Research on the educational applications of social robots has shown how they can motivate children and help improve academic learning outcomes. Here, we examine how robots can support skill learning and, more specifically, musical instrument practice. Drawing from social facilitation theory and evaluation apprehension theory we expected that the…

This study is the result of a two-year experimental collaboration with children from my piano class. Together, the children and I designed a method that uses visual expression as a starting point for composing and visualising music-theoretical concepts. In this method various dimensions of musicality such as listening, creating, noting down and…

There is evidence supporting the social and cognitive benefits of music education. However aspects of music practice, such as an increase in frequency and intensity of practice, are associated with playing-related musculoskeletal problems in adult musicians, though with limited evidence in children. The aim of this study was to describe the music…

The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of familiarity with the sound of a melody on children's performance of the melody. Children in kindergarten through fourth grade (N = 97) with no previous formal instrumental instruction were taught to play a four-measure melody on a keyboard during an individual instruction session. Before…