Maestro for a moment: A conceptual framework for music integration in Grade R

Abstract

<p>In South Africa, possibilities to utilise music to contribute to the holistic development of preschool learners are under continuous investigation. However, music education in the Grade R classroom is limited due to insufficient time in the daily programme and a lack of sufficient musical training amongst generalist educators. The urgent need to equip these educators with the necessary competencies is critical. Therefore, in this article the practicability of integrating music into the daily programme in Grade R is explored by means of a conceptual framework. This conceptual framework was generated from the literature review and data analysis, describing six aspects of integrating music into Grade R teaching and learning: <em>about</em> music, <em>from</em> music, on music, with music,<em> in</em> music and <em>through</em> music. Within this framework, every aspect of integration is connected with music activities in accordance with the Grade R learning principles of play, exploration and practical experiences. In this article, the author argues that music can be successfully integrated into the Grade R daily programme by music specialists as well as generalist teachers with no or minimal musical training.</p>

Making interdisciplinary connections through music: A systematic review of studies in general schooling context in Turkey

“…The fact that the studies examined were mainly concerned with academic achievement, retention, and attitudes toward teaching has shown that the content and goals of music have been less considered and used as a teaching tool in these studies. The literature on music integration has suggested using different musical activities, such as singing and listening (Governor, 2011; Gronski, 2012), songwriting, composing (Cornett, 2007), music inquiry (Pellegrino & Lee, 2012), musical games, dramatizing (Wang, 2015), musical stories (Dyer, 2011), body percussion and movement, musical reading and notation, and playing on instruments (Van Vreden, 2016). In this sense, musical activities concerning music knowledge and perception, musical creativity, reading notation, and playing instruments are notably limited in the reviewed studies.…”

“…To retrieve relevant studies, the initial search used Van Vreden's (2016) approach Learning through Music, whereby music is treated as content and context and as a tool for teaching other subject areas (e.g. mathematics and social studies) regardless of the integration level of each discipline.…”

“…Lastly, social integration foregrounds the social function of schools and their roles in society, involving art as a vehicle to participate in school or social activities (Giles & Frego, 2004). Similar to Bresler, Van Vreden (2016) has drawn a framework for music integration. In the Learning through Music approach, musical activities are not only used to achieve extra-musical goals (e.g.…”

“…Musical experiences have a profound impact on students' brains, bodies, and emotions, thus making learning meaningful (Cornett, 2007;Corvalan, 2013). Consequently, the recent literature has focused on the extra-musical contributions of music in learning and teaching (Andrews, 2011;Campbell & Scott-Kassner, 2010;Crowther, 2012;Dyer, 2011;Džanić & Pejić, 2016;Hallam, 2010;Rickard et al, 2013;Salmon, 2010;Tuazon, 2015;Van Vreden, 2016). All these studies conceptualize music as a gateway to the holistic development of students, motivating them, and providing strong connections with other disciplines by transferring knowledge through extracurricular activities.…”

The Asian Conference on Asian Studies 2022: Official Conference Proceedings

“…The power collaboration of experts to conduct brainstorming from and with their respective subjects, share common culture understanding, whose objectives and the criteria from them serve as the guide to produce a deep level of integration is believed to design a musicintegrated model. This can be attained through the help of music educators and teachers from other disciplines, including teachers with no musical training (van Vreden, 2016). John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts highly promoted arts integration materials and produced a checklist in the integration process for teachers in a learner-centered approach (Silverstein & Layne, 2014).…”