Abstract

Despite the importance of musical creativity in combining existing musical knowledge in novel ways, research suggests that primary school teachers' practices do not adequately stimulate and develop children's musical creativity. In this regard, the purpose of this paper was to investigate teachers' perspectives on the development of imagination and creativity in primary music education. A phenomenological study approach was adopted to better understand how classroom and music teachers experience and ascribe meaning to imagination and creativity, as well as to assess the status of the two phenomena in primary music education. The results demonstrated that classroom and music teachers thought imagination and creativity were important for improving students' learning skills, underlining the importance of these phenomena in music education. Teachers linked product learning to student performances in playing their own instruments, creating rhythms with various materials, and writing poetry and lyrics. While a few music teachers emphasized the creation of melodies and rhythms, no emphasis on structural and intentional composing, and no product descriptions were provided. Teachers' thoughts on what adjustments need to be made within the primary music curriculum to equip students as imaginative and creative thinkers are also covered in this article following the introduction of a creative curriculum in primary music education. 

Keywords

References

• Albuz, A., & Demirci, B. (2018). A comparative theoretical framework analysis on the music course 2006 teaching program in primary education and 2018 teaching program in primary and secondary education. Journal of the Fine Arts Institute, 41, 86-95. https://doi.org/10.32547/ataunigsed.463634
• Amankwaa, L. (2016). Creating protocols for trustworthiness in qualitative research. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 23(3), 121-127.
• Barry, N. H., & Durham, S. (2017). Music in the early childhood curriculum: Qualitative analysis of pre-service teacher’s reflective writing. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 18(16), 1-18.
• Baskale, H. (2016). Determination of validity, reliability and sample size in qualitative studies, Dokuz Eylul University E-Journal of Nursing Faculty, 9(1), 23-28.
• Berke, M., & Colwell, C. M. (2004). Integration of music in the elementary curriculum: Perceptions of pre-service elementary education majors. Applications of Research in Music Education, 23(1), 22-33. https://doi.org/10.1177/87551233040230010104
• Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Sage Publications.
• Brophy, T. S. (2005). A longitudinal study of selected characteristics of children’s melodic Improvisations, Journal of Research in Music Education, 53(2), 120-133. https://doi.org/10.1177/002242940505300203
• Bujez, A. V., & Mohedo, M. T. D. (2014). Creativity in the music classroom. Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences, 141, 237-241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.05.041
• Bundesverband Musikunterricht aktuell (2017). Das Händel-experiment macht schüler zu komponisten. [The Handel experiment turns students into composers]. Journal of the German Music Teacher Association (BMU), 5, 1-48.
• Burnard, P. (2000). How children ascribe meaning to improvisation and composition: re-thinking pedagogy in music education. Music Education Research, 2(1), 7-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613800050004404
• Chambliss, J. J. (1991). John Dewey’s idea of imagination in philosophy and education. The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 25(4), 43-49. https://doi.org/10.2307/3332902
• Connelly, L. M. (2010). What is phenomenology? MedSurg Nursing, 19(2), 127-128.
• Craft, A. (2002): Creativity and early years education: A life-wide foundation. Continuum.
• Craft, A. (2003). Creative thinking in the early years of education. Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development, 23(2), 143-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/09575140303105
• Craft, A., Cremin, T., Hay, P., & Clack, J. (2014). Creative primary schools: developing and maintaining pedagogy for creativity. Ethnography and Education, 9(1), 16-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2013.828474
• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2017). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper Perennial.
• Dall’Alba, G. (2009). Phenomenology and education: An introduction. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 41(1), 7-9. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2008.00479.x
• De Vries, P. (2011). The first year of teaching in primary school: Where is the place of music?. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 12(2), 1-25.
• Dogani, K. (2004). Teachers’ understanding of composing in the primary classroom. Music Education Research, 6(3), 263-279. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461380042000281721
• Eagleman, D., & Brandt, A. (2017). The runaway species: How human creativity remakes the world. Cannongate Books.
• Elo, S., Kääriäinen, M., Kanste, O., Pölkki, T., Utriainen, K., & Kyngäs, H. (2014). Qualitative content analysis: A focus on trustworthiness. SAGE Open, 4(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014522633
• Fereday, J., & Muir-Cochrane, E. (2006). Demonstrating rigour using thematic analysis: A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(1), 80-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690600500107
• Giles, A. M., & Frego, R. D. (2004). An inventory of music activities used by elementary classroom teachers: An exploratory study. Applications of Research in Music Education, 22(2), 13-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/87551233040220020103
• Guest, G., MacQueen, K. M., & Namey, E. E. (2012). Applied thematic analysis. Sage Publications.
• Hallam, S. (2010). The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people. International Journal of Music Education, 28(3), 269-289. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761410370658
• Hallam, S., Burnard, P., Robertson, A., Saleh, C., Davies, V., Rogers, L., & Kokatsaki, D. (2009). Trainee primary-school teachers’ perceptions of their effectiveness in teaching music. Music Education Research, 11(2), 221-240. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613800902924508
• Harris, P. L. (2000). The work of the imagination. Blackwell Publishing.
• Hickey, M., & Webster, P. (2001). Creative thinking in music. Music Educators Journal, 88(1), 19-23.
• Higgins, C. (2008). Modest beginnings of a radical revision of the concept of imagınation. In R. Fitzgerald, & T. W. Nielsen (Eds.), Imaginative practice, ımaginastive ınquiry, proceedings of the sixth ınternational conference on ımagination and education (pp. 36-47). University of Canberra Press.
• Holden, H., & Button, S. W. (2006). The teaching of music in the primary school by the non-music specialist, The British Journal of Music Education, 23(1), 23-38. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051705006728
• Hycner, R.H. (1985). Some guidelines for the phenomenological analysis of interview data. Human Studies, 8, 279–303. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00142995
• Jeanneret, N. (1997). Model for developing pre-service primary teachers’ confidence to teach music. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 133, 37-44. https://doi.org/10.2307/3399772
• Joubert, M. M. (2001). The art of creative teaching: NACCCE and beyond. In A. Craft, B. Jeffrey, & M. Leibling (Eds), Creativity in education (pp. 17-34). Continuum.
• Kampylis, P. G., & Argyriou, M. (2008). Music teachers’ perceptions of creativity and their role in students’ creative thinking development. In A. Daubney, E. Longhi, A. Lamont & D. Hargreaves (Eds.), Musical development and learning, proceedings of the second european conference on developmental psychology of music (pp. 149-154). GK Publishing.
• Kettler, T., Lamb, K. N., Willerson, A., & Mullet, D. R. (2018). Teachers’ perceptions of creativity in the classroom. Creativity Research Journal, 30(2), 164-171. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2018.1446503
• Kokotsaki, D. (2012). Pre-service student-teachers conceptions of creativity in the primary music classroom. Research Studies in Music Education, 34(2), 129-156. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X12466770
• Kokotsaki, D. (2011). Student teachers’ conceptions of creativity in the secondary music classroom. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 6, 100-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2011.04.001
• Koutsoupidou, T. (2005). Improvisation in the English primary music classroom: Teachers’ perceptions and practices. Music Education Research, 7(3), 363-381. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613800500324432
• Koutsoupidou, T. (2008). Effects of different teaching styles on the development of musical creativity: Insights from interviews with music specialists. Musicae Scientiae, 12(2), 311-335. https://doi.org/10.1177/102986490801200207
• Langley, D. W. (2018). Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of creativity in middle and high school choral ensembles. Music Education Research, 20(4), 446-462. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2018.1433150
• Lizačić, V., & Sušić, B. B. (2020). Contribution of children’s self-organised musical activities to the lifelong learning of preschool teachers. Croatian Journal of Education, 22(3), 83-100. https://doi.org/10.15516/cje.v22i0.3911
• McPhail, G., & McNeill, J. (2019). One direction: A future for secondary school music education?. Music Education Research, 21(4), 359-370. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2019.1605345
• Ministry of National Education. (2018). Primary and secondary school music lesson teaching. http://mufredat.meb.gov.tr/ProgramDetay.aspx?PID=357
• Mullet, D. R., Willerson, A., Lamb, K. N., & Kettler, T. (2016). Examining teacher perceptions of creativity: A systematic review of the literature. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 21, 9-30.
• O’Callaghan, E. (2003). On implementing the new music curriculum in primary schools. Irish Educational Studies, 22(3), 45-56. https://doi.org/10.1080/0332331030220307
• Odena, O., & Welch, G. (2009). A generative model of teachers’ thinking on musical creativity. Psychology of Music, 37(4), 416-442. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735608100374
• Reesman, J. (2015). Creative Thinking in the Elementary Music Classroom: A Review of Literature (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation). University of Florida, USA.
• Reichling, M. J. (1997). Music, imagination, and play. The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 31(1), 41-55. https://doi.org/10.2307/3333470
• Robinson, K., & Aronica, L. (2009). The element: How finding your passion changes everything. Penguin Books.
• Robinson, K., & Aronica, L. (2015). Creative schools: The grassroots revolution that’s transforming education (6th ed.). Penguin Books.
• Russell, D. (1998). Cultivating the imagination in music education: John Dewey’s theory of imagination and its relation to the Chicago Laboratory school. Educational Theory, 48(2), 193-210.
• Russell-Bowie, D. (2013). Mission impossible or possible mission? Changing confidence and attitudes of primary pre-service music education students using Kolb’s experiential learning theory. Australian Journal of Music Education, 2, 46-63.
• Ryan, T. G., & Brown, K. (2012). Musical creativity: Measures and learning. Journal of Elementary Education, 22(2), 105-120.
• Selvi, K. (2014). PhenoMethod-a new teaching and learning method design. International Journal of Curriculum and Instructional Studies, 4(8), 43-53.
• Skiba, T., Tan, M., Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2010). Roads not taken, new roads to take: Looking for creativity in the classroom. In R. A. Beghetto & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.), Nurturing creativity in the classroom (pp. 252–269). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781629.013
• Sungurtekin, S., & Kartal, H. (2020). Listening to colourful voices: how do children imagine their music lessons in school? International Online Journal of Primary Education, 9(1), 73-84.
• Trivedi, S. (2017). Imagination, music, and the emotions: A philosophical study. Suny Press.
• Webster, P. R. (1990). Creativity as creative thinking. Music Educators Journal, 76(9), 22-28. https://doi.org/10.2307/3401073
• Webster, P. R. (2002). Creative thinking and music education: Encouraging students to make aesthetic decisions. In Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Musical Creativity Conference. University of Liege.
• Webster, P. (2018). Re-thinking music education: Encouraging creative thinking in sound across all musical experiences. ISME-International Society for Music Education.
• Zbainos, D., & Anastasopoulou, A. (2012). Creativity in Greek music curricula and pedagogy: An investigation of Greek music teachers’ perceptions. Creative Education, 3(1), 55-60. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2012.31009

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.