Child–Computer Interaction at the Beginner Stage of Music Learning: Effects of Reflexive Interaction on Children’s Musical Improvisation

Abstract

In this article children’s musical improvisation is investigated through the “reflexive interaction” paradigm. We used a particular system, the MIROR-Impro, implemented in the framework of the MIROR project (EC-FP7), which is able to reply to the child playing a keyboard by a “reflexive” output, mirroring (with repetitions and variations) her/his inputs. The study was conducted in a public primary school, with 47 children, aged 6–7. The experimental design used the convergence procedure, based on three sample groups allowing us to verify if the reflexive interaction using the MIROR-Impro is necessary and/or sufficient to improve the children’s abilities to improvise. The following conditions were used as independent variables: to play only the keyboard, the keyboard with the MIROR-Impro but with not-reflexive reply, the keyboard with the MIROR-Impro with reflexive reply. As dependent variables we estimated the children’s ability to improvise in solos, and in duets. Each child carried out a training program consisting of 5 weekly individual 12 min sessions. The control group played the complete package of independent variables; Experimental Group 1 played the keyboard and the keyboard with the MIROR-Impro with not-reflexive reply; Experimental Group 2 played only the keyboard with the reflexive system. One week after, the children were asked to improvise a musical piece on the keyboard alone (Solo task), and in pairs with a friend (Duet task). Three independent judges assessed the Solo and the Duet tasks by means of a grid based on the TAI-Test for Ability to Improvise rating scale. The EG2, which trained only with the reflexive system, reached the highest average results and the difference with EG1, which did not used the reflexive system, is statistically significant when the children improvise in a duet. The results indicate that in the sample of participants the reflexive interaction alone could be sufficient to increase the improvisational skills, and necessary when they improvise in duets. However, these results are in general not statistically significant. The correlation between Reflexive Interaction and the ability to improvise is statistically significant. The results are discussed on the light of the recent literature in neuroscience and music education.

A Device for Children’s Instrumental Creativity and Learning: An Overview of the MIROR Platform

“…A list of pedagogical requirements of the IRMS has been created which focuses on the modes of interaction and children's experience. These requirements merged from the technical characteristics of the IRMS (Pachet, 2003(Pachet, , 2006, from the observations made during the pilot study Pachet, 2005, 2006) and the implementation of the MIROR systems (e.g., Addessi et al, 2015aAddessi et al, , 2017a, and are strictly linked to the theoretical framework and pedagogical concepts of the reflexive interaction paradigm. A synthesis of the pedagogical requirements is shown in Figure 2.…”

“…Therefore, it is important that the adult thinks and plans in advance with which modalities she/he will intervene, to "re-launch" the music ideas born from the children/system interaction, in a way that is motivating for the children themselves. In the observation phase, it could be helpful to use a check-list or an observational grid, to register, for example, the musical conducts of children or the flow state (see the grids in Addessi et al, 2015aAddessi et al, , 2017a.…”

“…The educational effectiveness of the reflexive interaction paradigm has been demonstrated through the pioneering studies carried out since 2003 Pachet, 2005, 2006;Ferrari and Addessi, 2014) and then in the framework of the MIROR project (Addessi et al, 2015a(Addessi et al, , 2017aRowe et al, 2015). These studies, at the same time, also identified a number of critical issues of MIROR applications and compiled lists of requirements to improve these technologies in terms of their teaching functionalities.…”

“…Improvisation can be considered an important support for the development of creative thinking, because it motivates children to use their imagination, self-regulation and intrinsic motivation (Custodero, 2005;Tafuri, 2006). We carried out an experimental study to investigate whether reflexive interaction with the MIROR-Impro influences children's ability to improvise (Addessi et al, 2017a). Forty-seven children aged 7 and 8 years participated in the study, divided into three sample groups: control group, experimental groups no.…”

“…In the tasks with the system (T2 and T4) group A used the set-up Same and group B used the set-up Very Different (Addessi et al, 2015a). FIGURE 7 | Duet task: scores for each evaluative criterion, total score of ability to improvise, and score of reflexive interaction (means) (Addessi et al, 2017a).…”