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Music signifiers:
focussed listening to music as a stimulus to
creative writing
Ruth Louise Round
ID: 8740548
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
of Master of Education
The University of Auckland, 2015
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ABSTRACT
Increasing pressure is put on learners in the New Zealand education system to reach identified bench marks in
their writing. The Literacy Progressions (Ministry of Education, 2010) identify the levels of competency each
child is expected to reach at the end of Year 4; and are aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum (2007) Level 2
English learning area. The classroom teachers are responsible for the planning, implementation and
development of skills the students need in order to reach the National Standard level for writing.
This pilot study investigates the integration of the focussed listening to music in the creative writing lessons for a
group of nine Year Four children in a Decile Three school using a multi-modal pedagogy developed by the
researcher. It is based on a case study by Trinick (2010) in a Decile Eight school and has been adapted to suit
the learning needs of the students in a Decile Three school using the action research process. All data for this
research was collated over a series of fourteen lessons in an eight week period and examined using
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse and identify each student's 'experiencing' and 'realisations'
of the music.
Socio-cultural influences in the lives of the children impact on the language and ideas they bring into the
classroom, and the Discourses used in their writing. The theories of Universal Grammar and Universal Musical
Grammar will be discussed to help connect the children's work as being meaningful and not made up. Therefore
research on the innate neural resources of the default mode network and working memory of each student is
discussed to align their brainstormed ideas and creative thinking with the gap between their 'realised' ideas and
creative writing. An analysis of each of the three pieces of music played for the children to write to is also given
to match the composers' intent for their music. The findings of this pilot study suggests that the children's
responses (e.g., oral, visual, visceral) are not necessarily reflected in the way the National Standards are written
and therefore, teacher judgement is rendered even harder to make.
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DEDICATION
I dedicate this thesis is to my grandchildren Sienna, Hunter and Zara who inspire me with their enthusiasm for
learning and creative adventures.
I would also like to dedicate this thesis to all of the children over the years who have participated in the
development of this music-literacy pedagogy, and in particular the student participants in this pilot study.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to acknowledge all of the people who have supported and encouraged me over the years in the
development and belief of the music-literacy approach used in this pilot study.
A huge thank you to my main supervisor Trevor Thwaites and co-supervisor Helen Villers. Both of you have
supported, encouraged and guided me to develop and define the music-literacy approach used in this research.
To Stephan Vitas, your ongoing support, advice and recommendations enabled me to explore the neurology
pathway. Thank you for your reading suggestions and proof reading to help me understand and incorporate
neurological data into my thesis.
To Imre Lahdelma for assisting me in gaining a better understanding of the interpretation of emotion in harmonic
progressions.
To Roberto Gradini who has always been very generous and supportive of my academic goals by
recommending abstracts to help with my research.
To the Principal, Deputy Principal and Board of Trustees who enabled and trusted me to carry out my pilot study
in your school.
To the class teacher who was generous and flexible in giving her time and resources, without whom this pilot
study would not have been possible.
I would like to acknowledge the interest and belief my friends have shown me over the years. Your support,
assistance, encouragement, editing and formatting advice helped to keep me going.
In particular a huge thank you to my daughters Jessica and Emma for proof reading my thesis, and also to my
sons-in law Andrew and Logan. Your ongoing support, understanding, encouragement and care over the years
to help me 'realise' my academic goals is beyond measure.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... i
DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................................... iii
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Setting the scene ..................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Researcher's story ................................................................................................................................... 1
1.3 Music and learning - defining the research question ............................................................................... 2
1.4 Critical and creative thinking .................................................................................................................... 4
1.5 Thesis Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 5
2.2 Theoretical positioning ............................................................................................................................. 5
2.3 Neural pathways ...................................................................................................................................... 6
2.4 Learning paradigms ................................................................................................................................. 7
2.5 Language acquisition ............................................................................................................................... 8
2.6 Discourse analysis ................................................................................................................................... 8
2.7 Domain specific learning theories ............................................................................................................ 9
2.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Chapter 3
METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................. 11
3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 11
3.2 Teacher Action research ........................................................................................................................ 11
3.3 Research Setting ................................................................................................................................... 12
3.4 Participants ............................................................................................................................................ 12
3.5 Research Design ................................................................................................................................... 13
3.6 Measures and Methods ......................................................................................................................... 15
3.7 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................................... 17
3.8 Ethical Issues ......................................................................................................................................... 18
3.9 Bias Section ........................................................................................................................................... 18
3.10 Trustworthiness ..................................................................................................................................... 19
Chapter 4
HUMPERDINK: EVENING PRAYER .................................................................................................................... 20
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4.1 Evening Prayer Performance Objectives ............................................................................................... 20
4.2 Evening Prayer Learning Intentions and lessons .................................................................................. 20
4.3 Evening Prayer realising: themes representing lived meaning ............................................................. 23
4.4 Evening Prayer: student signifiers and signified .................................................................................... 24
4.5 Humperdink's harmonic hermeneutics .................................................................................................. 31
4.6 Realising Humperdink and the lived experience ................................................................................... 32
Chapter 5
TELEMANN: AFFETUOSO ................................................................................................................................... 33
5.1 Affetuoso Performance Objectives ........................................................................................................ 33
5.2 Affetuoso realising: themes representing lived meaning through sound and symbol ........................... 33
5.3 Affetuoso: student signifiers and signified (Telemann Response Sheets / Narratives)......................... 35
5.4 Telemann Harmonics and Hermeneutics .............................................................................................. 42
5.5 Realising Telemann and the lived experience ....................................................................................... 44
Chapter 6
HANDEL: LA RÉJOUISSANCE ............................................................................................................................. 45
6.1 La Réjouissance Performance Objectives ............................................................................................. 45
6.2 La Réjouissance Learning Intentions .................................................................................................... 45
6.3 La Réjouissance realising: themes representing lived meaning ........................................................... 46
6.4 Realising the music and the elements of music .................................................................................... 48
6.6 La Réjouissance and harmonic hermeneutics ....................................................................................... 54
6.7 Realising Handel and the lived experience ........................................................................................... 55
Chapter 7
DISCUSSION CHAPTER ...................................................................................................................................... 56
7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 56
7.2 Ministry documentation .......................................................................................................................... 57
7.3 Theoretical underpinning ....................................................................................................................... 58
7.4 Teacher decision making ....................................................................................................................... 59
7.5 Children as writers: pre- and post-pilot study comparisons ................................................................... 60
7.6 Summary of pre- and post-pilot data ..................................................................................................... 66
7.7 The music-literacy approach .................................................................................................................. 67
7.8 Psychology and sense making .............................................................................................................. 70
7.9 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 73
7.10 Limitations .............................................................................................................................................. 74
7.11 Recommendations for further research ................................................................................................. 74
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................................... 75
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................................ 79
Appendix A: Participant Information Sheet ( Principal and Board of Trustees) ............................................... 79
Appendix B: Consent For Principal and BOT ................................................................................................... 81
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Appendix C: Consent To Participate In Research for Teachers....................................................................... 82
Appendix D: Paticipant Information Sheet Teacher.......................................................................................... 83
Appendix E: Consent for Parent or Caregiver of Student Participants Under The Age Of 16 ......................... 85
Appendix F: Assent for Student Participants Under The Age Of 16 ................................................................ 87
Appendix G: Participant Information Sheet - Student ....................................................................................... 88
Appendix H: Child Participant Questionnaire Form (Pre Pilot Study)............................................................... 90
Appendix I: Child Participant Questionnaire Form (Post Pilot Study) ............................................................. 92
Appendix J: Teacher Interview Sheet .............................................................................................................. 94
Appendix K: Humperdinck Response Sheet .................................................................................................... 95
Appendix L: Telemann Response Sheet ......................................................................................................... 96
Appendix M: Handel Response Sheet .............................................................................................................. 97
Appendix N: Example of Children's Interview Questions ................................................................................. 98
Appendix O: Elements of Music ........................................................................................................................ 99
Appendix P: Listening / Music Response Sheet............................................................................................. 100
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TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1 The list of brainstormed words of the students when working in small groups ................................... 22
Figure 2 Words used by more than one group .................................................................................................. 23
Figure 3 The senses poem written by the whole class from ideas generated from the brainstorm session ..... 24
Figure 4 The identified processing that 'J' used ................................................................................................. 25
Figure 5 'N''s Humperdink Response Sheet - front ............................................................................................ 27
Figure 6 'N''s Humperdink Response Sheet - back ........................................................................................... 27
Figure 7 The identified processing that 'V' used ................................................................................................ 28
Figure 8 The identified processing that 'K', 'W', and 'G' used ............................................................................ 28
Figure 9 'W''s Humperdink Response Sheet - front ........................................................................................... 29
Figure 10 'W's Humperdink Response Sheet - back ........................................................................................... 29
Figure 11 'D''s Humperdink Response Sheet - front ............................................................................................ 30
Figure 12 Sound sizzler chart .............................................................................................................................. 34
Figure 13 Sound sizzler chart for instruments ..................................................................................................... 35
Figure 14 Telemann simile ................................................................................................................................... 36
Figure 15 'E''s Telemann graphic notation score ................................................................................................. 38
Figure 16 'E''s Telemann illustration .................................................................................................................... 39
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Figure 17 'G''s Telemann graphic notation score................................................................................................. 41
Figure 18 Word brainstorm to Handel ................................................................................................................. 45
Figure 19 Brainstorm of descriptive language to Handel ..................................................................................... 46
Figure 20 Small group brainstorm of words to Handel ........................................................................................ 47
Figure 21 'N''s front of her Handel Response Sheet ............................................................................................ 50
Figure 22 'N''s back of her Handel Response Sheet ........................................................................................... 51
Figure 23 'W''s front of her Handel Response Sheet ........................................................................................... 52
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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Setting the scene
The vision for the New Zealand Curriculum (2007) identifies creativity, connected and actively involved lifelong
learners in the classroom, and also the importance of becoming functionally literate in language and 'active
seekers, users, and creators of knowledge' (p. 8). The key competencies are defined as the competencies
people use to be actively involved in their community and draw on "knowledge, attitudes, and values" (p. 12)
that are required for this to happen, with the use of language, texts and symbols identified as being one of these
competencies. Thwaites (2008) suggests that functional literacy has become an obsession with the government
and that 'society is controlled by performance' (p. 76). The National Standards lay down the benchmarks and
criteria for the interpretation of what successful learning is in order to meet with the New Zealand Curriculum
and the identified writing processes and strategies. These stipulate the skills each learner is expected to have at
certain stages of their education which include being able to think about, record, and communicate experiences,
ideas, and information to meet the demands of the New Zealand Curriculum at level 2 (Ministry of Education,
2009, p. 27). Thwaites (2008) questions why language literacy is isolated from other ways of 'knowing and
doing-in-the-world' (p. 77) and the institutional performativity over creative and intelligent performance (p. 76). Is
the true depth and extent of what the student really knows accessed and used in formative assessment to meet
with the performance criteria of The New Zealand Curriculum?
1.2 Researcher's story
I have a strong background in music and consider myself lucky to be raised in a family where both parents were
musically literate. Although I had some piano lessons as a young child, my interest in music really began when I
commenced itinerant trumpet lessons at secondary school. I never took any formalised music exams since I just
wanted to play for enjoyment which included participating in local and national school orchestras, a regional
school concert band and brass bands. I stopped playing for fifteen years when I left school, but resumed again
in my first year of teacher training when asked to play for a graduation ceremony. From here I began to have
professional lessons which resulted in my being accepted to study performance trumpet at the University of
Auckland. I worked as an itinerant and community brass tutor for five years before working as a classroom
teacher in a decile eight school. I now play trumpet in a community jazz band.
As a generalist primary school teacher with sixteen years experience and a specialisation in music I have often
questioned the place of the arts in education, and in particular music which struggles to compete for allocation
of time at the expense of functional literacies. Thwaites (2008) questions the role of the arts in education and in
particular the role of music. He suggests that "engaging with the arts enables students to better understand
themselves" (p. 86) which assists in the transformation of our knowledge, skills and understandings. Because of
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my leadership role with instrumental music across the school (orchestra, recorder and ukelele), I was able to
observe some positive social benefits of music on children across all levels of academic competency. Of
particular interest to me was the involvement of children identified as having behaviour and learning concerns,
who demonstrated music talent, as well as the co-operative social skills to follow instructions and assist others
when playing in a music ensemble. Their challenging classroom behaviours were often not transferred into the
music rehearsals or lessons because they wanted to be there. However I became increasingly aware that not
every child who would like to have music lessons can have access to them; and most of the classroom teachers
who wanted to include music as part of their teaching programme did not feel confident to do this due to their
perception of having to be able to read conventional music notation or play a musical instrument. Yet music is
identified in the arts learning area and expected to be part of the curriculum. I then began to think about other
ways that music could be integrated into the curriculum that the students would enjoy and teachers could
manage that did not include an element of performance. These activities would need to be integrated into other
learning areas where possible to reduce placing more demands on the teaching timetable. They would also
need to be at a suitable skill level where the teachers would feel confident in taking and still meet with the music
strands of the curriculum.
In 2010 I was the teacher participant for the case study carried out by Trinick (2012) to assess the effectiveness
of using the focussed listening to music as part of the children's writing program. For this I designed a multi-
literacy pedagogy that aligned with the school's professional development program for writing and reading by
adapting my methodology from some demonstration lessons I had observed from a music facilitator, that would
also meet with the learning needs of my students. The main focus was on developing their phonetic awareness
predominantly through singing, and using the listening to music as part of the creative writing process. As a
result I began to trial "the use of music as a foundation" of my writing programme (Trinick, 2012, p. 37) which
was designed "for the children, by the children, and with the children" (p. 50). I also fully integrated this
approach into art activities which is discussed in Thwaites (2012). He discusses the children's ability to listen to
and make their own interpretations in their creative writing and abstract art to music that "most music students
would initially find aurally challenging" (p. 111). Because of the positive feedback from the children in this class,
I decided to carry out a pilot study using this approach in a lower decile school to see if the similar learning
outcomes could be achieved.
1.3 Music and learning - defining the research question
Cope and Kalanzis (2009) discuss the multi-literacy approach which is holistic and uses a range of learning
modes in language learning (p. 166). These include music, oral language, abstract symbol, and illustration to
convey meaning. The multiliteracy approach has been applied using specially designed response sheets for the
children to use as graphic organisers in brainstorming activities. A signifier is something that is a representation
of meaning e.g., a word, symbol, harmonic chords and progressions in music. Music was used in this pilot study
for the children to listen and write to, signifying their thinking in the multi-modal response sheet. This gave them
a choice of using colour, abstract symbol, illustration, emoticons or words to record ideas before writing their
poems and stories. Vygotsky believes that the language-mediated mind is about mediation through
symbolization, and that the sociocultural experiences are 'mediated by semiotic tools' bringing a higher form of
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cognition through internalization; 'the transformation of quantity into quality' (Negueruela, 2008, p.194).
Discourses help define our social perspectives or positions through using a variety of socially accepted ways
e.g. words, actions, talking, listening, writing and reading (Gee, 1996, p. 128).
Theories on universal language suggest there are underpinning biological factors that enable us to develop
functional communication skills which Jackendoff (1993) describes as innate knowledge and mental grammar.
Innate knowledge implies that the brain is genetically designed with specialised language areas because of the
way children learn to talk. He also identifies the unconscious processes that the brain uses to actively construct
our experience of the world (pp. 6-7). Jackendoff suggests there is a Universal Musical Grammar which also
has innate properties in the brain (p. 169). I am identifying the music listened to by the children as a Discourse
as well as the multi-modal designed resources used in this pilot study to see whether this could assist the
children to access a wider range of ideas vocabulary to use and enrich their creative writing. The music-literacy
pedagogy was designed and used in this eight week pilot study to combine the focussed listening to music with
writing activities as a way of combining the Universal Language and Music 'grammars' and assess the
effectiveness of the multi-modal approach.
Tacit knowledge is described as internalised knowledge, ideas, and beliefs that are built up over time (through
experience) which is an important part of the individual's knowledge base. This is difficult for them to
communicate and may not even be aware that they have this knowledge (Timperly, Wilson, Barrar and Fung,
2007, p. 285). The working memory is a system in the brain responsible for the immediate conscious retrieval of
information required for language processing and vital for the students recalling the vocabulary and memories
required in their writing. The default mode is a network of regions in the brain that are activated during internally
focussed mental processing; an important consideration when the children are listening to the music. These two
systems are integral to the learning process, especially when it is thought that music and language may share
resources for auditory processing and vocalization (Brown, Martinez & Parsons, 2006, p. 2801). Research by
Koelsch, Kasper, Sammler, Schulze, Gunter and Friederici (2004) suggests that music influences the
processing of words and prime representations of concrete and abstract meaningful concepts, and that music
transfers semantic information in the brain (p. 306), which are both important when children are learning to
write. Federenko, Patel, Cassanto, Winawer and Gibson (2009) describe the results from neuropsychological
case studies that indicate shared syntactic neural resources between language and music, and use the Shared
Syntactic Integration Resource Hypothesis to explain this (p. 2).
As a teacher I need to be mindful of planning lessons that will enhance the students' learning. I had observed
many positive outcomes which has been documented in Trinick's case study when using this music-literacy
approach in my classroom without having the theory to understand how and why this happened. Improved
behaviour, growth in self-esteem and motivation (p. 52), and the belief that music helped to give the children a
pathway "to access what they know" (p. 57) are some examples cited in this research. The children
demonstrated more sophisticated expressive language when writing to music and were able to think critically
about the music and the mood (Trinick, 2012, p. 77). As a result I became interested in finding out whether I
would get similar results if this pedagogy was taught in a low decile school. I also wanted to research the effects
of music in the brain on language development and learning in children to help me explain my findings.
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1.4 Critical and creative thinking
The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) identifies creative, critical and reflective thinking as
values to be encouraged and explored (p. 10). The Literacy Learning Progressions (Ministry of Education, 2010)
describe writing as being an "interactive tool across the curriculum" and that children bring their lived
experiences with them into the class (pp. 6-7). Immordino-Yang, Christodoulou and Singh (2012) suggest that
the default mode is associated with more abstract social, emotional and moral awareness in the individual for
introspective reflection to take place (p. 356). Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis is used to examine and
critique the data collated in this pilot study, with a focus on the children's realisations when listening to music. It
is important that consideration is given to the deeper thought processes of each student in order to fully
understand their intended meanings recorded in the response sheets so comparisons can be made with the
writing standard benchmarks. Using their own abstract symbol enables the young learner to devise creative
ways to signify their thinking. Transferring this into their writing and then being able to justify their multi-modal
responses to the music suggests a deeper level of creative and critical thinking. The action research approach
has been applied since I am the teacher planning and delivering the fourteen lessons to the children using a
scaffolded approach. On-going reflection and being responsive to the needs of the students helped me to
identify the next learning steps in this process and their learning.
1.5 Thesis Overview
This thesis is comprised of eight sections. The introduction sets the scene of the research by outlining the New
Zealand Curriculum and questioning the functional literacy skills that identify a student's competency in writing.
However the question of the depth of knowing is raised when thought is given to creative thinking and the level
socially influenced 'knowing' each child brings into the classroom. My back ground story establishes how my
interest in music became the catalyst for the development of the music-literacy approach and the paradigms
used in this pilot study. The second chapter consists of my literature review where sociocultural theories on
learning and discourses (which includes music) influence the perceptions children have about themselves as
writers. The reasons for using the Interpretive Phenomenology Analysis approach is outlined to help analyse the
realising experiences of each student which are recorded in their response sheets. Neurological research is
incorporated establish the authenticity of student voice in their writing. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the
methodology used, the setting and teaching approach using the research analysis cycle, with the next three
chapters providing an in-depth account of the scaffolded approach used in the teaching sessions for each of the
three pieces of music used, and an overview of the children's recorded responses to the music. Humperdink's
Evenning Prayer is the focus of the fourth chapter, Telemann's Affetuoso in the fifth chapter and Handel's La
Réjouissance in the sixth chapter. An overview of each student's work using the multiliteracy approach with
comparisons made with all of the data collated, and in keeping with the phenomenological paradigm. The
conclusion chapter provides a brief summary of the pilot study outcomes with recommendations for further
research.
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Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
Many extrinsic and intrinsic processes are involved in the creative writing of children. The young learner brings a
wealth of knowledge into the classroom which has been developed through their socio-cultural experiences.
Westernised education policy is influenced by the Organization for Economic Development (OECD) guidelines
and impacts on formal teaching practices in the New Zealand classroom. Statistical data and identified learning
achievement levels portrayed in the National Standards and the New Zealand Curriculum often reflects these
which can profoundly affect the young student’s perception of themselves as a successful learner.
My pilot study is based on a case study carried out by Trinick (2012) in my role as a generalist classroom
teacher at a decile eight primary school using music as an innovation in my language programme. I created this
child-centred pedagogy as a way to evoke higher order thinking skills in my students that would help them
generate a wider range of quality vocabulary and language features to use in their writing. This approach was
designed to be holistic, individualised, whole brain and whole language by using the focussed listening to music
in a multiliteracy designed approach. The interplay of cognitive processing through the music as an auditory
prompt was intentionally used for the purpose of bringing tacit knowledge to the forefront of the students'
conscious awareness, thereby becoming available for them to use in their oral and written language tasks. I will
be using this unpublished thesis to frame, modify and extend on the music-language teaching component in my
own research as well as compare the reflective comments from Trinick’s findings with my own.
2.2 Theoretical positioning
My pilot study is designed to investigate a group of Year Four primary school children in a Decile Three school
to see whether similar results can be achieved with this group of children in their creative writing through using
the music-literacy pedagogy. The aim of my pilot research is to collate quantitative data (e.g., the number and
quality of language features, vocabulary used) through their writing responses. The levelling of their unassisted
recounts carried out by the classroom teacher both before and after the pilot study will also be included.
Qualitative data will be gathered through questionnaires, and formal interviews to find out how the children feel
about themselves as writers, and whether they think the music and the response sheets help them to write
better.
As the rationale for this pilot study I will discuss the postmodernist educational policy in Thwaites (2008) with the
success criteria required to meet the Literacy Learning Progressions (Ministry of Education, 2010) which are
based on the English strands of oral, written and visual language in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of
Education, 2007). The writing standards outlined in the 'Reading and Writing Standards' (Ministry of Education,
2009) stipulate that signposts and reference points are given 'to enable the students to meet the demands of the
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New Zealand Curriculum' (p. 4). For Year Four children this means they will be required to 'meet the writing
demands of the New Zealand Curriculum at Level 2 (p. 27). Therefore reference to these writing standards and
the Level 2 writing strands in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) will be examined, and
aligned with the writing produced by the students.
Discussion of the influences of postmodernism on student agency (van Lier, 2008) and the range of learning
theories in Minick (2005) will be used to connect the multiliteracy approach with the creative writing produced
and the data gathered. Therefore discourse pedagogy (including music) and the role it plays in student learning
will be discussed i.e., Jackendoff (1993) and Gee (1996); alongside hermeneutic theory (verbal, non verbal and
written communication) in phenomenology (van Manen, 1990). I will then incorporate this with the
phenomenological perspective (ontology or the world of ‘being’) and the concept of Dasein i.e. "the primary
locus of truth" (Thwaites, 2009, p. 33). This is to focus on the awareness and knowledge the students have
about themselves through the listening to music and the creative writing that is produced as a result of this. The
music used in my pilot study is intended to stimulate various levels of cognitive processing, activation of the
senses through the embodiment of sound "reflection in which body and mind have been brought together"
(Varela, Thompson & Rosch, 1993, p. 27), and the effect this has on the episodic recall of their lived
experiences. The reason for using a multiliteracy approach to record these (i.e. abstract symbol, drawing,
colour, identification of mood and writing) will be explained by discussing the literacy practices of the New
London Group (Cope and Kalanzis, in Hawkins, 2013).
This pilot study will be underpinned with epistemology-based theory and supported by grounded theory
generated by the empirical phenomenology approach used i.e. descriptive and reflective analysis of qualitative
data identifying the essence of each student's experience (Moustakas, 1994, pp. 4-13). The Phenomenological
Analysis Approach (IPA) as discussed in Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2012) will be applied when analysing this
by focussing and reflecting on the personal meaning and sense-making (p. 45) that each student portrays in
their writing.
2.3 Neural pathways
Reference to the following music-based research is representative of current scientific theory and included to
provide authenticity to the data collated using the phenomenological approach. Sacks (2008) believes that
listening to music involves auditory, emotional and motoric (muscle) systems which supports the theory of
embodiment (p. xii). Schafer, Sedlmeier, Stadtler and Huron (2013) also support this thinking when they discuss
the affect of music on the listener as being predominantly cognitive or self-related, emotional, social and
physiological/arousal-related (p. 8). According to Varela, Thompson and Rosch (1993) "cognitivism is mental
representation" (p. 8) which is required for 'realisation' to take place in the young student and essential for the
phenomenological 'experience'. The default mode is part of the neural processing networks important for
internally focussed thought e.g., self-awareness, reflection and recalling personal memories (Immordino-Yang et
al, 2012, p. 352). Therefore the focussed listening to music is then seen as a "stimulus-oriented cognitive
process" (Gilbert, Frith and Burgess, 2005, p. 1423) and used to assist in the retrieval and experiencing of
memories in the student. Research by Fedorenko, Patel, Cassanto, Winawer, and Gibson (2009) suggests
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there is an interaction between musical and linguistic on-line stage of processing at the retrieval stage from
working memory which supports these findings.
According to the Ministry of Education "oral language underpins written language; the two are closely related"
(2003, p. 19). I would like to suggest that the listening experience used in this pilot study forms the conduit to
the 'in-between borderland' or 'third space' referred to by Wilson (2000), cited in Thwaites (2009, p. 282). This
allows room for a 'preferred identity, multi-modal literacies, and situated cognition' (p. 282) thereby enabling
subconscious knowledge to generate into realisation and the vocabulary required to talk about this. According to
Thwaites (2009) "literacy can expose the codes, signs and symbols necessary to carry out communicative and
poetic practices, styles of thinking, and ways of sensing-the-world" (p. 291) which is relevant to the multiliteracy
pedagogy used in this research.
2.4 Learning paradigms
Phenomenology is the way we question how we experience the world, and to better know the world we live in as
human beings. It is the way we orientate ourselves to our lived experience (van Manen, 1990). I will compare
the sociocultural theories of Vygotsky (child’s knowledge and learning com es through interaction with their
environment) with Piaget’s domain-specific theory (developmental stages and gaining knowledge through
objective constructivism) as discussed in Bruner (1990). This will also help to explain why I have chosen to use
sociocultural theory to identify some of the influences in the writing process for children and their acquisition of
language. The definitions of “What is knowledge?”, “What is it to know?” and “What is a knower?” are
challenged by Thwaites (2008) who believes that a tension is created ‘between community and the geopolitical
world’ (p. 78). I am taking a dialectical approach by incorporating the arts (primarily the embodiment of music)
as a way of stimulating prior knowledge from sociocultural experience to be accessioned and used in a standard
writing programme.
Phenomenology describes how a person experiences the world, the ‘intentionality’ of the inseparable
connection of the person with their world and their conscious orientation to this (van Manen, 1990). According to
van Lier (2008) student agency "depends on the activity and the initiative of the learner" (p. 1), involves "self-
regulation by the learner ... and is mediated by the sociocultural context" (p. 4). My research is designed to find
out whether music enables the students to access their personal voice and feelings (knower), their experiences
and ideas (know) that they can then record in meaningful ways (knowledge) that can be interpreted by the
reader. Research by Steinbeis and Koelsch (2007) indicates that neural resources are shared during semantic
processing of language and music. Meaningful intrinsic understanding in the listener (with no other associations
to events, sounds or objects) and the perception of the harmonic structure is one of the predominant means
used to make sense of the music (pp. 1175 - 1177). I believe this is important when considering the 'realising'
experience through the embodiment of music.
Cope and Kalanzis (in Hawkins, 2013) provide the theoretical perspective of the multiliteracy approach which
was influenced by the New London Group. This pedagogy is designed to recognise the weaving between
experiencing, conceptualising, analysing when applying "knowledge processes" in literacy practices (p. 125)
8
and devised to be flexible and focus on the learners’ heuristic and cultural experiences. Their theory of
semiotics to represent the different indigenous knowledge systems and practices i.e. transformation not
reproduction (pp. 115-129) is applicable to the response sheets used in the pilot study. According to Thwaites
(2008, p. 86) music is a powerful medium that enables the individual to connect emotionally and intellectually,
generate imagination and link all of this through embodied knowing. The response sheets give the student a
range of ways to record their ideas and reflections before beginning the formal writing process.
2.5 Language acquisition
Jackendoff (1993) views communication as any way that conveys information. His theories include the brain
processing of ‘mental grammar’, expressive language i.e. semantics of natural language and syntactic
expression (p. 10), and the ability to put sentences and words into patterns i.e. innate or biological
predetermined language facilities and set grammatical rules (p. 14). A third theory suggests that our experience
of the world is actively constructed by subconscious brain processes (pp. 6 – 7). All three theories are important
in my pilot study since it is designed to use music as a way for a child to authentically access memories and
ideas of their world and be meaningfully transferred into their creative writing tasks. Jackendoff and Lerdahl
(2006) refer to the musically invoked memories as being made aware and understanding of socio-cultural
experiences. Comparison is made to Lerdahl’s Generative Theory of Tonal Music where the listener constructs
an unconscious understanding of the music they are listening to (Koelsch, Rohrmeier, Torrescuso and
Jentschke, 2013).
Brown (2000) gives a good overview of language acquisition theories in both first and second language
learners. This is important due to the class composition of students where they may have a well established
language (mother tongue) at home but low English language threshold in the classroom. Chomsky believes that
all humans have an innate linguistic acquisition device (LAD) enabling us to distinguish and organise speech
sounds for mastery of our mother tongue. He uses the term ‘Universal Grammar’ to go beyond the LAD and
include functional levels of meaning constructed from social interaction. It is believed that the listening to music
primarily evolved to promote social communication (Schäfer et al, 2013) and therefore connects to sociocultural
theory. Constructivists like Piaget and Vygotsky believe there are "multiple contrasting ways of knowing" that the
individual uses to "construct their own version of reality" which include global and social influences (Brown,
2000, pp. 9-27). Correlations are made with the top-down (imagining, illustration and colour) and bottom-up
processing (talking about and writing down ideas) of language learning and the music-related activities. In other
words formulating and conveying ideas through realisation and embodiment of music suggest whole brain
activation and development (Stout, 2011).
2.6 Discourse analysis
According to Gee (1996) language and literacy are regarded as elements in multiple and diverse "ways of being
in the world" which are meaningless if taken out of these contexts. This includes functional literacy, a commodity
that can be measured and controlled or manipulated by social reform. A discourse is a socially accepted way of
thinking, feeling, believing and valuing used to identify oneself as belonging to a society or group. Music has
9
been identified by Krumhansl (2002) as a discourse with "patterns of intonational units" or topics with "distinctive
rhythmic, melodic, dynamic, and affective qualities" (p.48). Musical emotions are the result of the interplay
between musical expectancy and events in the music which are shaped by musical cultures. "Neural substrates
for music overlap those for emotion, memory, and language" (p. 49). Goffin (2014) describes the music-induced
moods as a type of ‘mind-wandering’ which is highly subjective since they are vary from person to person and is
dependent on the listener’s state of mind, and important to consider given the design of this research.
Hemenuetics describe how the person interprets the ‘texts’ of life, in this case semiotics or the use of signs and
symbols (van Manen, 1990). This phenomenological perspective underpins the very purpose of my pilot study
i.e. the students becoming aware of their ‘being’ through listening to music and then signifying these into
concrete forms of writing, colour and illustration. The identification of emotion generated through the music plays
an important part of this. Music is being used as the vehicle for the phenomenology approach and as a key of
entry to all learning areas in the brain with the multi-modal approach used to help the children realise their
thinking.
2.7 Domain specific learning theories
Minick (2005) provides an in-depth overview to the social and learning theories of Vygotsky and compares these
with a range of other theorists including Piaget and Pavlov. Vygotsky believes that learning and higher mental
(psychological) functioning is learnt externally through social interaction and links this to human consciousness.
The role of speech in social interaction and the way it enabled the individual to work with abstract concepts
plays a prominent role in his research. His research into the relationship between thinking and speech, the
development of word meaning and the role of egocentric and inner speech (mediation of thought) meant that he
"was able to extend his analysis of psychological development beyond cognitive processes, including the study
of motivation and affect" (p. 42) and reliant on direct teacher intervention. Bruner holds similar views about the
importance of teacher intervention to assist the student to think at a higher and more abstract cognitive level
however differs in that the student tasks need to be more child-centred, which the response sheet has been
designed to do.
Sutherland (1992) provides a wide overview of Piaget and opposing theorists e.g., Vygotsky, Skinner. Piaget
believes that a child learns at particular stages so therefore the teacher has to wait until they are ready (p. 62).
The students in my pilot study are aged between 7 and 9 years old, and according to Piaget’s constructivist
theory are expected to be transitioning from the egocentric pre-operational stage (using words and images in
problem solving activities) to the concrete operational thought stage. This will be by ‘decentering’ and seeing the
‘whole picture’ and developing more logical reasoning and abstract thinking skills (pp. 12-16), which the
response sheet has been designed to do. Therefore I am choosing to interweave Vygotsky’s theory on social
interaction, and the multiliteracy approach devised by the New London Group when discussing the learning
paradigms in this research.
10
2.8 Conclusion
The aim of my pilot study is to find out whether the focussed listening to music can help the Year Four students
in the pilot study write at a higher level. Although hemeneutic phenomenology views learning through the
individual’s interpretation of their world, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory maintains the individual learns as a
result of interacting with their socially constructed experiences. I would like to form an hypothesis that a child’s
identity and primary source of learning comes via his or her sociocultural background, but can be realised more
meaningfully at a deeper level of conscious awareness through the embodiment of music when used as a
learning tool to help retrieve this knowledge. This phenomenological experience requires a higher level of
cognitive processing for realisation to take place and current scientific research indicates that music can be
considered as an effective way for this to happen. In the opinion of Calkins (1991) "literacy is inseparable from
living" (p. 13). She quotes a young girl who had been working and reworking a poem "I've got the words, but I'm
trying to get the music into them" (p. 46). In this instance the students have the music and are trying to get the
words out of it.
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Chapter 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
The purpose of this pilot study is to assess the effectiveness of focussed listening to music to develop and
enrich the quality of writing of Year Four students in a Decile Three school. This will be taken over a series of
fourteen lessons, using my experience as a musician and mainstream primary teacher to modify and extend on
my own teaching practice. Having incorporated this method into my own practice over the previous six years in
a Decile Eight school, my aim for this pilot study was to teach this pedagogy in a Decile Three school to see if
the results were similar. 'Decile' is the term used by the Ministry of Education in New Zealand to rank "the socio-
economic status of the school community from where their students come from one to ten" (Timperly, Wilson,
Barrar and Fung, 2007, p. 282). The lower the decile number the lower the socio-economic rating.
My planning for this music-centred language programme focuses on language learning, poetry and art based on
the ideas of Vygotsky's 'law of the development of higher mental functions' or intersubjectivity (initially shared
with other people) and intrasubjectivity (internalized and independently used by the individual) (Vygotsky, 1978).
Thwaites (2012) identifies this pedagogy as expansive learning where "learning goes beyond embedding
existing knowledge and skills in an established activity ... they take on new meanings, perspectives and
motivations as part of the process" (p. 111). I planned the series of lessons for this pilot study and adapted the
range of resources to suit the identified learning needs of the class. The multi-literacy pedagogy was introduced
and delivered to the whole class by myself through using the teacher action research approach; with the data
collated only from the identified pilot study participants. This data was examined under the lens of Interpretive
Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
3.2 Teacher Action research
The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) identifies learning inquiry as establishing a baseline
and direction in the teaching-learning cycle that goes on during the teaching and for longer periods of time (p.
35). "Reflecting effectively in the present ... calls for moment-to-moment shifts between doing and thinking and
thinking and doing ... thinking introspectively allows the individual to reflect on the "me" and achieve self-
knowledge" (Schmuck, 2006, pp. 3-4). In a flow chart, Timperly et al (2007) portray the "teacher inquiry and
knowledge-building cycle" as identifying the students' learning needs, the teacher's learning needs to contribute
and promote student learning, design the tasks and experiences for this to happen, the teaching actions and
then reflect on the effectiveness of the teaching and learning outcomes (p. xliii). Dana and Yandol-Hoppey
(2009) cite Elliot's (1988) description of this research paradigm which involves "diagnosing a practical problem
that needs to be solved ... formulating action strategies to improve the situation ... implementing the action
strategies and evaluating their effectiveness ... and clarifying the situation, resulting in new definitions of
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problems or areas for improvement" (p. 4), falling into the spiral definition of reflection and action. My
evaluations and reflections of each lesson will help identify the next steps in this research cycle. In this pilot
study the learning takes place through peer interaction and between teacher and pupils (Reusser, 2001, p.
2059). Therefore student knowledge of their own social backgrounds and the realising of these generated
through listening to the music provide the vocabulary and ideas necessary for their creative writing. The co-
constructivist approach is a collaboration between myself as the 'expert' teaching the students how to make
meaningful realisations through the multi-literacy approach; and their construction of new knowledge in
discussion work and the multi-modal response sheets. To help identify the personal voice of each participant
and the reality of their ideas i.e. not made up, a harmonic analysis of each piece of music is presented at the
end of each of these chapters. Comparisons are made with the composers' intent and aligned with the writing
outcomes of the children.
3.3 Research Setting
This pilot study was conducted in a New Zealand classroom and involved a series of fourteen lessons over an
eight week period. The teaching occurred in the children's own classroom which was their natural formal
learning environment. I also felt it was important to make the teaching situation as authentic as possible to the
children to minimise disruption and the number of variables being introduced. One consideration when selecting
the school was that it would need to be based on the same year group in the case study by Trinick (2012) and
the article by Thwaites (2010), but in a lower decile school (with different social and learning needs) to see
whether similar results could be produced. The school would need to be receptive to my music-language
pedagogy being taught in one of their classes. The fact that it was actively involved with the arts were other
considerations e.g. ukulele club, school choir and the arts-based focus in Term Two.
3.4 Participants
After ethics approval had been granted, I contacted the principal of the school. A meeting was scheduled with
the Principal and Deputy Principal to decide on the most suitable class for this pilot study and seek approval of
the class teacher. I then had a meeting with the class teacher and the deputy principal once this had been
decided to discuss the practicalities of the pilot study and answer any queries. It was decided that I would teach
a Year Three / Four class for an hour on a Monday afternoon and an hour on the following Tuesday morning.
This was to ensure continuation of the lessons taught and keep with the class writing timetable and routines.
Focussing on a smaller group of Year Four students within this class realistically allowed me to collate
qualitative data; especially since this pilot study was for only fourteen lessons. Although this minimised the
range of data collected, it did mean that I could focus on the nine students with greater discernment. When I
asked the class teacher whether she had any concerns about her class listening and writing to music, she said
that she couldn't foresee any problems because of her involvement with school music activities, knew her
students loved music, dance and drama, and that she would monitor their progress.
The class teacher was given the Participant Information Sheets (PIS) for herself, as well as those to give out to
the parents and students. She was also given the Consent Forms (CF) for herself (teacher participant), the
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parents / caregivers and the student Assent Forms (AF) for signing and returned to me. The Deputy Principal
was given the Principal / Board of Trustees PIS and CF to forward and to be signed since the school Principal
was away at the time. All of these forms clarified the purpose of the research, intent of the researcher and
options for withdrawal should this happen. Options for access to any data gathered pertaining to their child was
given to the parents / caregivers as well as a timeframe in which to request this if they wished.
3.5 Research Design
Socio-cultural theory explains how knowledge is gained where social interaction plays an important part in
developing cognition in the individual. According to Vygotsky (1986) it is a "complex and genuine act of thought
... possible when the child's mental development itself has reached the requisite level ... a concept embodied in
a word represents an act of generalization ... the word at first is a generalization ... as the child's intellect
develops, it is replaced by generalizations of a higher and higher type" (p. 149). Vygotsky used the term 'Zone
of Proximal Development' to describe the way a child is taught a new skill or concept from what they know to
what needs to be known to move up to the next level of learning. 'Experts' e.g., teachers, introduce the skill or
knowledge at the level of the learner to promote development of the new skill. A scaffolded approach was used
to introduce and teach the music-language pedagogy to the class until the children could use this independently
in other creative writing tasks i.e. the "temporary, structured support designed to move learners forward in their
thinking" (Timperly et al, 2007, p. 284).
Phenomenology is the expression and the way each individual considers and questions their place and
experiences in their world; which is affected by the child's social, historical and cultural experiences. In the
education setting, co-constructivism is the collaborative interaction between expert and learner. Using the
Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach enabled me to focus on the students’ conce ptual
thinking and underpin this research. In this theory, the personal meaning and sense-making of all participants is
central to the research process (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009, p. 40). Therefore I am referring to myself in
first person due to my own lived experience of planning, organising and delivering the lessons in keeping with
the action research cycle. Discussion with the classroom teacher and her reflections were also important in this
process. Because of the phenomenological design in the pilot study, data was accrued and examined using
qualitative research methods. According to Punch (2000) qualitative data gathering focuses on "interpretations,
meanings and the cultural significance of some behaviour" (p. 46). According to Glaser & Strauss (1967) and
Strauss & Corbin (1990), it has been found that emic views (the child's perspective in this case) are best
collated using qualitative data (cited in Guba & Lincoln, 1994, p.106), and reflected in the embodied realisations
of each student as they listen to the music. In naturalistic inquiry, the instrument (measurement device) used is
internal (subjective) and considered to be a "sensitive honing device that sorts out salient elements and hones
in on them" (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 224). The thoughts and ideas expressed by the children in response to
the music in this pilot study will be analysed through observation, recorded responses, as well as semi-formal
interviews.
The lessons were specifically designed using a multiliteracy approach to see which 'literacy' the students
preferred to use to help them in the writing process with the intention for each student to work independently in
14
their creative writing sessions. It was important that they could record their ideas and knowledge in ways that
were meaningful and relevant to them. The multiliteracy approach allowed non-verbal perceptual thinking of the
students to be symbolically represented in the response sheets, especially if they didn't have to struggle to
recall the appropriate vocabulary to use in oral language activities or write this down. According to Vygotsky's
socio-cultural theory, children need communicative language "to express their needs, to describe their world,
and to plan their actions with others ... thought is transformed into speech" (John-Steiner, 2007, p. 137). The
multi-modal graphic organiser has a range of options for the child to choose from i.e. illustration, colour, abstract
symbol, identification of mood through colouring an emoticon and writing words. Recent neuroscience research
on the working memory, default mode network and the neural processes that take place in creative thinking will
be included to support student output (oral and written) as a way to give reality to the realisations i.e. not made
up. This is important to consider when the children participate in the music-language pedagogy and will be
integrated when summarising and discussing the work of the children.
Western Art instrumental music was used in this pilot study; the same genre used in the case study by Trinick
(2012) and discussed in Thwaites (2012). The children were only told the name, date of birth, country of birth
and shown a photo of the composer as an introduction to the music. To ensure original and creative thinking in
their writing, they were not told the title of the music until they had completed their draft writing to prevent them
being influenced by the title. These excerpts were no more than three minutes long to increase their chances of
remaining focussed. A brief harmonic analysis (the music signifiers) of each music extract will be included in
Chapters Four, Five and Six (the series of music-literacy lessons) and aligned the composers' intentions with
the children's ideas. Trinick (2012) undertook semi-structured interviews with the teacher, classroom
observations and the teacher's journal of reflections and ideas over the ten-month period (spread across four
terms) as her methods of data collection (p. 32). The individual interviews I undertook with the class teacher and
students were also semi-structured to allow for flexibility in asking questions in response to the information and
discussion points raised by the interviewees. Any qualitative data collated by me for this pilot study helped to
identify how the music made the children feel, their thinking and justifications. I also aimed to passively observe
the students when they listened to the music and as they worked. The class teacher involved in the pilot study
remained in the classroom as a passive observer in order to give feedback based on her knowledge of the
students and their work. This also helped me to get an overview of the Long Term Planning for writing,
Performance Objectives and learning criteria for the children.
This research is about finding out what the participants think and feel when using the music-literacy pedagogy
as part of their creative writing. It was designed to uncover or examine the constructed meanings in the
children's response sheets and writing as they listened to the music. Every child participant was asked to
independently complete a questionnaire form at the beginning and at the end of the pilot study. This was to help
me analyse how they interpreted the music using the multi-modal approach (response sheet) and whether they
felt this was an effective writing tool to use i.e. discourse analysis. An unassisted recount by the Year Four
children taking part in the pilot study was taken and levelled by the class teacher just prior to the pre-pilot
questionnaire and also just after the post-pilot questionnaire has been completed to establish their writing levels.
This was to help compare the child's perceptions of themselves as writers with formative assessment of the
National Standards and the school's benchmarks. Utilising the classroom teacher as an observer and
15
discussant of the children’s writing behaviours helped me set the Performance Objectives and plan the lessons,
as well as critique and reflect on the work produced by the children. Once the series of lessons had been
completed, each student participant completed a post-pilot study questionnaire.
3.6 Measures and Methods
The teaching and learning processes used in this pilot study enabled the students to transfer their knowledge
through their oral language and then use a multiliteracy approach to help record this. Their opinion of the
effectiveness of the music was measured through the questionnaires, and carrying out semi-formal interviews.
The students were given a range of opportunities to access and express their thoughts, ideas and ‘knowi ng’ in
ways that were accessible to them. This was particularly important due to the possible range of learning styles,
cultural experiences and backgrounds. The pedagogy was taught in a whole class (naturalistic) situation by me,
however only the responses of those identified as being in the pilot study was collated and analysed i.e. Year
Four children who had returned signed assent and (parental) consent forms. Also important was having the
documentation of classroom Long Term writing overview and the on-going school-wide professional
development plans to help with my planning of the lessons, which was willingly given. Informal discussion at the
end of most lessons with the class teacher also helped me to examine and critique the effectiveness of the
multi-literacy pedagogy, as well as her personal opinions and perceptions of the learning and student interaction
taking place.
Before introducing the pedagogy, I asked the student participants to complete the ‘Pre-Pilot Study
Questionnaire’ in the scheduled library time for the class. These students stayed behind in the classroom while
the rest of the children went to the library with the class teacher. I discussed the purpose of the research with
them, the reason why they were required to complete the questionnaire, and to be reassured that all information
gathered would remain anonymous. Time was given to talk about and clarify the meanings of any words that
they did not understand. The opportunity for open-ended discussion so they could ask questions and seek
clarification before independently completing their questionnaires was important; however I acted as a scribe
when the need arose. Each questionnaire was designed with four multi-choice questions with a 4-point
frequency (never, sometimes, often, always) and four open-ended questions where a box was provided for the
students to write their answers, as recommended in Schmuck (2006, p. 44); to identify what they do or what
helps them to think creatively, and what they would like to do learn to do in order to become a better writer. The
introduction and implementation of the pedagogy with the whole class began once these questionnaires had
been completed.
I also carried out two formal semi-structured interviews with every child participant and the class teacher to help
accrue my data and improve the qualitative analysis of my findings and interpretations. Although I had a set of
prepared questions, the interview questions varied in response to the children's discussion to gain a deeper
understanding of the way they used the music to help them in their writing. This was important since some of
them lacked the confidence or vocabulary to effectively record their thinking and realisations in their response
sheets and questionnaires. Because of this I needed to ask them about their work, how and why they came to
record their thinking in their response sheets, and decisions on the themes of their poem and stories. It was also
16
important to elicit the perspective of the class teacher to help me gain a better understanding of the students,
give me her judgement of their learning needs, identify the Performance Objectives and Learning Intentions for
the lessons, and give her opinion about the effectiveness of the music-literacy pedagogy. All interviews were
audio recorded and transcribed later.
The children were scaffolded into the music-literacy pedagogy through having books read to them and being
shown a DVD and clips on the internet. On an Ordinary School Day (McNaughton, 2005) was read to the class
as an example of how to let the mind (and imagination) wander when listening to the Humperdink's Evening
Prayer. Stephen's Music (Laguna, 2007) was used to introduce examples of simile and metaphor that could be
created to describe the mental imagery generated in the mind of the main character (to Telemann's Affetuoso).
Watching the DVD clip of Bach's Toccata and Fugue (Ferguson and Algar, 1940/2011) and a You Tube clip of
Malinowski's animated score of Vivaldi's Spring (2012) helped the children visualise graphic notation. After
listening to music in a whole class situation, the children were given the opportunity to discuss and share their
thoughts and feelings to the class in either a small group or with a buddy. More child-friendly terminology was
used when talking about the music so that the children could use their own words and make it easier for them to
rationalise their thinking. The elements of music were defined as loud / soft (dynamics), high / low (pitch), fast /
slow (tempo), sad / happy (mood), long, smooth) / short, thin (rhythm). These terms were introduced to the
children and put on laminated 'stars' as visual prompts which were then left on the board for the children to look
at. No information was given on how they were expected to respond to the music reducing the likelihood of their
giving responses they thought the researcher wanted to hear. The music was played two or three times during
these sessions so they could focus and think about what they were listening to.
Discussion sessions were used to generate vocabulary and oral language i.e. whole class, small group and 'pair
and share'. A brainstorm of their ideas and a word bank (vocabulary) were written on a large piece of paper and
the white board for the children to refer to for every lesson. The children were shown how to use the response
sheets to record their thinking and then asked to write their senses poem or stories. They were shown how to
colour in the palettes and emoticons using colour pencils, use watercolour pencils to colour in their Telemann
scores, fold their response sheets in half so that they could illustrate on the back, and where to write their
words. Their working tables were set up with packets of colour pencils / watercolour pencils and sharpened
writing pencils to use if they wanted to write, choosing what they wanted to use first. Time restrictions used for
most writing sessions were similar to the unassisted recount testing situation i.e. thirty minutes unassisted
writing for the first writing session with fifteen minutes editing and recrafting in the next. The music was played
many times during each of the writing sessions so that the children could become familiar and think about it.
This same lesson sequence and organisation was used for all three pieces of music however the Learning
Intentions and Performance Objectives were different and an extension of the previous lessons. The children
were scaffolded into the skills they were required to have in order to meet with these and develop greater
independency to complete the tasks.
The first series of four lessons (Humperdink's Evening Prayer) were planned to introduce the students to the
music-literacy pedagogy using a multi-modal approach to help them in the creative writing process. Developing
a multi-sensory awareness and mind wandering through listening to music was introduced through the books
17
read to them and the senses poem they were required to write. The second series of six lessons (Telemann's
Affetuoso) were designed to extend their thinking using abstract symbol (graphic notation) as well as being able
to listen to the three distinct 'voices' (instruments) playing in the trio with more discernment. More time was
spent on this because of the listening skills being developed and the introduction of the concept of graphic
notation. Being required to write a narrative was both one of the class teacher's writing goals for the class and
an extension the creative writing process being developed in the music-literacy lessons. The third series of four
lessons (Handel's La Réjouissance) was for the children to use the music-literacy to fill in their response sheets
and write a narrative with no or limited teacher assistance; no new skills being introduced.
Other resources used were a set of graphic notation cards (unknown source), a range of percussion instruments
for the children to play and picture prompts representing the elements of music made by me. A chart of
orchestral instruments and pictures of the composers, dates and place of birth, pictures of baroque ensemble
and instruments being played in the trio were also used. The three extracts of music used in the pilot study were
from CD compilations and played on a TEAC Bluetooth portable CD - radio (Model PCD950BT).
3.7 Data Analysis
The data was gathered from questionnaires, semi-formal interviews, response sheets, Listening / Music
Response Sheets, creative writing and unassisted recounts. All data collated was completed independently by
the children except where they were identified as needing assistance. The interviews (including the teacher's)
were carried out on a one-to-one situation with me which I then transcribed to identify emerging themes. For the
response sheets, the different ways the children filled these in and the appropriateness of these with their
creative writing was compared. Further justification of their use of these was discussed with the children in the
semi-formal interviews to ensure I understood their intent. All vocabulary and ideas from the whole class and
small group discussion work was recorded by myself and the children onto A3 sized cartridge paper from a
spiral bound Jasart Visual Diary. This was either kept in the art pad to be used for other lessons or torn out to be
used separately for small group brainstorming and put on the whiteboard for further reference.
The pre-pilot and post-pilot questionnaires helped me to identify how the children felt about themselves as
writers and their strategies to help them write. This data was put into a table to identify and compare student
agency, writing strategies and the effectiveness of the multiliteracy approach. Their narratives were written on
lined refill and the senses poem written in their Humperdink Response Sheet. These were compared with the
brainstorm of ideas, symbols and illustrations in their response sheets; and the types of words and themes
recorded helped to identify similarities and differences. The pre-pilot unassisted recounts were levelled by the
class teacher before being given to me. This levelling was in accordance with the e-asTTle criteria and aligns
with the New Zealand Curriculum English processes and strategies in writing; allowing a comparison between
the descriptive vocabulary and language features used in both pre- and post-pilot unassisted recounts, and their
creative writing to the music. According to the Writing Standards, every Year Four child is expected to meet the
"writing demands of the New Zealand Curriculum at level 2" (Ministry of Education, 2009, p. 27). Therefore a
child levelled at 2B is at the beginning of level 2, 2P is well into level 2 and 2A has achieved level 2.
18
The first interview with the class teacher helped me to find out how she grouped the children in writing,
organised her writing sessions and her expectations of the class to meet with the National Standards. She
taught her writing using a whole class approach which was part of the school's policy but had identified ability
groups. The class teacher indicated that she preferred a 'communal' approach so the struggling writers could be
exposed to the ideas and vocabulary from other children. She had just begun to introduce the 'helping circle'
activity to the class to encourage the children to share their ideas with a buddy on the mat to help the children
'key' into their experiences. This was to keep them engaged in their writing, identify what they like to write about
and to do a lot of talking and sharing. Some of the children had plenty of ideas but experienced difficulty in
accessing the words to write these down. I also needed to find out her understanding of the multiliteracy
approach to see whether the children could have been exposed to this way of learning before. Although (as a
beginning teacher) this was new to her, she did say that visualisation and picture planning was important when
creating words to use in their writing; but that the more able writers went straight into writing.
3.8 Ethical Issues
It was important that a pilot study be carried out on the effects of listening to music on children in their learning,
due to the unique nature of the music-literacy pedagogy. Because of this I needed to plan and teach the
lessons, and to limit the number of variables being investigated. Although a similar approach had been used
with my own class it was important to have open communication with the school and in particular the class
teacher to discuss any concerns since these students and the school were unfamiliar to me. The variables were
limited to the listening to music and using the multi-modal response sheets, with the class teacher as a passive
observer to monitor the effects on her class. Being given copies of the teacher's long term planning and the
writing overview for the school ensured that the lessons aligned with school practise as closely as possible. The
previous case study by Trinick (2012) and the article written by Thwaites (2012) suggest positive educational
outcomes for the children they observed.
Detailed information sheets, assent and consent forms (for signing) were sent home to caregivers and
participants, as well as given to the teacher, the Principal and Board of Trustees to ensure that they were fully
informed of the nature of the pilot study. All returned signed forms indicated their willingness to participate and
the knowledge that they could withdraw at any time. The children were kept fully informed and scaffolded into
the series of lessons to maximise student understanding of the process, were encouraged to give their own
ideas and be independent thinkers. This was also reinforced in the interviews and when they were recording in
the response sheets. Discussion time with each lesson ensured the students were given the opportunity to
share with small group. Working and sharing with a buddy meant the less confident students could discuss their
writing and ideas.
3.9 Bias Section
The main concern would be the fact that I have taught the music-literacy pedagogy over the previous six years
at a higher decile school. It was important to talk with the class teacher and have access to her Long Term
Planning and the school's overviews in order to gauge the benchmarks and practices of this school, and align
19
these with the Writing Literacy Standards (Ministry of Education, 2009) and the New Zealand Curriculum
(Ministry of Education, 2007). It is important when analysing the data that there is immediate reflection of the
'action' taking place in the classroom and it is important to not be influenced by any preconceived ideas from
last six years of teaching this pedagogy. This is to ensure that no prejudgements or comparisons are made that
would influence my objectivity in the pilot study. Reflecting on the child's voice through triangulation of data is
the most crucial part of this in order to remain neutral.
3.10 Trustworthiness
In order to validate the credibility of this qualitative pilot study, the source of data collecting come from the
source of the investigation i.e. the student participants. The response sheets were designed as graphic
organisers to enable the children to record their thinking, with a range of ways to choose from. The interviews
and questionnaires ensured I fully understood their ideas and interpreted these correctly. I had no influence over
the results unassisted recounts since they were levelled by the class teacher. Each series of lessons have been
outlined and written in detail by being given a chapter each to make the pedagogy as explicit as possible to the
reader so that the process can be realised and understood as fully as possible.
20
Chapter 4
HUMPERDINK: EVENING PRAYER
4.1 Evening Prayer Performance Objectives
The Performance Objectives for this series of four lessons was to introduce the music-literacy pedagogy to the
class. First the music-language concept was discussed by talking about the role music plays in our lives and the
different areas of the brain that are involved when listening to music. The You Tube clip Brain conducts a neural
orchestra (Rate My Science, 2012) helped to reinforce the way music activates the brain. They needed to learn
how to fill out the response sheet to draft their ideas and write a senses poem as a result of listening to the
music. I began by reading Here Comes Frankie (Hopgood, 2008) to the class; a story about a boy who has
synaesthesia and wants to learn to play the trumpet. A person with synaesthesia has multi-sensory or
"additional experiences" (Hubbard and Ramachandran, 2005, p. 1) when using one of their senses e.g.,
listening to music or eating food. Different colours, symbols and smells are triggered in his mind when Frankie
begins to play a trumpet he brings home, which are portrayed in the illustrations and change as he plays more
and gets better. Frankie's 'experiencing' or 'realising' aligns with the multi-literacy approach used and the
Humperdink Response Sheet specifically designed for the children to use as they listen to the music and to
write a senses poem.
4.2 Evening Prayer Learning Intentions and lessons
The Learning Intention for the first lesson was to introduce the elements of music to the class i.e. tempo (fast /
slow), dynamics (loud / soft), mood (happy / sad), pitch (high / low), rhythm (long / short). A chart (Frank
Schaeffer Publications, 1980) representing the seating arrangement of a typical Western symphony orchestra
was shown to the class to discuss the different sections (string, woodwind, brass and percussion) before
introducing the composer Englebert Humperdinck to the class. This music can be accessed on the web link
below:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/worlds-most-beautiful-melodies-sentimentale-mw0000993433
https://play.spotify.com/album/2TfYJA6C8NJmLSpHNbIN0i/5mr0n1RcYGzFpBYq5EWFDe
The whole class was sitting on the mat during the first listening of the Evening Prayer (Sunset Strings, 2010)
with no other information given to help keep them focussed. Encouragement was needed to generate the first
verbal responses with only six children displayed confidence in sharing their thinking about the music. 'D'
identified the importance of prior knowledge and experience in the writing process when she said that she would
like to get a horse so that she could write about it. 'N' displayed an awareness of music having an effect on
emotion by stating:
Harmonies are the mood.
21
Mood is defined as an effective state that last longer and are lower in intensity than emotion because they do
not have a clear 'object' (Juslin and Sloboda, 2010, p. 10). Music is an associative "symbolic import" that may
refer to emotion and then characterize it (Davies, 2010, pp. 25 - 26).
The next day I read On an Imaginary School Day (McNaughton, 2005) to the class to introduce the concept of
minds to wandering when listening to music, as well as encourage student independence and confidence when
recording and sharing ideas. The children listened to Evening Prayer again and where encouraged to
brainstorm more ideas and add words to the list collated the previous day. A quick demonstration was given to
the children on how to fill in the palettes, emoticons and where to draw their illustrations on the Humperdink
Response Sheet (see Appendix K), before being shown where to draw their illustrations on the back by folding
their response sheet in half. The children were then instructed to choose a table to sit at so they could begin to
record their thinking while listening to the music; the only assistance given by the class teacher or me was to
clarify any instructions. I observed the majority either drawing pictures or colouring in their palettes while the
music was played repeatedly. The students were then asked to leave their work on their table and return to the
mat for a whole class discussion on their responses, with only four children willing to share. These children used
the words "heartbroken", "devastated", "touching", "sad", "silence", "peaceful" and "lonely" which refer to mood
and emotion and of a much higher quality vocabulary than used in their pre-pilot unassisted recount. They could
relate to their own experiences and life world when I asked them to explain why they used these words. I then
asked them to return to their tables and complete their pictures and colour palettes while listening to Evening
Prayer once more.
The Learning Intention for the third lesson was to generate more vocabulary from the children and go in greater
depth on the theme of mood and emotion, since that appeared to be the strongest association they had with the
music. They were able to identify a varying degree of emotions when discussing the concept of feelings. One
child said that she understood the difference between mood and feelings but couldn't say why, an example of
tacit knowledge and important when understanding the realising experience. The following words were
generated from the class discussion as the children became more confident in sharing i.e. "calm", "settled",
"peaceful", "amazed", "proud", "joyful", "emotional", "glad", "fantastic", "sad", "upset", "heartbroken", "unhappy",
"quiet", "extremely smooth", "powerful", "strong" and "chirping". After this they were sent back to their tables to
develop more vocabulary by listening to the music again; working in four small groups to discuss and write down
their thoughts and words. Of the eighty-one different words written down in total by the four groups; I identified
forty-four of the words as unhappy and thirty-seven words as happy (Fig.1).
The words identified as representing emotions were twice as many as those recorded to represent the senses
i.e. eighteen happy emotion words and nine describing feelings that could be experienced through the senses.
Twenty four unhappy emotion words were identified with twelve words that could be used to describe the sense.
The words "dehydrated", "hidden" and "small" are indicative of the children realising through the music; they
would need to know what this felt like in order to attach meaning and recall these in the discussion work. The
'other' words (eleven happy and eleven unhappy) I felt could be representative of the music itself or abstract
thinking to describe unidentified sensations and thinking i.e. "extremely", "beyond". The memories and
"moments" are indicative of nostalgic awareness.
22
Figure 1
The list of brainstormed words of the students when working in small groups
Happy words
Unhappy words
Emotions
Senses
Other
Emotions
Senses
Other
amazed
proudx2
emotional
greatx2
joyfulx2
fantastic
exciting
laughter
gladx3
very happy
excitedx2
jumpy
impressed
amazingx2
happyx4
calmx2
settled
peacefulx3
in the air
weird
dizzy
touching
powerful
sleepy
wavy
strong
silence
fast
high
quiet
chirping
extremely
lovely
softx2
gentle
smooth
beyond
nice
heartbrokenx4
devastatedx4
sadx3
lonelyx4
unhappyx2
upset
whiny
alonex2
bored
evil
angry
disappointed
mad
stressed
scared
frightened
set up
exhausted
cranky
grumpy
cryingx2
cross
frustrated
down
sick
wobbly
tired
exhausted
painful
loud
hiding
scary
dehydrated
little
hidden
small
slow
loud
low
beyond
'strong and lonely moment'
'having a little sad moment'
'having a very sad and powerful
moment'
sad memories
frustrated moment
devastated moment
23
Figure 2
Words used by more than one group
2 groups
3 groups
4 groups
proud
great
joyful
excited
amazing
calm
soft
unhappy
alone
crying
glad
peaceful
sad
happy
heartbroken
devastated
lonely
4.3 Evening Prayer realising: themes representing lived meaning
The working memory is the network system in the brain that temporarily stores and manipulates information
(immediate and conscious perceptions). It is essential for higher cognitive functioning as well as being able to
understand and process speech and music. Research by Schulze and Koelsch (2012) suggest that verbal and
tonal working memory considerably overlap in the same areas of the brain e.g. Broca's area and the premotor
areas of the brain (p. 229-234) ... neuroimaging studies indicate that these play a crucial role "during the internal
rehearsal of verbal material" (p. 231). A wide range of quality descriptive words were generated by the children
in this discussion work, indicating the ability to express their emotions through discussion in a small group.
The words in the Figures 1 and 2 indicate a high level of individualised thinking and quality vocabulary. All of the
words written down by the four groups were identified in earlier class brainstorm sessions as were the words
written by three of the groups. Any words written down by two of the groups i.e. "proud", "joyful", "amazing"
(amazed), "calm", "crying" (felt like crying) were included in the class discussion times but not "great", "excited",
"soft", "happy" and "alone" (although "lonely" was identified). Research by Krumhansl (2002) suggests that
listener's expectations of music are influenced by their culture, effecting their emotional responses to what they
are listening to (p. 45) and could explain the wide range of vocabulary. Mood and emotion was discussed with
nine children sharing and able to give very specific responses in how the music made them feel. Seven out of
the nine children made references in their poems to trees e.g., forest, jungle, hill or park and some having the
sensation of flying. It is interesting to note that one student said "chirping" which could be seen as appropriate
and inferred given the references to flying and trees. Not all connections made with the music were written down
since realising took many forms and was not always expressed in their poems. This lesson was based on where
24
the class was 'at' by introducing the skills required to complete the word brainstorm in small groups. They used
colour, symbol and illustration to represent their thinking. The next stage was for them to work independently on
their Humperdink Response Sheets and senses poems as they were becoming more familiar with what to do.
I then modelled an example of the senses poem outline in the body of the Humperdink Response Sheet (Fig. 3)
using the ideas expressed by the students.
Figure 3
The children returned to their tables and were given about fifteen minutes to independently complete their
response sheets with the music playing. This timeframe was used to keep the children on the task of writing
since so many of them wanted to keep working on their illustrations. When the class returned to the mat they
were instructed to sit in a sharing circle and 'pair and share' with a buddy to discuss why they chose the words
used in relation to the music. They had the option to share with the rest of the class which very few did; however
'V' said this made him remember his mother dying (reflected in the words he used in his response sheet i.e.
"sad", "crying", "devastated"). 'H' was very definite that she did not want to explain her "little sad moments" and
three of the children previously identified by the class teacher as reluctant writers (including 'K' and 'E') wanting
to stay writing at their tables to complete their work.
4.4 Evening Prayer: student signifiers and signified
All discussion with the children about their responses and writing was carried out in the first one-on-one
interview with me after they had completed their poems and shared the way they used their response sheets.
When it came to colouring in the emoticons, two out of the nine children coloured in the 'happy' emoticon ('G'
The senses poem written by the whole class from ideas generated from the brainstorm session
Describe the colours and places, things and feelings that you think the music is representing :
When I hear the music I see A quiet, lonely forest
It makes me feel like: I am flying slowly and carefully above the peaceful green swaying, waving,
wet tall trees
The place I am thinking about: By a camping ground
The day and time is: Foggy night time at midnight
I am with: Mum and dad
I am doing: Sleeping and dreaming about flying above the trees
25
and 'J'), one student ('K') coloured in the 'okay' emoticon, four students coloured in the 'sad' emoticon ('H', 'N',
'V' and 'W') and two children ('D', 'E') did not colour in an emoticon.
'G' wrote that the music made him feel happy in the 'word' box and drew two pictures of houses with the words
"birds chirping, wind blowing" underneath. In the first interview he said that the colours used in the palette of his
Humperdink Response Sheet represented his feelings of surprise and talked about the sensation of flying
through the sky as being peaceful; as well as the "quiet and peaceful" with snorkelling under the sea and being
at his uncle's place at night time. 'G' was able to give an explicit description of the forest being dark and wet with
a lot of animals, with birds chirping and monkeys going from branch to branch. He was very specific about the
imagery created when he listened to the music but this was not written in his poem. He was able to discuss the
realising or sensation of three different experiences at the same time as well as 'see' the jungle. 'G' identified
that the music helped to put him into these 'moments' and was able to recall these during the first interview,
despite the fact that he did not write them down in his response sheet. The writing output from 'G' was minimal,
misspelt and reliant on the class teacher to scribe his sentences for him despite the wide range of ideas
expressed in the interview and indicated in his response sheet. Although there was no pre-pilot unassisted
recount level available, his writing would suggest 1B and therefore identify him as being well below the National
Writing Standards. When discussing his response sheet in the first interview 'G' was able to justify the symbolic
representation he drew, suggesting a strength in divergent and creative thinking.
In her pre-pilot unassisted recount 'J' was levelled as being at 2A, used some quality describing words and
alliteration to convey her personal voice, and writing at the expected level. Although she coloured in the happy
emoticon, 'J' recorded a wide range of words representing mood ("quiet", "soulful", "hidden", "lonely") and a
wide range of emotions ("shy", "scared", "strong", "upset", "joyful", "devastated", "mad", "unhappy"). The picture
drawn on the back of her Humperdink Response Sheet was of a funeral with the words "When granpa and my
sister or brother pasted (sic) away I was really sad, I found out about 2 years ago." In her senses poem she
recorded that she felt as though she was walking through "beautiful green trees", and thinking about being at a
funeral when her grandfather and brother passed away. She identified the day and time as being a sunny
morning, with "my amazing family" and that she was doing a "sad thing". When asked about the setting in the
first interview, 'J' recalled this event happening when she was a baby and raises the possibility of nostalgic
awareness when listening to music.
Figure 4 The identified processing that 'J' used
The identified processing that 'J' used
Listening
to the
music
Colour
and
illustratio
n
Feelings
generat
ed
Writing
26
'K' was the only student who coloured in the 'okay' emoticon, drew a picture of a coffin on the back of his
Humperdink Response Sheet, wrote "My gramae di (sic)" and recorded the words "lonely", "sad", "lonely",
"calm", "strong" and "powerful". He was identified as writing at 2P in his pre-pilot unassisted recount and
therefore writing 'at' the expected level for the National Writing Standards. 'K' used adjectival phrases to create
word pictures. When responding to the music 'K' wrote that he could 'see' a lonely forest, felt like he was flying
through the forest, thinking about "a forest with tall trees and a river" and that he was at camp with his mum and
dad. He was able to explain that the colours used in his palettes represented the dynamics in the music when
discussing the colours used in his response sheet i.e. blue is "medium", green is "loud as other instruments"
and the black stripes represent "sad". The word "calm" was written in the same green colour and signified i.e. "it
was a soft colour". Although he wrote the word "sleepy" in the "words to describe how the music made you feel",
he crossed this out after hearing the music again; an indication that his thinking was dependent on his current
mood and state of mind. 'K' was able to identify the fact that the music helped "a little" to generate words and
that the colour and the lines produced in the palette also helped him to think of ideas.
'H' wrote "it made me to have a little sad moment", "made me sad about to cry, upset, calm". She drew a
'happy' looking picture of one male and two females with smiling faces, and a sun in the corner of her picture on
the back of her Humperdink Response Sheet. The theme of her poem was consistent in that when listening to
the music because she could "see my three beloved ones", it made her feel like she was "having a little sad
moment because i miss them everytime they go somewhere", she was thinking about her papa, nana and
aunty's house where she was reading a book about the pacific islands at night time (8.30 pm), and hugging
them because she loves them so much.
'H' was levelled as writing at 2P in her pre-pilot unassisted recount and used descriptive imagery to create word
pictures. She demonstrated a strong sense of nostalgic awareness by relating the feelings of longing when
thinking about her "beloved ones" and the sense of calm that she experienced when listening to the music. She
was able to talk about how her strong feelings of emotion made her feel while discussing her responses e.g.,
"powerful ... like somebody has just done something powerful". 'H' was also able to link the colours used in her
palette with personalised meaning i.e. the purple represents "someone powerful", the orange streaks
represented her family playing instruments (like the piano), the red represented her nana and poppa which also
made her feel calm. She also discussed how the writing to music helps her to "communicate with other people"
and that this sensation was similar to those she has when playing the piano at home and was identified as a
strategy used to help feel happy.
'N' was levelled as writing at 2P in the pre-pilot unassisted recount, used adverbial phrases and word pictures to
convey imagery in the mind of the reader. When listening to the Evening Prayer, she identified a wide range of
emotions in her Humperdink Response Sheet by writing "angry", "upset", "emotional", "devastated", "scared",
"crying", "heartbroken", "exhausted". She also identified the mood of loneliness and included the feelings of
flying and dizzy (see Fig. 5). The picture drawn on the back of her response sheet was of two people standing
under two umbrellas and crying, raining clouds, a crying sun in the corner of her picture and a coffin at the
bottom. She also displayed a degree of nostalgic awareness by writing "I felt heartbroken when I heard my
grandma died when I was born" (see Fig 6). 'N' was able to discuss the sensation of feeling dizzy as she was
27
listening to the music and how this made her feel and think when these thoughts "came into my head" and
displayed empathy towards other people and their feelings; an indication of developing wider social connections
and relating to others.
Figure 5 'N's front of her Humperdink Response Sheet
Figure 6 'N's back of her Humperdink Response Sheet
28
'V' was levelled at 2B in his pre-pilot unassisted recount written at the end of the second term and therefore
writing slightly below the National Writing Standards. He used a range of quality verbs to describe the action in
his story and also included alliteration. 'V' wrote the words "sad", "crying", "devastated" and "running". He drew
a picture of a gravesite with the words "I feelt (sic) like going back in time wene (sic) my grandpa died." With
English not his home language, 'V' was able to identify the way that the listening to music and the Humperdink
Response Sheet helped him write his ideas down. He found that the colours created in his palettes when
listening to the music (white represented loud) helped him with his writing by thinking about and making
associations with things he had seen and done.
Figure 7
'W' was identified as writing at 2P in her unassisted recount and therefore writing 'at' the expected level for the
Writing National Standards. She used some quality vocabulary to convey her personal voice and how she felt.
'W' also drew a picture of a gravesite with the sentence "When my nana aia past (sic) away I felt heartbroken
and really upset." At the head of the coffin are the words "Forever in our heart Nana Aia" (see Fig. 10). She
wrote the words "unhappy", "upset", "funeral", "speechless", "crying", "not good", "lonely", "shocking", "quite"
(quiet) and "being bullied" (see Fig 9). In the interview she discussed how the emotions generated through
listening to the music helped her construct the colours to help her come up with the words written in her
response sheet. She talked about how she liked to listen to music and make up stories at home. She said that
the music helped her identify and make connections between her emotions and socio-cultural experiences. 'W'
also mentioned that she liked to read stories and could relate these to the music i.e. similar themes, making
connections with what she knows and identify the emotions associated with these. She even made a personified
reference to how the music "feels tired and sad".
Figure 8
The identified processing that 'V' used
Listening to
the music
Colour, ideas,
symbols (RS)
Words from board:
L1 →L2
Writing
The identified processing that 'K', 'W' and 'G' used
Listening to
the music
Colour, ideas,
symbols (RS)
Feelings/emotion
identified
Writing
29
Figure 9 'W's front of her Humperdink Response Sheet
Figure 10 'W''s back of her Humperdink Response Sheet
30
The level for her pre-pilot unassisted recount was unavailable since she was new to the school. 'D' did not
colour in an emoticon, wrote the word "unhappy" in block letters and as well as "loud", "mad", "lonely", "quiet",
"sad", "scary" and "little" in her Humperdink Response Sheet. She drew two pictures on the back of her
response sheet; one of a tree and another of an underwater scene. 'D' also drew some diamond shaped
symbols at the bottom of her page. Like 'G', she also experienced the sensation of being in more than one place
when listening to the music; and talked about the realised experiencing of gliding through the forest and trees
while also thinking about the calm sea with a lot of fish and a coral reef. The colours used when writing her
words represented their meaning e.g., "mad", "sad" and "scary" were written in purple; "upset", "lonely" and
"quiet" were written in blue. These colours were layered in the palette and represented her unhappy feelings
experienced at the beginning of the music. 'D''s feelings changed as she was listening to the music to 'happy'
and 'a little happy'. The diamond-shaped design at the bottom of the page represented the symbols she
remembered seeing carved on the coffin at her grandmother's funeral (see Fig. 11).
Figure 11 'D's Humperdink Response Sheet front of her Humperdinck Response Sheet
'D': The music also shaped me of those patterns I tried to draw it down.
Her memory of this occasion is represented in the abstract symbolism created, with possible nostalgic links to
her illustrations and poem.
31
'E''s unassisted pre-pilot recount was levelled at 2B and therefore just at the National Writing Standards. He
wrote the words "calm", "joyful", "happy", "smooth", "peaceful", "quiet" and "settled", did not colour in an
emoticon or draw a picture on the back of his Humperdink Response Sheet. He discussed the sensation of
running on a hill and the music felt "calm and settled" to him. 'E' also used layered colours of red, blue and black
colours to represent how the music made him feel and the sensation of running all alone at the top of the hill
even though there are animals and other people at the bottom. "I see lonely green hills" suggests personification
and his word bank contains quality descriptive vocabulary not used in his poem. Although he was not a
confident participant in discussion activities, he did share in the interview that the music helped to generate
mental imagery but the actual writing of the words down was difficult for him. 'E' was able to generate thoughts
and vocabulary at a level higher than is indicated in his level for his unassisted recount writing.
The default mode network is a series of active areas of the brain that are active during internally focussed
thought which includes free-range daydreaming to effortful abstract thinking and is especially important when
recalling social emotions and personal memories. It is where "constructive internal reflection takes place ... mind
wandering (lapse in perceptual vigilance) allows the individual to indulge in thoughts, fantasies and socially
constructed memories and their psychological self with just enough attention to carry out external goal-directed
tasks" (Immordino-Yang, Christodoulou and Singh, 2012, pp. 352-356). Cognitive neuroscience suggests that
some music neural substrates overlap those for language, memory and emotion, and that musical emotions
depend on the expectancies of the music in the listener and the music itself (Krumhansl, 2002, pp. 48 - 49).
The student output in the Humperdink Response Sheets was individualised and meaningful to them. Discussing
their responses in the first interview enabled me to authenticate their work and understand their realisations.
4.5 Humperdink's harmonic hermeneutics
This extract is from the opera Hansel and Gretel by the composer Englebert Humperdink (based on the fairy
tale of the same name) and first performed in 1893. According to Glauert (2014) it was composed to represent
the moment when Hansel and Gretel are tired, lie down under some trees in the forest and sing a prayer (duet
in the opera) to keep themselves safe. A ladder reaches down from heaven when they fall asleep and fourteen
angels are surround them to keep them safe. The child-like representation or nursery theme can be heard from
the playing of a celeste with predominant strings playing legato (smooth) rhythms. The main theme of the music
is repeated over and over with some variation coming from the different sections of the orchestra playing for
different timbre effect and the rise and fall of dynamics (loud and soft) which links these repetitions together.
The music score I have used for the harmonic analysis of Evening Prayer is a closed score of the music by
Humperdink, Wette and Kleinmichel (c1895, pp. 93 - 95) with the two vocal lines of the duet and a piano-like
part with some orchestral instrument markings, and is not a direct representation of the orchestral arrangement
heard on the CD. Lahdelma and Eerola (2014) identified the biggest identification for nostalgia/longing and
sadness/melancholy in single chords (played to adults) came from those played only with the sound of stringed
instruments (p. 9). The strings are the dominating 'voice' in the recording played to the class. The music starts in
the root position of the tonic key (D Major) but then modulates to its subdominant (G Major, the fourth note of
the D Major scale) at bar 6 (p. 93) with a lot of chromatic modulation (keys that are not closely related) between
32
bars 9 - 12 (p. 93) to create tension. The music modulates back to the subdominant (bar 13) and then ends on
the tonic (D Major) at bar 21 (the end of the duet). Harmonically, the G Major chords are some distance away
with the chromatic progressions far away from the tonic chord of D Major. The ascending step-wise progression
of notes when the words in the score refer to guiding 'my steps to heaven' (bars 20-21) reach the highest note
sung in the vocal part or played in the melody, and is one way music is composed to tell a story. It is an
example of musical narrative association with some elements of pictorial writing (like a form of graphic notation)
used in the nineteenth century.
4.6 Realising Humperdink and the lived experience
The following phenomeonological themes of student realisation through their 'living in the world' have emerged:
a) episodic memory (remembering autobiographical events and personal experiences that can be explicitly
recalled e.g., being with family at a camp, staying overnight at an uncle's place, the calm sea with lots of
fish and a coral reef, running on the green hills and being alone and being bullied
b) nostalgic awareness (feelings of longing or sentimentality of past events) e.g., at a funeral / nana died,
in the playground, remembering "my beloved ones", having a sad or happy moment, recalling being told
of the death of a sibling
c) affective experience (expressing an emotion or feeling) e.g., three of the children who shared their
thinking said that the music made them feel "sad", "happy", "sad", "felt like crying", "feeling
heartbroken", "calm" and "peaceful." The words "beyond", "alone" and "hidden" are also powerful
representations of this.
d) embodied 'knowing' (conscious awareness or perception of physical 'realising'). Eight out of the nine
children experienced this when listening to the music. One child said he could "see different people
playing instruments." While four said they felt they were flying (or gliding), others identified the sensation
of either walking, running or snorkelling. One child described the feelings of power where another felt
disempowered (bullied). The words identified in the discussion sessions include "dizzy", "weird",
"exhausted", "dehydrated" are examples of this.
e) musical association the music was loud and quiet, high and low (extending arches), sounds like opera,
soft and slow (praying, hymn-like) and one even said that there is a "nursery rhyme in there" (the
celeste) and like a Mary Poppins movie to justify their thinking; as well as associating with being in the
jungle, in the sky, at war. Apart from the word "quiet", these ideas were repeated throughout the series
of lessons or by other children.
33
Chapter 5
TELEMANN: AFFETUOSO
5.1 Affetuoso Performance Objectives
The three Performance Objectives for this series of lessons were based on the first movement of Telemann's
Solo 4 (TWV: 41d4) 'Affetuoso' found in Essercizii Musiici (Telemann and Klaus, 2009, p. 74) and composed
around 1728. This is a trio for alto recorder, cello and harpsichord; however the alto recorder 'voice' was
introduced as a flute to the children as it was called not identified on the CD jacket (Concerto Royale, n.d.). The
first Performance Objective was to develop the students' listening skills by getting them to focus on each of the
three instruments in the trio and discuss them. Creating graphic notation on their Telemann Response Sheet to
represent the music was the second Performance Objective. Graphic notation is a way of representing musical
sounds through colour and symbol (visually) and can be interpreted as a music score (the manuscript of the
music played by the whole orchestra or ensemble). The third Performance Objective was for the children to use
their Telemann Response Sheets as a brainstorm to write a narrative under the same conditions as an
unassisted recount. This was to see how well the students could record their ideas and write a narrative when
working independently using the music-literacy approach. Any student comments referred to in this chapter are
from the second participant - researcher interviews.
Another performance of this is titled Sonata in D minor for recorder and basso continuo in the recording below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phUum2CzpFw
5.2 Affetuoso realising: themes representing lived meaning through sound and symbol
'Bach's Toccata and Fugue' in Walt Disney's DVD Fantasia (Ferguson and Algar, 1940/2011) is a visual
interpretation using graphic notation of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach. The Disney pictorial
interpretation of it is described as "pictures of the shifting abstract images that might pass before the mind's eye
as we sit and listen in a concert hall listening to this music" (Culhane,1983 p. 35); and was shown to the class at
the end of the last Humperdink writing session. The music was composed in the same era as Telemann's
Affetuoso. The emphasis of the first lesson was to introduce the three different 'voices' of the Affetuoso by
showing the children pictures of the three instruments playing in the trio. To introduce the sound (timbre) of each
instrument, the music was played three times so they could focus on the sound of each instrument and make
their own associations of these. Examples given by the children are the flute was "like a mouse"; "I think of a
tree" (cello); "I think of the sun" (harpsichord). I then compared the 'voices' heard in the music with the voices
heard in class (soft, loud, thin, rounded, high, low etc). The children were given their Telemann Response
Sheets which had been divided into three rows like a music score to represent each of the instruments in the
trio. They went to their tables and used watercolour pencils to separately colour each row. The music was
played three times so the students could focus on one instrument at a time, as well as draw illustrations on the
34
back of their response sheets if they wanted to. They left their Telemann Response Sheets on the tables to dry
before returning to sit on the mat.
Next I introduced a range of graphic notation cards (unidentified source) which had different coloured back
grounds and a variety of patterns to symbolise music 'sounds' to help the children connect graphic notation with
sound. Although many of the children found this concept difficult to understand they were able to make direct
references to the Affetuoso i.e. the yellow symbol is the alto recorder (yellow 'crash' symbol). Therefore I
decided to bring a range of untuned and tuned percussion for the next lesson to extend their understanding of
associating sound with symbol and 'play' the cards given to them.
Exploring sound and graphic notation
The Learning Intention of the second lesson was for the children to explore sound by playing an assortment of
untuned percussion instruments and then think how these sounds could best represent the graphic notation on
the cards. There was a variety of instruments available e.g. floor toms, sleigh bells, castanets made out of
scallop shells to allow the children to explore and create sounds. After this I gave a demonstration of what one
of the graphic notation cards could sound like. Most of the children appeared to be very excited at the prospect
of being able to play the instruments and have more 'hands-on' experience. The lesson began with a 'warm up'
to 'tune' the children into playing by introducing an activity called 'sound sizzlers'. This is an innovation from a
NEMP assessment task called 'Vocal Sizzles' (Ministry of Education, 2000) where the phonetic sound of the first
letter of a word is used to form a rhythmical four line chant i.e. 's' sound which I created from words the children
gave me. This chant consisted of four beats to each line for the whole class to chant in unison or as a canon
(round) in two or four parts; or to be divided so that two or four lines are performed either together or conducted
to perform at different starting and stopping points determined by me in the role of 'conductor'.
Once this was done the students were told to clap the rhythms i.e. play (and say in their head) (see Fig. 12).
Figure 12 Sound sizzler chart
snake
Ƹ
snail
Ƹ
sister
sat
Ƹ
soup
secret
Ƹ
scissors
Ƹ
Ƹ
soap
Ƹ
sit
Following this the four groups were given instruments to practise and then play their line.
35
Figure 13 Sound sizzler chart for instruments
snake
Ƹ
snail
Ƹ
bells / tambourines (Group 1)
sister
sat
Ƹ
soup
clave / cymbals / drums (Group 2)
secret
Ƹ
scissors
Ƹ
maracas / egg shakers / cabassa (Group 3)
Ƹ
soap
Ƹ
sit
triangles, resonating bars (C and E) (Group 4)
A graphic notation card was given to each group along with a variety of percussion instruments to experiment
with and 'play' their cards. 'E' and 'K''s group worked with the class teacher since they found this difficult
(possibly due to lack of confidence and afraid to 'get it wrong'). The other groups worked collaboratively to
perform 'music' and justify their interpretation of their card. They were then given the time to go to their tables
and complete their illustrations and 'scores' to the Affetuoso.
5.3 Affetuoso: student signifiers and signified (Telemann Response Sheets / Narratives)
At the beginning of the third lesson the class listened to the music while looking at their Telemann Response
Sheets before discussing their 'scores' with a partner. After this there was a brainstorming session with the class
to share how they realised these different 'voices' (Fig. 14). Representing their life world experiences through
unprompted simile is an indication of how they were able to bring lived meaning into their learning.
Consciousness refers to the sense of experience and a relationship that binds them together (Varela et al, 1991,
p. 67). Neuroscience suggests that there is important evidence of psychosocial mental processing (self-
awareness, reflection, recalling personal memories) in the brain's default mode. The neural networks for
maintaining and focusing attention 'toggle' with the default mode (Immordino-Yang et al, 2012, p. 352)
suggesting the generation of tacit knowledge in the children and their reflection via discussion and the response
sheets. The students would need to have recollections of their life experiences when creating simile to compare
their ideas with what they know. Meaningful representation would suggest their tacit knowledge is recalled as a
result of listening to the music (e.g., birds, the wind and praying) which is realised and relative to their lived
experience.
36
Figure 14 Telemann Simile
Flute
Simile:
Other
Like a bird flying / whistling
Like something great
Like the wind - stormy / silent / strong
Like someone praying
Like a flower growing
Delicate
Thin
Time lapsing
Happy
Kind of sad
Warm
Colour green
I felt cold because of the wind
Cello
Like a man whistling happily
Like an evil person
Very deep
Powerful
Gravity
Deep
National anthem
High and low pitch
Lightning striking
I feel I am in the snow
Strong
Happy mood
Wood that is hitting each other
Representing the queen
The sea - rough / violent / thready / wavy
A navy blue sea
Harpsichord
Like a squeaking mouse
Like string
Like a girl playing the piano quietly
Like threads - wooden
Like tapping glass
Like a table cracking
Smell the strings playing
Dust in the cold wood shed
A high chirp
A knife being sharpened
Fancy sound
A quarrel
37
The narrative genre
The third Performance Objective in the fourth lesson was for the children to write a narrative to the music that
also linked in with their Telemann Response Sheets. According to Derewianka (1990) a narrative is fiction text
which begins with an orientation (e.g., who, what, where), has a complication, and then a resolution. It is
fundamentally written to entertain and "to nourish and extend the reader's imagination" (p. 40). Therefore the
focus for the fourth lesson was to review the structure of a narrative (the writing focus for the class teacher at
that time). It was also designed to see whether the students could transfer their ideas (produced through
discussion and their Telemann Response Sheets) into their stories.
Stephen's Music (Laguna, 2007) was read to the class as a way of introducing examples of how imagery can be
created when listening to music. It is a story about a boy who vividly imagines all sorts of different scenes
(through metaphor) when he hears a flute being played for the first time. Stephen wants to learn how to play a
flute however his parents give him a recorder and a tin whistle before he finally gets a flute to play. The sounds
he makes are described using simile, something the children automatically used before listening to this story. A
brief overview of how to structure a narrative was given before every child was given a piece of lined refill to
begin writing their narratives, while the music played continuously. They were allowed to refer to the brainstorm
lists on the board and their Telemann Response Sheets in the thirty minutes of unassisted writing before
returning to the mat to share their stories with a buddy.
Narrative writing symbolised and signified
The Learning Intention for the fifth lesson was to develop imagery in the narrative writing of the children. I re-
read the story from the previous day with a focus on the illustrations / imagery used to reinforce this learning
goal. Ideas and words from brainstorm lists on the board to were discussed to create a sentence representing
the harpsichord i.e. "There was a high chirp like a knife being sharpened." The class collaboratively re-crafted
the sentence to read "There was a high screeching squeaking sound like a serrated long-bladed knife being
sharpened on a round grey stone chisel." The children returned to their tables to re-craft their work while
listening to the music being played repeatedly.
'D' wrote no words in her brainstorm and coloured her score. She set the scene and mood for her story by
describing how she was in the sea playing a flute when it became dark. Then she started to hear the wind going
through the trees before hearing something scratching a tree. The dark colours used in her Telemann Response
Sheet represented the tension created in her story. 'D' gives a very graphic description of the monster she sees
next:
something Was in the bushes it had a thousand eyes. It had the most horrible and sharpest teeth i had
ever saw and if you touched its slimy body you Would tern into a pile of slime. it smelled so bad that you
would stink like a sckunk tuna sandwich with the stinkeist food ever invented.
38
'D' had a very clear image of this monster and included the senses of sound, vision, touch and smell to help her
describe this to the reader. She describes how she allowed her mind to wander and day dream for ideas when
discussing how she came to write the description of her monster in the second interview:
I see lots and lots of pictures and my ideas just come to life in my brain ... The reason I said that is
cause at first I wanted to write story about something else, and then the monster came out so I wanted
to do two at once. But quite a stinky sound came out so I wanted to write a story about skunk
'D' ends her story on a happy note with the monster becoming trapped and never seen again.
'E''s Telemann Response Sheet was colourful with different graphic notation drawn for each instrument (see
Figure 15). He drew graphic notation on one side on the back of his response sheet with illustrations of the
cello, flute and harpsichord (with a sun in the corner) on the other side (see Figure 16). 'E' only wrote one very
descriptive sentence about a green monster creeping in the spooky, plain black night and opening a squeaking
door, vividly setting the tone or mood of his story. His graphic notation for the cello is representative of his
sentence with contrasting lighter colours for the alto recorder and harpsichord.
Figure 15 'E''s Telemann graphic notation score
39
Figure 16 'E''s Telemann illustration
'K''s Telemann Response Sheet was very similar to 'E''s in symbol representation (stars for the cello and wiggly
lines for the flute) and only wrote one sentence about a stormy night (with lots of storms in the sky), indicative of
his struggle to talk about his ideas in discussion times. However his background colours and sentence about the
storm were different. This is reflective of his individualised thinking when comparing his sentence to 'E''s. There
were no illustrations on the back, however his attempt to set the scene for the reader is obvious.
'H' also wrote about a monster who is described as kind and loving but "always hogs the toys" and never lets
any of her friends play with them, even if they ask politely. The solution to this problem comes when her friends
never come to stay at her house and hang up when she calls them on the telephone. 'H''s Telemann Response
was brightly coloured and illustrated. Her graphic notation was a mixture of convention notation (music notes)
and symbols drawn on the blended colours on the background of her score. She drew a picture of herself sitting
in between two speakers and listening to music, with the words 'Rock & Roll ' written in block letters.
'N' wrote a story about a called 'Susie' who went into a forest to pick some flowers for her sick grandma who is
in hospital. However a storm begins to develop where onomatopoeia, assonance, simile and alliteration is used
to describe:
40
Then she decided to go but when she looked up it started to get dark and the wind started whistling.
The rain started to slapshing crash and bashing it was so horrible that the lihgting shocked her. Then
suddenly the hail came like a rock coming to hit someone. Then the trees branches broke off and the
lihgting banged and crashed all the houses away. Then a huge hurricane came and broke and crashed
everything it rained and rained a whole month.
Her story has a happy ending when the sun comes out and she was able to give the flowers to her grandma
who had gone home. Each of the score lines in her response sheet had different colours which were blended
with different symbols for each of the instruments, which were also drawn on the back. She wrote the words
"sad", "crying", "surprized", "happy", "bored" and "emotinail" (sic) at the bottom of her score which were
appropriate but not used in her story.
'J''s story resembled Stephen's Music (Laguna 2007). Her story begins with a description of how a girl named
'Courtney' was in a very dark black town with people walking all around. She wanted to "fly like a bird on top of
the Highest Mountain with all sorts of dark green trees." A golden flute suddenly appears in her hand which she
takes home, shows it to her parents and then dreams about it. In her dream she plays the flute and finds herself
flying all over "the dark green beautiful trees ... herd the sound of the birds chirping like a mose then it stoped I
was lonley like someone praying." She then describes how the trees change colour every time she keeps
blowing the flute "Then I blew and blew it like about 100 times it had 100 colours 100 trees it was so beautiful"
(similar theme to Here Comes Frankie) until she got the "Perfect Song". She continues her story in first person
but still referring to the character. This is an example of her 'living' the experience through her narrative writing
and making connections with the music and a book read. She drew music notes instead of graphic notation on
her score with the coloured backgrounds for all three instruments blended and varied. On the back of her
response sheet she drew music notes and the word "BLOW" in bubble writing.
'W''s story was also an innovation on the story read to the class. She wrote about a girl called Sarah who
wanted to play the harpsichord but her parents wouldn't let her. Like 'J' her character also had a dream about
playing an instrument but this was a harpsichord "like the queen singing." One morning she wakes up to find a
harpsichord outside in her backyard. 'W' uses simile to describe Sarah's attempts at playing i.e. "like a lion
roaring and a mouse squeaking", until her playing was "like a bird whistling" and she was able to play in an
orchestra. She wrote the words "sad", "unwell", "upset", "speechless", "me playing." The blended colours on her
score were different as was the graphic notation she created. The brown colour used for the cello represented
the low sound. 'W' drew a piano keyboard for the harpsichord and illustrations of a loud speaker, cello, flute and
music notes on the back of her response sheet.
'G' wrote:
There is people living in the mountain they eat candy and they can come out when there's holes we
cover them with cookies. It's made from chocolate and it's stabilised with cream.
41
He used the word "stabilised" in his story indicative of his general knowledge despite the need for someone to
scribe for him. The colours used in the background of his score represented the colours of different candy (see
Fig. 17). 'G' said that although the ideas 'appeared in his head' he had to think really hard to write the words to
go with his mental imagery. When interviewed 'G' said he thought the music was happy and that was why he
had happy ideas.
Figure 17 'G''s Telemann Graphic Notation Score
'V''s story represented his knowledge about lions in Africa with the music putting him into the moment of being a
lion and also 'living the experience' through the music. He said that he allowed his minder to wander (day
dream) so he could do this.
I am nere a waterhole in aFrack (Africa). I am a Loin (lion) with a pride of Loin's in windie Lands runing
along the gold grass. I am a male with a mane.
I Sore Some Brown fur then I Sore a group of deer's I Ceepet arand the group of deer's with atow it
Seeing me and my pride and then a deer Sore my gold fur. Then I Stoped then my pride Stoped then
we ran away in the next ten minites I sore an elepant and a alapant BaBy then I backed of for a bit.'
42
He was very definite in his use of metaphor in being a lion in Africa and was able to make connections between
the music, the colours in the Telemann Response Sheet and his writing. The colours represented dynamics and
pitch i.e. the alto recorder was "loud and high" (light yellow-green), the cello "popped ... like it came out of
nowhere" and was really loud (sky blue), the harpsichord (yellow) represented the group of deer (brown fur)
appearing suddenly and were quick (tempo). The spiral symbols drawn for the flute represented him running,
the cello 'voice' represented surprise of it "popping" and the waterhole on the sand, while those drawn for the
harpsichord represented the quick deer (who came in after a while). He was the only one in the pilot study who
gave a role to each 'voice' in the sonata.
Three children wrote about monsters ('D', 'E' and 'H') and five made a reference to the dark. Three children
wrote about night ('D', 'E', 'K'), 'J' wrote about a "dark black town", while 'N' wrote about going into a forest which
went dark when a storm came. Three children described or referred to a storm ('E', 'K', 'N') where 'D' mentions
the wind and 'V' describes the grasslands as being "windie". Three made reference to a forest or trees / bushes
('D', 'J', 'N') while 'V' wrote about being a lion in the grasslands of South Africa. 'W' also made a reference to the
harpsichord sounding "like a lion roaring." 'G' wrote about being on a candy mountain and described the scene
in detail where 'D' ended her narrative by writing about pink marshmallows coming out of a volcano when her
mother screamed so loud she caused an earthquake. 'V' described himself as a lion having gold fur and 'D'
played a gold flute. Three children wrote innovations on Stephen's Music (Laguna, 2007) the book read to the
class. 'D' and 'J' made direct references to a flute being played while 'W' based her story around her character
playing a harpsichord. 'H' wrote a story about a girl who learnt to share, where 'J' and 'W' had themes of
perseverance running through theirs.
The children used a range of language features which helped them to create imagery based on the realising of
what they know. Four children ('D', 'N', 'W', 'J') used simile to create their word pictures as a comparison to what
they were trying to describe where 'V' used metaphor to describe himself as the lion. Onomatopoeia was used
by four of the children ('E', 'D', 'N', 'W') to give greater effect when describing the action. 'G' and 'V' included
alliteration in their descriptive imagery while 'N' used assonance as well as alliteration in her story. 'H' used the
colloquialism 'hog' in her story to describe the way her character wouldn't share toys.
The blended coloured score backgrounds on the nine Telemann Response Sheets were all different, reflecting
the individualised representations of the three 'voices'. All of the children drew illustrations on the back of these
sheets but only 'N' and 'W' recorded a brainstorm of words. Eight out of the nine students symbolised their
'scores' for each of the 3 'voices'. 'E', 'K', 'N' and 'V' all drew graphic notation; 'H', 'J' and 'W' drew conventional
notation (music notes); 'H' and 'W' drew a picture of a keyboard in the harpsichord space. Six out of the nine
illustrations on the back of the Telemann Response Sheets also included graphic notation.
5.4 Telemann Harmonics and Hermeneutics
Telemann is an early eighteenth century composer who wrote Affetuoso, the first movement of 'Solo 4' (TWV:
41d4). It is scored for the solo instrument (alto recorder), with the harpsichord (obbligato or improvised part) and
cello (continuuo or continuous and improvised bass) which accompany the alto recorder (Zohn, 2008, p. 311).
43
The musical term Affetuoso means that the music is to be played with tenderness. The Affetuoso (Telemann
and Klaus, 2009, p. 74) is 16 bars in length, through-composed i.e. it has no repeated sections (themes or
motifs) and therefore keeps developing (like an ongoing journey).
The Affectuoso was selected because Telemann wrote this trio "so that one voice would have as much to do as
another" (Zohn, 2008 p. 220), raising the possibility of more than one character being written in their stories. The
through-composed structure meant the children could write a story that had an introduction (the music begins on
a tonic chord), a problem develops (modulation) and a resolution (ends on perfect cadence) since the music
doesn't have any repetitions. Six out of the nine children had this structure in their stories and two did not
complete their stories. 'G' however had a description of Candyland rather than writing a story; the possibility of
the through-composed structure of the music with no realised beginning - middle - end. In their stories five of the
children had one main character ('D', 'E', 'H', 'N', 'J'); 'K' and 'G' described scenes with no key characters; and 'V'
had at least two dominant characters (lion and deer).
This sonata is written in D minor (root position) but has a lot of modulation (switching) into major chords using
the dominant seventh. According to research on adults by Lahdelma and Eerola (2014) minor chords in root
position are more likely to generate feelings of nostalgia/longing, however the dominant seventh chords being
second in happiness/joy (after a major triad) can also be seen to be like a major chord. The dominant seventh
chord is frequently used throughout the Affetuoso and effective in creating tension (p. 9); a finding supported by
Bigund, Parncutt and Lerdahl (1996, p. 129). 'V' and 'E' mention "creeping" (lion, monster) where 'D' provides a
lot of tension before she finally sees the monster. 'H' provides an unfriendly element that creates tension of
feelings between her friends and 'H''s story has a sense of frustration when her character really wants to play
the harpsichord. There is plenty of tension in the stories however this could also be the problem part of the
narrative structure.
The use of modulating minor to major triads (chords) and dominant seventh chords help to give a sense of
forward motion as they switch from one to another and are important to consider when examining the "action" in
children's writing. The use of the C Major chord appears to be stabilised in bars 7 - 8 which is in the middle of
the music, a word used by 'G' to describe his mountain made out of cream. Although there is no apparent
nostalgic thinking in the children's writing, 'W''s character really wants (longing) to play the harpsichord. This
could be more to do with the story read to the class however this piece of music was written with no particular
theme in mind (unlike the other two pieces of music used in this research). The student interpretations of this
piece of music through their stories are many and varied, but there are similarities with the tone or mood of
these. With the exception of 'E' and 'K' whose stories were incomplete, all of the other seven stories had happy
endings.
Even although the title identifies this music as being in a minor key and therefore associated with "sounds sad"
(Davies, 2010, p. 23), which is supported by Lahdelma and Eerola (2014) where feelings of "melancholy /
sadness" scored the highest when minor triads were played (p. 8). Despite these findings, one child still
described this music as being happy with all of the children who wrote a narrative having positive themes
44
running through their stories of adventures. All of the completed stories had a successful conclusion, possibly
an indication that the associations made when listening to the music being played in a minor key helped them to
establish and set the scene and the 'problem' in their stories.
5.5 Realising Telemann and the lived experience
The following phenomeonological themes of student realisation through their 'living in the world' have emerged:
a) affective experience (expressing an emotion or feeling) e.g., happy music helped to produce happy
ideas (mountain of candy), anger (character in story), and mood in setting ("spooky", "dark", "stormy")
b) nostalgic awareness (feelings of longing or sentimentality of past events) e.g., words written the
Telemann Response Sheets by 'N' and 'W' and inferred in stories
c) embodied 'knowing' (conscious awareness or perception of physical 'realising') i.e. three stories were
written in first person i.e. 'V' was a lion who 'saw' his gold fur; 'D' was playing a flute and refers to
hearing a 'stinky sound' in the music; 'G' refers to himself as being on a mountain of candy
d) musical association i.e. all used colour to help them associate the music with their stories, eight used
graphic notation and three drew music notes in their Telemann Response Sheets
45
Chapter 6
HANDEL: LA RÉJOUISSANCE
6.1 La Réjouissance Performance Objectives
The Performance Objectives with this series of four lessons was to listen to music that was faster in tempo than
the previous pieces played, and for the children to work with more independence on their Handel Response
Sheets, which had been designed to support their writing an unassisted narrative. Time restrictions similar to the
unassisted recount testing situation were imposed. Handel's La Réjouissance (Music for the Royal Fireworks,
HWV 351:IV) was used for the children to write to and can be accessed on the website below:
http://kdes.tunegenie.com/music/bohdan-warchal-capella-istropolitana/_/music-for-the-royal-fireworks-
hwv-351-iv-la-rejouissance/
It is important to note that this music was not played to the class around November 5th when Guy Fawkes is
traditionally recognised in New Zealand with fireworks.
6.2 La Réjouissance Learning Intentions
The Learning Intentions for the first lesson were to see if the children could work with greater independence,
and if listening to music with a faster tempo had any effect on their writing. There was no explanation or
information given to the class who were sitting on the mat and listening to the music for the first time and
resulted in the following brainstorm of words and ideas (Fig. 18).
Figure 18 Word brainstorm to Handel
Words
Imagery
Happy
Excited
Proud
Jumpy
Bouncy
Giggly
Wiggly
Happy
Awesome
Wriggly
Jiggly
Like in Candyland
Ballet class
Flying with all the birds in the sky
space
46
The Handel Response Sheets were given to the children who then moved quickly to self selected tables which
all had writing pencils and either watercolour pencils or colour pencils to use. A brief revision of the narrative
structure was given before the children worked on their Handel Response Sheets for fifteen minutes. The class
teacher worked with 'K' and three other students by helping them develop vocabulary and ideas through
discussion and then moved to work as a scribe for 'G', leaving 'K' and his group to work independently. All of the
other students moved to the tables with watercolour pencils except for 'D' who chose to draw and write words
using colour pencils with another student. They moved to a table with watercolour pencils later on in the lesson.
'V' and 'H' worked with three other girls at one table, 'E' worked with another boy at another table, while 'W', 'N',
and 'J' worked with one other boy at a different table. Five of the nine students in the pilot study coloured in the
'happy' emoticon and the other four students didn't colour in any. The children then moved to the mat to share
ideas and brainstorm a class list for descriptive language that could be used in their writing (Fig 19).
Figure 19 Brainstorm of descriptive language to Handel
Verbs
Adverbs
Noun
Adjectives
Bounce
Bouncing
Climbing
Singing
Jumping
Flying
Quickly
Slowly
Really high
lowly
Castle
Fort
Rainbow
Clouds
candy
Tall
Multi-coloured
Big
Huge
Cement
Bouncy
Colourful
Bright
Sparkling
Enormous
Majestic
They then returned to their tables for another ten minutes to add more words, colour and illustration to their
Handel Response Sheets as the music was played twice again.
6.3 La Réjouissance realising: themes representing lived meaning
In the second lesson the narrative structure and the importance of writing descriptive sentences were briefly
discussed, before the children moved to self-selected tables to write their narratives on lined refill, using their
Handel Response Sheets to help them. The class teacher worked as a scribe for 'G' to ensure the detail and
depth of his ideas were written down. A teacher aid helped 'K' and 'E' talk about their ideas before starting their
narratives. 'K' thought of racing cars and 'E' began to think about victory however both wrote about racing cars
when the teacher aid left after 15 minutes. 'W' and 'H' worked with one other girl at one table; while 'N' and 'V'
worked with another boy and 'J' worked with two boys at other tables. Although 'D' and 'J' were away, the
47
children chose to sit with different groups of children from the previous day whiole 'G' worked separately with the
teacher.
Although the children were not given the title of the music, three children wrote the word fireworks i.e. "I think of
these nouns" ('W', 'N', 'H') and three children drew symbols that could be representative of fireworks or stars ('J',
'H' and 'N'). Despite this only one child ('N') included fireworks in her story. The themes of the narratives in both
illustration and written work varied among the children involved in the pilot study. Their individual recording of
verbs to represent the action showed a lot of individuality and lively action inspired by the music with the
describing words relating to things that were colourful and happy (Fig 20).
Figure 20 Small group brainstorm of words to Handel
Verbs
Adverbs
Noun
Adjectives
Jumping ('E', 'H', 'J', 'K', 'N',
'W')
Flying ('D', 'E', 'J', 'K', 'V')
Bouncing ('J', 'K', 'N', 'W')
Dancing ('D', 'G', 'H', 'J', 'W')
Singing ('D', 'H', 'J', 'W')
Running ('H', 'K', 'V')
Climbing ('D', 'H')
Drawing ('D', 'G')
Hopping ('E', 'W')
Playing ('H', 'K')
Praying ('H')
Camping ('H')
Skip ('E')
Fast ('G', 'K', 'V', 'W')
Quickly ('D', 'J', 'N')
High ('J', 'K', 'W')
Low ('D', 'K', 'W')
Loud ('D', 'K')
Bouncy ('E', 'N')
Jumpy ('N')
Happily ('G')
Excitedly ('G')
Graceful ('N')
Great ('N')
Around everywhere ('V')
Up and down ('W')
Slowly ('W')
Really slowly ('J')
Hard ('D')
Candy ('E', 'J', 'N', 'W')
Castle ('J', 'V', 'W')
Rainbow ('K', 'N', 'W')
Fireworks ('H', 'N', 'W')
Clouds ('E', 'N')
Stars ('E')
Rain ('G')
Clouds ('J')
Fire ('H')
Chocolate ('J')
Forest, space, desert,
sea ('D')
Playground ('H')
Cars ('E')
Horses, elephants,
giraffes ('G')
Crowd ('V')
Colourful ('G', 'J', 'N',
'W')
Sparkling ('E', 'H', 'N',
'W')
Tall ('V', 'G', 'J')
Shining ('H', 'W', 'G')
Bright ('D', 'J', 'W')
Fast ('E', 'G')
Majestic ('N', 'D')
Large, round, loud,
long, hard ('V')
Calm, quiet ('D')
Sweet, soft ('E')
Cement, yummy,
Skinny ('J')
Bouncy, enormous,
soft ('W')
Smokey, beautiful,
cool, sharp, spinning
48
Instrument ('W')
House ('J')
('H')
Spotty, wet, wrinkly
('G')
'H' recorded no
adverbs
'K' recorded no
adjectives
Listening / Music Response Sheet and picture prompts
A learning Intention for the third lesson was to edit some of the descriptive phrases created by the children in
the previous lesson as examples of re-crafting for more effective imagery. The children were then given fifteen
minutes to edit and re-craft their work before returning to the mat for the other Learning Intention to be
introduced on how to link their writing to the music. A set of picture cards representing the elements of music
(Appendix O) were made to introduce this concept. These laminated cards were used as picture prompts which
the children could also write or draw on using felt tips as they listened to the music. The children worked in pairs
but found it difficult to talk about their responses with the music when using these cards. The Listening / Music
Response Sheet (Appendix P) designed for the students to link their narratives with the music was then
introduced to the class. A lesson was given on how to use these cards alongside their Handel Response Sheets
and writing.
6.4 Realising the music and the elements of music
In the fourth lesson the elements of music were briefly reviewed with the whole class before watching an
animated score of Vivaldi's 'Spring'. This was to help them get a visual understanding of the different 'layers' of
sound (instruments) and 'activity' created in the music i.e. long low notes (cello) under high ornate and 'busy'
instrumental parts (oboe and flute) (Malinowski, 2012). Every child was given their own A4 laminated sheet with
the elements of music and a felt tip to mark with while they listened to the La Réjouissance. The Handel
Response Sheets and their stories were then handed out to the children before they moved to their tables to
independently fill out their Listening / Music Response Sheet. They had been instructed to identify which of the
elements of music best represented their thinking and the stories they wrote through highlighting and writing
comments. 'D' had difficulty in understanding what was required. The class teacher worked with 'K' and 'E' to
ensure they knew what to do before scribing for 'G'.
6.5 La Réjouissance: student signifiers and signified (Handel Response Sheets / Listening
Response Sheets / Narratives)
49
'V' drew a castle and wrote a story about his being in the middle of a large crowd of people (loud dynamics),
walking on a long red carpet (long sounds) and going into an enormous castle (fast tempo). He described the
castle as having a clean red carpet, a hundred and one rooms (sharp texture) and "I saw a croud runing like the
speed of ten giants." 'V' then wrote how he grew wings and began to fly in the sky "as high as the clouds" (high
and low pitch). His Handel Response Sheet was representative of his story which he was able to link into what
he had been listening to. In the second interview 'V' talked about his blended colours representing the castle,
the sound of the trumpet and the fast music, and the violins representing the loud crowd. He said that his
illustrations helped him describe and transfer his ideas into his writing.
'G' drew a picture of a tornado and wrote how he was floating over a castle in a hot air balloon (high pitch)
where there was a king, queen, and flowers growing out of the ground (which he picked). The animals
mentioned as nouns and the verbs written in his Handel Response Sheet appear nowhere in his story, however
the adverbs used to describe the 'action' are representative of the action. In his Listening / Music Response
Sheet 'G' wrote that the fast (tempo) represented happy and excited, the loud (dynamics) represented birds
chirping, the long (rhythm) represented the flowers and the thick texture represented chopping. Although there
is no mention of birds in his story, it is reasonable to expect birds to be part of the story's setting if he is outside
and floating in a hot air balloon; an example of the realised experience. It is also quite possible that the
chopping he mentions could refer to him cutting the flowers. In the second interview 'G' said that the music first
made him think of a boat (which he drew on the back of his response sheet), but that he also had the sensation
of floating which is why he wrote about being in a hot air balloon. To him the music helped to make his stories
more exciting because of the ideas that were generated and that the happy music helped him to think of happy
ideas (mountain of candy). He described these as surprises because he would not normally think about these
ideas and they just appeared in his mind.
'J' drew a colourful picture of 'Candyland' and wrote about her character (Anabel Valentine) who loved to dance
and sing loud, high and low. Anabel was dreaming that she was going on a very scary adventure with a
caregiver in search of rainbow lollies and a rainbow castle. 'J' used simile to describe the castle as being "like a
colourful shiny, bright rainbow." Annabel woke up with a "fantastic beautiful smile as bright as a golden medal."
In the second interview 'J' discussed she used the colours and the adjectives written her response sheet to help
establish the theme of her story. Her illustrations were representative of these ideas e.g., the swirls represented
candy from a movie she had watched which had similar "candy swirls" (lived meaning). 'J' described how she
allowed her mind to wander and let her hands take over to create meaningful illustrations. Her Listening / Music
Response Sheet made no direct reference to her story, but was representative of how the music made her feel
and where she imagined herself to be i.e. the fast music was like she was jumping around the lounge / studio.
Although 'J' wrote about her character going on a scary mission, she records that the long and short rhythms
and the high and low pitch made her feel like she was in a "stunting place" and the smooth and sharp textures
were "like I was on a sharp chord." The low and high pitches made her feel like she was in a "very low and high
place where she could do stunts." The soft and loud dynamics were "like I'm running fast then running slow and
in the story I was on the track at a stadium."
50
'N' drew a picture which included lollies, a rainbow and stars (see Fig 22); and wrote a story about being inside
a peaceful church with fireworks exploding outside. She wrote a paragraph at the bottom of her Listening /
Music Response Sheet to describe how the music represented her ideas instead of highlighting the words. In
her story 'N' described how she was sitting inside a calm peaceful church ("slow bits") yet outside she could see
and hear fireworks ("fast bits" and "sharp bits") outside. She sets the mood of her story by using quality
describing words i.e. "I am singing in a graceful peaceful quiet still calm church" and wrote a range of language
features to create word pictures e.g., "I can see a beautiful majestic rainbow" ("loud bits" and "high bit") "dancing
like a balletrene" (sic) (personification and simile; "soft bits"), "delious yum candy ("short bits") moving or droping
from the sky like the rain" (metaphor and simile), "the fireworks are booming jumping dancing in the sky with
happy smiles in the air" (onomatopoeia and personification), "I can see the clouds swaying like the wind"
(simile). The wind is represented by the "smooth bits" even although it is used as part of a simile to describe the
movement of the clouds. She makes a direct reference to the music at the end of her story by writing "The
muiscal notes are moving like the singing Jumping colourful rainbow." "The end music is fun dancing with its
colourful colours." Instead of writing how the music represented her story, 'N' wrote an analysis of what she had
been listening to when referring to the elements of music. In the second interview she said that the music made
her think of the singing she did at home and at church which influenced her story. She heard high, happy, fast,
loud, short, sharp sounds and described the music as starting slow, then being a little bit soft and mostly loud
with mostly short rhythms. The texture was first smooth and then sharp with the pitch being very high.
Figure 21 'N''s front of her Handel Response Sheet
51
Figure 22 'N''s back of her Handel Response Sheet
'H' drew fireworks, a fire and diamond-shaped patterns yet wrote a story about dancing, and wrote about a girl
who loves to sing (high, low and loud) and dance. "She felt jumpy. It was fantastic and wonderful." Her character
goes on four different adventures in her story i.e. rock climbing and she was praying (she felt powerful and
strong and happy). Then she is watching "shining" fireworks while she is singing, playing and running on a
playground; before walking on a steep "sharp" path to then go camping and roasting marshmallows around a
smoky fire. These themes were also recorded in her Handel Response Sheet. 'H' could write about her ideas as
well as articulate the sensations experienced and justify her writing to the music. She made appropriate
associations with her realisations and the music by using the elements of music in her Listening / Music
Response Sheet. The tempo (fast) was "like I was jumping high and low, the dynamics (soft / loud) was like I
was singing & dancing hard out", the rhythm (short) "was like I was my praying was fantastic", the texture
(sharp) "was like I was strong and powerful", and the pitch (high) "was like I was climbing happy." She
expresses her realisations through the use of simile which are representative of her lived meaning. In the
second interview, 'H' describes the sensation of embodiment when listening to the music and how the use of
colour and symbol help her to make transfer her imagination into some form of meaningful representation that
she could then write about.
'W' drew no picture and wrote a similar story to 'H' although they sat at different tables. Her story was about a
ballerina called Bella whose favourite thing was to sing and dance, and was based on watching her sister's
ballet class. In this story 'W' includes a class teacher and names her characters after other children in her class.
52
'W' writes "hoping all around the room like a kangoro" to describe the emotional reaction when told they were
going to the USA to be part of a dancing competition. "They were dancing fast the instroment was loud they
were spining fast but they won't get dizzing" not only makes reference to the music, but makes a similar
association with 'G''s tornado symbol and 'N''s explanation of how she felt. 'W' (like 'N') also analysed the music
using the elements of music and wrote how she made associations with the music and her story using her own
words. The tempo represented the action in her story i.e. fast when the ballerina was dancing in her ballet class
and slow for the exciting part of her story which possibly represents the highest point of tension in her story i.e.
when the girls were singing in the competition. However the music is played at the same tempo (allegro) all the
way through so it is possible that she was referring to dynamics (quiet) since their winning was represented by
loud (dynamics). She heard the violins and cello going really fast and then goes low and quiet. The tempo (fast
and slow) was mostly fast but ended slow, the dynamics (soft and loud) started soft but went loud in the chorus,
the rhythm (short) was short all the way through the music, the texture (smooth and sharp) was smooth and
then it went sharp, and the pitch (high and low) was really high.
Figure 23 'W''s front of her Handel Response Sheet
'D' drew a variety of patterns and wrote the word "happy" for her illustration yet wrote a story about her going on
an adventure. She describes how she was transported by a portal to a jungle where there were a lot of animals,
a steep mountain and jagged rocks. 'D' also made reference to a tornado-like sensation by using simile to
describe the moment when she is transported to a jungle full of animals; "a colourful Portul Whith coulours that
53
Where Purple, blue, green, yellow orange and red and then it sucked me in it Was like someone sucking a
noodle". She refers to the portal twice in her story, once to the jungle and then at the top of the mountain which
had scary sharp-pointed rocks. She was unable to complete her story in the given timeframe. In the second
interview she describes what happens:
I see lots of pictures and my ideas just come to life in my brain
'D' found it difficult to complete the Listening / Music Response sheet and wrote that she couldn't think of
anything to write. However she did identify the tempo as fast, the dynamics were soft and loud, and the pitch
was high.
'E' also drew a picture of a tornado and storm but wrote about a racing car. He described the racing car "drifting"
around in angles, winning and celebrating victory with a big golden trophy by popping a wine bottle and getting
flowers. He then continues the celebratory effect by the character becoming very famous when competing in big
races and the world champs. There is no mention of a driver in his story, so there is inferred understanding
(lived meaning) like 'G'. In the second interview he said that the two things he likes the most are racing cars and
candy and suddenly thought about these and wrote both words in the noun box; realisations of his lived
experiences. 'E' said he wrote the words bouncy and skipping because the chords in the Handel made him feel
happy. He was absent when the Listening / Music Response Sheet was filled in.
'K' drew no illustration and wrote a story about a racing car going fast (tempo) and speeding (long rhythm and
high pitch) around a track and doing "drifts" (loud) (like 'E'). His description of the car starting slowly at the
starting line and then speeding like a jet plane is indicative of his exposure to racing cars. In the second
interview 'K' said that drawing illustrations and symbols, and using colour helped him get ideas. The music
helped bring these together and is an example of hermeneutic significance. He said that the smooth texture
represented the racing car starting slowly. 'K' wrote that he heard loud music and the cello playing high.
Although there was a wide range of descriptive vocabulary recorded in the Handel Response Sheet; six children
referred to the sky in some way (space, clouds, stars, rainbow, rain) and five children referred to flying. The
tempo of the music is lively (allegro) which also explains the wide range of verbs that represent this i.e. jumping
and running. However the word "praying" recorded by 'H' and 'N' (but only included in 'N''s story) and slowly /
really slowly ('W' and 'J') is an indication of a more serious mood and other instrumental 'voices' in the music.
Five children made reference to spinning e.g. portal, tornado, car drifting ('G', 'W', 'D', 'E' and 'K'); five children
referred to sparkling and / or shining ('E', 'H', 'J', 'N' and 'W'); six children made reference to rainbows and / or
colour ('D', 'J', 'K', 'N' and 'W') in their story and / or response sheet. Three children referred to fireworks ('H', 'N'
and 'W') although 'V' made reference to "fast over, around eveewere" (sic). Many of the words the children
recorded in their Handel Response Sheets give an impression firework-like thinking with 'H' also referring to a
smoky campfire. Two children had definite references to celebration or winning ('E', 'W'), 'G' was given gold
while others had feelings of celebration ('J') or "flying high" ('V') at the end of their stories. Five out of the nine
children wrote narratives ('E', 'H', 'J', 'K', 'W') and the other four wrote in first person (narrative) and put
54
themselves as the main character in their stories ('D', 'G', 'N', 'V') to live the experience of their characters. All
ended their stories on a 'high note' with happy endings except for 'D' who was describing a mountain with
another portal and jagged rocks and did not finish her story.
Beaty, Benedek, Wilkins, Jauk, Fink, Silvia, Hodges, Koschutnig and Neubauer (2014) cite a range of studies
that show divergent and creative thinking utilises top-down control of attention and cognition. This involves
higher-order cognitive ability, working memory and verbal fluency. It is hypothesized that these abilities support
the executive control (cognitive control and supervises the attentional functions) (p. 93). The individualised
responses from the students would suggest these functions are taking place to some degree.
6.6 La Réjouissance and harmonic hermeneutics
The term réjouissance was used in the seventeenth century when referring to a public celebration marking a
very important event. Hogwood (2005) describes La Réjouissance as being like a glorified fanfare where Handel
uses symbolic fanfare movements at the beginning (p. 116), and is the second movement of Handel's Music for
the Royal Fireworks. This was composed at the request of George II to celebrate the signing of the Peace
Treaty with France in 1748 and to be played with the fireworks display to commemorate the rejoicing of this
event. It is played allegro (quick and lively) and repeated twice with a different combinations of instruments each
time (Bennett, 1978, pp. 44 - 45). In the version listened to on the CD, the strings play the first time, french
horns, oboes and bassoons play the second time, with all playing for the third time with trumpets, tympani
joining in (Naxos, 1993). According to hermeneutic phenomenology theory, Handel uses the medium of music
(in his role as the commissioned composer for royalty) to reflect his 'lived experience' or 'life world' of fireworks
and happy celebrations.
In the score from Handel (1902), La Réjouissance is 18 bars long with the trumpets and violins introducing the
fanfare themes with staggered entries like one group (of instruments) chasing another in the first four bars to
give it a majestic and triumphant feel. The harmonic structure of the fanfare is simple in triadic root position D
Major ( i.e. D, F#, A) before modulating (switching) to its dominant or A Major (the fifth note of the D Major
scale) in its triadic root position ( A, C#, E). In Strebetendenz Theory the effect of this modulation has been
identified as giving 'motion' (Willemek and Willemek, 2011, p. 75). According to Lahdelma and Eerola (2014) the
major triad (chord) is seen as happy and joyful and has been corroborated by other researchers (p. 14). The
'chasing' begins at bar 9 and returns back to the (tonic) D Major in root position and correlates with the children
'setting the scene' at the beginning of the music before establishing 'the problem' in their stories. 'E', 'K' write
about car races and 'V' writes about a crowd running "like a hundred giants." Feelings of 'motion' are
represented in the ongoing journeys in the stories of 'D', 'H', 'V'; and 'K' writing about a car doing drifts when
zooming around the racing track.
The effect of the D Major triad is evident in the happy and successful themes identified in the student narratives.
Four children mention gold in their story ('C', 'E', 'J' and 'V') and 'W' wrote that her characters won the dance
competition (inferring a gold medal) in her Handel Response Sheet (not included in her story). 'E' and 'W'
mention a celebration or victory and 'J' infers success when her character ends up eating the lollies (the goal of
55
her mission). The impression of progressively getting louder from the different instrumentation on each repeat
could also influence the affect of success. 'V' refers to a castle and royalty where 'G' refers to a castle and a
long red carpet which is associated with royalty. Triumphant-like feelings are also inferred by 'H' (feeling
powerful, strong and happy) and 'V' (flying high in the sky as high as clouds and as fast as a plane). There is a
representation of the repeating theme of the music (three times) in 'D''s writing when she refers to a portal twice
in her (incomplete) story. In the music score (Handel, 1902) the harmonics modulate back and forth from the
dominant to the tonic with passing chords until bar eleven, tonic to subdominant or D Major, to G Major (the
scale starting on the fourth note of D Major); which research suggests can affect feelings of tranquillity,
cheerfulness and victory in the listener (Willemek and Willemek, 2011, p. 72). The illustrations the children drew
were not often directly referred to but did relate to the theme of their stories in some way.
There were no unhappy or negative words recorded by the children in their Handel Response Sheets; with
impressions of tranquillity are reflected in 'N''s story about being in a church described as being "graceful,
peaceful, quiet, still and calm", and 'G' floating over a castle in a hot air balloon. When listening to the music the
volume appears to get louder at the end possibly due to the number of instruments playing on the last repeat,
which could have influenced the children to write happy endings in their stories.
6.7 Realising Handel and the lived experience
The following phenomenological themes of student realisation through their 'living in the world' have emerged:
a) episodic memory (remembering autobiographical events and personal experiences that can be explicitly
recalled) e.g., being in a church and thinking what could be happening outside (fireworks), watching a
dance class and basing a story on this, and car racing
b) affective experience (expressing an emotion or feeling) e.g., two children said that the music made
them feel happy ('E' and 'G'), 'H' was able to describe the feelings of the character in her story and
feeling strong and powerful
c) embodied 'knowing' (conscious awareness or perception of physical 'realising') e.g., flying through the
air in a hot air balloon ('G'), feelings of spinning and dancing ('H')
d) musical association e.g. car racing with fast tempo and long sounds with the cars doing drifts, music
heard as happy and exciting therefore knew it to be fireworks ('N'), loud represented a crowd and long
sounds the long red carpet in a castle ('V')
56
Chapter 7
DISCUSSION CHAPTER
7.1 Introduction
Exploring a person's involvement in a learning process and the way they relate to this is an important part of
Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Meaning making, being flexible and sensitive when reflecting on the
participants' 'relatedness' to make sense of their experiences is an important part of this process (Smith and
Flowers, 2009, p. 40). Using the action research cycle enabled me to apply the knowledge building cycle
through teacher inquiry to design and deliver the music-literacy lessons used in this eight week pilot study.
Phenomenology is the study of conscious awareness in the individual's response to their direct experiences
through their senses. As the researcher I needed to focus on the students' experiences, their understandings of
these, and their perceptions and sense making of the music-literacy pedagogy used in this pilot study. The need
for on-going reflection and adaptation for the series of lessons in the pilot study meant the action research
process was central to this research because I was the teacher practitioner. Using data from the questionnaires
and interviews helped me to gain a better insight into the perceptions and realisations of the students of the
music and their ability to justify their responses to ensure the voice of each child participant was heard and
examined. "Intentional meanings make a phenomenon that particular phenomenon" (Vagle, 2014, p. 70),
therefore fully understanding the intention and meaning behind the participants' responses or an overall view of
the writing process in the music-literacy pedagogy was key to this research. The music-literacy approach is
based on the multiliteracy pedagogy where learning takes place integrating multi-modal texts with language
(Cope and Kalanzis, 2009, p. 166). This approach allows meaning to be made in a variety of ways which can
include oral, visual and audio forms of representation. It was designed to develop and record the children's
thinking as they made thoughtful responses when listening to music, with a response sheet specifically
designed as a graphic organiser to assist the students record their thinking in a multi-modal way.
The effectiveness of using three different types of western art music in creative writing lessons for a small group
of Year Four children has been examined using Interpretive Phenomenology Analysis. This process aligned the
reflection of each student's realisations through the co-construction of knowledge and the scaffolded approach
to teach and reflect upon when implementing the series of fourteen lessons. This entailed taking the participants
from their routine writing sessions to independently use the music-literacy pedagogy. The Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD) refers to an 'expert' (the teacher in this case) extending and challenging the child to 'where
he would otherwise have been' (Sutherland, 1992, p. 43). Vygotsky developed his theory on social development
in learning and interaction that develops learning in the child. He regarded speech and writing as socially
constructed tools that children use to mediate their behaviour and interpret their world. The active co-
construction of symbols and the internalization of their thinking helps the individual to realise their identity and
develop their agency (Holland and Lachicotte, 2007, p. 109). Therefore the Vygotskian sociocultural and
constructivist theories underpin my methodology and approach for teaching this music-literacy pedagogy. Social
57
constructionism focuses on the human experience or the historical, cultural and linguistic social reality of the
individual and their conceptualisation of this (Willig, 2001, p. 7).
Competency in oral language is essential for the student to express their thoughts and ideas, and was an
identified need by the class teacher. The response sheets were designed so that other ‘texts’ or tools could help
each child record their thinking, especially if they had limited vocabulary or difficulty in accessing the words
required for use in discussion and writing activities. ‘Knowledges’ are socially constructed and language plays
an important part when listening to the music through reflecting, talking and writing as their experiences are
realised and memories recalled. The ontology (nature of reality) comes through the "multiple constructed
realities that can be studied only holistically" (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 37). It is important to note that the data
analysis for the Humperdink, Telemann and Handel chapters (pp. 20-57 ) are reflections of the thinking of each
student and the work they produced.
Hermeneutics describes the way an individual interprets the ‘texts’ of life (van Manen, 1990, p. 4); in this case
music, written language and art are the semiotics i.e. colour, illustration and abstract symbol. Using abstract
texts enabled the student to record their thinking in ways that are seen to be more instinctive and require less
active thinking of ‘finding’ the correct words and writing these down. "Interpretation unmasks what is hidden
behind the objective phenomena … interpretation is not an isolated activity but the basic structure of
experience" (Moustakas, 1994, p. 10). Lincoln and Guba (1985) argue that the researcher must "demonstrate
the credibility of the findings by having them approved by the constructors of the multiple realities being studied"
(p. 296), especially a means of asking the members themselves to validate the interpretations of the
researchers or ‘member checks’ (cited in Thomsen, Straubhaar and Bolyard, 1998). The emphasis was on
gathering data generated from implicit (subjective) knowledge. In this case it is through the listening to music
that intrinsic and tacit knowing becomes explicit knowledge.
7.2 Ministry documentation
The New Zealand Curriculum Writing Standards (Ministry of Education, 2009) stipulate that by the end of year 4
the students will be able to create texts to meet with the "writing demands of the New Zealand Curriculum at
level 2" (p. 27). They should be able to write independently using a variety of genre drawing on "the knowledge,
skills, and attitudes expected at this level, including those needed for spelling and punctuation" (p. 27). Only
relevant criteria for this pilot study will be discussed i.e. recount, narrative and poetic writing since the writing
data collated is from these three genres. According to the Literacy Progressions (Ministry of Education, 2010),
the students are to "write in order to think about, record, and communicate experiences, ideas, and information
to meet specific learning purposes" (p. 15). Part of this process includes using tools (e.g., response sheets and
watercolour pencils), strategies (e.g. using headings), include detail to support the main, proof read and edit for
accuracy of grammar, punctuation and spelling. They are required to draw on their own knowledge and skills
that include appropriate vocabulary, describing words and a range of language features. Correct simple and
compound sentence structures, spelling, using reference resources (e.g. dictionaries, thesauruses) and
punctuation are important at this level (Ministry of Education, 2010, p. 15), although no dictionaries or
thesauruses were used in this pilot study. The English strand in the New Zealand Curriculum at Level 2 for
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Speaking, Writing, and Presenting (Ministry of Education, 2007) focus mainly on the performance output of
constructing and shaping texts. The Processes and strategies indicators identify and make meaningful
connections between oral, written and visual language in the writing process that the student can monitor and
evaluate. However does this mean that they will 'know' any better, and is the depth of their 'knowing' identified in
the marking criteria of the Writing Literacy Standards?
Drawing on personal experience and knowledge is important when using ideas to create a range of language
features and an increasing number of high-frequency and appropriate vocabulary to create meaning are two out
of the six indicators for Language features. The other four indicators cover handwriting, spelling and editing
skills. Creative and critical thinking has been identified as one of the criteria for the development of lifelong
learners in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 8). Individuals who perform higher on
creative and divergent thinking activities have been found to be "highly imaginative, experimenters, risk takers,
and independent ... measures of divergent thinking are contradictory to the notion of standardized testing"
(Ford, 2012, p. 91). Effective Literacy Practices in Years 1 to 4 (Ministry of Education, 2003) has been identified
as one of the resources published by the Ministry of Education to support the Literacy Learning Progressions (p.
7). This text identifies the importance of prompting and questioning children as key strategies to use when
developing critical thinking in students (p. 82), with links being made between oral language, reading and writing
(p. 137). In the pre-pilot interview the class teacher identified developing vocabulary; and competency and
confidence in oral language as her learning goals for the term.
Writing is identified as "a creative act, not a set of quantifiable skills to be taught in a predetermined sequence"
(Ministry of Education, 2003, p. 136); yet the indicators for Language features in the New Zealand Curriculum
suggest that it is. These appear to be focussed on the surface features of writing as "a student's writing gives a
clear indication of their grasp of vocabulary and sentence patterns, of the range and depth of their ideas ... their
writing also conveys information about their emotional and cultural engagement in the writing task" (p. 61).
"Literacy is the ability to understand, respond to, and use those forms of written language that are required by
society and valued by individuals and communities" (p. 19). The writing process does require the skills to record
thinking in ways that others can read. However the key aim for this pilot study is to find out whether listening to
music can enable the students access and extract their ideas to write about these in meaningful ways.
Language structures and accurate spelling are important but only relevant once the individual has something to
write about.
7.3 Theoretical underpinning
In this pilot study the focussed listening to music was used to see if it could help the children access their social
reality or their ‘nature of being’ (ontology) to stimulate ideas and enrich their writing. The phenomenological
approach identifies the conscious awareness of their constructed realities which they integrate and transfer into
a variety of ‘texts’ through the multiliteracy pedagogy. According to Lincoln & Guba (2013) "exploring the
linkages between seemingly unrelated social phenomena" (p. 10) is important. "Sense making is an effort by
human beings, utilizing the constructive character of the human mind limited only by imagination, to deal with
confusion by means of semiotic organisation ... that attaches meaning to “realized” elements [elements made
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real?] selectively abstracted from the otherwise confounded surround" (p. 45). Therefore identifying what the
students know and whether the focussed listening to music could help them ‘know’ any better is an important
question to be raised and discussed in this research. Allowing the children time to reflect on what the music and
their thinking through the response sheets using a multi-modal approach helped to individualise their responses,
to revise and extend on these to suit their different ways of thinking. According to van Lier (2008) the main
principle of student learning is their active engagement and use of initiative. Student agency "is not simply an
individual character trait or activity, but a contextually enacted way of being in the world ... is always a social
event that does not take place in a void or in an empty wilderness" (pp. 163-164). This agency will be reduced if
the student lacks the skills or confidence to share in oral language activities, despite the fact that every child
comes to school with a history of socio-cultural experiences.
7.4 Teacher decision making
The Literacy Learning Progressions (Ministry of Education, 2009) describe the knowledge and attitudes it is
anticipated students will use when they write while the National Standards address the texts and tasks required
to meet with the with the New Zealand Curriculum (p. 5). Before the pilot study had commenced, the class
teacher identified vocabulary as being the greatest need for her class, and that some of her students also
struggled to structure their sentences and use punctuation correctly. Assessment using the National Standards
relies on the teacher's overall judgement by drawing on evidence and formalised assessment over a period of
time to make an informed decision on the performance levels for each student. This is to help support the
students, identify the next teaching and learning steps required for them and then plan the classroom
programmes around these (Ministry of Education, 2009, p. 13). In the pre-pilot interview she believed that most
of her class were on track to meet with the National Standards for writing and her commitment to meeting the
needs of her students was obvious by wanting to find writing topics that would keep them engaged and giving
them choice. The class teacher identified the need for her students to key into their own experiences and the
importance of giving them choice; by developing and using peer support in discussion work and helping circles
as strategies.
I try get them doing lots of talking and sharing back ... they're not very confident within themselves (teacher)
Helping her students to connect their experiences with new words was important in order for them to develop
their vocabulary. This is particularly important when languages other than English are spoken at home and
therefore places more responsibility on the class teacher to develop their English language competency.
Thwaites (2009) states that "every mental act includes a presentation, a cognition, and a feeling, each which is
directed towards a phenomenon ... our implicit or early memory includes the emotional, behavioural and
perceptual. Our explicit memory, which begins to occur after 18 months, develops semantic recall and
autobiographical knowledge" (pp. 43 - 47). Therefore it would be expected that the students should have no
difficulty in retrieving ideas to write about. He describes the concept of Dasein moods as realised with other
phenomena i.e. the music; temporary and directed at the world and are "hardly within our control" (p. 33). The
work and perspective of each child will be summarised because of the holistic nature of the pilot study and in
accordance with the Interpretive Phenomenological Approach used.
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7.5 Children as writers: pre- and post-pilot study comparisons
Comparisons will be made between the descriptive writing of the children for both pre-pilot and post-pilot
unassisted recounts. All of the children wrote about food or going out somewhere for a meal as the topic for
their pre-pilot unassisted recounts, an indication of the importance of them being able to write about something
they know about and have experienced. The class were shown a picture of dogs running on a beach which they
discussed first before writing their unassisted post-pilot recount for the same reason. Their pre-pilot
questionnaires will be discussed in relation to this in order to establish their writing attitudes and strategies.
Then a comparison will be made with their post-pilot unassisted recounts and questionnaires, and creative
writing during the pilot study with a focus on the descriptive and creative writing (deep writing features) and not
the surface features (punctuation and spelling). Because of the holistic approach, each child's writing will be
analysed in-depth and discussed individually before an overall summary of the nine students data and
correlations with the default mode and working memory is given.
'E' Pre- and post-pilot data
'E' was levelled at 2B in his pre-pilot unassisted recount. He used adjectives and simile to create descriptive
sentences when writing about food e.g. "it was gold and cisbes (sic) (crispy) on the outside and jice (sic) (juicy)
on the inside ... I was like a greedy pig." In his pre-pilot questionnaire he circled 'never' thinking of good ideas
and 'sometimes' happy with the way he wrote his ideas down, liked to write poems and creative stories and
thought he was good at writing these. He wrote that he liked to focus on his ideas when wanting to think
creatively and used describing words. I acted as a scribe for 'E' because he was not at all confident to fill the
written questions independently; shrugged his shoulders in response to questions five to eight and didn't know
what he wanted to learn to do to help him with his creative writing.
'E' was levelled at 2P in his post-pilot unassisted recount and therefore writing at the expected level for the
National Standards. He created some word pictures through writing adjectival phrases and using onomatopoeia.
The quality of his descriptive imagery and vocabulary used had improved e.g., "I seen a dog it was light brown
... it running in and out of the rolling waves and fetching a ball ... it smells like salt wet fur cockles and mussels."
The adjectives recorded in his Humperdink response sheet indicate a strong sense of mood or 'being' e.g.,
"peaceful", "quiet" and "settled". His sentence about a green monster creeping in the night and opening a
squeaking door written to the Telemann support his ability to create effective imagery in the mind of the reader,
using his imagination to help him. 'E' displayed a more positive attitude in the post-pilot questionnaire by filling
this out on his own and circled 'often' thought of good ideas, 'always' happy with the way his ideas were written
down and liked to write creative stories and poems, yet 'never' thought he was good at writing these. He wrote
that the music helped 'sometimes' because he was getting bigger word pictures in his head. Using his own
ideas helped him to record his thoughts and identified that he would like to put more creative ideas on to paper
as his next learning goal. 'E' appears to have more confidence as a writer and a sense of his potential by feeling
empowered in the writing process which the multi-literacy approach helped him to do by making associations
with the music and his ideas. The tornado illustration and story about the racing car 'drifting' around in angles to
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the Handel suggest the embodied sensation of speed and twisting in his tornado picture with the experience of
watching cars racing around a circuit.
'G' Pre- and post-pilot data
'G' was levelled at 1B in his post-pilot unassisted recount and therefore well below the Writing National
Standards; his pre-pilot unassisted recount was unavailable for this pilot study. In the pre-pilot questionnaire I
acted as a scribe due to his difficulty in him writing his ideas down. He indicated 'always' for thinking of good
ideas, liked writing creative stories and poems, and thought he was good at writing creative stories and poems.
He was 'sometimes' happy with the way his ideas were written down. 'G' said he thought of ideas in his head
and then made them interesting when wanting to think creatively. He said that he had words inside of him, did
use describing words and identified being able to write more sentences as a learning goal. His wide variety of
ideas discussed in the first interview suggest a high level of mind wandering and creative thinking i.e. he was
able to give explicit descriptions of the animals in the forest which were not written in his senses poem. Not only
did he talk about the forest being dark and wet, but he also made reference to snorkelling under the sea and
being at his uncle's house. The inferred depth of his story written to the Handel about flying over a castle in a
hot air balloon is represented in the Listening/ Music Response Sheet when he justifies his story with the music.
In this 'G' refers to the 'thick' texture of the music representing chopping and the loud dynamics as birds
chirping, yet these ideas are not included in his story. 'G' uses the word 'stabilised' in his story written to the
Telemann, a high quality word that would be more likely used in writing at above the expected level for his age.
In his post-pilot questionnaire (which I also scribed for him), 'G' indicated 'sometimes thought of good ideas and
thought he was good at writing these. He said that he was 'often' happy with the way his ideas were written
down and 'always' liked to write creative stories and poems. Despite the apparent drop in attitude about himself
as a writer, 'G' said that the music helped to make pictures and interesting ideas in his head (that he could write
about) and that the colour helped to focus on his learning. He said he wanted to write longer stories as a writing
goal. In the second interview, 'G' identified that music helped to make his stories more exciting because there
were "surprises" (ideas he wouldn't normally think about), he liked to have ownership of his illustrations and
have choice over which colours to use in the response sheets. He had higher expectations of himself as a writer
and liked to make up his own ideas and stories; suggesting that 'G' identifies himself as having divergent and
creative ideas which aren't always transferred into his writing. His 1B levelled post-pilot unassisted recount
indicates this reality since there is no descriptive language in the two simple sentences and one incomplete
simple sentence that he wrote.
'H' Pre- and post-pilot data
'H' was levelled at 2P for her pre-pilot unassisted recount and wrote some descriptive phrases i.e. "the chef
cooked fast ... the big round cooking pot." She used a range of verbs that helped convey the action in her story
e.g. "played", "finished", "watched." In her pre-pilot questionnaire 'H' recorded 'always' for three of the four
attitude questions with 'often' thinking she was good at writing creative stories and poems. She wrote that
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thinking about the topic and looking at stories helped her to think creatively, sometimes used detail and wanted
to learn to put more technical words and simile in her writing. 'H' displayed a strong sense of mood and emotion
in her stories and poem. The senses poem written to the Humperdink had strong socio-cultural and nostalgic
links to her family, sensations of power and a strong sense of control over her ability to communicate with
others. 'H' uses such words as "my beloved ones" and "having a little sad moment" to indicate her depth of
emotional response to the music. She even suggested that she used music at home to regulate her emotions to
be happy. A similar response of power and the sense of positive power that the music had on her is also
represented in her story written to the Handel. Although fictional, the sensation of feeling "fantastic and
wonderful" when the girl was singing and also when she was praying ("powerful", "strong" and "happy") suggest
this, despite the different style and genre of these two pieces of music. Her story written to the Telemann also
had a strong link to her awareness of social justice by writing about a monster's selfish behaviour and the
positive outcome to the lesson learnt.
'H' was levelled at 2A in her post-pilot unassisted recount, used onomatopoeia, assonance, alliteration and
simile; and therefore was writing at the expected level for the Writing National Standards. Her descriptive
imagery included a wider range of quality verbs to convey the action compared to her pre-pilot unassisted
recount e.g., "I could see the waves crashing, the dogs splashing ... I could hear dogs digging in the sand ...
dogs that smell like stinky fish ... kids playing in the baby blue, navy blue, dark blue water." For the post-pilot
questionnaire she recorded 'always' for all attitude questions and said that the music helped her think about
what she wanted to write and the watercolour pencils helped with her imagination. Her identified learning goal
was to put more ideas down. In the second interview 'H' told how the music helped to put more ideas into her
'brain' that she wrote down to help her express her personal voice. The colour and symbol helped to make
representations and think about who or what she wanted to be.
'J' Pre- and post-pilot data
'J' was levelled at 2A for her pre-pilot unassisted recount and included a range of verbs (e.g. "yelling", "crying",
"enjoyed") and descriptive phrases for more effective word pictures i.e. "crispy and crunchy hamburgers." She
had a strong sense of personal voice in her writing e.g., "I really enjoyed and loved that time." She indicated
'always' for three of the attitude questions and 'often' for likes to write creative stories and poems. 'J' wrote that
she likes to have pictures from stories or fairy tales to help her think creatively and to have "pictures in my brain"
and getting help from the teacher or somebody else was an identified learning goal. Her senses poem conveyed
a strong sense of her 'being' as she stayed within the one topic (being at a funeral) as though it was a moment
in time, with her describing words reflecting a strong sense of emotional awareness of the occasion i.e.
"devastated", "soulful", "hidden." 'J' was able to effectively convey mood in both of her stories. She was able to
replicate a similar sense of mood in her story written to the Telemann (dark black town) using simile and
adjectival phrases to create descriptive phrases i.e. "I'm flying all over the dark green beautiful trees I herd the
sound of the birds chirping like a mouse then it stopped I was lonely like someone praying." In her story written
to the Handel, her references to the rainbow always looking bright and shiny aligns with the conclusion in the
story where she writes about waking up with a "fantastic, beautiful smile as bright as a golden medal."
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'J' was levelled at 2A in her pre-pilot unassisted recount, incorporating a range of quality language features in
her writing i.e. alliteration, onomatopoeia and personification for effective imagery. She wrote "I feel frozen" and
"laughing waves crashing" are examples of this. 'J' circled 'always' for three of the attitude questions and 'often'
for happy with the way she wrote her ideas down in her post-pilot questionnaire. She wrote that the rhythm and
beat of the music and the colours used in the response sheets helped her get more ideas to write about. Class
discussion also helped to generate ideas and identified that she would like to draw pictures to help her think
about what to write as a writing goal. In the second interview she said that making associations between colour
and writing adjectives in her response sheets with the music helped her to write stories.
'K' Pre- and post-pilot data
'K' was levelled as writing at 2B for his pre-pilot unassisted recount. "Went", "was" and "stuffed" were the only
verbs used in his sentences and simple descriptive phrases were used in his writing e.g. "the potato was soft ...
the chicken was spicy." He circled 'often' for thinking of good ideas and thinking he was good at creative writing
in his pre-pilot questionnaire. 'K' circled 'sometimes for both happy with the way he wrote his ideas down and
like to write creative stories and poems. He wrote that he liked to use his imagination and record his ideas in a
brainstorm in the creative writing process, sometimes using describing words. His identified writing goal was to
have better ideas. The words recorded in his Humperdink Response Sheet indicate his ability to use quality
emotive words to describe his feelings e.g. "lonely", "strong", "powerful". The main theme of his senses poem is
about a forest which he describes as "lonely". 'K' draws a picture of clouds and lightening in his Telemann
Response Sheet and attempts to create a descriptive sentence to set the scene for his story when he writes "A
stormy night with lots of storm in the sky." He used powerful verbs and simile to write his story to Handel's music
i.e. "The racing car zooming around the track ... they speed like a jet plane."
His writing level for his post-pilot unassisted recount was 2P and included alliteration and onomatopoeia in his
writing. 'K' used a wide range of verbs to describe the action e.g. "splashing", "shaking"; as well as adjectives for
descriptive imagery e.g. "the fresh air", "sea shells stuck under the water", "the sun up in the sky yellow." In the
post-pilot questionnaire he circled 'often' thinking of good ideas and happy with the way these were written
down. He indicated 'always' liked to write creative poems and stories and 'sometimes' thought he was good at
writing these, and wrote that the music helped him to get good ideas and write about these. He wrote that he
would like to write about his good ideas as a learning goal. Although he found it difficult to express his ideas in
the second interview, 'K' did share that the illustrations, symbols and colour used in his response sheets helped
him to get ideas and the music brought these all together.
'N' Pre- and post-pilot data
For her pre-pilot unassisted recount, 'N' was levelled at 2P. She was able to convey her personal voice in this by
writing adverbial phrases e.g., "I felt really excited ... I'm happy I went with my mother." In her pre-pilot
questionnaire 'N' indicated 'always' for three of the attitude questions and 'sometimes' for thinking she was good
at writing creative stories and poems. She wrote that thinking of pictures in her head helped her to think
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creatively and that she did use describing words in her writing. Her identified writing goal was to use simile that
represented her story. 'N' recorded a range of quality vocabulary to represent her realised mood and
experiencing of the music by Humperdink. Some of the words she wrote were "lonely", "emotional",
"heartbroken" and "exhausted" identifying her emotions and the sensation of "flying" but were not used in her
poem. 'N' also wrote the words "emotional", "bored", and "surprised" in response to the Telemann but did not
use these words in her story. When writing to the music by Telemann and Handel, 'N' created quality descriptive
phrases to tell her stories. She was able to give a strong sense of the storm in the forest (Telemann) by using
simile i.e. "the hail came like a rock coming to hit someone" and onomatopoeia to describe the storm ("banged",
"crashed", "wind whistling", "splashing", "crash" and "bashing"). Her use of simile, metaphor and personification
in her story about the fireworks (Handel) reflected vivid imagery in the mind of the reader i.e. "I can see delicious
yum candy moving or dancing ... the fireworks are booming jumping dancing in the sky with happy smiles in the
air."
'N' was levelled at 2A in her post-pilot unassisted recount which meant that she was writing at the expected
standard. She used onomatopoeia, alliteration, personification and simile to convey descriptive imagery e.g., "I
can hear the waves crashing like a hurricane ... I can see people picking up pipis in the water." In her post-pilot
questionnaire, 'N' recorded 'always' for all attitude questions and wrote that the music helped her in the writing
process. She said that the different sounds and mixing up the colours using watercolour pencils helped her
identify how she was feeling and that she could visualise different images in her mind. Her writing goal was to
use art as a way of helping her to think of what to write down. In the second interview 'N' discussed how the
music helped her to think about who she is, how it made her feel happier about herself which then helped her
develop more confidence when relating to others.
'V' Pre- and post-pilot data
Identified as having English as his second language, 'V' was levelled at 2B in his pre-pilot unassisted recount.
Although he didn't using any describing words in his writing, 'V' used verbs to describe the action in his recount
e.g. "brought", "smelt", "watched", "loved." He circled 'often' for thinking of good ideas, good at writing creative
poems and recounts, indicated 'always' for liking to write creative stories and poems and happy with the way his
ideas were written down. He wrote that he used imagery in his mind linked to fairy tales to help him write
creatively, thinking of his last story to write his ideas down. His identified learning goal was to 'make it sound
right' which I assume relates to his sentence structures. 'V' wrote the words "sad", "devastated" and "crying" in
his brainstorm of words to the Humperdink music. Although he did not use these words in his poem, they were
indicative of his interpretation of the mood of the music and him walking around a "lonely lake" with his father.
His sentence on the back of his response sheet "I felt like going back in time when my grampa (sic) died" is also
representative of the words he wrote. 'V' was able to use adjectival phrases to create imagery in the mind of the
reader; using metaphor in the Telemann (being a lion) and simile in the Handel as he describes flying as fast as
a plane and as high as the clouds.
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'V' was levelled as writing at 2P in his post pilot unassisted recount; incorporating simile, alliteration and
onomatopoeia to create imagery in the mind of the reader. "Dogs splashing like rocks falling with rain ... waves
curling like they just got juggled" are two of the similes he created and the vocabulary he used. In his post-pilot
questionnaire he circled 'always' for three of the attitude questions and 'often' for happy with the way he wrote
his ideas down. He wrote that the music listened to reminded him of other music he had heard and that it also
helped him to create word pictures. Using colour helped to make a picture (in his mind) and identified that his
next learning goal was to use pictures so he could describe them. In the second interview he said that the music
helped him to recall memories and write about these.
'W' Pre- and post-pilot data
'W' was levelled at 2P and used some quality vocabulary in her pre-pilot unassisted recount. She included the
words "celebration", "decorated" (a table) and described how she felt so nervous that she "had to stop for a
moment and think." In her pre-pilot questionnaire she identified three of the attitude questions as 'often' with
'always' happy with the way her ideas were written down. 'W' wrote that she liked to discuss her ideas with
another person when wanting to think creatively and to write these down. She wrote that she didn't think she
used describing words in her writing and identified seeking the teacher's help and putting in more nouns and
verbs as writing goals. 'W' recorded a range of words conveying emotion in her poem in her Humperdink
Response Sheet i.e. "speechless","lonely", "being bullied", "upset." These were representative of her illustration
on the back of her response sheet but not of her poem about happy moments with her family at a camping
ground. 'W' used simile in both of her stories e.g., 'the harpsichord sounded like a lion roaring and a mouse
squeaking' (Telemann) and "hopping around the room like a kangaroo" (Handel).
'W' was levelled at 2A in her post-pilot unassisted recount which sees her writing at the National Standard. She
had a strong personal voice in her writing, using alliteration and onomatopoeia and a wide variety of action
words in her writing to convey this. "The bright yellow sun shining at the sea, waves curling up ... dogs barking
out loud, kids laughing and giggling" are examples of this. In her post-pilot questionnaire she circled 'sometimes'
for thinking of good ideas, creative writing and being good at creative poems and stories, 'often' happy with the
way she wrote her ideas down and 'always' liked to write creative poems and stories. She wrote that the music
helped her to identify emotion and think of ideas which also helped her to use better describing words. Using
colour and the response sheets helped her to record her ideas and wanted to continue using colour and reading
books that had a similar theme to the music as learning goals. Her goals were also reflected in the discussion of
the second interview.
'D' Pre- and post-pilot data
'D' was new to the school and did not have a levelled pre-pilot unassisted recount. She wrote a number of words
that best represented the diamond symbols drawn at the bottom of her Humperdinck Response Sheet
(associated with her grandmother's funeral). "lonely", "upset", "sad" and "scary," are some of the words written
and not used or representative of the theme of her poem. She wrote about gliding over a jungle and thinking
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about the calm sea for this. She graphically described her monster inspired by the Telemann, (described on
page 38) and her 'experiencing' of the portal (as described on pages 53-54) when writing her story to the
Handel. 'D' referred to herself in first person for both stories as though she was living the experience.
'D' was levelled at 2P for the post pilot unassisted recount and therefore writing 'at' the expected level for the
National Standards. She included alliteration, adjectival phrases and onomatopoeia to help create imagery in
the mind of the reader. "I see dogs growling, green salty slimy seaweed and the great blue sea" is an example
of her writing. 'D' had a positive attitude towards writing and circled 'always' for questions one to four, and wrote
(in the pre-pilot questionnaire) that she liked to write things down, talk with a friend; and that she usually has
good ideas but doesn't write them down. Thinking of a picture helped her to record her ideas, but she didn't
know if she used describing words and identified that checking her capital letters were in the right place was
what she would like help with in her creative writing. In her post-pilot questionnaire 'D' circled that she 'often'
thought of good ideas and liked to write creative stories and poems, 'sometimes was happy with the way she
wrote her ideas down and 'never' thought she was good at writing creative stories and poems. However in
response to her written questions (five to eight) she wrote that the music did help her to think of creative stories,
art and word pictures. She wrote that lots and lots of words and pictures went into her brain when she heard the
music and identified 'creativity' as her next goal to work on in her writing. In the second interview 'D' said that
listening to music helped her with her writing, art and reading. Although she rated her attitude questions lower in
the post-pilot questionnaire, it could indicate higher expectations of herself as a writer and realising her
potential.
7.6 Summary of pre- and post-pilot data
In the pre-pilot questionnaires, most of the children indicated a good attitude about themselves as writers. Five
were always happy ('G', 'D', 'H', 'J', 'N') and three ('K', 'V', 'W') were often happy with the ideas they thought up;
'B' was never happy with his ideas. Six ('V', 'D', 'H', 'J', 'N', 'W') were always happy with the way they wrote their
ideas down with three sometimes happy ('E', 'G', 'K'). Five ('G', 'V', 'D', 'N') identified that they always liked to
write stories and poems, with two ('J', 'W') often liked to do this. 'E' and 'K' sometimes liked writing creative
stories and poems. 'G', 'D' and 'J thought they were always good at writing stories; 'K', 'H', 'W' and 'V' often
thought they were good, and 'E' and 'N' thought they were sometimes good. All children completed their
questionnaires independently except for 'G' who required a scribe both times and 'E' only in the pre-pilot
questionnaire.
Over the eight week pilot study, six of the nine children moved up one level. 'E', 'K' and 'V' all moved from 2B to
2P, 'H' with 'N' and 'W' moving from 2P to 2A. 'D' was levelled as 2P and 'J' remained at 2A. This meant that all
these children were working at the expected level for the Writing National Standards. Only 'G' was levelled at 1B
which identifies him as well below. The lack of life experiences to write about was identified by the class teacher
as a possibility for any difficulties, since the children were usually reliant on her to provide themes and
opportunities to write about i.e. gardening club. She also identified a general lack of confidence in doing this,
with 'getting it wrong' as the possible reason. The most important learning need was to develop their vocabulary,
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with structuring sentences correctly another (capital letters and punctuation), however overall she was happy
with their level of writing and expected the majority to reach the National Standards by the end of the year.
7.7 The music-literacy approach
The individualised responses from the students are indicative of their reflection of the music and their ability to
portray their 'voice' in the poems and stories they created. While there were some similarities in thinking, there
were no obvious replicated stories. The title of each piece of music was not disclosed to the children since the
purpose of listening to the music was used as a trigger for the creative writing process and not for them to 'get
right.' However the analysis of each music extract with their writing suggests they were able to make appropriate
connections to what they were listening to. The justifications expressed in their questionnaires and interviews
appeared to reflect their internalised thinking and the co-construction of their knowledge influenced by socio-
cultural influences which was expressed using symbolism and word. The oral language activities helped to
brainstorm word lists that were available for the children to use, but were often used by them to scaffold into
their independent writing activities. Competency in oral language, an identified learning need by the class
teacher often impacted on their ability to discuss their thinking in the one-on-one interviews, making the
questionnaires, writing and response sheets valuable sources of qualitative data important in the Interpretative
Phenomenology Analysis approach.
Personal choice (student agency) when creating their stories and poems was important to the children. 'G'
identified that having ownership of his own helped him in the writing process and he found using colour helped
him to focus on his learning. Similar points of view were expressed by 'H', 'V' and 'W'; who identified that using
colour helped to visualise and record their ideas. When asked whether the multiliteracy approach helped them
(in the post-pilot questionnaire), 'D', 'G', 'H' and 'K' said it helped them to think of creative stories and interesting
ideas. 'D', 'E', 'G', 'N', 'V' and 'W' all wrote that this helped them to write word pictures and use describing words.
In the second interview 'E', 'H', 'K', 'V', and 'W' said that listening to music helped them make associations with
ideas and could make connections between these with books read ('W') and their self-identity ('N' and 'W'). 'N'
even identified that she would use music at home to regulate her emotional state and that the listening to music
(in the class) helped her gain confidence when relating to others.
The case study by Trinick (2012) is based on the music-literacy approach developed by this researcher as the
generalist teacher in a Year Four class in a Decile Eight school. Although taken across a period of ten months
compared to the eight week timeframe of this pilot study, some similarities have begun to emerge. Critical and
imaginative thinking skills were observed with the children developing richer oral language skills in the earlier
study (pp. 52-55). This was certainly the case in the discussion activities, and what was not written in the poems
or narratives were certainly represented in the response sheets using other forms of symbolic representations.
In the case study, the "learning experiences were designed to stimulate children's imagination while connecting
words and musical sounds" (p. 66), for more abstract thinking. Like the children in this pilot study, examples
were given of the children's sensory experiences while listening to the music i.e. "I think of blue and green -
exciting, adventurous, free" (p. 69). 'D's description of a 'stinky sound' in the Affetuoso to explain why she wrote
about a monster is an example of this. The children in this pilot study were able to make meaningful
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associations with the music and the colours created in their response sheets (like the children in the Decile
Eight school), as well as formulate a range of quality describing, action and emotion words in discussion
activities.
In their hypothesis on the music induction of emotions, Juslin and Västfjäll (2008) identify brain stem reflexes,
evaluative conditioning, emotional contagion, visual imagery, episodic memory, and musical expectancy as the
six psychological mechanisms which link to the multi-literacy approach, socio-cultural experiences and prior
knowledge, and the generation of mood and emotion in the young listener (p. 563). I based my own 'realising'
mechanisms on these to create my own criteria of episodic memory, nostalgic awareness, affective experience,
embodied 'knowing' and musical association when identifying common themes. According to van Manen (1990)
"the aim of phenomenology is to transform lived experience into a textual expression of its essence ... or a
reflection of something meaningful through the writer's 'own lived experience" (p. 36) and is different to the
neural responses identified by Juslin and Västfjäll. Hermeneutic significance is given through the way these are
symbolically represented. The response sheets and the multiliteracy approach were designed for this to happen
so that the meaning making from each child would be transformative and not reproduced, encouraging student
agency. Cope and Kalanzis (2013) identify five literacy components to this approach. Focussing on the
representational symbolic meaning making, connecting to each child's social and cultural experiences, allowing
them to organise these meanings (structure) were fundamental to the music-literacy pedagogy. Using the
response sheets as graphic organisers of these meanings allowed the children to assemble their ideas and
words to be used in their writing (intertextual) with only their ideas being sourced for this (ideological) (p. 176).
This is important considering the focus on personal meaning and sense-making required for the Interpretative
Phenomenological Approach methodology. The action research design also allowed for the individualised
reflection required.
Thwaites (2008) suggests that "literacy should encompass a whole realm of expressive forms and modes that
enable humans to make sense of and structure their world and their experiences that might appear disparate
but which are in fact intrinsically similar" (pp. 77-78). He suggests that "we listen in two kinds of ways ... listening
to make sense of and listening with understanding" (p. 236). When discussing the concept of a 'third space',
Thwaites suggests that it is the 'inter (the in between space) that carries the burden of meaning of culture' (p.
283) if facts and reality are socially constructed. The student responses indicate a perceptive state in the
children which is triggered when listening to music. As meaningful and unique these ideas are to each young
writer, there were identified similarities with each piece of music that was played to them.
Gee (1996) believes that discourses are socially accepted ways of using language and includes a variety of
symbolic forms (p. 131). He identifies five systems of a discourse which are prosody (the way words and
sentences are written down and said), cohesion (the way sentences are connected together), discourse
organization (i.e. scenes and episodes making up a story), contextualization signals (speakers and writers cue
listeners and readers into what they take the context to be), and thematic organization of the text (how the
themes are signified and developed) (p. 94). The music used in the pilot study was composed and structured in
similar ways. In this pilot study the children were given access to a multliteracy pedagogy that allowed them to
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record their thinking in a variety of ways. Their response sheets were completed independently, displayed the
uniqueness of each child's thinking and their ways of recording this as previously discussed.
A person's primary Discourse is the basis or framework for their ability to learn other Discourses which can then
shape the primary Discourse (Gee, 1996, p.141). According to Jackendoff and Lerdahl (2006), music can also
be seen as a type of Discourse where listeners can unconsciously construct their understanding of this when
responding to it. Music and language share parallel structures e.g. rhythm, pitch, tone have similarities to
phonology, syntax and semantics in a language sentence (p. 37). The children were able to share a wide variety
of quality vocabulary in discussion activities and in their response sheets as a result of listening to the music.
Many of these words described emotions and mood that they could identify with. Although they were not often
used directly in their writing, they were associated with their illustrations and abstract symbol. Universal
Grammar refers to the innate tools and abilities required for language acquisition and like language, musical
grammar depends on cultural idiom, exposure to it and possibly some form of explicit training (p. 34). The
Generative Theory of Tonal Music (GTTM) represents the way the listener constructs an subconscious
understanding of music based on general gestalt principles (Jackendoff and Lerdahl, 2006 p. 38). All children in
the pilot study were able to justify their writing and symbolism in their response sheets with their associations
with the music. They were all able to complete their Listening / Music Response Sheets (except for 'D') to show
how their thinking and stories correlated with the music. 'G''s Listening /Music Response Sheet provided a more
detailed account of his thinking which was not included in his story.
Jackendoff (1993) suggests that the mental grammar enables us to create sentences from the words in our
head (prosody) (p. 17). The exposure to spoken language as a Discourse therefore helps to assemble these
words into sentences (cohesion). Therefore the exposure to spoken language at home could well be different to
the conventions at school and the set criteria for the New Zealand Curriculum and the Writing Literacy
Standards. This is particularly important when considering the low English threshold at home for many of these
students which could reflect their lack of confidence and the need to develop their vocabulary. One of the
objectives of this pilot study was for the student participants to make associations between the music, their
response sheets and their writing. Jackendoff (1993) believes that Universal Grammar is not learned but part of
the 'machinery' that makes learning possible (p. 29). There are other Discourses beyond the primary Discourse
which is family and socio-culturally influenced (Gee, 1996, p. 142). Therefore I have identified the language
expectations at school as a secondary Discourse for most of the children with the multiliteracy approach used in
this research as a third Discourse. The scaffolded approach using primary and secondary Discourses (for some
of the children) as the framework was used to introduce the Performance Objectives and Learning Intentions of
the music-literacy pedagogy. They discussed their ideas and the music (using their own terminology) and were
able to justify these with their writing i.e. not made up or randomised thinking. The way these were signified
required a variety of symbolic representations through colour, symbol, illustration, emoticon and words before
writing their stories (contextualization signals, thematic organization). Once this was done the children then
wrote their poems and stories, although 'D', 'W' and 'K' drew no illustrations to the La Réjouissance but still
wrote stories (prosody, cohesion, discourse organization).
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Universal Musical Grammar is based on is more universal than linguistic grammar because there is less to learn
when becoming familiar with new musical styles than a new language. According to the principles of musical
grammar and musical perception, our experience of music comes from within us which is both actively and
unconsciously constructed in our brain (pp. 169-171). It has been found that neural substrates for music overlap
those for emotion, memory and language, and that cross-cultural experiences shape cognition and emotion
when listening to music (pp. 45-49). Music has been identified as a Discourse in this pilot study by harmonic
analysis of the scores and correlations can be made with the theories of Universal Music Grammar and
Generative Theory of Tonal Music, since no instruction was given on formal music structure or how to 'listen' to
a piece of music. The students were not told the title of the three pieces of music until after they had drafted
their writing, relying only on their perceptions and phenomenological realisations to use in the brainstorming
sessions and drafting in their response sheets. The composers each had an identified purpose or theme for
their music which were signified, organised and connected through the modulation of key changes, harmonic
progressions and instrumental arrangements. These contextualized signals were meaningfully realised by the
children through their response sheets, poems and stories. Handel composed La Réjouissance for a royal
celebratory event and fireworks display which all of the children were able to connect with either royalty,
success or fireworks. The major triadic chords used and the sense of motion as a result of the modulation was
reflected in the action portrayed in their stories. Humperdink wrote Evening Prayer as part of his Hansel and
Gretel opera and this excerpt played predominantly by stringed instruments, identified by Lahdelma and Eerola
(2014) as a significant trigger for nostalgic awareness in adults. This was reflected in the word brainstorms and
poems written by the children. Telemann's Affetuoso was through composed with the use of the dominant
seventh chord identified as creating tension, modulation of dominant seventh chords to give forward motion and
evident in their narratives.
Research by Koelsch, Rohrmeier, Torrecuso, and Jentschke (2013) indicate that listeners do apply cognitive
processes in the brain, however their explicit judgement knowledge doesn't necessarily mean that they have
explicit structural knowledge (of rules); in the same way that native speakers of a language may be able to pick
up on grammatical errors in a sentence without knowing the reason why (pp. 4 - 5). Chomsky believed there
was a 'language acquisition device' (LAD) that accounted for a child being able to master their native language
a short time despite "the highly abstract nature of the rules of language" (Brown, 2000, p. 24). Jackendoff (1993)
discusses the possibility of a genetic predisposition for a Universal Musical Grammar (like language); although
musical grammar is not only innate and appears to be based more on auditory and rhythmic processing, it is a
"species specific adaptation" (pp. 168 -170). Krumhansl (2002) suggests there are associations between the
global aspects the structure of the music, its overall mood and has inherent meaning. She cites a proposal by
Meyer that emotions are time-locked to events in the music which the findings of this pilot study also support by
the way the children structured their stories, identified emotions and had similar themes running through them.
7.8 Psychology and sense making
The co-construction of ideas through whole class and small group brainstorming sessions helped to generate
ideas and vocabulary for the children to use. The individualised recordings in the response sheets and stories
and poems are indicative of oral language being used as a mediating device which aligns with Vygotsky's
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distinguishing between the rudimentary (lower) level of mental processes (i.e. localised attention, elementary
perception) with higher mental processes which include creative imagination, verbal thinking and the regulation
of this which are culturally influenced (Robbins, 2001, pp. 24-25). His sociocultural theory emphasises the
importance of knowledge gained in the socialising experiences of the child and include the tools and common
features of these i.e. fairy tales and history (Sutherland, 1992, p. 48). Included in this would be the semiotics
used to represent and express these; and analysed through the children's recorded responses, questionnaires
and interviews using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
Varela et al (1993) discuss the influences of postbehaviourist cognitive psychology and research carried out on
mental imagery, something behaviourist researchers could not do because this imagery is not 'observable' to
the researcher. Studies in cognitive phenomena began to include other mentalistic functions e.g. perception,
memory, language and concepts. and include subconscious cognitive experiences that the individual is not
aware of (p. 45 - 48). Seven out of the nine children however identified the importance of visualising, using word
pictures, imagination and ideas in their head to help them in think of ideas and write about these. 'H' and 'W' did
not mention this but did write that they liked to focus on ideas and think about these. 'E' also identified with this
as well. Where does this thinking come from and why is visualisation so important?
Immordino-Yang et al (2012) investigated the implications of the Default Mode in education. The Default Mode
is the part of the brain that is made up of a number of neural processing networks which are activated when the
brain is resting from conscious thought. This ranges from free-form daydreaming, introspection, to "effortful
abstract thinking, especially with socioemotional relevance" and is referred to as constructive internal reflection
(p. 352). In their opinion children need to be given time for internalised reflective thinking as much as working
with concrete tasks (external attention) for healthy development and learning in the longer term (pp. 353). This
is important when considering the range of mental processes involved while the children are listening, recording
in their Response Sheets and writing to the music. It could also help explain some of the divergent thinking and
responses generated from the students as a result of this; giving authenticity to their responses, their embodied
realisations, nostalgic memories, associated emotions and representations to the music. All children in the pilot
study created original stories and poems which connected to their response sheets. Not all of their ideas in
these were written about but were in some way connected to their writing, which gives an example of
constructive internal reflection.
Episodic memory was evident with all children in the Evening Prayer and some of the children with the La
Réjouissance. The senses poems written to the Evening Prayer required the realisation through embodied
sound in order to recall memories and generate the wide range of descriptive vocabulary shared in the whole
class and small group discussion activities. All could associate where and when they were, who they were with,
illustrate and use more abstract forms of colour and symbol to represent their thinking and reflecting their
socialised experiences. The use of simile in their writing also means that they are able make meaningful
associations by comparing their ideas with their experiences. 'N' and 'Z' write about direct experiences in the La
Réjouissance and 'V' uses metaphor in the Affetuoso when he gives a descriptive account of him being a lion in
the safari lands of South Africa. Nostalgic awareness was strongly conveyed in the Evening Prayer and
represented in the mood of the stories written to the Affetuoso by some of the children with an identified sense
72
of longing to play an instrument. The 'sad moments' and thoughts of being with her 'loved ones' expressed by
'H', being at an uncle's place at night time ('G'), and 'J' recalling when she had been told about the death of a
sibling two years ago indicate nostalgia. Some children drew pictures associated with grieving but wrote a
happy poem ('W' and 'V'). It is possible that there was no nostalgic awareness to the La Réjouissance because
of the happier and more successful themes written about.
Working Memory is the brain network responsible for the "temporary storage and simultaneous manipulation of
information ... critical for higher cognitive functioning ... also for understanding or appreciating speech and
music" (Schulze and Koelsch, 2012, p. 229). This is important for the students episodic recall of memories,
emotions and nostalgic thinking so that the children were able to write about these. Research has shown that
Working Memory involves processing in the prefrontal cortex (important for conscious and abstract thinking)
requiring neural connectivity of cognitive, motor and limbic systems subsystems when continuously listening to
music. It is expected that there is an overlap between spoken language and music since they share the same
circuitry (Burunat, Alluri, Toivainen, Numminen and Brattico, 2014, p. 254-256). Therefore being able to recall
socio-cultural, autobiographical and nostalgic experiences into conscious and working memory is important for
the retrieval of ideas and vocabulary, which the music helped them to do.
Evidence of the affective experience and embodied 'knowing' was evident in all three music extracts. The wide
range of describing words and powerful verbs generated in the brainstorming sessions are indicators of the
affective experience. These words and ideas were connected to the realising experience when listening to the
music since they were so varied and individualised. The students were able to explain why they thought of these
words when asked why, even although these were not necessarily transferred into their writing. The range of
ideas from each student can be seen in the illustrations and colour created in the response sheets which often
were not directly connected to their writing. The embodied experience was an identified theme for all three
music extracts and ranged from flying through the air, spinning around and dancing (La Réjouissance) to feeling
bullied (Evening Prayer).
The rostral prefrontal cortex processes stimulus-oriented thought (activated by incoming sensory information)
and may be critical when linking moment-to moment perception with affective and associated cognitive thought
(Gilbert, Frith and Burgess, 2005, p. 1430) which is what the children were required as they listened to the
music, brainstormed vocabulary lists and worked on their response sheets. It is quite possible that this could
develop over repeated listening and therefore effect the cognitive and affective responses differently. These
findings could explain the children's physical sensations of the music, their affective responses and how these
influenced their writing.
According to Sloboda and Juslin (2010) there are levels that emotional responses can be identified at i.e.
phenomenological (feelings), functional ( biologically based and socio-culturally influenced) and hardwire (e.g.
brain neurons). They suggest that since children are able to "accurately detect basic emotions in speech we
would expect the ability to detect these same emotions in music" (p. 82). The children in the pilot study were
very specific in what they heard which had as many differences as there were similarities. Thirty seven 'happy'
73
words and forty four 'unhappy' words were shared by the children in response to the Humperdink (see Fig 1) is
an example of this. A variety of research suggests that 'the connection between mood and music is not direct ...
mood prior to the music listening is important in determining the effect of music ... music and visual stimuli
combine to influence mood more strongly than either stimulus alone (Stratton and Zalanowski, 1991, p. 122).
This could explain why the words written and the illustrations drawn in the response sheets were often not
directly connected with the children's writing, since the music was played repeatedly and over a period of two or
three lessons. In their hypothesis on the music induction of emotions, Juslin and Västfjäll (2008) identify brain
stem reflexes, evaluative conditioning, emotional contagion, visual imagery, episodic memory, and musical
expectancy as the six psychological mechanisms which link to the multi-literacy approach, socio-cultural
experiences and prior knowledge, and the generation of mood and emotion in the young listener (p. 563). I
based my own 'realising' mechanisms on these to create my own criteria of episodic memory, nostalgic
awareness, affective experience, embodied 'knowing' and musical association when identifying common
themes.
7.9 Conclusion
This pilot study was carried over an eight week period and consisted of fourteen (forty-five minute) lessons. The
progress made by the children in their unassisted recounts cannot be solely attributed to the music-literacy
approach since these were not their only writing sessions and were linked in with the class teacher's long term
planning for her writing. Because of the limited timeframe, the most important indicators of success point to the
generation of ideas, creative thinking and use of colour to bring these into the children's writing. Ideas and
writing changed on different hearings of the same piece of music yet they all were appropriate responses and
connected meaningfully with the music. They were able to discuss these in the interviews and link their creative
writing to their response sheet work using their own terminology. The students were not told what to listen for,
but were scaffolded into the multiliteracy pedagogy through picture books, visual prompts (graphic notation
cards and You Tube links), exploring sound and symbol through playing a range of percussion instruments and
using graphic notation.
None of their stories had the nostalgic recall of the Humperdink or the references to the mood of night and
storms that a number of the children made to the Telemann. Recall of sad memories or "moments" were
referred to yet endings were always happy i.e. recalled or associated but did not stay in that moment. The
stories written to the Handel had appropriate themes with the children able to justify their thinking to the music.
Juslin and Sloboda (2010b) (cited in Lahdelma and Eerola p. 2) describe the term emotion perception as a
result of listening to single isolated chords as being "used to refer to all instances where a listener perceives or
recognizes emotions in music (e.g. 'a sad expression'), without necessarily feeling an emotion him- or herself."
However for this research the emotion perception of the children is through the music theme (main or
recognised melody) which is varied through different instrumental layering, dynamics and repetition. The stories
written in either first or third person to the La Réjouissance and Affetuoso were also based on their experiences
or socially influenced 'common features'. In order to write a narrative the students would need to be able to
recall memories of experiencing which can be through doing, watching or listening to something in order for
'realities' or 'relatedness' to be co-constructed in the writing process.
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7.10 Limitations
The biggest limitation for this pilot study were the short eight week timeframe and unavailability of observational
data. Because of the researcher's role as the teacher and the hectic class time table it was difficult to gather
observational data and talk more informally with the students.
7.11 Recommendations for further research
Suggestions are that there needs to be a wider range of questions i.e. what did you like / what did you not like
since some of the children found it difficult to express their ideas. More time needs to be given to introduce
concepts a little more fully and the stories and poems written to be levelled in accordance with the school's
benchmarks and criteria for consistency. The music-literacy pedagogy was taken with the whole class but only
data from the student participants has been used for this pilot study. Future consideration needs to be given to
comparing data from the same year level without exposure to this intervention.
75
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APPENDICES
Appendix A: Participant Information Sheet ( Principal and Board of Trustees)
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Appendix B: Consent For Principal and BOT
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Appendix C: Consent To Participate In Research for Teachers
83
Appendix D: Paticipant Information Sheet Teacher
84
85
Appendix E: Consent for Parent or Caregiver of Student Participants Under The Age Of 16
86
87
Appendix F: Assent for Student Participants Under The Age Of 16
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Appendix G: Participant Information Sheet - Student
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90
Appendix H: Child Participant Questionnaire Form (Pre Pilot Study)
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Appendix I: Child Participant Questionnaire Form (Post Pilot Study)
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Appendix J: Teacher Interview Sheet
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Appendix K: Humperdinck Response Sheet
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Appendix L: Telemann Response Sheet
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Appendix M: Handel Response Sheet
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Appendix N: Example of Children's Interview Questions
Children’s questions for interview
1) Thank you for being part of my research.
2) Do you have any questions?
3) I noticed in your response that you … (words used / different thoughts and feelings to same music)
4) Explain the colours you used (link to words / emoticons / illustrations)
5) Do you have anything else that you would like to say about listening and writing to music?
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Appendix O: Elements of Music
Tempo - Fast
Tempo - Slow
Dynamics - Soft
Dynamics - Loud
Rhythm - Long
Rhythm - Short
Texture - Smooth
Texture - Sharp
Texture - Thick
Texture - Thin
Pitch - High
Pitch - Low
Mood - Happy
Mood - Sad
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Appendix P: Listening / Music Response Sheet
Name: Listening / Music Response Sheet
Date:
Learning Intentions:
To use the ‘clues’ in the music to help understand, critically think, respond by identifying the changes made during
its performance
To show a deeper understanding of this by making connections and inferences (context, mood, feelings), and
using music as a way of recording these
Understand
1)This is what I hear
Critically Thinking
Tempo (fast / slow)
Dynamics (soft / loud)
Rhythm (long / short)
Texture (smooth / sharp
thick / thin)
Pitch (high / low)
