Research Topic

Here is a very rough overview of what I’ve got done so far… my thesis is still under revision, but I have some concrete ideas.

Thesis = Does the involvement in music at an early age, help children to succeed more in their education and future? What characteristics of music are the most influential on the human mind.

I plan on writing about an experiment that tests to see who has succeeded more between: children with the involvement/influence of music in their lives, started at a young age… VS … children who were never involved/influenced through music in their lives.

First topic: Bringing up the children

How can we teach children effectively through and in music? “Music educators can make unique contributions to our understanding of how at-risk children can be reached if we look more carefully at their working processes and at how teachers can best plan for positive interaction with their students”. What are the guidelines for writing a well-articulated instructional lesson. There is a “need for the curriculum to have good scope and sequence for the development of concepts and skills”. Children engaged in active music making will understand more genuine musical concepts. We need to teach children in different units…"The unit brings a sense of cohesiveness and structure to student learning and avoids the piecemeal approach that might otherwise unfold" …we live in a time of ever-increasing accountability in education.

Second topic: What overall, does music influence/change?

Sounds of Learning: The Impact of Music Education is a research program designed to allow researchers to examine the roles of music education in the lives of school-aged children to expand the understanding of music’s role in a quality education. The NAMM Foundation, the sponsoring organization, has provided more than $1,000,000 to fund research on the impact of music education on student achievement and success in school; all aspects of a child’s growth and development; the uses and functions of music in daily life; and home, school, and community environments. There are proven strong links between choral participation and academic achievement. If defended, the idea that “children who sing in choruses get better grades than their counterparts who have never sung in a choir is true… studies suggests that students who sing have better self-confidence, self-discipline, and memory than those who do not.”

The Study: What are the results?

There are many factors that influence children’s success in school and life. A study was done in Eskisehir, Turkey on 4130 students between the ages of 10 and 15. “School success was measured as the total scores that students achieved in the following classes: cultural, social, science, foreign language, computer, picture, music and job-occupation.” Results on music = (I’ll expound on the data later in the paper) There is a relative importance of social-environmental factors during critical periods of children’s musical development. Another study was done which discusses findings from a follow-up of the most musically successful children 8 years later to determine which childhood factors predict differences in success.

Third Topic:

The continued development of higher-order thinking skills among prospective music educators can be cultivated within an undergraduate music education degree program. The affect of “teachers who use a constructivist approach associated with the use and teachings of higher-order thinking skills have often been characterized as effective. In addition, children who are taught with such an approach have been shown to improve their own higher-order thinking skill.”

There is a detailed importance of the relationship between literacy and music. The integration of music into literacy learning settings may aid in language development while promoting musical development at the same time. Music can be integrated into the early childhood setting to support development in literacy and music. Music instruction benefits children’s oral communication and development of sight vocabulary through immersion into a song-rich environment.