PAN-HANG T A N G
Summary
Improving creativity has been one of the main foci of recent educational reforms in Hong Kong. The new music curriculum, which was drafted in 2003 and ratified in 2006, places a heavy emphasis on developing creativity using composition. Unfortunately, the majority of Hong Kong primary school teachers does not receive formal training in creativity, and are generally not well placed to implement music composition activities in schools.
Many Western and local music education researchers regard Information Technology (IT) as a useful tool that can help teachers to teach music composition. Previous research has shown that children generally enjoy using IT to assist them in learning the skills of composition. IT-assisted music composition education may therefore be promoted in Hong Kong primary schools to enhance students’ musical creativity.
This thesis contains two studies. In the Preliminary Study, music teachers from the Quality Education Fund (QEF)-supported schools were interviewed to ascertain the different strategies for utilizing IT when implementing music composition activities. The data generated from the interviews were compared and combined with the information gathered from international literature to formulate an intervention model. A pedagogical framework, called the
Tang, P.B 2009. IT-assisted Music Composition Education in Hong Kong
Primary Schools. Ph.D. Thesis, Deakin, Melbourne.
Pedagogical Framework for Music Composition with Information Technology (PFMCIT), was devised to assist teachers in carrying out music composition activities in their classes through the application of IT.
The second study, the Intervention Study, involved a process of action research in which three music teachers and myself worked together over a 6-month period to investigate the application of the PFMCIT and to test its utility for enhancing music composition education in a ‘real’ Hong Kong primary school setting. The findings offer directions for further development of music composition education in Hong Kong. The PFMCIT provides a framework for guiding training programs for both pre-service and in-service teachers to acquire knowledge and skills for using IT to teach primary school children to compose music. It also helps to provide process-oriented curriculum guidelines to promote effective teaching and learning of music composition.