Browsing by Author "Rouvinen, Anna"

The purpose. Documents outlining pre-school and early childhood education highlight the importance of child's participation. Participation involves listening to the child's wishes and opinions concerning his or her affairs. Previous studies show the relevance of music in childhood. Music education is also defined as part of the child's holistic support for growth and development. In Criteria for the pre-school curriculum (2014) music education has been recognized within Forms of expression -learning entity. The aim of this study was to describe a group of pre-school children's attitudes towards music. This study examines what the group of pre-school children think music is, how they experience music and if they would like to have something more of music education. These research questions were sought answers by interviewing children in the group. Methods. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study in the spring 2016 to one pre-school group in the Southern Finland. All 14 children in the group participated the study by answering interview questions. Children were interviewed one by one in a semi-structured interview. Interviews were conducted in the premises of the day care center on three consecutive days. The resulting data was analyzed using content analysis methods. Results and conclusions. The results of the study showed the majority of the group's children perceive music as tones of instruments. Playing instruments was seen as the easiest and the most difficult area of the music depending on the individual. Playing musical instruments was the most desirable musical area, when asked whether the children would like to have more musical activities. The children in the group hoped to play more instruments and named a variety of musical instruments, which they wanted to try. Most of the children had had or were having a musical hobby, which can be thought to affect the responses. This was seen in use of musical terms, as well as a general understanding of music. By solving children's interests the things that they feel relevant can be found.