loss with the selection of songs. However, they were attentive and quiet. With some keyboard background, they were able to play Ode to Joy competently. Their closer friends also asked them for help.

Term 3 The girls took a very long time to decide on their preferred song choice as they were very hesitant. Serene would play quite well at the beginning of a song but falter halfway. She would then give up. This was the same for Joy. Most of the time, Joy taught Serene how to play the music. When they had the opportunity to have their own keyboards, they relied heavily on YouTube videos.

Their conversations would normally go along this thread: Transcript6 10 July 2014

04:54 Joy This this. Then repeat the whole thing twice.

Serene This one ah?

Joy This and this

Serene Correct?

Joy Yes. Eh? This. Eh? (Demonstrating)

05:49

Serene Wait. Pause. (Joy demonstrating, while Serene follows) This one?

Joy Ya. No, it’s this, this and this. continue ...

6 Students’ communication have been mostly transcribed verbatim, including instances where colloquial expressions are used.

Phases Behaviour of Serene and Joy

Term 3

Performance Day

Serene usually hummed the song and would manage to play a few bars of the song. She would then practise a few times before playing it together with Joy. On the other hand, Joy would try to make sense of the song by hitting a few notes on the keyboard to get the tune she had in her head. She got it after a few tries and then combined her playing with Serene. This was the usual process for both in learning their songs.

The song choice took a toll on their friendship on 7 August 2014, where Joy was visibly upset when Serene continued to play her songs instead of the song that they were supposed to present for Teachers’ Day. It was a day of tension between the two girls.

Even a week before their performance, the two girls were still undecided on the song they were to play. Serene was very concerned when they had to perform in front of their class. She was urging Joy to play properly.

The two girls were ready to present their song. When they did their dry run before the performance, I was pleasantly surprised that they wanted to play a song that most of their friends did not know. I also discovered that they did not learn it from a YouTube video. Serene played the bass and Joy handled the melody. Although there were some breaks in between the song, they completed it with encouragement from their classmates.

Additionally, I interviewed the girls and recorded their responses to the questions, which are summarised here:

i. What was your main criterion when you formed your friendship group?

The girls did not know each other before entering the school. They admitted that they were seated near each other in the classroom when they were informed about the music activity. It was mere coincidence that led them to form their friendship group.

ii. What was the main criterion when deciding on the song?

There were many songs that they considered. However, it all boiled down to their ability to play the song. They would not continue with the song choice if either girl found some difficulty in playing it.

iii. Who did you go to if you were stuck in your playing? They relied on YouTube videos. Joy was also the one who mainly taught Serene how to play. As for Joy, she learnt her part by trying to aurally figure it out on a keyboard at home. Serene appreciated Joy’s help as she made it easier for her to understand how to play her part.

iv. Was fighting frequent when you both did your practice? The girls denied fighting. Only when I brought up a particular episode did Serene admit that Joy was angry with her for not being focused. Serene claimed to get bored when she was not able to master playing her part, and so things got tense.

v. Why were YouTube videos used in your learning?

The girls used it to better understand the songs they were looking at. Joy would play the video until the end before deciding if they should select the song. The videos were their “teachers”.

vi. Did YouTube videos restrict the genres of songs you wanted to perform?

Yes. If the songs they had in mind were not found, they would change their choice of songs.

vii. Why did you cheer when some of your friends performed?

It was a very intuitive thing to do. No one told them to do it. They enjoyed their friends’ performances and this was the way to show support.

viii. Who did you all go to when you needed help in your learning?

They approached their friends or searched for YouTube videos mainly. They did not consider seeking help from teachers.

Discussion

Overall, the students have attained meaningful learning and were also able to monitor their own learning. The YouTube videos were a great help to the students and yet, it also limited the music they could access. The application of informal learning led to changes in the music classroom. Observations were made in relation to the following areas: 1) Supporting self-directed learning, 2) Formation of friendship groups, and 3) YouTube videos as an aid to learning.

Supporting Self-Directed Learning

Peer learning is one of the most effective tools for learning. There was obvious evidence of peer learning between the two girls, Serene and Joy. When they were given the task of learning a new song, Joy took the lead to play a song. If the song was too complex, Joy would advise Serene accordingly. Learning was constructed around their language and the girls devised ways to enhance their learning. The rest of the class also helped and encouraged their friends when they were learning the song of their choice. They were able to give suggestions and offer help when their friends did not understand how to play certain parts of the songs.

There were a few occasions when they could not do it even with help from others. This was when YouTube videos came into the picture. They could rewind or forward the videos, and learn accordingly. They did not see the need to ask the teacher for help.

For the class as a whole, it was not smooth sailing throughout the process. Some students tended to lose focus and wander around the classroom. However, this did not last long. Once these students heard what their friends could do on the keyboards, they were very motivated to play even better than their peers, spurring them to return to practice. For the two girls in particular, Serene usually wanted to make sure that their song piece was acceptable for presentation. Serene was keen enough to also travel to Joy’s home to practise at least twice before the day of performance.

It can be said that informal learning pedagogy does give students more autonomy to learn from their friends and take more responsibility for their learning. It was in the students’ capacity to help their friends and this was evident in the performance. The spirit of self-directed learning was very strong as the students took steps to organise the concert and even wanted to do a practice before the performance.

Formation of Friendship Groups

Many of the friendship groups were formed not because they were the best of friends. They were merely formed based on class attendance. High absentee rates and irregular attendance was prevalent. Some of the students decided to be in a group for practical reasons. It should be noted that as these were first-year students in their secondary school, most of the students were not very familiar with one another. From the interviews, Serene and Joy revealed that they were in the same group because they were seated near each other when they had to form groups.

The mild-tempered girls did not suffer from a major fallout even though they could not agree most of the time over the choice of songs. Perhaps, if they had enjoyed a longer period of friendship prior to this music learning activity, they might not have had these problems.

For the class as a whole, this research project seemed to have strengthened friendships. On the day of their performance, when one of the better groups performed, the class sang and clapped along to their performance. Their support for one another was evident and it motivated one another. Although there was some friction that occurred along the way, friendships were made stronger.

YouTube Videos as an Aid in Learning

Instead of just relying on aural work as Green (2006) advocates, students also turned to YouTube keyboard video tutorials for help in their learning. The large repository and thriving online community have made it easier for students to learn to perform their popular music. Most of them found videos identical to the one in Picture 1 below:

Picture 1: YouTube Video Clip for Say Something

These videos provided visual cues to the students on where their hands and fingers should move to perform the melody. The simple set up with the laptop in front of them enabled them to learn how to play the keyboard. The students could replay videos when they were not able to understand certain parts. It would have been rather challenging and time-consuming for a teacher to do that for an entire class. Not only do the findings of this research concur with the benefits of informal learning, it also confirms that YouTube video tutorials are an important feature of informal pedagogy.

The students did not only rely on the audio but also the visual cues that they saw on the video tutorials. The colourful blocks, resembling video games that our students were drawn to, aided them in the playing of the songs. The speed in which the blocks came down on the keyboards signalled to the students the rhythm and speed in which certain notes needed to be played. The YouTube videos definitely provided a multi-sensory approach towards informal learning where they could use their eyes and ears to learn how to play a song.

On our final performance day, a laptop was placed in front of the students. For most of them, it was no longer necessary to refer to the visual cues. The students had memorised the visual cues. Most of them were able to play the song by heart by that stage. When they played the song in pairs, they were also seen to be listening and attentive to each other’s part. The music they produced was recognisable to the original and they earned themselves at least 3 or 4 marks in each of the component in the final grading7.

7 Refer to the rubrics in Appendix 3.

Limitations

Despite the number of merits of informal pedagogy, some constraints were faced.

Classroom Management

It was a challenge to manage and control the class. While I wanted to immerse them in the pedagogy, students did not always know where to draw the boundaries. It was also difficult to monitor the progress of the students and the two girls. There were other more pressing matters in each lesson to deal with, which was the management of certain students. There were occasions where I had to discipline students who were rowdy.

Compromising on the Finer Details of Keyboard Skills

The students gave a good performance to the best of their ability. Most of them were able to play a recognisable tune. However, most were not using the right keyboard techniques to produce the songs. For instance, they were using inappropriate fingerings for the pieces. Perhaps given more time, they could have corrected their fingerings when they continued to explore other songs. Further lesson time would also have presented opportunities for teacher facilitators to highlight such finer details to them.

Conclusion

While informal learning approach presents a number of merits, other issues that appeared point to the need for balance and a good mix in music pedagogy that would be more effective for the students involved.

If more scaffolding had been provided, the students might have made better and faster progress. This points to how Informal Learning pedagogy requires careful prior planning by the teacher. In implementation, teacher expectation would also need adjustments. The teacher would have to be attentive to what is happening in the classroom and adjust plans accordingly as he / she facilitates each group’s music learning.

Along the way, as the students grappled with learning from YouTube videos, it was clear that aural skills, which are synonymous with Informal Learning pedagogy, was not the only thing that aided the students. The students had succeeded in putting up a performance because they also relied on the visual aspects in their learning. The use of YouTube tutorial videos as an integral part of informal learning can be said to be a viable tool in learning; especially so when online communities are thriving in this modern age and appeals to our young people.

With better class management and set up, the use of Youtube video tutorials via the informal learning approach could be effective in music classes to facilitate students’ self-directed learning.

References

Cayari, C. (2011). The YouTube effect: How YouTube has provided new ways to consume, create, and share music. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 12(6).

Folkestad, G. (2006). Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning. British Journal of Music Education, 23(2), 135-145.

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Appendix 1

Pre-Research Survey Questions

1. Do you play an instrument?

2. Do you like to sing or play an instrument?

3. How long do you listen to music in a day?

4. Is music very important to you?

5. Can you learn music without anyone guiding you?

6. Where do you think you can learn music from?

Appendix 2

I have learnt to work better in a group in my music lessons this Semester.

I work best when I am with my friends.

My friends and I often help one another during music lessons.

If I needed help with music making, I would know where to get it.

I have the skills to make music with my friends, without needing the teacher’s help all the time.

Appendix 3 Keyboard Assessment Rubrics

Confidence Excellent confidence level shown and plentiful eye contact made with general audience. Good confidence level shown and some eye contact made with audience especially friends. Some confidence level shown and some eye contact made only with friends.

Accuracy

Notes, rhythms, musical signs, sound quality

Tempo and Dynamics

Steadiness of tempo, use of appropriate musical expression

Effort

Teamwork

Minimal confidence level shown and minimal eye contact made with audience and friends. Poor confidence level shown and zero eye contact made with audience and friends.

No audible mistakes, clear and accurate sound and good musicality. Minimal mistakes made but with quick recovery. Some mistakes, slow recovery, audience may be aware of mistakes, good effort. Some mistakes, facial expression draws attention to mistakes, poor recovery. Major mistakes, causing problems, poor performance attitude.

Great rhythm and tempo right on spot, very expressive, correct use of dynamics.

Decent rhythm and tempo, few errors, pretty good use of dynamics.

Average rhythm and tempo, average dynamics, nonexpressive.

Great effort in learning piece, polished and prepared to perform. Good effort but not as polished, not totally prepared to perform. Learned piece with insufficient practice, but decently played.

Work extremely well with each other and able to assist each other in overcoming mistakes.

Work rather well with each other and able to assist each other in overcoming mistakes. Work somewhat well with each other and can spot mistakes made.

Several rhythmic errors in tempo and poor dynamics. Very poor rhythm, tempo and dynamics.

Minimal effort made, not prepared to perform. Poorly played, very unprepared to perform.

Work poorly with each other. Does not work at all with each other.