Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

School of Music

First Advisor

Wendy H. Valerio

Abstract

With the intention of increasing social music interaction understanding, the purpose of this study was to investigate guided music play between 2-year-old children and a music play facilitator. The guiding research questions were (a) What play behaviors and roles emerged when the 2-year-old children and I, a music play facilitator, engaged in guided music play? (b) What music emerged when the 2-year-old children and I, a music play facilitator, engaged in guided music play? I purposefully sampled six 2-year-old participants and their two classroom teachers and a music play assistant as passive participant observers, as well as an early childhood music development specialist as nonparticipant observer. I participated in this study as a complete participant observer. I facilitated five 20-minute music engagement sessions based on the tenets of Gordon’s Music Learning Theory for Newborn and Young Children (2013) and using Music Play: The Early Childhood Music Curriculum Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Caregivers (Valerio et al., 1998). I gathered data from the video-recorded music engagement sessions, music engagement plans, written observations and reflections, and audio-recorded think-aloud interviews. I transcribed all data for subsequent analysis. I coded the data and created a taxonomic analysis to organize cultural domains. Three themes emerged. The children and I fluidly adopted the roles of observer, initiator, sustainer, and modifier to engage in social music interaction during guided music play; the children and I used pretend play scenarios and playful activities to initiate, sustain, and modify social music interaction during guided music play; and the children and I used speech, song, rhythm chant, and movement to initiate, sustain, and modify social music interaction during guided music play. I provide preliminary definitions and thick, rich descriptions of the roles and behaviors children and I adopted during guided music play. Implications with regard to social music interaction, music play facilitators, and early childhood music development specialists, as well as recommendations for future research, are discussed.

Rights

© 2018, Kathleen Kaye Arrasmith

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