Kindergarten music education status of the research activities

This study analyzes two methods of music education for kindergarten students in Shanghai: the historically-dominant method of drilling students through listening and repetition, and the modern method of including... [ view full abstract ]

This study analyzes two methods of music education for kindergarten students in Shanghai: the historically-dominant method of drilling students through listening and repetition, and the modern method of including individualized art activities that foster personal appreciation and critical thinking about the art of music. For decades, the former approach’s simplicity made it easy to teach any given song, and was the method of choice for teachers throughout Shanghai. However, the cut-and-paste style of teaching is inherently unfair to students as it emphasizes short-term quantified progress, neglects fact that students learn at different rates, and ignores the students’ individual thoughts and opinions about the music being taught.Rather than art, the philosophy that academic success can be defined through a series of pre-determined and arbitrary checkpoints teaches children that the most successful understanding of the world is one defined by thoughtless conformity free of beauty and curiosity. Individuals respond differently to the same song depending on memories and personal taste. Moreover, students learn at different rates, with different methods working best for each child. However, in the past decade, a two-stage approach has emerged that synergizes art and teaching, with the class gradually evolving from a music class into a holistic art class, where students are encouraged to define their understanding of the song in their own terms. By the time the students move on to practicing and correcting their performance, they have an individualized appreciation of the meaning of the piece of music beyond just another task to be tested on and mastered. Both formal research and personal experience applying it in a classroom setting indicate that the students not only enjoy the process of learning music and art more, but apply their enhanced critical thinking skills to other activities, better preparing them for school and becoming productive members of society.