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Sounds of Waitakere: Using practitioner research to explore how Year 6 recorder players compose responses to visual representations of a natural environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2011

Linda Locke  and
Terry Locke
Linda Locke
Affiliation:
Henderson Valley Primary School, 389 Henderson Valley Rd, West Auckland, New Zealandmilliel@vodafone.ac.nz
Terry Locke*
Affiliation:
Arts and Language Education Department, Faculty of Education, University of Waikato, PB 3105, Hamilton, New Zealandt.locke@waikato.ac.nz
*
Corresponding author: Terry Locke
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Abstract

How might primary students utilise the stimulus of a painting in a collaborative composition drawing on a non-conventional sound palette of their own making? This practitioner research features 17 recorder players from a Year 6 class (10–11-year-olds) who attend a West Auckland primary school in New Zealand. These children were invited to experiment with the instrument to produce collectively an expanded ‘repertoire’ or ‘palette’ of sounds. In small groups, they then discussed a painting by an established New Zealand painter set in the Waitakere Ranges and attempted to formulate an interpretation in musical terms. On the basis of their interpretation, drawing on sounds from the collective palette (complemented with other sounds), they worked collaboratively to develop, refine and perform a structured composition named for their chosen painting. This case study is primarily descriptive (providing narrative accounts and rich vignettes of practice) and, secondarily, exploratory (description and analysis leading to the development of hypotheses). It has implications for a range of current educational issues, including curriculum integration and the place of composition and notation in the primary-school music programme.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , November 2011 , pp. 263 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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