Guided by two perspectives, one theoretical, and the other, methodological, we assume that social interactions provide organizing principles for transforming natural human growth into cultural development. From birth onward, the healthy child is primed to be "in transaction" with their caregivers, their surroundings, co-constructing the…

This article reports on the practice and evaluation of a music education model, In Harmony, which utilizes new technologies and current theories of learning to mediate the music learning experience. In response to the needs of twenty-first century learners, the educational software programs Teach, Learn, Evaluate! and Impromptu served as central…

Creative musical experiences appropriate to children's cognitive and psychomotor development should begin in kindergarten. Structured creativity through the process of musical composition can be used at grade 4 and above. Lesson plans using Haiku poetry, penatonic scales, rhythmic durations, and melodic contour to create a song are provided. (VW)

Examines Marilyn Zimmerman's pioneering work on the applications of Piagetian theory to the study of children's musical development. Discusses "music conservation" and addresses the Piagetian model regarding (1) the implications of the sociocultural perspective and (2) the study of musical creativity. Develops the concept of…

Attempts to express a group of children's understanding of inversion, retrograde, and retrograde-inversion as it applies to musical composition and color schemes. The children, ages six to nine, displayed idiosyncratic approaches to the problems. Discusses the possible implications for symbolic language and cognitive development. (MJP)

Delineates the cultural norms evident in the performance and practice of Ghanaian children's play songs. Describes the similarities and differences between these and those of adult Ghanaian music culture. Discusses the social significance of the songs and includes several tables showing musical notation. (MJP)

This article reports on a school-based research project into teaching composing at GCSE, setting this alongside a review of the literature. It suggests that research into cognition in composing in school students and teaching composing within a school context may be synthesised by understanding composing as problem solving. Composing is described…

Reiterates the common wisdom of teaching the musical sounds before the corresponding signs in early music education. Stresses the phenomenological importance of teaching the relationships among the sounds as part of a tonal unit. Advocates beginning music education with the students' specific musical culture. (MJP)