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DIANA ELENA SÂRB
Perspectives on the Importance of Music in
regard to the Development of Human
Personality
Translated by
Denisa-Alexandra Ionescu
Cluj-Napoca, 2019
2
Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naţionale a României
SÂRB, DIANA ELENA
Perspectives on the importance of music in regard to the development
of human personality / Diana Elena Sârb ; translated by Denisa-Alexandra
Ionescu. - Cluj-Napoca : MediaMusica, 2019
Conţine bibliografie. - Index
ISMN 979-0-707655-61-0 ISBN 978-606-645-135-2
I. Ionescu, Denisa-Alexandra (trad.)
Coperta: CIPRIAN GABRIEL POP
© Copyright, 2019, Editura MediaMusica
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD ........................................................................................ 5
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 7
CHAPTER I Music and Human Personality ...................................... 13
1.1. Formative Valences of Musical Education from the
Perspective of the Educational System Reform ................... 15
1.2. Formal - Non-forma-Informal Musical Training ................ 26
CHAPTER II Instances of Employing Musical Elements forLearning
Enhancement ...................................................................................... 35
2.1. Song and Sung Voice ........................................................... 37
2.2. The Instrument – Convergence Point of General Artistic
Education and Interpretative Performance .......................... 45
2.3. Eurhythmy, sine-qua-non Condition in Musical Education . 48
2.4. The Musical Game ............................................................... 52
CHAPTER III Benefits of the Involvement of Music in the Growth of
Human Personality ............................................................................. 61
3.1. The Influence of Music on the Learning Process ................ 63
3.2. Musical Intelligence and Logical-Mathematical:
Typological Synapses ........................................................... 68
3.2.1. Multiple Intelligences. Musical and Logical-
Mathematical Intelligence........................................... 69
3.2.2. The Expression of Logical-Mathematical
Elements in the Musical Field .................................... 74
4
3.3. Musical and Linguistic Intelligence – Operating Dichotomy
in regard to the Development of Communication Skills ....... 83
3.3.1. The Complementary Character of Musical and
Linguistic Intelligence ................................................. 83
3.3.2.Benefits of Associating Music with the Study of
a Foreign Language ..................................................... 90
3.4. Advantages of Introducing the Study of an Instrument in
General Music Education ...................................................... 93
3.5. The Musical Instrument asFacilitator in the Simultaneous
Activation of the Cerebral Hemisphere ................................ 97
3.5.1. Cognitive Benefits of Studying the Instrument ........... 98
3.5.2. Music and Dynamic Cortical Mapping ..................... 100
CHAPTER IV Musical Anthology ................................................... 107
4.1. Collection of Songs Rhythmically Sustained by Musical
Instruments .......................................................................... 109
4.2. Collection of Songs Rhythmically Sustained by Musical
Instruments .......................................................................... 111
4.3. Scenarios for Musical Games with Movement ................... 112
4.4. Impressions of Music from a Subjective Perspective –
Questionnaire ...................................................................... 120
CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................... 125
REFERENCES: ................................................................................. 130
ANNEXES ........................................................................................ 134
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FOREWORD
I consider the very act of writing the foreword for this book to be
a challenge and I would like, following the generous invitation made by
the author, to approach it from different perspectives; each of them,
although having a well delimited area, is in my view still inseparable
and interdependent the one from the other, correlated in an artistic
career and a professional life that endorse this documentation.
Therefore, my task is facilitated as I completely find myself in
Perspectives on the Importance of Music in regard to the Development
of human Personality, whether as a singer or instrumentalist.
The title of this work arouses the interest of the common, keen
reader, wishing to know more about human personality in relation to
one of the seven arts, but also from the perspective of the researcher
passionate about the extraordinary result of allowing the infiltration of
music in the growth and consequently the development of human
personality. The previous books anticipated, to some extent, due to the
topics approached, these perspectives with special connotations
emphasised by the author within the present approach.
The growth of human personality is undoubtedly grounded in
education. In its turn, artistic education, especially the musical one,
needs to be amplified to the maximum also by or especially by! reforms
in the educational system – completed by the three types of education –
formal, non-formal, informal whose advantages need to be explored –
having a decisive role in the future definition of the human being.
The fact of not applying and not complying with them in due
time (kindergarten, secondary school, high school) unfortunately
results in gaps impossible to make for later on, while at academic level
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where they should find their maximum applicability, we are often
confronted with prejudicial consequences!
In a natural course of events, we pay attention to the aspects
related to the efficiency resulted from the employment of musical
elements in view of optimising the learning process, the
aforementioned aspects being used in different instances. I think that
this topic will never carry too much weight within any research work.
The thorough and detailed analysis points to the author as being
herself an excellent connoisseur of both instances, namely the
theoretician’s and the practitioner’s in the field; she owes this to her
own expertise and to the thoroughness of the documentation. Musical
education within educational institutions is something that I
recommend and I strongly consider necessary; studying to play an
instrument or the study of singing prove to be of immense value in
regard to the growth of the personality of the future adult.
Emphasising the essence, I fully state that in a society more and
more dominated by technology, we should not forget that one of the
real aspects which influence human personality and intelligence
enhancement is still music, exploited under all of the polymorphic
“classic” aspects it provides; brilliant Einstein used to state that he
understood his life in musical terms; furthermore, “Hadn’t I been a
physician, I would have probably been a musician”.
Associate Professor OANA LIANU, PhD
Cultural Ambassador of Romania
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INTRODUCTION
Music has always been an integral part of man’s life, whether we
are talking about rituals as early as the dawn of humanity up to the
present day, or about childhood games or artistic manifestations
eminently musical. Introducing the child to the wonderful universe of
the musical sounds from an early age creates the premises of a
harmonious growth, able to form complex and balanced personalities.
The ability to sing employingthe phonetic apparatus, the closest
within the human being’s reach and the one which distinguishes
him/her from the other beings, along with his/her capacity to listen to
and appreciate music, emphasise even more the strong bond that exists
between manifestations of sound and the human being. Music
positively influences the human body and its health by its specific
elements, singing or playing an instrument and listening to music
which, synchronised with the sense organs, activate the sensorial paths
and have a strong impact on the intellect, on feelings and emotions
being frequently employed in different types of therapeutic
interventions.
By the extraordinary features it possesses, namely to bring
pleasure and to create a favourable atmosphere for learning, music
develops prevalently some very important aspects in the growth of the
individual. To name but a few: stimulating creativity and raising self-
esteem, enhancing the ability to communicate, all of which in pursuit of
forming a balanced, autonomous personality able to contribute to the
evolution of the community in which one lives and to the evolution of
human society as core educational desideratum.
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This is why professionals in the field of education are interested
in optimising musical education by introducing, along with reforms of
the educational system, various elements to ensure an interactive type
of learning, to create a joyful climate endorsed by the pupils’
satisfaction and able to result in the endurance of the things learned, the
appreciation of aesthetic beauty and the increaing number of future
audiences. An important role is being played by song, eurhythmy and
musical instruments which contribute to the initiation and growth of
children in relation to the musical field and in time, with sustained
efforts, they will provide the artists to be found in future concert halls.
The first chapter entitled Music and human personalityhighlights
the formative valences of musical training consistent with the current
modifications in education as well as with the environment the
individual’s musical background is being built: formal, non-formal și
informal.
The second chapter presents the key role of music and all of its
directions as resource, means and content of the learning process,
associated with various instances in which it may be applied in
activities; this results in an inexhaustible source of ideas and creative
approaches for teachers. The multiple educational valences music
possesses embodied by singing or playing an instrument, by eurhythmy
or musical games need to be explored by the ones carrying on learning
processes no matter the subject as they may result in richer and more
dynamic teaching activities.
The benefits of the involvement of music in the growth of human
personality configured in chapter three, associate musical intelligence
with three other types of intelligence, namely logical-mathematical and
linguistic, which result in the emergence of interdisciplinary
connections between different fields leading therefore to the creation of
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favourable learning contexts from the perspective of the multiple
intelligences theory.
Music is both science and art, it is an important component of
human nature, existing in all cultures, generating joy and pleasure by
means of interpretation or listening to it. Music is scientifically
explained from Pythagoras, while connections between mathematics
and music have been signalled since ancient times. Furthermore,
nowadays we are also studying possibilities to streamline the
functioning of the brain which involves relationships between different
types of intelligences, corresponding to different cortical areas.
Music is often referred to as the mathematics of sounds due to the
numerous synapses that occur between the two fields of knowledge.
The influence of mathematical concepts in music is mirrored by
parameters such as musical rhythm, archetypal forms of musical
creations as well as melody and harmony. However, the art of the
musical sounds remains a universe with a strong presence of the
emotional and of the creative side of the human being.
Over time, songs have become an integral part of our linguistic
experiences representing a powerful element in developing
communication skills in the mother tongue but also in learning a
foreign language. The multiple educational valences any song is
endowed with, accompanied by lyrics in the mother tongue or in a
foreign language, may enrich and render more dynamic the activities of
learning another language. Research conducted on the brain highlighted
the fact that there is a strong bond between linguistic and musical
intelligence due to the similar way of functioning of these two systems
of communication, music and language; the frontal and temporal lobes
are responsible for the aforementioned aspects at the level of the
neuronal connections; research concluded that the two directions can
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considerably improve the development of linguistic abilities in both
spoken languages.
Further on, the presentation of the advantages of the study of a
musical instrument in view of overall artistic education or interpretative
performance highlights the simultaneous activation of the two brain
hemispheres while playing an instrument due to some special
connections that occur in the brain.
The active involvement in studying to play an instrument at any
age enhances the child’s cognitive capacity as well as the very act of
being initiated in music, growing and developing artistic sensitivity.
Music, by its diverse dimensions – singing, the study of a musical
instrument, musical listening, rhythmic, melodic and rhythmic-melodic
compositions – often improves overall school performances. There are
various other directions for which the existence of music in children’s
life is extremely important as well as the support they are given from
the ones carrying on the educational process, teachers and parents,
namely raising self-esteem, developing core aspects for any type of
human activity, self-motivation, self-discipline in relation to work,
systematic study of the instrument.
In order to have a pleasant manner of entering the universe of
music we selected several songs included in the collections to be found
in chapter four, Musical Anthology, which bring to this valuable
structural element of music other means which we turn to in order to
practice or create it: instruments, games and movement.
In addition, the last chapter entitled Impressions of Music from a
Subjective Perspective, presents the reader with a questionnaire having
children as respondents; the study emphasises their pleasure and joy of
practising music by means of instruments and musical games
accompanied by movement.
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In order to endorse the benefits of music’s involvement in the
growth of human personality, the conclusions drawn stress the
importance and effectiveness of its existence in our lives. Worthy of
note is the way in which children can acquire linguistic and
communication skills in their mother tongue or in a foreign language
more easily and in a more pleasant manner with the help of songs and
musical games, but also logical-mathematical, emotional, social
competencies by studying a musical instrument, abilities that will be
reflected in relation to other subjects as well.
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CHAPTER I
Music and Human Personality
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1.1. Formative Valences of Musical Education from the
Perspective of the Educational System Reform
Specialists in the field of education are concerned with
streamlining musical education by introducing, along with reforms in
education, various elements to ensure an interactive learning process, to
create a climate of joy and satisfaction enabling a long-lasting memory
of the things learned, of appreciating aesthetic beauty and creating the
future audiences.
Childhood is a period of the human being’s life to be found under
the umbrella of the mysterious universe of musical sounds and our duty
as teachers involved in the teaching process at any level is to attract
them and to preserve their interest in view of musical training aiming
either at artistic education in general or interpretative performance
according to each and every one’s wishes and possibilities.
Musical education is a consistent part of aesthetic education and
encompasses a wide range of activities organised within the teaching
process or within extra-curricular activities pre-school children and
pupils take part in. Many skills, notions, concepts necessary to every
age group may be learned by listening to and using music. As the child
consolidates his / her relation with the musical field, they learn
numerous songs, listen to musical strains, move on music or start
studying an instrument; hence, with the help of music they go through
various types of experiences. All these situations become educational
contexts favourable to the growth of a complex personality by which
the individual (whether child or adult) improves upon their intellectual
performance, develops creative attitudes, the ability to focus as well as
their multi-tasking skills, rhythmical and movement coordination, their
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ability to socialise, their capacity to memorise and update the
information memorised, all of which in a very pleasant fashion.
Education, just like any other field, is going through a reform
process due to several factors: the historical evolution of the schooling
system and of society (having a fast-paced dynamic), the modern
systems of education after 1968 is facing a crisis in education, all of
which results in numerous changes and innovations. The 20th century
bears the mark of these innovative tendencies of conspicuous ascension
especially in its second half, continuing in the early third millennium.
Education becomes an important factor involved in solving the
problems of the contemporary society, and the attempt to answer the
challenges of this reality aims to several restructuring directions:1
- The redimensioning of the educational activity which implies
the passage from a hovering-type of learning (generating an adaptation
to the present days) to an innovative one (adaptation to future times,
nurturing autonomy and the ability to integrate);
- Ensuring the optimal balance between the informative side
(knowledge) and the formative one (aiming to develop various
behaviors and attitudes that comply with the values promoted at social
level);
- Extending the educational tasks throughout one’s entire life,
and redistribution of efforts in view of positively influencing the human
being towards various factors or institutions such as the church, the
media, all the levels aimed to by the concept of new education;2
- Educational objectives to be imbued with European and
universal cultural connotations through the promotion of international
1Sas, Cecilia, Fundamentele pedagogiei, Editura Universității Oradea, 2013, p. 81. 2Pedagogical concept introduced in the last decades in Romania as well; it contributes to the
broadening of the perspective on how to conceive and achieve educational processes
(ecological, nutrition education etc.)
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cultural cooperation as well as the display and the enrichment of
specific and authentic values;
Education, seen as a complex process of conveying and
absorbing scientific, economic, cultural, technical values, encompasses
several directions such as the new educations and parallel educations
(formal, informal and non-formal education);their purpose is to prepare
the individual in view of a better adaptation to the fast-paced dynamic
of society which implies a change of view, the emergence of a new
mindset paying closer attention to the qualitative aspects of personality.
These are worldwide tendencies in regard to current education,
the evolution of the core principles of education taking place in time,
especially in the last decades, and bearing the mark of the general
progress of humanity. Our country has been tryingover the past few
years to put in place an educational reform willing to embed global and
European exigencies in our national system of education, focusing on
several key components of school activity such as: the curriculum for
all cycles of learning, lifelong learning programmes specialized for
teachers but also the implementation of the concept of ongoing
education, long distance learning by designing educational electronic
platforms, research in education, infrastructure, international
cooperation following the launch of numerous educational projects
with the participation of various countries.
For a better understanding of the current educational context,
some observations regardingthe legal framework of our country as well
as the pedagogical specialized terminology are needed.
The Romanian education mirrors the directions aimed to by the
reforms made in education worldwide, and they are embodied, at the
level of the new schooling legislation, by the innovative ideas
characterizing pedagogical thinking. In this context, according to the
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latest regulations set by the Ministry of National Education, some
modifications have been made related to the contents of the educational
process (balance between formative and informative), to the manner of
approaching them aiming mainly to the applicative and pragmatic
potential (adaptation in view of future times), to the schooling cycles
and their peoridisation.
The reform started with kindergarten by organizing the contents
around six consistent learning units including the topics to be studied, a
model taken from the IBO (International Baccalaureat Organisation)3
structure, a renowned system appreciated worldwide which goes on
with these six units (units of inquiry) until completion of the schooling
period, namely 12th grade. They are taken up again and again in a
spiral-bound system year after year by adding other perspectives and
topics for development according to the children’s age and individual
peculiarities adapted to the first period of learning of the programme,
PYP (Primary Years Programme: 3-years old,4 in the case of our
country.
For the first cycle of schooling programmes, changes have been
made regarding the years of study as well as related to the approach of
contents, consistent with the psycho-pedagogic developmental profile
of the young pupil. In regard to infrastructure, the infant group from
kindergarten (6-7 years of age) has been turned into the infant grade,
being upgraded to school grade. Therefore the primary cycle has been
extended to five years and encompasses ages in between 6 and 11 years
(infant grade to 4th grade).
3International Baccalaureate Organisation, Making the PYP happen-Guide, Geneva, 2000, p.
23. 4Research units:1. Who we are? 2. Where we are in place and time? 3. How we express
ourselves? 4. How the world works ? 5. How we organize ourselves? 6. Sharing the planet.
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The educational reform has included school subjects, as well,
both in terms of their denomination as of their contents and their
approach. Consequently, the subject named Romanian Language has
been turned into Communication in Romanian for the first three grades
(infant, 1st and 2nd) and into Romanian Language and Literature for
grades 3rd and 4th. According to the latest regulations set by the
Ministry, Musical Education becomes Music and Movement. The
foreign language that is already being studied starting with infant
grade, therefore a new change in the curriculum plan, is named
Communication in Foreign Language 1, while the denomination of the
subject Mathematics has been tunrned into Mathematics and
environment exploration.
In secondary school too new subjects have emerged replacing
or diversifying the spectrum of the ones already existent. For instance,
Social Education, which pertains to the curricular area of Man and
society, is to be named Critical Thinking and Children’s Rights in 5th
grade and is to be completed by other disciplines throughout the
secondary cycle of education, i.e. Intercultural Education in 6th grade,
Education for Democratic Citizenship in 7th grade and Economic-
Financial Education in 8th grade.
School curricula for all subjects are structured and designed
according to the new model of curricular design which considers the
cycle of core acquisitions and the formation of competencies to be
followed up and matured over a longer period of time. We can
therefore talk about a pedagogy based on competencies compared to
the one based on objectives5. The latter determines the representative
differentiation of the fields of knowledge and the conceptual
5Objectives and competencies in curriculum design, http://documents.tips/documents/obiective-
si-competente.html
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restructuring of the learning disciplines. The act of learning has a
prevalent informative character and is centered on knowledge and their
use in typical contexts. Edifying when coming to characterize this type
of curriculum based on objectives are verbs such: “to know”, “to
comprehend”, “to apply”, corresponding to the first three levels of
Bloom’s taxonomy6.
Conversely, pedagogy based on competencies relates to the
higher levels of the classification made by the American educational
psychologist, being updated according to the requirements of the 20th
century by Bloom’s successors, a group of researchers of cognitive
psychology led by Lorin Andersen (Bloom’s ex student) according to
whom the key concepts are given by verbs such as: “to think critically”,
“to decide”, “to assess” and “to create”. This type of curriculum implies
a process of learning that involves reasoning and information transfer,
the use of knowledge in different atypical situations which favour inter-
and trans-disciplinary organisation of the learning contents. The
objectives are some specific targets the educator aims to, while
competencies relate to the achievement of capacities, skills, intellectual
or practical abilities, much better emphasised.
The model for the design of the curriculum centred on
competencies is beneficial to education from the perspective of the
three core processes involved in the didactic approach, teaching,
learning and especially assessment which becomes more transparent
and efficient. The development of various competencies mirrors better
the pupils’ upbringing needs hence strengthening the formative
character of education aimed to in the last years; it also points out the
practical side related to the operationalization of knowledge while the
6Popa, Carmen, Teoria și metodologie instruirii, Editura Universității Oradea, 2013, p.100-104.
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teacher’s role is to create an immediate and clear bond between theory
and practice.
The curriculum for Music and Movement from 2013, aiming to
children aged 6-9 (infant grade, 1st and 2nd grade) and the one from
2014, 9-11 year-old pupils (3rd and 4th grade) aim to form general
musical competencies over a period of three years, two years
respectively, and they are presented in a parallel fashion so that
progress in terms of contents from one year to the other and increase in
the level of difficulty of the requirements and of the tasks assigned to
the pupils are even more obvious.
Specific competencies are derived from each general
competency and they are formed by going through various contents
which become topics of the learning units, and titles of the music
lessons respectively. Compared to the previous curricula (e.g. the
Curriculum for Musical Education for 2nd grade from 2003), general
competencies are more detailed, clearer directions being provided.
Table no. 1. Comparison between School Curricula 2013-2003
Music and Movement Curriculum,
Primary Cycle of Studies, 2013
Musical Education Curriculum,
Primary Cycle of Studies, 2003
General Competencies Key Objectives
1. Reception of various songs for
children and of various easy elements
of the musical language
2. Performance of children’s songs
with the proper age-related means
3. Expressing various ideas, feelings
and experiences by means of music
and movement, individually or in a
group
1. Capitalization on the musical
language elements picked up during
classes due to vocal and instrumental
musical practice
2. Expressing oneself through music
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Specific competencies bring some changes in regard to the key
objectives, firstly at the level of the means of expression these being
relayed through nouns and not verbs in the subjunctive form as
objectives in education are relayed (“reception” / “creation” – “to
distinguish” / “to improvise”). The new curriculum stresses movement,
creation, intuition, conducting, practical applications, these being the
key words which guide the pedagogic approach; the existence of higher
levels of psychic activity involved is emphasised and aimed to by
means of the cognitive objectives (assessment, creation). Some
objectives starred in the old curriculum become compulsory
competencies in the new policy; the focus is now on applying
knowledge in different contexts and not repeating it in typical
situations. They come to emphasise even more the stress on formation,
on “know-how” and not just “know”, on developing the intellectual
abilities and skills meant to ensure a rigorous training through
individual work, self-study and lifelong learning according to each and
every person’s interests; these aspects are also stipulated by the current
reform of the Romanian educational system. The same trend is to be
noted in the case of the Music and Movement curriculum for 3rd and 4th
grade.
The new textbooks published along with the introduction of the
new curricula endorse the contents by providing the proper illustrating
resources. In terms of the primary cycle of studies, children are being
gradually accustomed to the sounds that one may find around him/her,
with vocal and instrumental timbre. Every content is accompanied by
suggestive images and short motivational stories or stories meant to
create an image which is more familiar to the children’s world.
Practical activities for children are suggested such as manufacturing
musical instruments. Pupils are introduced to the realm of the pitch of
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the sounds and of rhythm by images which indicate the development of
a melody or the accents that need to be pointed out in order to identify
the metre of a song in the period of musical pre-notation; the next step
consists in writing the notes and durations starting with 3rd grade.
The contents are similar to the previous curricula for Musical
Education but the stress is on the practical side, shifting perspective
from understanding and picking up music by focusing on the practical,
visual, auditory (more musical listening, as well as auditory contexts to
consolidate the topics proposed), intuitive side and on associations with
aspects known from the children’s everyday life. The period of musical
pre-notation is extremely important in order to get the child accustomed
to the musical phenomenon at a rhythmical and melodic level and it
implies practical activities of consolidation thorough repeated
associations of the musical elements with the universe of young pupils,
embodied musically by counting, easy songs from children’s
collections, movement, dance.
Starting from this idea and adding the tendencies of the reform of
the Romanian educational system meant to enable education to meet
European standards, the change of the name of the study subject
Musical Education in Music and Movement in primary school is not
casual especially because of the syncretism that exists between the two
concepts. Music, whether sang or played, listened to or composed,
naturally implies an oral character, practical games and good humor,
and the attempt to stress music’s applicative and practical side through
the requirements of the new curriculum contributes to satisfying the
children’s acute needs for movement and for expressing themselves
through music at this age according to their psychological profile.
Worthy of note is the conclusion that music along with dance and
movement represents a dimension that we have to make the best of in
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children’s life, not only to increase the variety of their daily activities
but also in view of its beneficial effects on their cognitive development.
Starting 2017, the new curriculum for Musical Education for
secondary school was made public; its design complied with the one
illustrated previously, namely the derivation of specific competencies
out of the general ones, this time aimed to throughout the entire
secondary cycle of studies. In its turn, it brings changes in terms of the
learning contents, of the musical strains listened to or of the song
repertoire suggested, these being much closer to the pupils’ interests
and combining classical music with other musical genres, while some
topics are studied only later on (musical intervals in 6th and 5th grade).
The main focus when reorganizing the curriculum has been the
applicability of knowledge, the enrichment of pupils’ practical musical
experiences and the desire to render the contents more accessible; all
these aspects are in the teachers’ reach and imply designing activities
that are appealing and efficient, thus ensuring that musical educational
objectives are met.
In terms of general competencies, we may also find changes
compared to the previous curriculum.
Table no. 2. Comparison between School Curricula 2017-2009
Musical Education Curriculum,
Secondary Cycle of Studies, 2017
Musical Education Curriculum,
Secondary Cycle of Studies , 2009
General Competencies Key Objectives
1. Expressing ideas, feelings, attitudes
by performing various musical works
2. Operating with elements for writing-
reading and musical language
3. Appreciation of musical works,
including their emotional, behavioral
and ideatic content
1. Developing performing skills (vocal
and instrumental)
2. Developing the skill to pick up
music and to grow musical background
3. Knowledge and use of musical
language elements
4. Nurturing sensitivity, imagination
and musical as well as artistic
creativity
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Due to their alignment to the new curriculum, secondary school
textbooks are more interactive, more vivid and better structured,
providing learning units and their contents, clear guidelines for their
employment (discover, listen to, be creative, apply, review), special
boxes comprising the new information pupils have come across in each
unit. The general and specific competencies aimed to are presented at
the beginning of the textbook as extracted from the curriculum and the
assessment methods for each learning unit are displayed (even the
initial assessment test). Every textbook has its own CD providing the
opportunity to listen to various songs and musical strains, to group and
structure information according to the target criteria, to emphasize
some elements of the musical language through enhanced images or
supplementary information.
As one novel feature of the curriculum, every textbook mirrors
initiation lessons in relation to playing an instrument (the piano, the
guitar, the recorder or other small percussion instruments), a favorable
initiative as it provides the opportunity to immediately apply the newly
acquired theoretical knowledge as well as a better understanding and
consolidation of the musical phenomenon.
Children have always felt the joy of singing or playing an
instrument, and the need for harmonic and rhythmical accompaniment
is embraced by them with great enthusiasm at any age. Their musical
universe may be completed by similar challenges which bring
immediate but also long term satisfaction. They also result in the
development of the melodic, harmonic and rhythmical perception of
music, the desire to master an instrument, the curiosity to explore the
musical timbral universe; these are all coordinates by which the child
manages to approach music, to appreciate it and to enjoy its presence.
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1.2. Formal-Non-Formal-Informal Musical Training
When talking about education, there is the tendency to associate
it to a school-related environment, therefore limiting its functionality
and impact only to formal compulsory schooling. Educational activity
operates throughout one’s life and it manifests its molding valences in
multiple contexts of activity.
Man is the product of the action of several factors, influences
which transform us toward a specific direction due to our conscious or
unconscious participation in different actions. The individual is not
educated only by the school but also by other social environments.
Coombs and Ahmed, according to C. Cucoş, equated the learning
process with education and identified as early as 1974 three of its types:
formal education, non-formal and informal7. The three types of
education determine the types of formal, non-formal and
informallearning given the fact that the conditions the learning process
is being carried out are different from one context to the other, both in
terms of content and form, as well as in relation to the means by which
it is achieved.
There are numerous definitions of the three concepts in the
literature but they are very well delimited, have clear features with no
debates in regard to the description of the similarities and differences
between them.
In order to highlight the way in which musical training is
achieved in each and every educational context, some aspects need to
me mentioned in order to get the reader accustomed with every
direction.
7Cucoş, Constantin (coord.), Psihopedagogie, Editura Polirom, Iaşi, 1998, p. 34.
27
Formal Education
According to an elaborate pedagogical definition, we may state in
regard to formal education that it is the one that it is carried on within
specialized educational institutions and it is underpinned by a system of
educational actions which benefit from good organization, are
intentional, systematic, and achieved within the educational system and
in accordance with well defined educational outcomes.8 The term
“formal” is used hereby with its official meaning, specific to each
particular country. The results of formal education refer to the contents
that pupils acquire in school. These are organised according to the
children’s age and individual peculiarities; they are to be absorbed
gradually moving on an upward spiral and they correspond to pre-
established objectives.
The defining features of formal education consist in having
clearly stated aims and objectives and in being achieved within an
organised framework. Other characteristics derive hereof, namely the
fact thatit is structured, guided, systematised; it alsoimpliescertain
didactic competencies from the one who is involved in its
achievement9. Effective education implies the existence of teaching
staff trained at specialised level for each subject, as well as from a
methodological and practical-applicative perspective, competencies
that mature over time and give the opportunity to make correlations in
view of pupils’ formation in line with educational aims.
This is the framework in which school education is carried on.
Within this educational context musical training is achieved through
the activities of Music and movement / Musical education provided by
8Ionescu, Miron, Instrucție și educație, Vasile Goldiş University Press, Arad, 2007, p. 52. 9Cucoş, Constantin (coord.), Op. cit., p. 35.
28
the curricula and by enabling the children’s contact with the universe of
the musical sounds once or twice per week. The teaching staff endowed
with solid didactic and specialised training should masterfully
configure lesson plans that encompass the contents required by the
curriculum and that are intended to be achieved in a pleasant,
interactive and appealing fashion to ensure the proper climate for the
absorption of the elements pertaining to the musical language, listening
to musical strains and vocal or instrumental performance.
Beside the curriculum and the various syllabi in order to achieve
formal teaching/learning, the teaching staff employs numerous
materials and learning tools to aid the presentation of the contents
proposed for study. In order to carry on musical activities within
schools, there have to be instruments, song collections, auditory aids,
encyclopedias, music scores, books and varied materials to provide the
contents specific to the musical field, educational music software,
special programmes, smart boards, data projectors, all off which ensure
a more pleasant and efficient approach of the contents.
Another noteworthy feature that distinguishes from the other
forms of education, is that any learning process occurring in school is
to be assessed in different ways, manners and stages10, all of them in
view of ensuring academic performance given the fact that evaluation
implies the application of meliorative methods to help the pupil to
overcome learning setbacks, to come back and resume learning when
the results have not been satisfying. The initial assessment helps the
teacher evaluate the starting level for any psychopedagogic approach
with a new group or a new subject. Ongoing assessment allows for a
quick intervention in order to eliminate learning gaps. Final evaluation
measures the performance level reached at the end of a learning period
10Ibidem.
29
and it determines the nature of the interventions meant to correct the
issues that have been identified.
Assessment in the musical field should consider first and
foremost the benefits that music brings in relation to the growth of a
harmonious personality at all levels: cognitive, affective, volitive-
motivational. In line with these observations, we may talk about the
musical phenomenon as process; it is extremely important for the
psychical processes to be forced and required to think musically on an
ongoing basis; this ensures real intellectual progress, no matter the
moment in which assessment is being carried on. One great advantage
of formal education is to make the pupil aware of the results obtained
in the different moments of assessment of the learning process with the
possibility to come back to some of the contents by means of a
permanent, systematic, objective, formative evaluation of the musical
contents.
On the other hand, the assessment may be embodied by a concert
or show, may materialise itself in an educational outcome thus standing
for a product of the learning process. Both the process and the product
of the musical phenomenon is a real gain provided by musical
education that contributes substantially to the enhancement of overall
school performances, building one’s character, strengthening of
constructive emotions as well as increasing the quality of life.
Formal education features an indispensable function of the
learning system; still, there are some professionals in the educational
field who highlight some of its gaps, namely the tendency to acquire
knowledge to the prejudice of some of its practical applications, the
focus on certain objectives and competencies required by the
curriculum only at theoretical level; thisresults in the predisposition
toward boredom and routine, lack of interest and under-motivation in
30
relation to the learning process11. This is why as far as the musical field
is concerned, it is very important to practice it to the prejudice of over
theorising therefore ensuring the proper climate for learning in general
and for enjoying the process of making music.
Non-formal Education
The type of education that is not formal, namely non-formal
education, refers to relatively organised educational activities carried
on outside of the learning system; they are intentional and systematic,
i.e. extracurricular activities. Still, they do not have a clear educational
goal being carried on by certain clubs organised in relation to certain
fields of interest, artistic or sports associations, camps, state-owned
children’s clubs12. The term non-formal stresses the fact that the
aforementioned activities are carried on in other contexts than at
school, the effects of this type of education being formative. The
contexts referred to are those specific perimeters in which the child or
the adult may complete their education according to their interests,
preferences, predispositions after school or kindergarten hours or
activities at the work place. The features of this type of education are:
diversity, mobility, stronger and active engagement of the participants.
MironIonescu talks about the existence of two types of activities
involved in non-formal education, namely: peri-scholar (classes similar
to the ones carried on within formal education) and para-scholar
activities (organised outdoors or in other institutions)13.
In regard to the first category of activities and the years of
schooling we can state that lately most parents with average economic-
social-cultural status are interested to enrol their children to different
11Sas, Cecilia, Op. cit., p. 153. 12Ionescu, Miron, Op. cit., p. 52. 13Ibidem.
31
activities outside the school noticing the benefits these educational
contexts bring. The subjects in demand are: classes in view of learning
to play an instrument (the piano, the guitar, the violin, the recorder),
classical or traditional music singing, pop music, choir, dance (modern,
social, tradition dances, cheerleading), sports activities (tennis, football,
volleyball, basketball, handball, athelitcs, karate, taekwondo,
swimming), foreign language classes, visual arts and chess clubs. In
this way numerous children’s areas of interests are covered through an
extremely rich educational palette of activities they take part in
according to their aptitudinal level and their preferences.
All the activities encompassed by non-formal education are
carried on by specialised teachers. The core feature of these educational
programmes is their flexible, appealing and preferential character
compared to the compulsory ones achieved within the training-
educational process carried on in school. When it comes to musical
education classes or classes in view of learning to play an instrument,
the teacher is bound to comply with the curriculum; through non-
formal education they may tailor better the learning situations that are
strictly connected to the group or individual peculiarities involved.
Para-scholar activities, another way to achieve non-formal
education, materialise themselves in attending concerts, visiting
museums, going outdoors in botanical gardens, at the zoo, visiting
institutions. Changing the educational context leads to the elimination
of monotony and routine. The more factors are involved in learning
through direct interaction with the surrounding environment, the more
long-lasting and efficient the learning outcomes, directly proportional
to the joy of direct experimentation without feeling the weight of
intellectual effort. Listening to musical pieces in a concert hall creates
by default the premises for a special atmosphere generating powerful
32
artistic emotions. Seeing musical instruments live, as well as soloists
and special settings (e.g. opera props), the child has a comprehensive
understanding of music, of the numerous finalities of study hours,
whether from the perspective of the amateur audience or the one of the
rising artist.
Activities carried on in such circumstances have the role to
broaden the children’s horizon, are based on their aptitudes and
preferences and have an optional character; they involve children
directly in the planning, structuring and unfolding of these activities; a
particular feature emerges: the lack of grades as embodiment of the
assessment process (the risk not to nurture the lack of value or a
precarious cultural background implied by the absence of the structured
evaluative approach of non-formal education is to be avoided).
Pedagogues state that, being less rigid than formal education, non-
formal education provides more freedom of action capitalizing on a
differentiated and personalised pedagogical approach14.
The two forms of education, formal and non-formal, implying
different learning contexts, have to complete one another, to be
complementary in terms of content and means of achievement, both
leading to the attainment of core intellectual and practical capacities
under the direct guidance of the specialised teaching staff. Both musical
education classes and classes in view of learning to play an instrument,
along with attending concerts or giving one’s own recitals have a
crucial contribution to the formation of a balanced personality.
Informal Education
Heterogeneous influences which leave their mark on us in a
spontaneous manner, deprived of clear intentionality, undifferentiated
14Ionescu, Miron, Op. cit., p. 53.
33
and non-systematic throughout our lives, achieve informal education
processes. They derive from the daily activities that ensure the contact
with other people from the social, cultural and economic environment
and by which the individual absorbs acquisitions directly, i.e. he/she
does not deliberately aims to the achievement of educational
objectives.15
Informal education stands for the highest percentage of time
and of extensive influence on the different elements of human nature. It
is carried on outside the institutional, organised framework and it
comes from the individual’s environment, from the family and
community climate configuring one’s autonomous acquisitions. In this
context, each individual internalises new values, absorbs knowledge,
socio-cultural models filtered in one’s own way, adopts attitudes that
will enrich the profile of their personality.
One of the dangers that may emerge in the sphere of learning
within the framework of informal education is the influence of the
media (written press, TV, radio, internet, computer networks). It may
beneficial if embodied by educational software aiming to certain topics
of interest for the child / individual, but also destructive due to the
negative or aggressive impact of various TV shows or situations one is
exposed to having effects that are unwished for (flawed formation of
one’s character, verbal or physical violent manifestations, depreciation
of values).
An important role is played by education received from one’s
parents in regard to the cultural values of life. The child, being in the
process of forming a character therefore not always being able to
choose between good and bad, needs to be controlled and deprived of
certain negative actions that come from the outside and which are not
15Ibidem.
34
proper to their formation. At musical level, the family may contribute
to the creation of a sound environment proper to the child’s age and
formation providing access to different but valuable musical genres. So
that, later on, the child will be able to select and promote high quality
music also influenced by the social environment.
Capitalized on judiciously, all elements encompassed by formal
education, family, different social groups, the media, the community,
the society may have positive or negative effects on the human being,
may contribute memorably (with some help) to fulfilling the children’s
cultural and experience background, as they represent the adults of the
future.
Formal education, corresponding to 15 to 20 years of one’s life, is
completed by non-formal education, both types being grounded in daily
influences; therefore informal educationguides the activity toward self-
education and self-study.
The interdependency of the three forms of education in the
process of the formation of human personality is unquestionable. The
important fact is to extract from this complementarity the positive
features of each type of education in view of achieving optimal learning
outcomes that may ensure the development of a personality strongly
anchored in individual progress as well as in the progress of the entire
society. There are no boundaries between the three forms of carrying
on educational processes, as they are cooperating incessantly and are
tied by a universal bond.
35
CHAPTER II
Instances of Employing Musical
Elements for Learning Enhancement
36
37
2.1. Song and sung voice
All connections that allow the human being an efficient
communication with their peers take place in the brain. The human
mental system involving cognitive, affective, motivational processes
along with a good physiological functioning of analyzers, ensures the
consolidation of interpersonal human relations, optimal integration of
the individual in society based on communication; this results in the
necessity and importance of the development of high communication
skills.
As superior competence of the human being, the voice allows
them an enhanced relation with their peers which distinguishes them
from other living creatures. Animals too are endowed with voice but
they use it in view of and empirical and external gathering of
information, not as rich in the use of articulated sounds.
Sounds may be analysed from different perspectives, namely
from the point of view of their production, propagation, relaying or
recording, or of the analysis of the quality of the sounds; numerous
scientific fields investigate them: music, physics, the medical field,
neurophysiology, psychology. Not all sounds may be perceived by the
human being; in order to do so they have to fulfil certain requirements.
Four of these, namely pitch, duration, intensity, timbre, are the main
directions approached by musicians also from the point of view of the
musical sound, being analysed from an early age within children’s
musical education framework.
Hearing and voice are inseparable in establishing interpersonal
relationships and people use them to convey and receive information.
Transposed in the phenomenon of speaking (or shouting, laughing,
crying) and in song, sounds result from the specialization of a complex
38
neuro-auditory-phonetic system16.Following the principle of stimulus-
reply, the human being utilises numerous analysers which ensure
feedback in relation with external stimuli for a better adaptation to the
surrounding environment.
The ear is one of them being specialised in relation to the
reception of the frequencies and vibrations of sounds that render
communication possible. The hearing and the phonetic apparatus are
the directions that ensure musical communication, their development
being directly proportional to its quality and efficiency. Analysed from
a psychological perspective, interpreted as sensation, hearing is based
on the three parts of the ear – external, middle and inner – and the
segment responsible for sound identification due to the existence of
auditory sensorial cells is the the cochlea of the inner ear. Through
these cells, acoustic information reaches the cortex, the acoustic-
vestibular nerve, therefore preparing the reply at the level of the central
nervous system.17
Research conducted in the field demonstrates that, at birth, the
auditory analyser has a well developed anatomical structure which
allows for the reception of auditory stimuli, resulting in a certain
predisposition in regard to the perception and learning of music from
an early age.
In the complementary relationship hearing-voice, the ear is the
analyser which allows the perception of sounds in general while the
voice is the first means that we always have at our disposal for
producing them, especially when it comes to musical sounds. Liviu
Comes, in his book where he describes the way in which children’s
16Comes, Liviu, Azi, Grivei e mânios, Editura Arpeggione, Cluj-Napoca, 2002,p.7. 17Cosmovici, Andrei, Psihologie generală, Editura Polirom, Iaşi, 2005, p. 101.
39
musical education is achievedthorough song18, he also presents this
auditory-neuro-phonetic system emphasising its complexity as well as
the existence of various special aptitudes indispensable when it comes
to the differentiation of pitch and duration of sounds, of the relations
that exist between them, of the ability to produce sounds of different
qualities (intensity, duration, pitch). The emission of sounds with
different degrees of pitch by the phonetic apparatus through its own
mechanisms has to be achieved in full concordance with the
information provided by the auditory organ, all directions (phonetics,
listening) taking place under the command of the central nervous
system (NSC) by multiple connections imposed by the relation between
stimulus-reply.19
As main mediator in the emission of music, the voice turns to an
ensemble of components such as: the respiratory organs, the vocal
cords, the mouth and nasal resonating cavities, a relation of
interdependency being established between them and acting as a
unitary whole.20
Starting as early as from the intrauterine period, the child is
exposed to vocal sounds, especially the mother’s voice, spoken or sung,
due to the resonance produced by the body, but also to other voices.
This is why, later on, the mother’s lullaby calms down the baby more
than anything else because of the familiarity in regard to those
sonorities (the mother’s vocal timbre, her singing).
As far as the child’s voice is concerned, worthy of note is the fact
that it has to be nurtured over time; it emerges as a given genetic
18Comes, Liviu, Op.cit, p. 7. 19Ibidem. 20Munteanu, Gabriela, Aldea, Georgeta, Didactica educaţiei muzicale în învăţământul primar,
Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti, 2001, p. 60.
40
feature that every individual has at their disposal in a latent form21, but
in order for it to develop and to become the ability to sing it is
necessary to take part in a continuous and systematic musical education
process carried on by specialised teachers.
The song provides the opportunity to mould and develop the
voice and the interest in singing which exists since early childhood as
children sing joyfully at the playground, when hiking, every time they
need to express joy. They also sing in educational institutions,
kindergarten, school, in an organised framework with people trained in
this regard, namely the music teacher, the primary school or
kindergarten teacher. Noteworthy the fact that the activity to sing
creates an atmosphere full of sensitivity and good humour and children
join in with great interest and joy; numerous educational objectives
related to musical education (starting from the simple song, the musical
game based on song up to introducing children in poliphony) may be
met with by benefiting from the aforementioned atmosphere and
putting to good use the teacher’s mastery and the proper tools.
Maurice Chevais, musician and inspector within the French
educational system recommends that the interest in educating the
hearing to start at an early age22. Musicality, a complex concept
explained by Liviu Comes as natural quality23, inborn endowment, can
manifest itself very early in children who are more gifted in terms of
their musical aptitudes, children who are exposed to music within the
family, or it may exist in a latent state waiting to surface only in group
singing when specialised musical education starts.24
21Comes, Liviu, Op. cit., p. 7. 22Munteanu, Gabriela, Aldea, Georgeta, Op. cit., p.59. 23Comes, Liviu, Op. cit., p. 7-9. 24Ibidem.
41
The degree of musicality, due to one’s personal predispositions at
birth and provided by the individual genetic code, differs from one
person to the other; this is why communities are heterogeneous from a
musical point of view and teachers have to notice, to be aware of this
and to encourage the musical development of the less gifted pupils
based on the conclusions reached by research in the field of pedagogy
and musical psychology according to which each individual is endowed
with musical aptitudes. Carl Orff himself, as a result of numerous
musical activities with mediocre or less gifted children, used to say that
each and every one of them is fit for music being able to make
progress; one only has to find the peculiar and most efficient way in
this regard.25
The child’s voice has a unique and unmistakable timbre, with its
own physiology; this is why it is not to be mistaken for a woman’s
voice. The vocal range starts from the fifth re 1 – la 1 and extends itself
gradually along the children’s physiological and psychological
development, most of the songs dedicated to or performed by children
being written in registers which start from here. The prevalent tonalities
are C major, D major, F major, sometimes the minor scales from this
tonal area being present. Later on, while studying music and practising
the use of the voice, the children’s vocal range increases. There are
voices, especially girls’ voices, which surpass the limits suggested by
Jean Lupu (1988), as there are voices which do not reach them easily
from the beginning and require perseverance in order for vocal
education to reach the normal parameters.
Singing may occur individually or in a group resulting in a
rudimentary choir. Each variant is beneficial to the child’s musical
25Toma-Zoicaş, Ligia, “Principii - probleme ale unui sistem de educaţie muzicală” în Cristina
Maria Sîrbu, “Carl Orff -viaţa şi opera”, p.230.
42
development. Individual performance allows both the performer and
the audience to form a better representation of the emission as there is a
direct control from the singer by displaying their own qualities or
correcting some of the imperfections. Individual singing has a strong
impact on emotional development; not every child is willing to assert
himself/herself by singing solo. Some of them, due to their shyness or
lack of high-level musical aptitudes refuse to sing individually but do
not encounter any problems in singing the songs when in a group. For
others, individual singing provides the artistic framework to assert
themselves, especially if it is endorsed by inborn talent and a well-
trained voice.
Group singing implies the existence of various qualities that are
formed over time as voice homogeneity. Singing in equal voices,
children have to learn that every voice has its own peculiarities starting
from timbre – specific feature to each and every one of us - , finding
the proper dose of intensity, regulation of breathing while singing, the
right pronunciation during singing (different from the spoken one),
vowel emission going towards an educated one. All of the above leave
a mark on the collective sound which has to be glued together, formed
with stress on homogeneity in order to achieve interpretative flexibility,
accuracy, vocal elasticity.
In regard to songs arranged for different vocal parts, they
contribute to the development of harmonic hearing and they imply the
existence of special singing competencies as the ability to sing and
keep one’s voice simultaneously with the unfolding of the others, as
well as keeping the tempo that ensures an aesthetic performance, also
paying attention to the conductor in order to answer to the requirements
suggested by his/her gestures. The introduction to polyphony has to be
43
thoroughly prepared starting from the harmonic underpinnings, namely
the canon.
Liviu Comes describes a particular method that he makes
available for teachers involved in children’s musical education;
therefore, he introduces them to polyphony by means of a game,
different mixing procedures, recombination of the strains of various
songs, ornamenting the songs which are later on given to the same
vocal part or to a different one, thus accomplishing an imaginary
polyphony and then a real one in the act of performing26. For an
evolution in the direction proposed by the author, one has to start with
songs arranged for just one vocal part; one has to absorb thoroughly
this phenomenon starting from a primitive polyphony that exists in the
musical tradition of several people: ornaments, prolonged sounds,
imitations27. When children are able to perform correctly a song
arranged for one vocal part but with different variants of performance
(soloist-group, one verse sung aloud while the other mentally, girls-
boys), it is possible to go to the next level, i.e. real polyphony by
distributing its strains to two vocal parts.
The passage to polyphonic singing represents a reasonably
difficult step and this is why it has to be done delicately in order not to
push the children away from music given the difficulties that may
emerge in performance.
The nurturing of children’s voice aims to form certain qualities
such as: precision of intonation, flexibility, personal timbre, the right,
natural emission through the resonance of all the cavities, regulation of
breathing while singing, compliance with musical phrases, knowledge
regarding the right intensity dosage, clear pronunciation. All these
26Comes, Liviu, Op.cit., p. 33. 27Comes, Liviu, Lumea polifoniei, Editura Muzicală, Bucureşti, 1965, p. 76.
44
become the objectives of the teacher who is concerned about children’s
musical education. Due to desire, passion and consistent effort, to
choosing the appropriate song repertoire, the employment of modern
means therefore achieving an update in terms of the new technologies
used in teaching-learning new contents, but especially due to reaching
common frequencies, vibrations embodied by a good horizontal as well
as vertical relationship, children’s musical activities may be able to lure
them into this fascinating universe thus creating a pleasant work
environment that may lead to high level performances and to the
absorption of certain values for life.
Following various constructive conversations with teachers of
Musical Education and English (those who study it as a
foreignlanguage) the conclusion reached was that this inexhaustible and
very diversified resource in terms of form or content – song, musical
game based on song – increases the interest in class, because of joy to
sing, develops communication skills, optimizes linguistic acquisitions
while producing endless pleasure to the person involved in this kind of
activities.
The power of the song allows for the formulation of an
unanimous conclusion, namely the one that transforms it in learning
content, means for achieving musical education and inexhaustible
resource. The song is capitalised on as content when one learns it for its
beauty, for its aesthetic value. It is a means when the teacher turns to it
in order to introduce new elements of the musical language (notes,
duration, musical intensity, musical metre, tempo). As resource, songs
are an inexhaustible source of inspiration and good humour, of creating
a pleasant work environment and they are in everyone's reach.
45
2.2. The Instrument – Convergence Point of General Artistic
Education and Interpretative Performance
Studying an instrument is a great pleasure for those who practice
music constantly. Regardless of the skills that an interpreter has, the
study for one’s own pleasure, intellectual and sensitivity development
on the one hand and interpretive performance on the other, playing
music through personal involvement offers more satisfactions than just
listening to it in concert halls or with various electronic devices.
The musical instrument offers the possibility of choosing,
depending on the musical genetic code, between general artistic
education and interpretative performance. Anyone can easily handle
simple percussion instruments (small drum, maracas, triangle,
tambourine, claves), which involve a more rhythmic support of a song,
but one can choose, depending on their musical skills and motivation,
to study a more complex instrument (piano, violin, clarinet); in this
situation they will have to practice more in order to achieve good
interpretation, phrasing, technique, but also to acquire knowledge of
musical theory.
Instrumental music has several formative valences; hence,
listening to instrumental music is first and foremost a challenge to
listen to music and then totella story related to what is being listened to.
In this sense, but this time from the performer’s perspective, playing an
instrument provides the opportunity to tell a story without words. Both
situations require the use of the right part of the brain at full capacity,
which demands, exercises, and develops creativity, but it activates the
whole intellect due to the neuroplasticity of the brain (especially while
individual development is still in progress). This is generallythe
46
purpose of arts, music, painting, dance, theater, to be a real holistic
representation or vision in terms of the capacity to boost intelligence.28
For example, by playing the piano as an accessible early
instrument for study, brings many benefits for the learning process, by
developing levels that contribute to the creation of optimal conditions
for various acquisitions. The peculiarities regarding the study of the
piano, the fact that it is interpreted simultaneously in two keys, usually
the floor key for the right hand and the key for the left hand, in two
distinct systems of notation, vertical singing, requires logical-
mathematical thinking, a good perception and representation, the
development of two communication languages, stimulates memory,
imagination and creativity (in the desire to make their own
compositions), activates motivation and increases the capacity for
attention as well as multi-tasking activities.
The child learns the concepts of patience and perseverance, learns
that only with a lot of practicing someone can achieve the desired
results. The piano position, using fingers, allows the development of
fine motor skills, small hand muscles, and the precision of finger
movement will be used at school, during writing processes or other
skills. Musical hearing evolves, and it becomes an advantage in
learning the mother tongue or a foreign language due to a better
perception of the sounds; therefore it offers the possibility of a more
accurate pronunciation.
In terms of obtaining musical performance, the sooner the child
starts practicing the instrument, initially as a game, the more beneficial
it is for further development. Of course, the time allocated to practice is
required to be much longer than others who sing at a mediocre level for
28Importanța muzicii în viața ta, http://www.pianoaround.com/the-importance-of-music-in-
your-life/
47
their pleasure and those around them. Thus, the psychic processes are
more advanced in the case of children who reach interpretive
performance due to the musical experiences lived in childhood, which
become indispensable. Blum,29in a recent study, provides information
about the possibility to listen to music before birth; this will have
obvious positive and clear effects in later perceptual and motor
development. The sensations and perceptions have a higher level of
development, which favors the formation of deeper musical
representations therefore allowing a faster approach of the score, both
in terms of reading the notes and instrumental music technique.
Special musical skills are required to achieve superior
interpretive performance. Gardner's multiple intelligences theory
confirms that musical skills are an organic part of the intellectual
structure of the human being, in a latent form, and those will be
developed and transformed into musical performances depending on
internal as well as external factors.30Included in the category of internal
factors there is the genetic code that we have (the innate talent) and the
second class refers to the environment that can influence musical
formation. An eternal controversy arises regarding the innate or
assimilated character of musical talent. A satisfying explanation could
be that through sustained work and commitment we can achieve higher
musical performances starting from the musical skills that we are
endowed with, being early stimulated in listening/hearing and exposed
to numerous musical contexts.
No matter the way in which we decide to address the study of a
musical instrument, affective and effective participation to the process
29Blum, Thomas, Human proto-development: Very early auditory stimulatio, în „International
Journal Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine”, vol. 10, 1998, p. 447-466. 30Howe, M.J, Davidson, A, Sloboda J.A, Innate talent: Reality or myth?, în „Behavioral and
Brain Sciences”, vol. 21, 1998, p. 399-442.
48
of creating or performing music is very important. This aspect can be
masterfully endorsed by teachers by creating the proper musical
educational contexts in order to stimulatethe involvement in the
magical universe of music from a perceptive, auditory, visual
perspective. Children have to be trained and educated to listen to the
sounds around them, to distinguish between them from a timbral point
of view, to enjoy listening to a musical instrument, to savour the rests
between sounds, all of which contributing to the development of
auditory acuity meant to form future musicians.
2.3. Eurhythmy, sine-qua-non Condition in
Musical Education
Of Greek origin (eu “good” and rithmos “rhythm”), the concept
of eurhythmy describes a happy and proportionate structuring of the
parts forming a whole31 exhorting artistic beauty, symmetry and a true
symphony of the elements. Ever since ancient times, there has always
been a clear artistic concern towards the beautiful which involves
harmony, proportionality, coherence as an expression of physical,
artistic, psychological and spiritual development.
Rhythm, acting as one of the component parts of the concept of
eurhythmy, from the form of the word up to its content, has been
defined and extensively studied by professionals pertaining to different
fields of expertise. Professor PhD ConstantinRîpă, in his course on
Higher Music Theory,32 where he approaches Rhythm), analyses and
identifies the concept of rhythm (based on the Greek origin of the word
31Vancea, Zeno (coord.), Dicţionar de termeni muzicali, Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică,
Bucureşti, 1984. 32Rîpă, Constantin, Teoria superioară a Muzicii-Ritmul. vol. II, Editura MediaMusica, Cluj-
Napoca, 2002, p. 8.
49
reo which designates a flow) with movement as process or succession,
all unfolding simultaneously, pointing out two of its definitions, at a
macro as well as microstructural level.
In relation to the first category, rhythm emerges as perception
of all the components of a whole which is in movement. Transferred to
the musical field, rhythm refers to the overall process of movement,
encompassing the musical parameters (duration, pitch, tempo, dynamic,
timbre, harmony) in their overt complexity. At a microstructural level,
rhythm is reduced to durations which presuppose the setting over time
of different relations of the musical unfolding.33
Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), Austrian scientist (founder of a
new type of science – spiritual, anthroposophic, emerging in the late
20th century), artist and philosopher, highlights in his theories the
existence of three types of eurhythmy: pedagogic, artistic and
therapeutic34. His underlying concern is spirituality, the soul, their
natural development as centre of the human universe from which all his
pedagogical principles derive. Steiner is the founder of the Waldorf
pedagogy, an alternative in education grounded in norms which aim to
a harmonious physical development, better understanding of the other,
amplifying the power of will by means of solid motivation, reinforcing
inner sensitivity, all functioning under the umbrella of spirituality and
utter balance35.
Eurhythmy emerges as individual study discipline within
Waldorf education,36 with clearly outlined objectives stated according
33Ibidem. 34Albulescu, Ion, Pedagogii alternative, Editura All, Bucureşti, 2014, p. 102. 35Ibidem. 36Waldorf School – School initiated by the aforementioned Austrian pedagogue; the
denomination given after the name of the owner of a cigarette factory from Stuttgart who
wanted to open a school for the children of his employees. The pedagogical ideas from Waldorf
50
to the natural evolution of the child, their spirit having as generating
nucleus the rhythm with all its implications. Having rhythm as its
starting point, Waldorf philosophy sets a healthy alternation in the
teaching-learning process, an alternation between movement and
relaxation activities, between the means of accomplishment based on
listening and one’s own involvement, between individual and frontal
forms of organisation, ensuring a varied trajectory of the child towards
a harmonious education37.
Eurhythmyhas existed since Ancient times, but the 20th century
revived this concept, refashioned its appearance as Professor
NelidaNedelcuţ, PhD states. The author mentions the fact that
eurhythmia as contemporary method in education as well as form of
art, endorses the interdependency of three core dimensions –
movement, rhythm and sound – which remind us of the Greek
syncretism38.
Eurhythmy is the underlying principle of different methods for
musical education, the most obvious ones being endorsed by musicians
such as Dalcroze, Orff, greatly concerned with the musical
development of children in a manner as natural as possible, close to
their interests, appealing to a set of game-based activities. The benefits
of this educational model are obvious and are to be found in the
intellectual, emotional, artistic as well as psycho-motric development
of children. In the musical field, eurhythmy manages to develop, in a
complex environment and in the most pleasant way, the children’s
schools have eurhythmy as their constituent element and they are wide spread within the
educational systems of many schools from all over the world. 37Albulescu, Ion, Op.cit., p. 103. 38Nedelcuţ, Nelida, Euritmia, model contemporan de interconexiune între mişcare, ritm şi sune
, in revista Palestica Mileniului III, civilizaţie şi sport, March 2009 Vol. X, Nr. 1(35), Cluj-
Napoca, p. 40-42.
51
music instinct, their musical sensitivity, the ability to form perceptive
images to determine them to comprehend and live the music they are
listening toto the fullest. The children’s immersion in music takes place
gradually, complying with the peculiarities and needs of their age and
the body enables them to transpose it physically, to compose it, to
improvise.
Starting from Rudolf Steiner’s contributions, JaquesDalcroze
and Carl Orff have resourcefully joint musical sound and auditory
images with the visual ones, accomplishing a unique melange of artistic
forms by transposing the sonorities in the sphere of gestures, therefore
amplifying the expressive power of the sounds involved in speech or
songs39. The juxtaposition of the two directions sustains the joy of the
experiment, its uniqueness, the child being in the centre of the action; it
also explains problematic situations, it gets involved in a plenary
manner which results in the development of reasoning, it creates, it
forms new abilities for artistic expression. Music, a language with
complicated theoretical concepts, is more often than not abstract, but by
involving more analysers requested for its production by means of
varied techniques and methods, characteristic to the artistic forms
employed, these elements are organically assimilated, intuitively,
through movement and with a lot of creativity and imagination.
The institutions spread all over the world which turn to
eurhythmy in view of a plenary formation of the human personality at
any age, exploit in this regard an evolution in which games are mixed
with rules, freedom is associated with rigour and improvisation and
creative thinking are joint together towards a prolific artistic horizon40.
39Ibidem. 40Nedelcuţ, Nelida, Op.cit., p. 40-42.
52
Present in our life in different aspects and to different extents,
eurhythmy expresses the harmony existent between sounds, lines,
movement, as well as the systematic functioning of a rhythmical
organic activity41. This definition leads us towards the artistic field
(music, visual arts, dance) but also towards the medical field. In art it
emerges as the happy encounter of sounds within the melody, the
proportion of the lines in a piece of visual art work, the harmony of
dance movements, while the regularity of the pulse is a concern of the
medical field. Seen from the perspective of musical education, the two
directions characterise the activities carried on with the children,
embodied on the one hand by lessons based on songs accompanied by
movements, dance; on the other hand, by the ones based on rhythmical
poems and songs underpinned by pseudo-instruments, beats achieved
by means of the body or small percussion instruments. All of the above
point out the presence of eurythmia in children’smusical life by means
of a holistic approach of musical education and appealing to several
different artistic fields such as dance, poetry, graphics thus stressing the
fundamental principle of syncretism. The practice of music therefore
ensures, throughout one’s life, an inexhaustible source of harmony,
emotion, creativity and joy in the purest form.
2.4. The musical game
By playing, the child assimilates the intellectual realities that
otherwise remain external to their intelligence (Jean Piaget)
41Vancea, Zeno (coord.), Dicţionarul Explicativ al Limbii Române, Editura Univers
Enciclopedic Gold, Bucureşti, 2012.
53
From a scientific perspective, the game started to be studied in
the early 20th century though, ever since Ancient times scholars have
mentioned its positive, formative and informative valences. One
famous figure who considered the game as fundamental and core
feature of one’s existence on Earth was Johan Huizinga, a Dutch
historian, teacher and essayist who emphasized the importance of the
homo ludens dimension next to homo sapiens and homo faber42. In his
view, the game is the main forming element in human culture, being
defined by the author due to the functions that it holds: discharging
excessive energy or relaxing after tension.
The essence of the game resides in the process of reflexion and
metamorphosis by means of imagining the concrete, a phenomenon by
which the child enters a complex reality whom he/she gets accustomed
to gradually43. Along this rigorous itinerary, one may notice the
presence of factors that are configured in certain contradictions. The
game unfolds continuously therefore developing the child’s personality
by designing and finding solutions to the contradictions that may be
between:44
the child’s level in regard to maturing skills and his / her
intention to comply with the purpose of the objects;
the child’s intention to imitate the life of adults and his / her
much more limited possibilities;
aspirations and skills available to meet them;
the child’s freedom of action and the need to comply with the
rules of the game;
imitation – creativity;
42Huizinga, Johan, Homo ludens, Editura Humanitas, Bucureşti, 2012, p. 35. 43Ilica, Anton, Psihopedagogie, teoria şi metodologia jocului didactic, Educaţia-plus, Nr. 4,
Editura UAV, Arad, 2006, p. 111-112. 44Ibidem.
54
the anchorage of the game in reality and the mental dimension.
By comparison with the animal kingdom, Huizinga extracts several
core features of the game easy to be extrapolated in regard to human
culture. Thus, the game implies the need for an invitation, a certain
ritual with specific gestures, there is a set of rules that all the
participants have to comply with; every player has a specific attitude –
some being serious or even mean – and, maybe the most important
aspect, it brings a lot of pleasure and enjoyment, noticeable from the
outside45.
Throughout his / her life, the human being carries on numerous types of
activities46 and psychologists state that to each stage there is a
correspondence in a prevalent activity, as follows:
- the game during childhood;
- the process of learning during school years;
- work and creation as adults.
Between the four forms resulted from human interests along the
ontogenetic development there are not strict limits, they are naturally
interwoven; therefore children play mainly in their preschool period
and learn mainly during their school years; in the meantime the
preschool pupil matures cognitive knowledge by playing just like the
game represents a much more efficient and pleasant way for the young
pupil to absorb knowledge, being the tie that eases the passage from
kindergarten to school. The new structure of the Romanian educational
system consisting of various grades allows for numerous playful
activities during the infant class, so that the evolution of the child takes
place naturally according to the individual’s psycho-physiological-
somatic development.
45Huizinga, Johan, Op.cit., p. 39. 46Popescu-Neveanu, Paul, Creţu, Tinca, Zlate, Mielu, Psihologie-Manual pentru clasa a X-a
şcoli normale şi licee, Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti, 1996, p. 103-104.
55
The didactic game emerges as a rigorous version with clear teaching
objectives, used in class in order to render the process of maturing
knowledgemore efficient. It plays a plurivalent role and it develops
several facets of personality starting with the intellect (reasoning,
imagination, language, memory) and reaching other dimensions such as
the affective, motivational and volitional ones.
The didactic game emerges in two instances: as teaching method as
well as form of organization of the training-educational activity. No
matter the situation, it weaves together in a harmonious unity the tasks
that are characteristic to the game along with the objectives of the
learning process; it is undoubtedly the most efficient means in view of
consolidating knowledge, skills, practical and intellectual abilities,
maturing competencies, attitudes and values that will influence the
behaviors of the future adults.
In the past decades, research conducted in education emphasized the
significant importance of the active-participative methods which appeal
to creativity, imagination as well as the employment of didactic
strategies founded on the independent practical-applicative spirit of the
learner. As teaching method, the didactic game encompasses all the
aforementioned qualities; this approach becomes extremely efficient
when used masterfully, wittingly and skillfully by the teacher according
to the aims to be met with, the topic, the individual peculiarities and
age, the necessary materials at their disposal and the conditions in
which the teaching process is carried on.
As a complex forming and informing activity within the training-
educational process, stimulating and developing creativity and
therefore resulting in a boost of the pupils’ performances, the didactic
game implies an intricate structure based on the existence of various
components: scope, didactic task, elements as constituent parts of the
56
game, specific content, didactic resources employed, rules of the game
ensuring transparency and coherence47.
The musical game has considerable weight and plays an important role
in children’s musical education. For its better understanding two of its
instances are worthy of note: as teaching method alongside other
traditional and modern methods, but also as form of accomplishing the
didactic activity. Both options of its employment bring numerous
benefits to managing children’s musical education process, especially
in the case of the young ones for whom the game as activity takes up a
large part of their time throughout the day.
Due to the complexity of the configurations that it displays, the musical
game is classified according to various criteria. When associated with
different musical elements having a didactic function, it may emerge
as:48
- game accompanied by song (based on song);
- listening-based game (based on listening to a musical piece);
- game-type exercise (based on exercise).
The existence of one of these components, used by complying with the
specificity of the children’s age and having clearly delineated
objectives, turns the mere musical game into a musical didactic game
by taking the steps characteristic of the game: introduction of the game,
presentation of the resources, demonstration, trial execution followed
by children’s execution; it thencontinues with gradually rendering it
more difficult.
There are Romanian professionals who have analysed the musical game
from different perspectives showing high interest in this regard and
47Romănescu, Camelia, Jocul didactic în învăţământul primar, Editura Cadrelor Didactice,
Bacău, 2012, p. 12. 48Munteanu, Gabriela, Aldea, Georgeta, Didactica educaţiei muzicale în învăţământul primar,
Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti, 2001, p. 33.
57
therefore emphasising once more the impact of the game on the child’s
musical life. They tried to describe the proper contexts for using the
games and to provide methodological instructions sustained by solid
experience-based arguments to endorse their unfolding. Some of them
are George Breazul, Liviu Comes, AurelIvăşcanu, GabrielaMunteanu.
The afore mentioned scholars promote the major role that the game
plays in achieving didactic musical goals; theystress that this activity
covers a wide range of topics pertaining to the musical field but even
more so, it facilitates the evolution of different latent competencies49
aiming to the musical hearing (the sensitivity of the perceptions and of
auditory representations), intonation (voice inflexions, the right
intervals, the hearing-nervous system-vocal emission circuit),
rhythmical instinct (the right execution of various rhythmical
formulas), coordination of the movements with the melody.
Talking about musicality50, Liviu Comes mentions two of its consistent
components: natural endowment (overt musicality) and competencies,
skills gained by taking part in the proper musical contexts, within the
family or at school (latent musicality). Research conducted by the
author in pre-school and primary school contexts within groups of
pupils who benefit from the organization of an ongoing musical activity
(preferably carried on by specialized teachers) has demonstrated that
this climate provides and ensures the proper environment for
development in view of an enhancement of the musicality deficit for all
the participants51. The explanation resides in the fact that, in most of
the cases, musicality is latent, it exists somewhere, hidden; all one
needs to do is to create the proper framework for it to manifest itself,
the ideal means being the musical game. This is the role of the music
49Comes, Liviu, Op.cit., p. 7. 50Comes, Liviu, Op.cit., p. 9. 51Ibidem.
58
teacher, the kindergarten or primary teacher, namely to ensure the
necessary climate for such a development, aspect unconditionally
connected to didactic expertise, to the desire to find the most pleasant
and efficient ways to derive satisfaction from in view of a complex
development of the child’s personality.
Interested in Romanian musical education, VasileVasile
synthesizes a classification of the game by gathering together data from
various scholars in the musical field based on the main goal set for the
activity:52
1. Didactic musical games meant to form specific skills and
competencies:
- Melodic games
- Rhythmical games
- Games in view of timbral dissociation (vocal and intrumental)
- Games in view of absorbing the expressive means (nuances,
tempo)
2. Games for stimulating creativity and imagination:
- Games to design the form of a song
- Games meant to join melody to non-musical elements
(movement, image)
3. Games meant to make children socialize through music:
- Team building games
- Games to overcome shyness
- Games in order to form adherence to a common goal.
These musical games are joined by creativity games or show-like
games53 as means for achieving musical education with older adults as
52Vasile, Vasile, Metodica educaţiei muzicale, Editura muzicală, Bucureşti, 2004, p. 203. 53Ilea, Anca, Stoica, Magdalena, Petre, Beatrice, Muzică.Metodica pentru clasa a IX-a, Şcoli
Normale, Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti, 1992, p.45.
59
they require the acquisition of complex theoretical concepts and rich
practical experience.
The activities based on musical games underlie the successful
achievementof musical education, initial or advanced, by means of
world renowned methods. Hence, institutions have emerged in
Romania employing notorious concepts of practising the methods for
musical education (the Jacque-Dalcroze Institute54); they explore music
by having as guideline the principle that states that “experience should
be prior to science”. Studying closely the organic bond between bodily
movement and musicality, the process for carrying on the workshops
turns to all the senses of the human being, stressing the auditory, the
kinaesthetic, the tactile and the visual ones. By means of captivating
musical games participants of all age groups (from young babies to
adult-parents) get integrated from a sensorial point of view and they
approach music from a holistic perspective requiring the
immobilisation of the whole body in oreder to pick up on the sound
phenomenon.
Music can create another existential dimension when you let yourself
charmed by the beauty of timbral diversity and of instruments, when
you let your imagination wonder when you touch an instrument, when
you let yourself captured by its rhythms and carried away towards the
fascinating realm of dance. By associating music with concepts
borrowed from other fields as colour, diversity, innovation, some
guidelines have already been outlined in view of its interactive and
multicultural approach resulting in an efficient educational process.
Interfering with the general goals of any game whether organized with
a didactic purpose or free of it, its role is to bring pleasure, to create an
54Institutul Dalcroze Romania; The Institute was founded in Bucharest in 2015 following the
staff’s training in centres speciliased in the Dalcroze, Orff and Kodály musical education
methods
60
atmosphere of buoyancy underlain by an intrinsic motivation, i.e. to
develop social bonds between the participants, for affective
homogenization, free externalization of spontaneity and to educate
team work; all of the above thus result in the powerful emotions felt by
children.
The educational potentialities of musical games are higher than the
ones of other types of games as they are connected to various
elementary musical requirements (and needs) such as developing
musical hearing, rhythm, children voice training, cherishing love and
interest in music, in aesthetic beauty in general. The didactic musical
game, considering age differences, provides multiple educational
contexts, agreeable and entertaining, in view of absorbing the elements
aimed to by the goals of musical education related to rhythm, melody,
duration, pitch, expression, improvisation, intonation, agogics,
dynamics, and underlain by the indissoluble unity existent between
music, dance and poetry.
61
CHAPTER III
Benefits of the Involvement of Music in
the Growth of Human Personality
62
63
3.1. The Influence of Music on the Learning Process
Music, no matter one’s age, represents an important component
of life and a source that contributes to the regulation of one’s emotional
state. George Enescu, talking about this constant feature of his life,
used to say that it is part of the first memories he recalled of his
childhood and his entire being, reasoning, pulsation, life had been
interwoven with music.55 Extrapolating to a general human level,
crossing the borders of the realm of classical music, one may state that
this magical universe accompanies us constantly and brings colour and
expression to our life.
Music has been present in the life of the human being as early as
the times when humanity was organised in tribes and perhaps even
earlier than that; tribes used to have rituals or customs which involved
melody and rhythm, lasting up to the present day. JacǫueChailley talks
about the oldest proof of music history referring to a painting
discovered in the cave of Ariège which embodies a musical bow dated
40.000 years ago.56 It is hard for us to imagine over such a long period
of time how our lives would have been in the absence of musical
sounds. If all these were erased from all older or more recent electronic
formats, if all musical instruments disappeared as well as any other
object able to produce music, music would still endure because people
would start to sing.
Our body reacts positively to enjoyable music. One possible
explanation may be the fact that one of the most important dimensions
of music is rhythm, and rhythm is an inborn feature of the human
being, as well as an important component of one’s life. As early as
55Gavoty, Bernard, Amintirile lui George Enescu, Editura Muzicală, Bucureşti, 1982, p. 26. 56Chailley, Jacǫues, 40.000 de ani de muzică, Editura Muzicală, Bucureşti, 1967, p.6.
64
intrauterine life, the child listens to the mother’s heartbeats and
breathing which relates to the concept of rhythm. Further on, one
comes across rhythm in nature in the form of the succession of day and
night, the alternation of the seasons, in the Universe embodied by the
rotation of the planets, in our daily life, in the series of daily activities,
in the intellectual, affective and emotional development of each and
every one of us.
Rudolf Steiner57 (according to Albulescu, 2014), the founder of
Waldorf pedagogy as mentioned previously, pays due attention to the
great importance rhythm has in regard to the harmonious development
of the child and he associates the human biological rhythm to cosmic
rhythms: day, month, year. The proper weight each type of activity
carries results in eurhythmy, the concept that underlies Waldorf
pedagogy. It grows both spirit and body as it is an art of the movement
visualising musical and spoken sounds by means of gestures.58
A renowned representative of this line of thought also exploring
how rhythm is involved in children’s musical education is Émile
Jacques Dalcroze (1865-1950), Austrian pedagogue, who employs
rhythmic and movement exercises which underlie the child’s discovery
of the immediate space. The body is integrated as a unitary whole that
brings together intellect, movement and emotion, therefore favouring
learning related to what is around us and to life itself. The initiation in
musical education has as its starting point this concept based on
rhythmical movement, preparing the entire body for the practice of
music59.
57Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) - Austrian pedagogue, initiator of a pedagogical concept based on
activities comprising movement, meditation which prevalently develop artistic skills: creativity,
fantasy, imagination. 58Albulescu, Ion, Op. cit., p. 102. 59Munteanu, Gabriela, De la didactica muzicală la educaţia muzicală, Editura Fundaţiei
„România de Mâine”, Bucureşti, 1997, p. 130.
65
Children prevalently manifest their desire and need to express
themselves through music this being their inner nature and they join
gladly any activity accompanied by melody: they often sing at the
playground, whenever they feel the need to express joy, to
communicate their happiness. The child has to be encouraged from an
early age to listen to music, to move according to its rhythms and to
sing or play an instrument due to the benefits that it brings in relation to
the learning process and to building one’s character.
We live in a society characterised by an ongoing state of change
which forces us to adapt constantly to the social climate in which we
carry on our activity. This aspect requires permanent learning, greater
flexibility in getting oriented towards a specific field and proper
training to cover a wide range of activities, hinting therefore to the
well-known syntagmcontinuous learning.
The issues characterising contemporary society and its effects on
the field of education have led to the employment of various concepts
along with the aforementioned one, such as: lifelong education, adult
education, self learning, self training, self education.60
The presence of music in relation to the learning process is
extremely important and beneficial due to the impact it has on the
cognitive processes involved in learning and in overall human
development. Research conducted over the last decades in regard to
learning has demonstrated that the universe of the musical sounds,
integral part of our lives by the different forms it embodies – song,
musical game with movement, listening to musical strains, instrumental
performance or rhythmical poems – influences significantly by means
of a constant musical education process, the development of certain
60Ionescu, Miron, Instrucţie şi educaţie, „Vasile Goldiş” University Press, Arad, 2007, p. 433.
66
parts of the brain and favours peculiar neuronal connections which
contribute to the achievement of higher cognitive performances.
Katie Davis and Gregory J. Crowther, professors at the University
of Washington, are renowned personalities who conducted solid
experimental research and obtained significant results within STEM,61
founded in the United States of America. Activities within this
association are grounded in a curriculum that aims to the principle of
educating children from the perspective provided by four specific
subjects: science, technology, engineering and mathematics within an
interdisciplinary approach in view of learning enhancement in the field
of science. They conducted an experiment starting from various studies
regarding the importance of music, also considered a proper tool for
enhancing science-related education in schools. Their interests resulted
in the foundation of the Sing about science and math-songs for
teaching, learning and fun organization which provides numerous
direction and related resources in order to improve learning; therefore
the importance and the role of music were emphasised in relation to
learning abstract concepts in a more pleasant, appealing fashion.
The studies were conducted on over 100 respondents with an
average age of 12. The first study has as its starting point the question-
topic Can watching science music videos improve student’s
comprehension of scientific concepts? The methodology employed and
the results obtained were published in the article entitled Leveraging
the power of music to improve science education (Gregory J. Crowther,
Tom McFadden, Jean S. Fleming, & Katie Davis), in International
Journal of Science Education. According to the results, pupils who
watched a musical clip regarding a specific aspect of the world of
science, didactically transposed according to their age, achieved better
61STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), https://stem.org/
67
learning outcomes compared to the ones who had been deprived of
music; the results were endorsed by direct answers to questions and by
a deeper understanding of the concepts; it was therefore proven that
music represents a promising introduction into the conceptual field of
other sciences62.
Due to the favourable impact of music and of arts in general, but
also in relation to the world of science, the organization has now a new
configuration, STEAM, the arts being also introduced in the system.
Another interesting study is the one that compares the effects of
learning after watching a clip about fossils (Fossil Rock Anthem63) also
employing music and of another one which presents the same content
but in the absence of music. Following the experiment, the two samples
of pupils (the experimental and the control one) filled in the assessment
tests by giving answers provided before the viewing (pre-test),
immediately after the viewing (post-test) and 28 days from the viewing
(long distance test). Both groups got significantly better results after
watching the clip, but the evaluation of the long distance test
highlighted the persistence of knowledge over time for the respondents
of the experimental sample, the ones who watched the clip
accompanied by music, the musical element playing a key role in long
term learning. Hence, embedding music in learning activities results
not only in benefits in regard to mnemotechniques, but also transforms
the classes in interactive activities and provides access to knowledge
and scientific concepts64.
62Crowther, Gregory, McFadden, Tom, Fleming, Jean, Davis, Katie, Leveraging the power of
music to improve science education, articol din revista International Journal of Science
Education, Volume 38, 2016, p. 73-95. 63Fossil Rock Anthem, http://www.npr.org/sections/can-songs-help-you-learn-scientific-
concepts 64Crowther, Gregory, McFadden, Tom, Davis, Katie, Op. cit. p.73-95.
68
These studies demonstrate the utility of music in different fields
of activity as well as educational contexts; also worthy of note, the
importance of achieving solid musical education of children therefore
contributing to the formation of a personality capable of higher
intellectual acquisitions and underlain by organised activities that bring
pleasure and immediate satisfaction.
3.2. Musical Intelligence and Logical-Mathematical:
Typological Synapses
Conventional wisdom has it that music is present in everyday life.
Ever since ancient times scientist have stressed the importance of music
throughout the evolution of humanity due to its beneficial effect visible
at emotional level (the simple pleasure of singing, playing or listening
to music), social (rituals that accompany the main events of a human’s
life and involve the presence of music) as well as at cognitive level (the
relationships that exist between music and other fields of science).
Along these lines, the great Greek philosopher and mathematician
Pythagoras states that there is a certain geometry in the display of
mathematical sequences as music exists even in regard to the distancing
of spheres. The symbiosis between these two fields is later on
highlighted by opinions of researchers such as James Sylvester who
considered that mathematics is the music of reason or Gottfried
Wilhelm von Leibniz who thought that music is the mathematics of the
soul which does not know that it is counting.
Ever since those times the evolution of the human kind has been
studied from different perspectives. The study of human cognition has
been a concern for many fields of expertise such as psychology,
69
pedagogy, philosophy as well as the medical field especially in the last
century. The evolution of the human being, their cognitive
development, the possibility to delineate and forge the directions of
intellectual progress accompanied by solid scientific evidence, they all
lead to surprising findings one must be aware of in order to master and
guide the scientific advancesfurther on. Teachers must master these
findings and continue the directions of research in order to ensure the
optimal evolution of all the fields of knowledge by means of the school
curriculum.
3.2.1. Multiple Intelligences. Musical and Logical-
Mathematical Intelligence
Neuroscience (French neurosciences), a domain derived from the
advanced study in the medical field, provides multiple explanations for
a better understanding of the brain and the ability to have neuronal
connections in an original manner. The concept was coined in the early
1970s and it defines the pool of brain sciences such as: neurobiology,
psychophysiology, psychobiology, neuroethology, neuropsychology,
neurophilosophy. There is an attempt to integrate other areas of
expertise such as psychophysiology, psychobiology and neurobiology
within the field of cognitive psychology.65
Intelligence is defined by scholars as the psychological function
or pool of functions due to which the organism adjusts to the
environment elaborating original combinations of behaviours, acquires
and employs new knowledge and eventually reasons and solves
65Popa, M. D., Stănciulescu, A., Matei, G. F., Tudor, A., Zvăgărdici, C., Chiriacescu, R.,
Dicționar Enciclopedic, Editura Enciclopedică, București, 1993-2009.
70
problems according to the rules that result from the information
received by means of logic.66
Romanian scholars in the field of psychology67 explain the
concept of intelligence as a real fact as well as a potential one both in
terms of it seen as a process and as aptitude or capacity, both as form
and attribute of mental and behavioural organization.
Being intelligent can be exteriorized in different ways due to the
multiple abilities that people often manifest and employ in daily
activities. The Intelligence Quotient (IQ) measured by means of
standardized tests (aiming at language and logical-mathematical
intelligence) usually targets intellectual dexterities related to words and
numbers, skills used to memorize them and to relay different patterns,
stressing less the social perspective, art, nature.
Dr. Howard Gardner, Professor at Harvard University, concerned
with the process of human learning (in young children as well as adults)
proves that the concept of homogeneous school, i.e. a unidimensional
vision of assessing human mind based on IQ is limited and he
advocates for a new approach to learning completely different from the
previous one;this also generates a different conception of the school
system. The new alternative is grounded in eight different types of
intelligence and it encompasses a wide spectrum of the human
cognition as briefly described hereof:68
66Doron, Roland, Parot, Francoise, Dicţionar de psihologie, Editura Humanitas, Bucureşti,
2006. 67Popescu-Neveanu, Paul., Dicționar de psihologie, Editura Albatros, București,1978 68Gardner,Howard., Inteligențe multiple. Noi orizonturi, Editura Sigma,București, 2006, p. 12-
13.
71
Table no. 3. Howard Gardner’s Eight Intelligences
Intelligence Description
Linguistic An ability to analyze information and create
products involving oral and written language
such asspeeches, books, and memos.
Logical
Mathematical
An ability to develop equations and proofs,
make calculations, and solve abstract
problems.
Spatial An ability to recognize and manipulate large-
scale and fine-grained spatial images
Musical An ability to produce, remember and make
meaning of different pattern of sound.
Naturalist An ability to identify and distinguish among
different types of plants, animals, and weather
formations that are found in the natural world.
Bodily
Kinesthetic
An ability to use one’s own body to create
products or solve problems.
Interpersonal An ability to recognize and understand other
people’s moods, desires, motivations, and
intentions.
Intrapersonal An ability to recognize and understand one’s
own moods, desires, motivations, and
intentions.
Later on, Gardner explained the possibility of the existence of
other types of intelligence, existential and naturalist, but these do not
yet benefit from sufficient scientific underpinnings.
Regarding the two types of intelligences, Gardner briefly
describes each one: logical mathematical intelligence is an ability to
develop equations and proofs, make calculations, and solve abstract
problems and music intelligence is an ability to produce, remember, and
make sense of different pattern of sound. When describing the types of
intelligence Gardner emphasizes the fact that they are independent the
one from the other in the sense that a high level of mathematical
intelligence does not also involve enhanced musical intelligence which
72
contrasts with the traditional standardized IQ tests, actually a correct
assessment of human intelligence.69
In order to render this explanation even more comprehensive, the
author introduces the concept of cultural role which requires a plurality
of intelligences. Therefore, a good violinist also needs, besides musical
intelligence which provides him / her qualitative training, other types of
intelligence as the interpersonal one, in order to create a bond with the
audience;also bodily-kinaesthetic skills in view of a better coordination
of the movement of the hands, fingers and body.
In his turn, Dr. Thomas Armstrong70, conducting research in the
field of human intelligence, wrote his book entitled You’re Smarter
Than You Think, which sets out to be a true educational guide in the
field of self-awareness, for children as well as for teachers or parents.
The problem arised and emphasized is that the majority of educational
and cultural systems are the Homogeneous school-type within which
only the intelligences capitalised on by IQ testing (verbal and logical-
mathematical) are valued, while ignoring the other dimensions of the
human intelligence. It is clear that every one of us benefits from these
types of intelligence but to different extents, while one dimension is
prevalent.
The book reveals some important aspects in the field of human
intelligences:
• The categories of intelligence are different but equally
important;
• Every dimension can be explored, developed, amplified;
• Intelligence expresses itself differently for each type;
69Gardner,Howard., Op.cit., p. 31. 70Armstrong, Thomas, Ești mai inteligent decât crezi, Editura Curtea Veche, București, 2011,
p. 16.
73
• The human being is not limited to one type of intelligence, even
though he/she might excel in one direction;
• There is an ongoing cooperation between the types of
intelligence in our activities;
• The eight dimensions are to be found in all cultures and
throughoutthe age spectrum.
The theory of multiple intelligences broadens the range of the
possibilities of knowledge beyond the conventional methods employed
in education (verbal and logical-mathematical).
Musical intelligence is asserts itself when one truly loves and
appreciates music. It represents the ability to recognize and analyze
sounds, rhythms, melodies, patterns, to be sensitive to tones, to the
qualities of the musical sound (intensity, duration, height and timbre),
the ability to create and reproduce music, using musical instruments or
the voice. This type of intelligence involves active listening, increased
sensitivity to environmental sounds and requires a strong connection
between music and the ability to respond emotionally to it. Musical
intelligence is present when a person discovers the melosin the songs of
the birds, in the rhythm and noises of the city, in the sounds produced
by machines in factories, by the train ride but especially in vocal song
or instrumentalperformance.71
Logical-mathematical intelligence comes in two distinct forms.
The first one, the logical dimension, is related to processes, reasoning
(inductive or deductive), orders, classifications, cause-effect relations
and problem solving, and it surfaces when a person makes certain
deductions easily, formulates hypotheses and conclusions, even without
following all the algorithmic process. The latter, the mathematical
dimension, refers to numbers, working easily with them, having
71Armstrong, Thomas, Op., cit., p. 35-37.
74
guaranteed success in activities involving numbers; it is evident when
those who manifest this type of intelligence can easily make the process
of calculating in their mind, they quickly notice certain relationships
between numbers, they like to work with numbers.
3.2.2. The Expression of Logical-Mathematical Elements in the
Musical Field
The musical universe is an extremely prolific one and an
areastrongly connected with numerous scientific fields; this results in
different perspectives of approach.
Connections to the field of mathematics are made at many levels,
as illustrated in the descriptions below. Musicologist Iosiv Sava,
speaking to composer and mathematician ȘtefanNiculescu, highlights
the presence of mathematics in the composition process and talks about
its strong involvement in musical compositions72. Later, as it happens in
many areas, the human being was replaced by the computer and, based
on special programs, musical compositions were generated. Of course,
in the artistic field, the presence of the creative side of the human being
is compulsory.
Niculescu, speaking of the extension of the sound material, from
the sinusoidal sound to electro-acoustic conglomerates, from the sounds
of traditional instruments to everyday city noises (horn, screams),
emphasizes the presence of some compartments of mathematical
research, regarding the structure of the sound matter as well as the
development of this sound variety in time73.
72Niculescu, Ștefan, Reflecții despre muzică, Editura Muzicală, București, 1980, p. 318-319. 73Ibidem.
75
Musical Rhythm and Mathematics
A fundamental dimension of music is the rhythm (along with
melody, intensity, tempo). Rhythm has been defined and studied
extensively by specialists from different fields as it emerges in every
moment of our lives, whether we refer to the heart rate, the rhythm of
speech, musical rhythm, the succession of daily activities, the
alternation of night and day, the succession of seasons.
The study of musical durations and their corresponding rests is
made in strong connection with numbers and with the field of
mathematics. As illustrated in the next image, mathematical links
between durations can be easily established. On each line the total
number of times calculated is four:
Figure no. 1. Musical durations
The same happens in regard to the musical meter, known as
measuring the succession of accents and durations, which is based on
musical rhythm, but the meter refers to a programmed succession of
these musical accents. Thus, in the 2/4time signatures the accent comes
with every second beat, while in the 3/4 time signatures the accent
comes with every third beat and the 4/4 time signatures have two
76
accents: a main accent that repeats at every four beat and a secondary
one, the third beat of each measure.
Figure no.2. 3/4 time signatures
As illustrated in the adjacent figure, at the beginning of each staff
the time signature is written after the clef and key signature. The image
of time signatures looks like two numbers arranged like a fraction. This
sign tells us how the music construction is to be counted. The top
number 3, which is written above tells us how many beats to count. The
bottom number 4 tells us what kind of note to count in each measure.
The aid of mathematics is essential because it helps make additions and
subtractions to create a rhythmical variety.
By changing a variable, the same ternary bar can have number 8
as a type of note to count (number 8 below, which is half of the
quarter), which implies new organizations of the rhythmic material.
Adding another change, number 6 on top, the system will be different,
and a time signature of 6/8 means count 6 eighth notes to each bar.
Suddenly the system changes, the initial data, and the music are
organized from a different perspective: 6/8 is grouped into 2 groups of
3 eight notes and 3/4 time would be grouped into 3 groups of 2 eight
notes. People characterized by a high level of mathematical intelligence
will easily find opportunities to combine durations and rests or to think
in this new system.
Even simple poems can be put on the staff through durations and
bars, replacing the syllables in the text:74
74Sârb, Diana, Abordări praxiologice în didactica muzicală: învățarea limbii engleze, Editura
MediaMusica, Cluj-Napoca, 2018, p. 85.
77
Animals from the farm
Move to the rhythm, move to the beat
Move your body and move your feet:
Dog can bark- woof, woof
Hourse can jump-jump, jump, jump
Cat can snore-brrrrrrrrrrrr
Duck can swim
(movement counting to 4)
Move to the rhythm, move to the beat
Move your body and move your feet:
Cow eat grass-hmmmmm
Mouse can run-1,2,3
Sheep can sing-baa, baa
Hen ley egs-cluck, cluck
Move to the rhythm, move to the beat
Move your body and move your feet.
Figure no. 3. Poem with rhythmical notation
Symmetries in the Analysis of Various Musical Works
Music is a language, and, like any communication system, has
some structural rules. At the morphological level, the musical language
creates its own semantic structures and at the syntactic level several
components are mixed together. The way of organizing the sound
moments leads to a musical important concept which is musical form.75
75Timaru, Valentin, Dicționar noțional și teminologic, Editura Universității,Oradea, 2002.
78
It can be immediately associated with the mathematical domain, in
terms of the geometry level (geometric shapes and figures).
Therefore, musical creations take on different forms that lead to
the emergence and analysis of certain architectural typologies,
depending on the stylistic era they were composed in. The symmetry
principle regarding the form of construction of the musical work is the
basis of many musical genres that have emerged over time, such as: the
fugue, the sonata, the symphony.
Bach’s creation, in essence, is based on the principles of
mathematics. For example, by adding the numbers corresponding to his
name in the alphabet, B A C H (2 + 1 + 3 + 8), the result is number 14
and those which include the other initials of his name add up to 41, that
is, 14 in reverse. The fact, which is not accidental,
demonstratesBach’spredisposition towards the law of symmetry and
universal harmony in his creations. This is also proven in the organ
choral piece Von deinen Throntretich hermit, where the first part has 14
notes and all the score has 41.76
Bach also associated his own name with cryptograms. Thus,
BACH, transformed in musical notes would be:
Figure no. 4. BACH Cryptograms
The motif is frequent in the creation of the great composer, both in
direct form and in the mirror version. These structures require
transposition into other tones, which implies the presence of logical-
76Liern Carrión, Vicente, Las matematicas de J. S. Bach, Revista Suma, vol. 61, junio, 2009,
p.113-118.
79
mathematical intelligence, because any transposition means a
movement of the same sound material with one or more musical notes
above or below, that means structures, systems, calculations on the
staff.
Other phenomenon, the principle of imitation, can be observed in
some of Bach’s creations (and other composers), such as the imitative
technique musical genres, called invention or fugue, which are based on
the principle of repetition of a rhythmic-melodic pattern, according to
structural rules. From a musical thinking perspective, the entry of each
new voice implies transposition at the specific intervals of fifth, in the
following succession: subject, answer, countersubject, counterpoint,
free section.
After a syntactic analysis of the musical language, we can move to
another level of the connection of these two fields, mathematics and
music, which is represented by the morphological analysis of the song.
Some musical language terms, as phrase, period, according to some
structural patterns are related through mathematics; a period is made up
of two phrases (antecedent and consistent) and each phrase can have 4
bars (4 + 4 = 8 the equivalent of 8 bars in a musical period).
The Involvement of Numbers in Musical Harmony
Musical harmony approaches the musical field at a technological
level. Its object is the study of the chords and their succession, as well
as the learning of the technique of harmonizing a song.77
77Marcu, Șerban, Curs de armonie, Academia de Muzică Gheorghe Dima,Cluj-Napoca, 2014.
80
The second great dimension of music, together with rhythm, is
melody. The studyof the pitch of musical sounds is an important part of
music, representing the basis for practicing music. Mathematics is
already involved by establishing the level of pitch between sounds.
Pitch in music is the position of a single sound in the complete range of
sound. Sounds are higher or lower in pitch according to the frequency
of vibration of the sound waves producing them, a phenomenon based
on many mathematical and physical concepts. When the individual
thinks in intervals, a high level of logical-mathematical intelligence
favours the melodic reading of the sounds. If we add the rhythm
parameter two systems overlap, rhythm and melody; the two, endorsed
by the mathematical components, result in the musical phenomenon
entitled solfège.After acquiring the musical notes, the musical intervals
are learned, which implies the succession (melodic interval) or the
overlap (harmonic interval) of two sounds.
Figure no. 5. Musical Intervals
Intervals involve high level of mathematical knowledge. Musical
consecrated notes (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si and do repeated at octave)
are numbered with Roman numerals from I to VIII and musical
intervals, the distance from one note to another, with Arabic numerals.
The principles previously described are endorsed by mathematical
intelligence, but their transposition from C scale to other tonalities
depends especially on the level of musical intelligence.
In music, chords involve playingsimultaneously three sounds (at
least), arranged as third (root position, fourth or second).
81
Figure no. 6. Chords in C major scales
A chord is said to be in its root position when its root is the lowest
note. A three-note chord or triad may also stand in its first or second
inversion. A chord stands in its first inversion when its third is the
lowest note. It is in second inversion when its fifth is the lowest note. In
the following example, the major triad of C stands in its root position
and first and second inversion respectively:
Figure no.7. Chord-root position, first and second inversion
Music is both science and art, it is an important component of
human nature, existing in all cultures, generating joy and pleasure by
means of interpretation or listening. Music is scientifically explained
ever since Pythagoras’ time, while connections between mathematics
and music have been signalled since ancient times. Furthermore,
nowadays we are also studying possibilities to streamline the
functioning of the brain which involves relationships between different
types of intelligence, corresponding to different cortical areas.
Music is often referred to as the mathematics of sounds due to the
numerous synapses that occur between the two fields of knowledge.
Thus, it becomes a valuable tool for the analysis of some essential
structural elements of the human personality, as cognition, affectivity,
by highlighting some brain mechanisms. Neuropsychological
investigations realized in the last century resulted in the mapping of
brain areas and their functions; they also led to the identification of the
82
areas responsible for certain cognitive operations (developed in the next
chapter). These areas correspond to different types of information.
Mathematical sciences benefit from strong transfer qualities with
high applicability. Based on the elements of mathematical thinking,
children (adults as well) develop certain general competencies used for
learning: the capacity of thinking logicallyand of creative initiative,78
which demonstrate the presence of a high level of mathematical
intelligence. This transfer effect applies to several areas of knowledge,
including music, and it is visible in parameters such as musical rhythm,
melody, harmony.
However, the art of the musical sounds is still the universe that
embodies the emotional and subjective side of the human beingat the
highest level and the mathematical field doesn’t provide qualities such
as musical imagination, a specific human characteristic.79
In order to ensure the progress of a society, the need for multiple
intelligences arises, due to the variety of our activities. It can start from
the approach of education in school. It is important to balance the use of
multiple intelligences, to pay more attention to children with artistic or
naturalistic skills, but also to children often described as having
learning problems or attention issues during activities. All of them,
because of their special thinking, should be encouraged to express
themselves in their special areas in order to obtain optimum
performance.
78Csire, Iosif, Educația muzicală din perspectiva creativității,Universitatea de Muzică,
București, 1998, p. 40. 79Niculescu, Ștefan, Reflecții despre muzică, Editura Muzicală, București, 1980, p. 318-319.
83
3.3. Musical and Linguistic Intelligence – Operating
Dichotomy in regard to the Development of
Communication Skills
3.3.1. The Complementary Character of Musical and
Linguistic Intelligence
Starting from the previous description of multiple intelligences
one can state that comprehension, development and awareness of the
existence of such, becomes extremely important in orderto form the
personality of an individual. In regard to the educational field, a balance
needs to be struck when it comes to all 8 directions of multiple
intelligence, paying due attention to children who are artistically gifted
or endowed with nature-related predispositions, but also to children
who are often labeled as having learning or focusing issues during
activities. All of the above, due to their own peculiar manner of
reasoning, have to be guided and encouraged to express themselves in
the fields they have propensity for therefore providing the context
needed to perform and not being demotivated because of the fact that
they do have the satisfying skills in the traditional fields, i.e. linguistic
and logical-mathematical.
Research shows that there are many connections between musical
and linguistic intelligence; similarities have been observed in regard to
the way the brain functions for both fields.
Musical intelligence includes sensitivity to the elements of the
musical language, to the qualities of the sound, it implies an active and
sensitive listening, establishment of strong bonds between music and
emotions. This type of intelligence represents the ability to perceive,
transform, appreciate and express music. Most people possess, to some
84
extent, aptitudes that mirror musical intelligence, but there are just a
few who can use it at high level.
Musical intelligence and talent have always been a highly
debateable topic for specialists in the field of music. In his book, The
measurement of musical talent, Seashore, in close relation to musical
practice, identified the existence of several distinct components that
may be structured in five categories: sensations – identification of the
qualities of the musical sound, of harmony; musical activity – mastery
of the means and elements of the musical language; memory and
musical imagination; musical intelligence – the ability to feel the music,
to make connections, to be agood observer; feelings – musical taste, the
ability to react, to express oneself through music80. Still, all these
directions do not carry the same weight. In his study, Seashore also
designed a test which led to complaints from musicians.
Communication through language is the one that helps the human
being to develop, to initiate and keep relationships with the people
around him/her; it relates to the social dimension of human existence
and its evolution. The directions of communication are extremely
complex; they comprise the exchange of information, ideas, beliefs,
related emotions, but also listening, receiving messages. The
employment of the registers and approaches specific to communication
enables us to establish a balanced relationship with the people around
us where we can assert ourselves as individuals with distinct
personalities, which leads to the progress of knowledge and
communication.
Communication skills in our native tongue help us transmit easily
what we want. In a modern society in which the educational objectives
require the complex training of the individual in order to handle
80Seashore, Carl, The measurement of musical talent, Oxford University Press, The Musical
Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jan., 1915), p. 129-148.
85
successfully the requirements aiming to current social insertion,
knowing English as the official international language represents a
major transversal competency. Complex acquisitions, rigorously
grounded in this language, shall broaden each person’s possibility to get
to know different fields, provide access to multiple educational or
work-related contexts, all of which being prone to be achieved at
European or even global level.
Learning a foreign language implies first and foremost the
efficient exploration of the mix between linguistic and musical
intelligence which, according to researchers, are complementary and
influence one another, but also the training of the other types of
intelligence, contributing to the upbringing of a complex personality.
Linguistic intelligence aims to the ability to use one’s mother
tongue and to excel in this field; but also a foreign language, to express
thoughts, desires, intentions, hence in view of a better communication
with the people around. The ability to learn easily a foreign language
demonstrates the existence, to a reasonable extent, of linguistic
intelligence. This type of intelligence manifests itself prevalently when
the individual is passionate about words and the ways in which they are
used in reading, writing, spoken communication. People whose
linguistic intelligence is higher think more in words than in images. To
be receptive to the sonority of words, to puns and their design, to be
sensitive to patterns, to have good memory skills for general
knowledge, to write well in terms of orthography, grammar and
creativity in relation to a given topic, to be a good public speaker who
arouses the public’s interest through form and content of their speech,
to learn quickly a foreign language, all of these are ways by which the
existence of high-level linguistic intelligence is proven.81
81Armstrong, Thomas, Op. cit., p. 16.
86
Both directions may be improved upon and may complete one
another having a complementary effect, but also by the other types of
intelligence for a greater efficiency in the activities carried on by the
human being. Therefore, if musical intelligence is high, linguistic
intelligence may be improved by reading aloud words for better
listening to their sonority, by uttering rhythmically words or
expressions that have to be memorised or by writing what one hears or
imagines when carried away by the music. Moreover, if linguistic
intelligence is higher, it may be beneficial to the evolution of musical
intelligence by focusing one’s attention on the lyrics of a song, on the
way in which they complete harmoniously the melody or on the ability
to relay through music the plot of the story82.
Music is an important component of human nature, existent in all
cultures when it comes down to a core analysis of the history of
humanity, bringing joy and pleasure of performing or listening to it.
Thus, it becomes a valuable tool in order to analyse the key structural
elements of human personality such as cognition, affectivity, by
stressing various brain mechanisms. Neuropsychological investigations
conducted over the last century have led to the emergence of a map of
the brain areas and their functions and to the identification of the
corresponding areas for certain cognitive operations.83
Musical activity appeals to numerous regions of the brain and it
involves a multitude of neuronal subsystems especially the frontal and
temporal lobes. The frontal lobe is specialised in spatial perception,
motor skills, decoding of signals received from the senses and it
provides a high level of “perceptive organisation”, while the temporal
lobe is responsible for hearing and memory84. Different cortical areas
82Armstrong, Thomas, Op. cit., p. 48. 83Levitin, Daniel, Creierul nostru muzical, Editura Humanitas, București, 2010, p.97. 84Levitin, Daniel, Op. cit., p.98-99.
87
correspond to the numerous musical aspects which are specialised on
identifying the characteristic features of the musical signals that allow
for the analysis of parameters such as timbre, pitch, intensity and
tempo.
Research conducted in regard to the way the brain works
emphasised the fact that there is a strong bond between musical and
linguistic intelligence due to the similar functioning of these
communication systems, music and language, the ones responsible at
the level of brain wiring being the frontal and temporal lobes;
consequently, neuronal connections are produced in the same cortical
area. Hence, a similarity between music syntax and the syntax of the
spoken language has been highlighted in terms of the auditory
perception of vocal and instrumental timbre; other qualities such as
pitch, intensity, duration were aimed to, being the ones that characterise
the sung or spoken sound. There is an acoustic equivalence between
“musical timbre” and “phoneme”, and the analysis of musical syntax
involves a calculation of the melodic relation between intervals and
harmonics between the functions of the chords aiming to musical
structure, as well as an assessment of the ties between words and their
functions as expression of grammatical structure85.
Certain musical or linguistic patterns result in the emergence at
the level of the brain of certain patterns of neuronal activity localised in
well defined cortical areas. Besides this regional specificity, one has to
apply the principle of the distribution of functions according to which
there is not just one centre for music or language, but rather some
regions are configured where elementary operations are carried on and
other which organise the collection of these pieces of information. The
ability that renders possible these operations, also suggesting temporary
85Koelsch, Stefan, Toward a neural basis of music perception – a review and updated model, în
TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, Vol.9 No.12, 2005, p. 578-584.
88
regional specificity, is the plasticity of the brain (neuroplasticity) which
ensures the quick reorganisation of the perception of signals, and, in
case of deterioration of a cortical area, the processing centres of the
mental functions move towards other regions of the brain86.
In the thorough study on the neuronal bond between music and
language, Stefan Koelsch presents the results of the numerous
experiments regarding the auditory perception of musical and verbal
sounds which imply acoustic analysis, auditory memory, auditory
analysis of a spoken or musically performed fragment, the processing of
intervallic relations as well as musical syntax and semantics relations.
The study stresses the fact that, even though the neurons responsible for
the perception of music and language are localised in the same region
of the brain, neuronal populations which mediate the elaboration of
language syntax differ from the neuronal populations which mediate the
processing of musical syntax in the same cortical region. There is,
though, evidence of the existence of various common neuronal
resources in regard to the syntactic processing of music and language
through strong interactions at the level of the processing of both types
of syntax87. This aspect underpins the idea of the complementary bond
between musical and linguistic intelligence through the way in which
they influence one another by means of irradiation according to which
the stimulation of a cortical region produces effects in both directions.
An important role in this process is played by the auditory
memory given the fact that the perception of music and language is
produced over time. Recognising and establishing the delimitations of
musical or linguistic phrases allows the syntactic decoding of their
structure in relation to melody and musical rhythm or prosody and
rhythm of the spoken language. The processing of the delimitation of
86Levitin, Daniel, Op. cit., p.100. 87Koelsch, Stefan, Op. cit., p. 578-584.
89
the phrases is mirrored in both situations, music and language, in what
specialists refer to as “closure positive shift (CPS)”, i.e. a “positive
closure” of the phrases characterised by coherence and complete
comprehension of the contents.88 Researchers mention the existence of
a general pattern to be followed in perceiving music and language,
although the idea that humans have different competencies for the twoit
is commonly accepted, and they focus on pointing out the various
similarities, rather than the differences of perception, aiming to find a
deeper “competency”. The system of perception is oriented towards the
simplest structure (the principle of simplicity) which implies
associations with certain pre-established contexts. The results obtained
following various experiments based on the analyses of different
linguistic (text) and musical (songs) materials highlight the existence of
certain patterns (data-oriented parsing-DOP) which combine the
principle of simplicity and of probability in terms of perceptive
organisation, and which demonstrate that a combination of the two
principles outclasses the use of one of them and that the exact same
pattern, with an identical setting of the parameters, reaches maximum
precision for both branches, language and music.89
All the aforementioned aspects underline the strong
complementary bonds that exist between the two fields approached,
enhancing the influence of the intelligence level from one field to the
other.
88Ibidem. 89Rens, Bod, A Unified Model of Structural Organization in Language and Music, în Journal of
Artificial Intelligence Research 17, 2002, p. 289-308.
90
3.3.2. Benefits of Associating Music with the Study of a
Foreign Language
The study of a foreign language implies first and foremost the
efficient exploration of the mixture between linguistic and musical
intelligence which, according to research, are complementary and
influence one another, as well the involvement of the other types of
intelligence.
As a specific feature of the previous conclusion, extrapolated to a
pedagogical level, the introduction of musical elements in teaching
foreign languages provides a favorable sound environment and an
extremely rich one, representing a plausible educational alternative
which may enhance the children’s awareness in relation to sounds,
rhythms, rests and intonations. A programme of musical intervention in
teaching foreign languages may result in numerous advantages such as
stimulating the creative processes, activating linguistic information
stored by one’s memory, eliminating distraction of attention from
sounds in the class or outside of it, favoring a relaxed atmosphere as
well as a motivating and productive one during classes.
Research conducted in the last decades in relation to human
learning has proven that the universe of musical sounds, integrant part
of our lives - embodied by songs, musical games with movement,
listening to musical strains or rhythmical poems – influences
significantly through a constant process of musical education, the
development of certain segments of the brain and the formation of
certain specific skills in view of learning a foreign language at an early
age.
The didactic benefits of associating song with a foreign language
are enormous, being a positive, easy, workable manner of enhancing the
pedagogical approach, a fundamental goal of specialists in the field of
91
education. The principle that guides the methods aiming to the process
of teaching music is that the lyrics are never to be separated from the
melody which relates to primitive cultures, ancient times, syncretism;
this aspect should be speculated in teaching foreign languages due to
the fact that, according to this pattern, the lyrics are learned more easily.
The word syncretism has the same form as viewed internationally,
while the definitions attributed to it over time and in different fields are
distinct. If we consider children’s musical universe, no matter the
geographical affiliation, syncretism is identified with the merger of
artistic elements coming from different fields: music, dance, poetry.
The syncretic approach of the relationship between lyrics and melody
points out the existence of an ancestral and indispensable element that
is present in the life of each and every one of us in different instances,
namely rhythm. A thorough analysis of rhythm, an element infiltrated
both in music and speaking, as inborn ability of the human being, both
from a musical and linguistic perspective, emphasizes the fact that the
exploration of this unifying component of the two directions helps the
learner to absorb more easily the musicality of a foreign language, as
well as the durability of words and expressions.
The German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted
numerous experiments in regard to the memorization of various
meaningless syllables, stressing verbal associations90. Gagné explains
this type of learning through verbal associations as a chain-type of
learning, this time sequences being verbally expressed; he also points
out the importance of the ties expressed through speech especially in
order to learn words or expressions in a foreign language. The two
demonstrate that, even in the cases when syllables are selected so that
they are meaningless, they are still predisposed to fit certain
90Gagné, Robert, Condițiile învățării, Editura Didactică și Pedagogică, București, 1975, p. 47.
92
associations91. Starting from these specific situations joined by the
cognitive relationship between the syntagms of the foreign language
and the activity of singing, one may state with absolute certainty that
the absorption of the given contents, of the vocabulary of the language
in question is faster and easier due to the existence of an intuitive action
achieved through song. Hence, the more difficult or complicated
aspects of language are more easily accepted and acquired by children
through songs. The ability to memorize enhances, while involvement in
singing increases text comprehension seemingly with no particular
effort from the pupils.
The benefits of the similarity of musical activities with the ones
related to the study of foreign languages are bidirectional. On the one
hand, musical elements – song, musical game, rhythmical recitative
fragment – introduced within foreign language lessons ensure a richer
auditory environment and favor a better memory of syntagms and
vocabulary, better pronunciation due to the development of enhanced
phonemic hearing. On the other hand, the component elements of
linguistic intelligence, proven by the passion for words, puns and the
ways they are employed, for linguistic structures used in reading,
writing and spoken communication, contribute to the development of
higher musical aptitudes, the accomplishment of both qualitative and
quantitative complex musical analyses due to the similar functioning at
cortical level of the two systems of communication. The two directions
also allow for and favor information exchange by achieving solid cross-
curricular connections.
91Sălăvăstru, Dorina, Psihologia învățării, Editura Polirom, Iași, 2009, p. 15.
93
3.4. Advantages of Introducing the Study of an Instrument in
General Music Education
An extremely pleasant way to musically express oneself is
playing an instrument which, along with the voice, completes
harmoniously the palette of timbral colours that are to be found in
nature and music.
Besides the joy to be able to create music, there are many other
reasons for which it is important to study a musical instrument.
Sometimes music – by its diverse dimensions (singing, the study of an
instrument, listening to musical strains, rhythmical, melodic and
rhythmical-melodic compositions) – enhances children’s overall school
performances. Professionals in the field of education criticize the verbal
character of instruction received in school which determines the
enhanced development of the left hemisphere; complementarily the
production of music is non-verbal and nurtures the right hemisphere
which has an overall effect on the development of a balanced
personality, able to increase their academic potential. Furthermore,
higher levels of self-confidence, the development of various core stages
in view of engaging in any type of human activity, self-motivation, self-
discipline in regard to work by the systematic study of the instrument,
all of the above are just some of the directions for which the existence
of music in children’s life is important.92
There are many musicians who engaged in introducing the study
of an instrument in the musical education activities carried on with
children due to the positive effects they have on their development. The
years they spent surrounded by pupils configured some principles
92Ben-Tovim, Atarah, Boyd, Douglas, The right instrument for your child, Orion Books Ltd.,
London, 2012, p.1.
94
which, later on disseminated worldwide, were the underlying principles
of children’s musical education all over the world. Some of the main
representatives who conducted rigorous research on children in regard
to the importance of using a musical instrument to develop the
perception of soundscape are: Carl Orff, Jaques Dalcroze, Edgar
Willems, Shin-Ichi Suzuki, Zoltán Kodály.
George Breazul, Liviu Comes, Dan Voiculescu are some of the
Romanian composers who were interested in developing the concept of
complex and harmonious musical education.
Sound Variety in Orff’s Universe
Concerned especially with the word-movement-music syncretism,
Carl Orff grounds his interests in the field of musical education in this
inseparable unity, materialised in the pedagogical work Schulwerk93to
which he allotted decades of work, experiments and research. The work
comprises the musical creation, the instruments94 employed in the
musical activities with children along with suggestions in regard to their
unfolding and directions of applying the ideas to the overall educational
system.
In order to ensure the success of his pedagogic ideas, Orff
introduced the instrument as means for education along with the voice
and in parallel with it. Though it led to controversy as to neglecting the
development of vocality, the introduction of the instrument ever since
the beginning of musical education, is a real gain in regard to children’s
musical development who are more or less musical. They take part in
93The denomination is Orff’s personal creation being a word composed of Schul- (school)
andWerk (work, piece); this unique construction exists in German only in this situation and it
meanspedagogical work [...]. The wordSchulwerkis translated by syntagms such as: the Orff
method for musical education, the Orff method, working technique.” Astrid Niedermaier.
Educaţie muzicalǎ modernǎ. Ed. Hora, Sibiu, 1999, p. 16. 94Instrumentarium – “It’s a collective name that encompasses all the instruments conceived and
created by Orff and his collaborators, instruments designers, in view of meeting the objectives
of this educational model” – Ibidem, p. 38.
95
the process of creating music in a very pleasant way even though they
may not be vocally gifted therefore enhancing the motivation to explore
the soundscape and because results are immediate (small percussion
instruments do not require prior study in order to be handled and
artistically activated); a stimulating and encouraging working
atmosphere is thus created and effort for successive acquisitions in the
musical field will not weigh as much. Still, Orff does not promote an
educational system based on the instrument, nor does he aim to
extraordinary performances in the instrumental field, but he becomes
the mediator of the rhythmical component of musical education.95
With the help of the instrument, the child is introduced to the
musical field thus achieving efficient musical education according to
each and everyone’s wishes and pleasure, everyone feeling great joy
when being given the proper framework for expressing themselves in
this way. This is why Orff instrumentariumexclude instruments that
require a longer period of training and which are demanding from a
technical point of view. Orff uses instruments that every child is able to
master, hence the syntagm “elementary instruments” – the ones that are
accessible to everyone and which ensures meeting the the objectives of
the Schulwerk model for musical education.
Knowing the role of rhythm in relation to Orff’s pedagogical
ideas, it goes without saying that percussion instruments will play a
decisive role in practical musical activities. These instruments can be
classified into two consistent categories, each with its own
subcategories (Anexa 1):
- with determined height of the sound (wood, metal or leather
instruments);
- with undetermined height of the sound (leather or glass bars).
95Toma-Zoicaş, Ligia. Op.cit., p. 231.
96
Numerous instruments of the varied range employed by Orff may
be used by music teachers using classes. The children’s joy in handling
them is unrestrained and the immediate effect of creating music ensures
a stimulating climate and work environment. Many of these instruments
are also financially accessible and may be completed or replaced by
musical toys or “pseudoinstruments” made by the children with
recyclable materials therefore contributing to the children’s education
in the spirit of protecting the environment. It is crucial, within musical
education classes, forthe child to dispose of other means too, apart from
the voice, to be able to express their own musical personality.
W. Thomas (according to Cristina Maria Sârbu) characterizes the
sphere of the elementary and presents its advantages in regard to
musical education; moreover, he reiterates the idea of the music-
movement-word syncretism and the group of instruments used by Orff
reunites in an organic manner the three directions enhancing the
effectiveness of the classes and the joy of making music96.
Having the concept of elementary music as his starting point, Orff
provides a new view on achieving musical education, a holistic,
extremely creative and efficient approach of music which sets in motion
the ensemble body-orchestra in the reception of the musical
phenomenon. Rhythm and movement are inborn, natural, and using
one’s own body to make differentiated music becomes easily accessible
and ensures a natural work climate, coloured and efficient, by turning
to: hand clapping, clapping on the thighs, thumping, finger snapping.
The alternation of the two types of body limbs and the
combination of all the possibilities of their employment, results in a
remarkable acoustic colouring. On the other hand, we have the
“pseudo-instruments” which are available to us, an inexhaustible and
96Niedermaier, Astrid, Educație muzicală modernă, Editura Hora, Sibiu, 1999, p. 67.
97
very pleasant resource for artistic exploration. Due to Orff’s appreciable
contribution, his pedagogical ideas may be employed by teachers and
successfully adapted to children no matter their age. Hence, in view of a
varied, interesting and efficient activity, the teacher’s portfolio should
include:
- a wide range of rhythmical and rhythmical-melodic exercises;
- pieces for instruments, arrangements for instruments;
- exercises for instruments only;
- pronunciation exercises, rhymes (verses).
All these educational contexts provide different combinations in
terms of form, texture, colour, with rhythmical function or timbral
effect, and contribute to the formation and development of aesthetic
taste, of experiencing deep feelings, children thus becoming young
artists during music classes; they also contribute to artistic school
activities, children being able to sing, play an instrument or even
compose music.
3.5. The Musical Instrument asFacilitator in the
Simultaneous Activation of the Cerebral Hemisphere
Music has always been present in people's lives as it has always
stood for the potentially harmonious development of human
personality. It is present in the most important moments of life, through
religious ceremonies (christening, wedding, funeral), in rituals
developed by different cultures during human evolution, in the
wonderful world of children, who accompany any game activity by
singing, but also as a possibility for relaxation and entertainment.
Music is the one which "feeds" the brain, and it sends special
commands to develop creativity. A creative mind has the ability to
make new discoveries and produce innovations. The most enlightened
98
minds of mankind, such as Albert Einstein, Mozart and Frank Lloyd
Wright, all shared the constant exploration of creative imagination,
which led to the creation of new products that have resisted the test of
time, and are still valid today97.
The possibilities of expression through music are diverse, but we
can outline two general directions, vocal singing and instrument
playing, which complete the existing timbre in nature and in the
musical field.
3.5.1. Cognitive Benefits of Studying the Instrument
There are many benefits of studying a musical instrument. First
and foremost, the increase in overall school performance is
demonstrated by professionals engaged in various studies in the field of
education. This highlights that the presence of music in our life
improves the general process of learning and can lead to acquiring
better and more resistant knowledge over time. The learning outcomes
are better in linguistics, mathematics, science and prove superior
attitudes in problems solving compared to those who do not play a
music instrument.
One consequence of studying a musical instrument isone's strong
confidence in their strengths, by interpreting some musical piece in
recitals and receiving appreciation from others. At the same time, self-
motivation and self-discipline are emphasized and developed due to the
desire to perform as well as possible and to obtain the highest skills,
which implies a constant and systematic study program. It is known that
studying an instrument takes time and requires sustained effort for
consistent and focused practice, especially when other factors emerge.
97Importanța muzicii în viața ta, http://www.pianoaround.com/the-importance-of-music-in-
your-life/
99
This discipline of working can be transposed later on to other levels of
personality, improving the quality of learning and of one's life.
Other benefits of studying music include stress reduction,
improvement of music appreciation, according to Aristotle in his
Politics (Book 8), unless you have taken part in music education, or in
learning an instrument, you have no real basis for assessing the quality
of a piece of music.98
Also, creativity is developed, music being asystem similar to
language, and as you learn more words you are able to express certain
ideas better, you can express your emotions through musical sounds, by
creating your own small compositions.
The improvement of the capacity to memorize is also due to the
study of the instrument, which involves repetitions of the musical
passage; those who study an instrument for a longer period of time have
a better verbal memory than those lacking musical training. Connected
to the study of an instrument is the development of time management
skills, by better and balanced organization of time, being a real
challenge (especial for a kid) to introduce the study program along with
other activities, intellectual and relaxation, socialization, electronic
devices.
The opportunity to share with others the joy of playing musical
pieces strengthens the relationships with one’s family and friends. If the
level of the performance is high, then we are talking about one artistic
relationship that is established between the performer and the public,
which implies a decoding part of the artistic message through a specific
communication path and the presence of common emotions, with an
empathetic character but also with a high level of musical preparation
of the audience.
98Levitsky, Mike, 16 Benefits of Playing an Instrument, https://pianopower.org/16-benefits-of-
playing-an-instrument/
100
3.5.2. Music and Dynamic Cortical Mapping
Research shows that studying an instrument develops a better
appreciation of music and enhances artistic sensitivity, stimulates and
streamlines the intellectual development of children, even leading to
physical changes in the brain. Specialists at Beijing Normal University
in China conducted several studies that revealed that people who started
instrument lessons before the age of 7, later on developed a greater
volume in brain regions, associated with self-awareness and hearing,
compared to those who started music after this age.
Theresearcher who conducted the aforementioned study, Yunxin
Wang, says that early musical training of children, beyond the joy of
listening to music as a first and easiest stage, can produce changes in
their brains, which could lead to cognitive progress, highlighting the
conclusion of the study that music training may change the structure of
the cortex, which is the outer layer of the brain. The study included 48
Chinese adults between 19 and 21 years of age. All the participants
started to take music lessons, but the starting moment made the
difference. Some of them started when they were 3 years old, while
others started later, when they were 15. The specialists examined the
brain volume of the study participants, in particular the surface area, the
gray matter and the folding index. Thus it was found that people who
started music lessons before the age of 7 had a thicker cortex than those
who made contact with music later.99
Music simultaneously activates the functioning of the four lobes
of the brain and requires numerous neural regions and subsystems,
99Taking Music Lessons As A Child Could Physically Change Your Brain, in Huffpost,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/14/music-lessons-brain-child-physical-
changes_n_4260917.html
101
especially the frontal and temporal lobes. Generalizations referring to
their operation can be issued, but the behaviors are complex and cannot
be reduced to one single possibility. Generally, the frontal lobe is
specialized on spatial perception, on motor functions, on decoding the
signals received from the senses and offers a high level of "perceptual
organization",while the temporal lobe is responsible for hearing and
memory.100 Different cortical areas correspond to the different musical
aspects, which are specialized in identifying characteristic features of
the musical signals that allow the analysis of parameters such as timbre,
height, intensity, tempo.
Image no. 1. The functions of the brain (http://www.brainwaves.com/index.html)
The two cerebral hemispheres, forming dynamic cortical maps
during listening or playing music (playing an instrument), have
specialized functions as follows: the left-rational hemisphere, has
logical function, allows analytical, sequential thinking, based on
arguments, manages auditory memory, numbers, letters, language, it’s
about concrete mathematical science, coordinates and transforms the
100Levitin, Daniel, Op. cit., Editura Humanitas, București, 2010, p. 98-100.
102
senses into perceptions; the right hemisphere - the imaginary, is
responsible for creativity, coordinates emotionality and affectivity, is
based on mental representations, images, visual memory, allows
versatile thinking, is directly responsible for the artistic side, creation,
intuition, fantasy, manages artistic and spiritual senses, musical
aptitudes, the synthesis predominates and forward the analysis.
Image no.2. Brain hemispheres (https://sites.google.com/site/pyschwebsite/brain-
hemispheres)
Regarding the functioning of the brain, the study of the piano
involves several simultaneous actions that configure at the cerebral
level real dynamic cortical maps that allow the transmission of impulses
for the emission of musical sounds. The complex process of playing the
piano refers to all the analyzers (eyes, ears, hands and fingers, feet) but
also on the senses (touch, proprioception, spatial, temporal, artistic
interpretation). All these components are found on the brain map,
contributing to the running of whole process, being activated
simultaneously in the production of music.
The eyes, connected with the visual cortex located in the occipital
lobe, are deeply involved in learning a score, because playing the piano
implies two distinct keys, which represent two different musical
103
languages that must be decoded at once, but also in the visualization of
the keyboard. The ears, analyzer responsible for the auditory part and
connected with the auditory cortex located in the temporal lobe, make
permanent auditory control possible and adjust the interpretation in real
time. The hands and fingers, sometimes also the feet for pedals, are the
element of transition between the brain and the instrument, an analyzer
directly involved in the production of sounds, being influenced by the
primary motor cortex located in the frontal lobe but also connected with
the cerebellum.
The tactile and spatial senses are represented on the cortical maps
in the parietal lobe. The spatial sense is responsible for the distances on
the keyboard, with their memorization (“memory of the hand”), and
because of this sense the pianist knows very well the keyboard, without
looking at it every time, and the touch sense helps to measure the force
applied on the flaps or the pedals to control the intensity of sounds. The
proprioception sense (responsible for it being the cerebellum), is
involved during the interpretation of the music, and the pianist is
always aware of the coordination, relative position and balance of each
part of the body and the power of the effort invoved in each movement,
by developing motor skills.
Professional musicians are even able to imagine their music,
with a simple glance of the score. Imagining the music can activate the
auditory cortex at almost the same intensity as listening or producing
music, and the motor cortex is stimulated by imagining the movements
of the action to perform a song.101
Artistic interpretation is the unifying context of several elements
of musical language, such as the interpretive style of a period, tempo,
musical dynamics, rhythm, technique, to whichthe emotional part is
101Sacks, Oliver, Muzicofilia. Povestiri despre muzică și creier, Editura Humanitas, 2017, p.
87.
104
added by highlighting the mood suggested by the composer, transmitted
further to the public. All this is possible due to simultaneous cortical
connections in the two cerebral hemispheres and playing a musical
instrument is a favorable context for brain activation in a way in which
no other intellectual activity or game can do it. According to dr. Anita
Collins102, this fact allows the use of the cortical patterns at the level of
other activity areas, transformed into advantages that allow superior
performances, such as problem solving, management, planning,
strategies, detailed analysis, memory storage.
Research conducted over the last few decades in the field of
neuroscience, by employing specific instruments (Functional Magnetic
Rezonance Imaging-FMRI and Positron Emission Tomography PET)
shows that there are certain cortical areas in the brain which are
relatively isolated, responsible for the activities of language,
mathematics; but in the field of music, during listening or producing
music, many more cortical areasare activated simultaneously. In
particular, instrumental performance allows the connection of both
cerebral hemispheres using the whole body, the implicit activation of
several cortical areas that process complicated information in the same
time and perform certain sequences that occur in real time. The rational,
the mathematical, the decoding of symbols / linguistics, characteristics
of the left hemisphere, are combined with the novelty, the creativity of
the content, specific to the right hemisphere, unified by the corpus
callosum which allows the transmission of information between the two
hemispheres faster and in more diverse ways.103
102Anita Collins, Dr. Anita Collins is an educator, researcher and writer in the field of brain
development and music learning. 103Collins, Anita, How Playing an instrument benefits your brain,
https://www.ted.com/talks/anita_collins_how_playing_an_instrument_benefits_your_brain?lan
guage=en#t-9302
105
By the specificity of neuronal activity in contact with music,
listening to or playing, it seems that musicians might oftenuse
simultaneously both hemispheres of the brain compared to other people.
Due to the occurrence of these types of dynamic neural maps, there are
many benefits to the development of one’s personality by practicing
music, which can be found at the intellectual, emotional, motivational
and relational level.
Involvement in the musical field by listening to, practicing vocal
or instrumental music, requires intense activation of the brain and
provides transferable benefits in other activities as well. The
simultaneous use of the hemispheric brain provides a better
understanding of the systematic functioning of the brain and of the
benefits gained by practicing music.
Those who work in the field of education need to be aware of the
benefits brought by music, available to everyone by listening to music,
singing or playing an instrument. There are specialists in education who
accuse the verbal character of it that highlights development marked by
the left hemisphere. Considering the fact that producing music is non-
verbal and is connected with the right hemisphere, but it is one that
ensures the fast and varied transfer between the two hemispheres, is
important to conclude that the presence of music in our life has as a
general effect on the development of a balanced personality, able to
enhance her/his academic potential.104
104Ben-Tovim, Atarah, Boyd, Douglas, Op. cit., p.1.
106
107
CHAPTER IV
Musical Anthology
108
109
4.1. Collection of Children’s Songs in English
A particular case of learning due to the profound involvement of
music is learning English. Numerous researchers promote the idea of
introducing songs in order to learn a language. According to the studies
found in the literature, the presence of songs accompanied by text in
the target language increases the number of words memorised, their
persistency over time and contributes to better pronunciation.
Consequently, I have conducted various research regarding
children activities. The first step consisted in a longitudinal psycho-
pedagogic experiment structured in two samples, an experimental one
and a control one, with first graders (classes A and B).
The fundamental aim of the psycho-pedagogic approach was to
test, through practical experimental activities, and to provide arguments
in favour of the concept that music represented hereby by songs
sometimes rhythmically sustained by instruments, musical games and
rhythmic poems, all of them with lyrics in English, enables children to
learn more easily the vocabulary, idioms, different linguistic formulas
characteristic to this language.
This ergonomic learning context leads to better school
performance and the proof resides in the children’s results, the
competencies absorbed, the notable and significantly better linguistic
acquisitions achieved because of the existence of musical elements in
the English classes which brought added value to the teaching
approach.
By corroborating the results of the different means of assessment
(pre-test, post-test, re-test) existent in all of the three thematic units
underlying the psycho-pedagogic experiment, we can conclude that the
existence of music in the learning activities carried on with the pupils
110
from the experimental sample eased the absorption of the English
vocabulary and led to pronunciation enhancement, namely the
parameters aimed at within the experimental research. The results
obtained following the different types of tests were edifying, all of
them being favourable in relation to the experimental group in terms of
vocabulary and pronunciation.
The second step of the research aimed to didactically and
musically appealing and varied activities of applications in view of
learning English through music and involved the children in numerous
activities based on songs, movement and musical games based on song
and lyrics in English. This time, the age of the children involved,
ranged from 6 to 9 years old, i.e. one infant grade, one first grade and
two second grades and each group of pupils picked up several songs /
musical games.
All the participants were extremely happy with the new approach
of the English classes, and the musical elements (songs, musical games
and, aiming to the correct pronunciation, the rhythmical recitatives)
ensured the success of the activities and a favorable learning climate.
The musical training of the children was carried on through the
absorption of a set of songs and musical games based on song, all in
English, some of them performed only vocally, others accompanied by
movement, while the third category benefited from the children’s
instrumental rhythmical support aiming to the design of media
resources related to these three categories.
In line with the aforementioned observations, I hereby find fit to
present an anthology of songs in English, selected from the children’s
repertoire, on the three musical directions targeted (songs in English,
songs with instrumental rhythmical support and songs underlying
various musical games with movement), a resource that relates to
111
traditional American or British songs whose melodic line has been
adopted by the musical practices from Romania by adding lyrics in
Romanian. Other songs have been created on purpose by contemporary
composers and adapted to the age of the children thus complying with
their objective.
Table no. 4. Songs in English
No. Composer Piece Performer
1 Hap Palmer What are you doing
(Adaptaredupă What are you
wearing)
Grade II B
2 Kathryn Harper Happy Easter bunny Grade I C
3 Kathryn Harper Wash your face Grade I C
4 Anonymus Let’s have a picnic! Grade I C
5 Anonymus Birdie song Music Club
6 Pamela Conn Beall,
Susan Hagen Nipp
I’m a nut Grade II A
7 Pamela Conn Beall,
Susan Hagen Nipp
Down by the bay Music Club
4.2. Collection of Songs Rhythmically Sustained by Musical
Instruments
Singing provides a richer timbral colour when accompanied by
musical instruments, as well as an enhanced joy of the children for
producing their own music.
From this collection we hereby present a song that children love,
no matter their ages or level of their musical background.
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Table no. 5. Songs Rhythmically Sustained by Musical Instruments
No. Composer Piece Performer
1 Pamela Conn Beall,
Susan Hagen Nipp
10 Little rabbits
(Adapted after
10 little indians)
Grade I C
2 Pamela Conn Beall,
Susan Hagen Nipp
Hey diddle diddle Music Club
3 Kathryn Harper The Halloween song Grade II A
4 Pamela Conn Beall,
Susan Hagen Nipp
Hickory Dickory Dock Grade II B
5 Traditional Strawberry juice Grade II A
6 Jane Taylor Twinkle twinkle little star Music Club
7 Pamela Conn Beall,
Susan Hagen Nipp
I love the mountains Grade II A
8 Traditional Wills on the bus Music Club
9 John S. Pierpont Jingle bells Music Club
4.3. Scenarios for Musical Games with Movement
The English language and the musical specialised literature in
English provide numerous musical or rhythmical games which, due to
their topics, relate closely to the interests of young children. Kids from
all over the world enjoy these games willing to learn English in a very
pleasant and interactive fashion. There is a series of collections of
musical games supplied by numerous authors interested in children’s
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musical education; they aim to contents that are to be absorbed in pre-
school and early school years (related to the seasons and the months of
the year, mathematical concepts-directions, dimensions, numbers,
making sums, subtractions, time, the alphabet, the human body,
animals, colours, the senses). Some of these collections are:
Pamela Conn Beall, Susan Hagen Nipp: Wee Sing – Rhymes,
Songs and Lullabies, Wee Sing – Musical Games, Rhymes and Silly
Songs, Editura Price Stern Sloan, 2002
Ken Sheldon: Sing Along&Learn, Editura Scholastic, 2006
Anna Maria Malkoç: Old favorites for all ages (songs for
learners of americanenglish), Editura United States Information
Agency, 1993
Amy Appleby, Peter Pickow, Liz Seelhoff Byrum: The library
of children’s song classics, AMSCO Publications, New York, 1993
Example 1 LITTLE PETER RABBIT (Pamela Conn Beall, Susan
Hagen Nipp: Wee Sing – Rhymes, Songs and Lullabies, Price Stern
Sloan Publishing House, 2002)
Little Peter Rabbit
Little Peter Rabbit had a fly upon his ear
Little Peter Rabbit had a fly upon his ear
Little Peter Rabbit had a fly upon his ear
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And he flicked it ‘til it flew away!
Little Peter _____ had a fly upon his
Little Peter _____ had a fly upon his
Little Peter _____ had a fly upon his
And he flicked it ‘til it flew away!
Little Peter _____ had a _____ upon his ear
Little Peter _____ had a _____ upon his ear
Little Peter _____ had a _____ upon his ear
And he flicked it ‘til it flew away!
The first stanza is learned by the children as such and according
to the previous score following the steps of learning a tune by listening
to it. Further on, with every new stanza, one word is taken out of the
text as presented in the table and is replaced by a characteristic
movement as follows:
- Rabbit is to be replaced by a movement that hints at the ears
of a bunny;
- Fly is to be replaced by a movement that hints at the way a
fly, flies.
The teacher’s main concerns are the correct intonation of the tune,
especially the ascending arpeggio sequence, as well as the children’s
ability to comply with the rhythm. Then, after having thoroughly
learned the first stanza, the song becomes a musical game per se. With
every new stanza one word is eluded and replaced by the appropriate
movement. The children are informed in regard to the rules
characteristic for each stanza and they have to comply with them as
well as they can. The final performance of the three stanzas implies
paying great attention to both words and gestures. The surprise, the
waiting and even the applauses are key constituents of the musical
game. Everybody appreciates them as they jazz up every game and a
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very important role in this regard is played by the progressive increase
of the musical tempo.
Example 2 THE FIVE SENSES SONG (Adapted from Bingo,
Anna Maria Malkoç: Old favorites for all ages – songs for learners of
American English, United States Information Agency Publishing
House, 1993)
The five senses song
Wee use five senses every day
To help us learn and play:
See, Hear, Touch, Taste, Smell
See, Hear, Touch, Taste, Smell
See, Hear, Touch, Taste, Smell
To help us learn and play!
Wee use five senses every day
To help us learn and play:
See, Hear, Touch, Taste, X (bătaie din palme)
See, Hear, Touch, Taste, X
See, Hear, Touch, Taste, X
To help us learn and play!
The five senses song
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The song is quite easy and is made of one stanza and one chorus.
The children are to learn thoroughly the two segments accompanied by
the appropriate movements, i.e. the hand touching the corresponding
organ for each of the senses as follows: sight-eye, hearing-ear, tactile
sense-touching the desk, taste-mouth, smell-nose.
With every stanza one word to be found in the end of the chorus
is eliminated and replaced with a handclap. The last stanza will have
only handclaps instead of the chorus and due attention is to be paid to
keeping the right tempo as there is the tendency to go faster in this
strain:
Wee use five senses every day
To help us learn and play:
X, X, X, X, X,
X, X, X, X, X,
X, X, X, X, X,
To help us learn and play!
This musical game implies focus especially when it comes to the
chorus. It is of great importance to keep the tempo, to replace correctly
every sense with a handclap and to associate sense-the proper
movement-clap.
Example 3 WITCH ON HALLOWEEN (adapted from FARMER
IN THE DELL, Amy Appleby, Peter Pickow, LizSeelhoffByrum: The
library of children’s song classics, AMSCO Publications, New York,
1993).
117
Witch on Halloween
The Witch on Halloween
The Witch on Halloween
Hey, ho, trick or treat
The Witch on Halloween
The Witch choses a ghost
The Witch choses a ghost
Hey, ho, trick or treat
The Witch choses a ghost
The ghost choses a bat
The ghost choses a bat
Hey, ho, trick or treat
The ghost choses a bat
The bat choses a black cat
The bat choses a black cat
Hey, ho, trick or treat
The bat choses a black cat
Given the fact that children are fascinated by the magical and
emotional load of the feasts throughout the year, such as Halloween
and Christmas, many times traditional songs are being adapted (Farmer
in the dell) by replacing the original text with the new topic. Hence,
Farmer in the dell becomes Witch on Halloween, preserving only the
melody.
118
Following the steps of learning a song by listening to it, children
will learn first the song. After its correct intonation and compliance
with the melody and the succession of the stanzas, the rules of the game
are being explained. For this musical game the children are to be placed
in circle and, with every stanza, the same action takes place as follows:
one child is designated as the witch and he/she chooses a ghost, another
child, the ghost chooses a bat, another child, the bat chooses a black
cat, choosing therefore another child. A human chain is thus formed
surrounding the circle from the outside. The song is to be repeated for
as many times as needed until just one person remains from the initial
circle who may be the witch when the game starts and the lyricsmay be
continued with other characters.
Children are thrilled with this musical game because it involves a
lot of action, it strengthens friendships, it develops coordination of
movements and it brings joy and satisfaction.
Musical education contributes to the complex growth of the child,
developing various directions. Every musical strain, whether it is being
listened to or performed, introduces the child to a different learning
context via new ideas, feelings which result in the children’s spiritual
enrichment, their capacity to perceive how the world works, it
stimulates intellectual development, it outlines the proper attitudes of
future adults, it nourishes artistic sensitivity thorough the ability to feel.
Musical activities also have a positive impact on the physical
development of children. The means employed in musical education,
119
songs, listening to musical strains, easy musical games or with songs
children sing, often accompanied by movement, contribute to the
physiological development of the respiratory, vocal system and ensure
better blood flow. To all these roles musical education plays, another
very important one needs to be added, namely to bring joy to the ones
who practice music, whether it is singing or playing it, context in which
most children feel peers with the adult who is training them in the
process of creating music.
Other musical games and songs accompanied by movement are
presented hereof:
Table no. 6. Musical games and songs accompanied by movement
No. Composer Piece Performer
1 Traditional Witch on Halloween
(Adaptation from
Farmer in the dell)
Grade I C
2 Traditional Head, shoulders,
knees and toes
Grade I C
3 Anonymous Big-little Music Club
4 Pamela Conn
Beall, Susan
Hagen Nipp
Little Peter Rabbit Grade II A
5 Pamela Conn
Beall, Susan
Hagen Nipp
Skidamarinka dink Music Club
6 Pamela Conn
Beall, Susan
Hagen Nipp
Hockey pokey Grade II A
7 Anonymous Animal song Grade II B
8 Pamela Conn
Beall, Susan
Hagen Nipp
Five Senses
(Adaptation from
Bingo)
Grade II B
9 Traditional Wheels on the bus Music Club
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4.4. Impressions of Music from a Subjective Perspective –
Questionnaire
The existence of music in our life is inherent, no matter the daily
activities we carry on: within educational institutions or in our spare
time.
Following the musical activities carried on with children, both
within the psycho-pedagogical experiment and in view of learning a
consistent repertoire of songs and musical games in English, various
principles took shape, conclusion-type principles reflected by a
quantitative and qualitative analysis of the musical instances organised.
Conspicuous results were registered following the filling in of a
questionnaire which identifies the impact music had at an emotional-
affective level; the respondents were 101 children 6 to 9 years old
(infant grade, 1st and 2nd grade).
In regard to learning English with the help of music, children
were extremely delighted by the new approach of the English classes
by means of music. The musical elements (songs, musical games with
movement, games in view of the right pronunciation, rhythmical
recitatives, rhythmic support of various songs with the help of musical
instruments) ensured the success of the activities and a supportive
climate of pupil learning.
The pupils’ attitude during the musical games as well as during
the varied performance of songs including the use of instruments, was a
positive one; they were very interested in taking part in the activities
wishing to explore the mysteries of the musical universe through as
better performances as possible in order to gain the appreciation of the
121
people around them, pupils and teacher. The atmosphere of maximum
intensity, laden with positive emotions of joy, the satisfaction of the
immediate result of one’s work, the wish to perform and improve
continuously, all these led to the creation of an atmosphere of pleasure
and good humour.
Music has the extraordinary capacity to have a direct and
immediate emotional impact. The existence of musical instruments
during activities produced an explosive reaction at the beginning due to
the peculiarity of the approach, direct involvement in handling the
instruments and the immediate results of the work led to numerous
satisfactions and the wish for continuous improvement therefore
contributing to the positive feeling in regard to the class. The desire for
instrumental accompaniment of the songs had existed prior to its
introduction during classes; it was visible in the practical representation
of the gesture (imagining the musical instruments) or in improvising in
instruments by using the fingers or pencils.
The questionnaire (Annex 2) comprised five questions aiming to
one’s pleasure to express himself / herself musically but also to the
importance of music within the activities of learning English.
Structurally, it was based on 5 items with closed or open questions,
with unique or multiple answer as described in the following lines.
Answering the first question, Do you like to speak or sing in
English?, children (except for two of them) expressed their preferences
for activities based on song aiming to acquire knowledge and improve
pronunciation in English compared to having a conversation in this
language. The following diagram is compelling in this regard as it
depicts the way the song, preferred by 98% of the respondents, with all
its psychological implications and means of achievement, fulfils the
ideal conditions in the children’s view.
122
Diagram no. 1. Preference for the singing activity
The second request implies the quantification of the manner in
which the three forms of carrying on the learning process through
music were perceived as emotion, namely: the song, the song
accompanied rhythmically by instruments and songs based on musical
games that imply movement. The results are showcased in the
following table:
Table no. 7. Appreciation of the musical elements featured during the
activities
Musical Element Number of
answers
Percentage
Song 2 3%
Song and instruments 35 40%
Song with games and movement 9 10%
Song / Song and instruments 4 4%
Song / Song with games and
movement
2 3%
Song and instruments / Song with
games and movement
40 44%
Song /
Song and instruments/
Song with games and movement
9 10%
123
In order to answer this question, children were allowed to choose
more than one answer; the study considered the children who circled
the song itself, but also the song accompanied by instruments or
movement or even all three options. Worthy of note is the children’s
preference for the existence of instruments in their musical activities
which resulted in a percentage as high as 40%, but also for movement
as it provides the proper context for expressing eurhythmy through
music hence ensuring a harmonious growth, both physical and
psychological, amounting to 44% of the respondents.
The importance of the song accompanied by instruments during
classes was the item of the third question. The children’s answers had a
palette of 5 options expressed through suggestive emoticons, ranging
from not at all pleasant to excellent expressed by a very generous
smile. The answers indicated prevalently the preference for the song
accompanied by instruments, the children using only scores 3, 4, 5 as
hallmarks; their corresponding percentages are presented in the
diagram below:
Diagram no. 2. Importance of instruments in the activity
The fourth request aimed to the children’s attitude in regard to the
existence or lack of musical activities during English classes. Only one
respondent gave a negative reply to musical activities, while the others
were pleased with the existence of music in their life.
124
The last item also provided the opportunity for open answers; the
children were able to choose another type of activity involving music
apart from the ones they had already been engaged in. This gave them
the possibility to express their desire to form small music ensembles
(bands), a framework that provides the proper opportunity for both
performers and public to express themselves through vocal or
instrumental music. Some were willing to learn thoroughly to play a
musical instrument (the piano, the violin, drums, the guitar, the
panpipes, the harmonica); others preferred to express themselves
artistically through modern dance.
Worthy of note is the conclusion that music, whether it is vocal or
instrumental, along with dance and movement, is a wished for
phenomenon, expected with interest to become part of children’s life,
not only to enhance the variety of school or daily activities, but also for
its beneficial effects on the cognitive and emotional development of
children of all ages. Children have always felt the pleasure to sing or
play an instrument and the need for harmonic and rhythmic
accompaniment of the melodies has been expressed out loud with
plenty enthusiasm. To the question What did you think of the song
accompanied by instruments?, children replied by using visual
expressions such as: “more melodic”, “more emotionally charged”,
“like at a concert”, “more beautiful”, “more complete”. The children’s
musical universe may be completed by such challenges which bring
immediate and long term satisfaction. They also result in the
development of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic perception, in the
desire to master an instrument, the curiosity to explore the timbral
musical universe; in fact, all these are the coordinates by which the
child manages to approach music, to understand it and then to enjoy its
existence.
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CONCLUSIONS
Following solid research in regard to the constant presence of
music in the life of the human being and to the peculiarities of the
learning process, we may emphasize that music through its multiple
dimensions is a key factor in the evolution and development of human
intelligence, in the growth of a harmonious personality as well as in
learning English; music acts as resource, means and content within the
learning process.
Carrying on efficient musical education and bringing joy at the
same time depends on the thoroughness and devotion of every teacher.
A small ensemble can be formed with small percussion and wind
instruments (the recorder) to which body movements may be added;
national folklore may therefore be capitalized on and thus music classes
may become more colorful. This method is both efficient and appealing
in view of solving the issues of the curriculum and of applying the
contents related to the elements of the musical language, also aimed to
by educational reform.
The current trends in didactics aim to individual progress, to
provide a wide range of learning methods and strategies each of them
being able to choose the proper option for their own personality. The
complementary contexts in which human personality is formed, non-
formal and informal, along with the formal educational environment
carrying the heaviest weight, encourage the transfer of knowledge and
allow for the emergence of strong cross-curricular bonds that are
extremely important in contemporary pedagogy.
Researchers have demonstrated for decades now the fundamental
role of music in relation to the development of the human brain
126
highlighting its beneficial influences on an ensemble of psychological
processes, at affective-motivational-volitive level but first and foremost
on the cognitive area (spatial reasoning, mathematical predisposition,
enhancement of communication skills, attainment of psychomotor
performances) which apparently do not share overlaps with the musical
field.
The introduction of music in daily activities as far as the
extracurricular environment is concerned along with classes of musical
education or instrument playing represents an ergonomic context of
learning and leads to better school performances. Voice and singing,
specific human traits that set the human being apart from all the other
beings, along with the skill to produce, perceive and cherish music,
highlight even more the bond that exists between this miraculous
universe and the human being. The constant study of musical
instruments, either as a hobby or in view of a future profession,
contributes to unique neuronal connections which allow for the
simultaneous activation of the two hemispheres of the brain.
The theory of multiple intelligences puts each individual in the
spotlight according to their genetic code and their predisposition and
affinity for a field of activity. Highlighting and studying thoroughly the
direction a person manifests a natural tendency to are crucial aspects in
terms of personal satisfaction and in order to achieve notable
performances, instead of recuperating one’s less developed side. In this
sense, music has provided over time numerous remarkable personalities
but achieving overall musical education is also important both from a
vocal or instrumental point of view.
The present work emphasised an important connexion that exists
between musical and linguistic intelligence which actually points out
127
the similarity between the two fields. Using musical elements, songs,
didactic games and instruments in learning the mother tongue and
especially when learning a foreign language, notable long-lasting
linguistic acquisitions are achieved resulting in added value of the
teaching approach. The superior communication skills matured in this
way are transferable to all of the subjects, pertaining both to the
scientific field as well as to arts and humanities and they underlie the
growth of the child’s complex personality.
The benefits of associating the mother tongue or a foreign
language with music and songs accompanied by lyrics in the respective
language are two-fold. Early musical stimulation following the
exposure of children to as many and as varied musical contexts, favours
the future development of their linguistic competences due to the
assertion and development of an enhanced auditory perception, of a
more refined phonematic ear and of the auditory memory which
contribute to a better retention of syntagms, of the vocabulary but also
to an increased fidelity of pronunciation. Linguistic intelligence,
expressed through the easiness and effectiveness of using both spoken
and written language, through the correctness of grammar analyses, an
enhanced sensitivity for sounds and phonology, for phrase structures or
syntax, semantics, contributes to the development of superior musical
skills, to the achievement of qualitative and complex musical analyses
due to the similar cortical functioning of the two systems of
communication.
Another beneficial level, seemingly unusual, in human
development, consists in the point of convergence of the musical field
with the mathematical one, the one of the exact sciences. Logical-
mathematical intelligence and the musical one have overlaps in
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numerous musical contexts: rhythm (measures, duration, rests), tempo,
archetypal forms, notes, intervals, harmony. The numbers are the
expression of musical calculations which help the composer or the
performer to configure musical works that the listener enjoys
contributing to the growth of an artistic personality.
Result of the studies conducted in the field point out the fact that
the presence of music in the learning activities, in different fields of
knowledge, optimizes this process and leads to richer and long-lasting
acquisitions. Furthermore, the people involved systematically in the
qualitative process of musical education develop enhanced memory
skills compared to the ones who do not practice music, get better
results at language, mathematics, science standardized test and display
superior aptitudes in solving problems compared to non-musicians. The
practice of music, whether it is vocal, instrumental or listening to
musical strains, demands an intense activation of the brain and provides
a better understanding of its systematic functioning and of the benefits
to mental health and the increase of the quality of life.
The subjects “Music and Movement” and “Musical Education”
(terminology employed in relation to different age stages) as field of
aesthetic and creative education, by the traits that are characteristic to
it, provide opening towards disciplinarity as through songs, listening to
musical strains and musical games; hence, conspicuous aspects
pertaining to different specialised areas being conveyed. The
correlation of the acquisitions made within the different school subjects
may favour a systematisation of the pieces of information specific to
the fields of study aiming to the growth of a unitary system of
knowledge. The results will endure over time and will boost interest in
regard to the class if the teacher is concerned with proposing varied
129
activities based on diverse and appealing contents, materials and
didactic means that comply with the features that are specific to the
children’s age and that require the harmonious participation of the
entire body in terms of intellect, action and affection.
130
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Webography:
50. Collins, Anita, How Playing an instrument benefits your
brain,https://www.ted.com/talks/anita_collins_how_playing_an
_instrument_benefits_your_brain?language=en#t-9302
51. Fossil Rock Anthem,
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/05/02/476419823/can-
songs-help-you-learn-scientific-concepts
52. Importanța muzicii în viața ta,
http://www.pianoaround.com/the-importance-of-music-in-your-
life/
53. Influenţa mass-media, http://influentamass-
media.blogspot.ro/2011/12/influenta-mass-media-asupra-
tinerilor.html
54. Institutul Dalcroze Romania, http://dalcroze.ro/misiunea-
noastra/
55. Levitsky, Mike, 16 Benefits of Playing an Instrument,
https://pianopower.org/16-benefits-of-playing-an-instrument/
56. Obiective și competențe în realizarea curriculumului,
http://documents.tips/documents/obiective-si-competente.html
57. STEM,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science,_technology,_engineering
,_and_mathematics
58. Taking Music Lessons As A Child Could Physically Change
Your Brain, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/14/music-
lessons-brain-child-physical-changes_n_4260917.html
59. Brain Hemispheres,
https://sites.google.com/site/pyschwebsite/brain-hemispheres
60. The functions of the brain,
http://www.brainwaves.com/index.html
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Annex 1
Instruments designed to optimise musical activities
(Orff Instrumentarium)
A. Instruments with indeterminate pitch of the sound,
producing “noise”
A1. Wood Instruments
Wood Blocks
Wooden Cylinder Block
Claves
Castanets
Pinwheel
Instruments taken from jazz: temple blocks, maracas, guiro
A.2. Metal Instruments
Triangle
Big cymbals, cinelli
Rattle Instruments
A.3. Skin Instruments
Hand drum
Cymbals
Small drum
Big drum
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B. Instruments with determinate pitch of the sound, producing
“musical sounds”
B.1. Skin Instruments
Timpani (the kind with metallic semispherical base and
the kind with wooden cylinder-body)
B.2. Barred Instruments
Xylophone (with one-row wooden bars; hard felt or
rubber-headed mallets are used; they provide a short and
acute sound, clear and pleasant)
Metallophone or glockenspiel (metal-barred xylophone;
felt or woollen-headed mallets are used; it produces
warm, closed sounds with prolonged resonance)
Musical hand bells (with bars made of stainless steel;
wooden or rubber-headed mallets are used; they produce
the most acute and high-pitched sounds)
B.3. Glass Instruments
Cone-shaped glasses (chosen so that each of them
produces a sound of the scale after being struck; the
glasses are struck with wooden-headed mallets for rattle
games)
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Annex 2
Questionnaire in view of assessing the teaching activity
1. Do you like to speak or sing in English?
2. What did you like the most?
To sing To sing accompanied
by instruments To sing and dance
3. Which emoticon suits you best when it comes to singing
accompanied by instruments?
4. Would you like to have more musical activities?
YES NO
5. Which musical activities would you like to take part in?
singing Playing an
instrument Song and
dance others
(which
ones?)