Playing music : a curricular outline for music learned through improvisatory games

Abstract

Play is a crucial part of early childhood development and also a critical element in music mak- ing. Early childhood educators and researchers have acknowledged play as an important part of educating young children, but play is often undiscussed in the context of early childhood music education and music education in general. Although researchers have addressed the importance of guided and unguided musical play (John et al., 2016; Berger & Cooper, 2003; Koops & Tag- gart, 2011) and improvisation (Hickey, 2009, 2015; Hickey et al., 2016), opportunities for music students and pre-service music teachers to engage in musical play and improvisation remain lim- ited (Healy, 2014; Madura Ward-Steinman, 1999; Monk, 2013; Ott, 2015). However, a curricu- lum that uses a foundation of musical play to engage students in improvisatory music making had not yet been created. The purpose of this practicum was to create eight lesson plans that use games to engage students in structured and unstructured musical play. These lessons were de- signed with the intent that they accompany education students receive in an instrumental curricu- lum as outlined by the National Association for Music Education (2014). The goals of these les- sons were to investigate and re-contextualize the operative word “play” in music education and supply opportunities for students to improvise through play.