The importance of musical play for the development of musical abilities - of First Grade elementary school pupils

Oct 15, 2026

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The study investigates how musical play influences the development of musical abilities in first-grade elementary pupils. Research was conducted in three stages: initial testing of musical abilities, ten hours of music lessons emphasizing musical play, and final testing. Using the Mann-Whitney U-test, statistically significant differences were found between initial and final results for reproducing rhythmic phrases, reproducing individual tones, and reproducing melodic phrases. Findings confirm that musical play in music teaching supports students’ musical development.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Musical abilities

Definitions and approaches

Structure of musical abilities

The importance of musical play for the development of musical abilities a u s t r a l i a n a s o c i e t y s f o r m u s i c m e d u c a t i o n e i n c o r p o r a t e d of First Grade elementary school pupils Vesna Svalina University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer in Osijek, Croatia Andrijana Gradištanac Vladimir Nazor Elementary School, Đakovo, Croatia Abstract In this study, we examine how musical play affect the development of musical abilities of first-grade pupils of elementary school. The research consisted of three parts: the initial testing of pupils’ musical abilities, holding ten hours of music lessons in which the emphasis was placed on conducting musical play, and the final testing of pupils’ musical abilities. With the Mann-Whitney U-test, we found that the difference in the results of the initial and final testing was statistically significant for all three musical abilities—reproducing rhythmic phrases, reproducing individual tones, and reproducing melodic phrases. In this way, we proved that the musical play that is conducted as part of music teaching contributes to the development of pupils’ musical abilities. Key words: musical play, musical abilities, music teaching Introduction Musical abilities Psychology of music is a science that deals with music as a specific form of human experience and its subject, understood in the broadest sense, is a systematic, scientific study of the relationship between musical phenomena, rules and musical activity, and psychological laws of perception, cognition and affective response (Mirković-Radoš, 1996). Many prominent authors have so far dealt with the subject of defining musical abilities which is one of the most important problems of music psychology. We can talk about the existence of two types of definitions. Some of them are vague, like that of Seashore and Bentley. Seashore (1938) thus states that musical talent is not just one talent, but a hierarchy of talents branching within musical consciousness, while Bentley (1966, 1983) points out that musical ability is a characteristic or set of characteristics by which we distinguish musical from nonmusical persons, although the difficulty of distinguishing between musical and non-musical persons also arises. On the other hand, there are also operational definitions in which musical abilities are tried to be defined by descriptions of various activities that are characteristic of musical persons. Only such definitions, each from its particular point of view, manage to bring us closer to the concept and nature of musical abilities. Teplov (1966) points out that the possibility of successfully engaging in musical activity depends on a qualitative original combination of all abilities, while musical activities include composing, performing and listening to music. He states that the basic feature of a sense of music is the ability to affectively receive music and experience it. Behaviorist Lundin (1967) distinguishes between musical ability and musical talent. According to him, musical abilities are acquired habits and include various discriminations such as pitch, intensity, Australian Journal of Music Education 49 rhythm, harmonization of melody, playing an instrument and the like, while musical talent is the ability to perform within creative or artistic skills. Farnsworth advocates the use of the term musical ability because it is the broadest and safest of all as it claims nothing about heritage and refers to the existence of multiple abilities (Farnsworth, 1974). On the other hand, Révézs (1954) speaks of musicality, which he defines as the need and ability to understand and experience the autonomous effects of music and to evaluate musical expression based on its aesthetic content. He also mentions the characteristics of a musical person, the most important of which are sensitivity to the artistic quality of the work, the ability to aesthetically evaluate a musical work and m

FAQs

What is the main focus of the study?

The study examines how musical play affects the development of musical abilities in first-grade elementary pupils.

How was the research conducted?

The research included initial testing, ten hours of music lessons emphasizing musical play, and final testing of pupils’ musical abilities.

Which musical abilities improved after the lessons?

Statistically significant improvement was found for reproducing rhythmic phrases, reproducing individual tones, and reproducing melodic phrases.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Franzy