Browsing by Subject "Improvisation"

This master's thesis examines how classroom teachers experience working with creative methods in music education. The quality of Finnish music education in primary school is on a shaky foundation. This may be partly due to the fact that classroom teachers are required to teach from grades 1-3, and in many schools there is no subject teacher in the higher grades, which means that the responsibility falls on the classroom teachers also in grades 4-6. A lack of sufficient knowledge results in teachers not being able to meet the objectives of the curriculum. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of classroom teachers when working with creative methods. With this study, I wanted to highlight the challenges that arise when classroom teachers work with improvisation and composition in music education. Previous research shows that a large part of class teachers in primary school do not feel that they have sufficient knowledge in music to teach improvisation and composition and also shows that they do not feel comfortable teaching music as a whole. The purpose of the study is to highlight possible needs for development in classroom teacher education and to show how support in the form of concrete teaching materials and tasks can help teachers to fulfill the curriculum goals. The study was carried out in collaboration with the BRAVO! project, which provides classroom teachers with music education material as well as training, support and a community of participants in the project. While testing the materials, I observed and interviewed two classroom teachers who participated in the project. The material was collected in the form of two semi-structured interviews with the teachers and a total of 15 observation sessions where the teachers and the BRAVO! coordinator tested the material. The interviews and observations were analyzed using a thematic analysis. The results of the study show that resources in terms of space and access to instruments have a great impact on how the teacher can actualize the teaching. Old school buildings with hard building materials and high ceilings contribute to a teaching environment that forces the teacher to focus a lot on maintaining order and peace during the lesson, this leads to the teacher not being able to focus on the actual teaching. This can also lead to negative health effects for both the teacher and the students. The teaching material offered by BRAVO! was positively received by the teachers and was perceived to fill a gap regarding the lack of teaching materials in music education. The teachers appreciated new working methods and new tips for teaching. The teachers in the study did not find it challenging to use improvisation or composition in their teaching. However, this may be due to the fact that both teachers had a strong foundation in music.