Abstract

For teachers interested in bringing unfamiliar musical traditions to children, World Music Pedagogy offers a pedagogical approach which grounds the learning in recordings of musicians from the culture of origin. Through five distinct but related dimensions of learning, children grow increasingly active in their musical participation with the novel tradition. This project explored issues surrounding the processes of learning for three classes of 5- to 7-year-old children from one school in the United States, during two multi-lesson units on music from Japan and Australia taught by a music specialist teacher. Four themes emerged. First, because of the discrepancy between the musical skills of the children and the adult performers on the recordings, the dimensions of World Music Pedagogy in which the children were most musically active were not incorporated to the same extent as those in which they were less so. Second, lessons were most successful when designed with short musical excerpts, to capitalize upon the children’s attention span and ability to recall musical factors. Third, experiences in which a visual stimulus complemented the aural focus of the lessons led to more engaged participation. Finally, many of the children were able to engage in discussions surrounding issues of social justice.