A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice | Page 12
Co-operative Learning Structure in Group Music Composition
Literature Review
Children’s composition has increasingly become the interest
of researchers over the years. One of the main reasons is
that music composition activities are crucial in reinforcing
musical concepts (Wiggins, 1989) as they engage students in
experiences that require them to think musically and expand
their musical understanding (Blair, 2009). Composition helps
students develop problem-solving skills in making musical
decisions (Dunbar-Hall, 2002) and also creates in students
ownership and pride for their own creation (Wiggins, 1989).
With these benefits in mind, I was even more motivated
to research on this topic. However, I was geared towards
researching on group music composition rather than
individual music composition, as social interaction is seen
as an essential ingredient in the learning process (Vygotsky,
1978). Previous research has shown that group music
composition facilitates communication of music among
group members, which will lead to musical development
(Ginocchio, 2003). As students work together towards a
common goal, they can fill in the gaps in one another’s
understanding, enabling the overall competence of the
group to move forward (Wiggins, 2005).
In my process of reflection, I wondered if there was a
structure that could be applied on group music composition
activities to facilitate the composition process, helping
students to develop both their musicality and social
skills. Since co-operative learning structures have been
widely researched on and proven to have many benefits,
I wanted to apply co-operative learning into group music
composition activities. I hoped to see the workings of these
benefits, such as promoting higher achievement rather
than competitive or individualistic learning, resulting in
higher-level reasoning, more frequent generation of new
ideas and solutions, and greater transfer of learning from
one situation to another (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec,
1991). As most research on the application of co-operative
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