Is Experiential Learning Possible with Active Music Education?*

1. Introduction

Policies of educational institutions, their vision of the future, and what type of students they want to raise are important (one-dimensional academics or multi-faceted academics who are artistic and knowledgeable about physical development, etc.). Through the active music education approach and methods, it will be possible for individuals, who will develop to be versatile, to discover themselves and their learning styles.

An example of this system in the world is the elementary music and movement education in Finland in which students gain experience by talking, singing, accompanying to the rhythm of words, exploring, playing games with and without rules (sound games, etc.), and dancing. The work of adapting the elementary music and movement education, the essence of which is learning through experience, in Turkey continues. Since there is still only a single type of music teacher trained in Turkey, the desired results have not yet been obtained. Programs that train music teachers have a general quality [1, 2, 3, 4]. No expert music teachers are trained for primary schools, secondary schools, high schools, fine arts high schools, and universities. Only music teachers, with general knowledge in music education who are partially specialized in their fields (experts who partly play instruments such as piano, recorder, baglama, guitar, and sing), are usually trained. The active music education experiences of these teachers are limited to special teaching methods and games, dance, and music lessons (among the courses added during restructuring by the Council Higher Education in 1996).

Firstly, since the academics, who know approaches and methods of active music education, who will apply special teaching methods and games, dance, and music lessons, are not trained in music education departments, there is also no willing and qualified instructors who will give music education and teach courses in basic, pre-school, special education, and physical education departments of universities. In the music, education departments only train a single type of teacher. According to the study data of Duru and Köse [2], in Turkey, one type of music teacher is educated for general music education; in Austria (University of Graz), two types of music teachers are trained for general music education and instrument training; and in Finland, two types of music teachers are trained for general music education and preschool music education (the University of Lahti and Lahti Polytechnic). In Denmark (The Royal Danish Academy of Music and the University of Copenhagen), two types of music teachers are trained for music schools and general music education, and in the USA (Texas University of Technology), four types of music teachers are educated for the basic fields of group music, choir, orchestra, and piano.

One of the best and most successful examples of this system in the world is the elementary music and movement education in Finland in which students gain experience by talking, singing, accompanying the rhythm of words, exploring, playing games with and without rules (sound games, etc.), and dancing. The work of adapting the elementary music and movement education, the essence of which is learning through experience, in Turkey continues. These studies were initiated under the leadership of E. Zuckmayer in what is now called Gazi University the Department of Fine Arts, Department of Music Education, and continued until the 1970s. Muzaffer Arkan has made efforts to promote Orff-Schulwerk or elementary music and movement education in what is now called Hacettepe University State Conservatory. Since there is still only a single type of music teacher trained in Turkey, the desired results have not yet been obtained. Programs that train music teachers have a general quality [2]. With this “music education program,” that has a generic quality, training people who will both be expert music teachers in their fields and can provide basic music education and who will also have conservatory level knowledge is no different from expecting a frog to turn into a prince, as in the fairytale. Is it possible, through graduate education, to train academics and fine arts high school teachers, who reflect upon and address the basic problems of music education in Turkey, with only a handful of eager and qualified graduates? Not quite. The most important thing at this point is to increase the quality of music teacher candidates during their undergraduate education. These academics and teacher candidates are required first to achieve the minimum score in foreign language test (50 points) and academic personnel and postgraduate education entrance test (50 points). For graduates of other departments (engineering, pharmacy and science, and social sciences), the minimum passing score may not constitute a problem. However, it is not easy for candidates who have been educated and graduated in the field of fine arts to achieve this minimum passing score. Candidates are required to receive special training and courses to train themselves in their area of specialization.

In 1996, changes were made to the level of undergraduate and graduate music education under the name of restructuring by CoHE. Lessons were rearranged and in the music education program, especially the courses related to the field were tried to be standardized. However, when the music programs of other countries are examined, it is seen that the same departments in different universities do not follow the same curricula. Expecting the same departments in different universities in Turkey to follow the same curricula is not a very accurate approach in terms of the conditions of the educational environment. For example, when the music departments of Selçuk University and Gazi University are compared firstly, sociological, cultural, and economic differences according to their locations, the physical conditions of the departments, the levels of the students entering the departments, the number of instructors and their interests draw attention. Although the Council of Higher Education (CoHE) attempted to establish a standard teacher profile under the concept of restructuring in 1996, even in the current program, each department continues to educate teachers with their characteristics [5].

It is important that individuals, who have graduated from music education programs focused on raising the standard, a single type of music teacher, especially those who will give basic music education at universities, conduct their masters and doctoral studies on active music education approaches and methods. This will ensure a music education with consideration for the needs of the classroom and pre-school teaching. However, music department students at the undergraduate level do not have the chance to experience the practices and methods of active music education apart from special teaching methods and games, dance, and music lessons (among the courses established as part of a restructuring by CoHE in 1996).

To enhance these experiences, students firstly need organization of classroom environment, accurate determination of instrument needs, a workshop class with Orff instruments, receive specialized training, which will enable them to experience the active music education approach (as Orff-Schulwerk, elementary music and movement education) and its methods (as Kodály, Suzuki, Dalkroze et al.), from expert educators and discover their learning patterns.

At this point, the policies of educational institutions, their vision of the future, and what type of students they want to raise are important (one-dimensional academics or multi-faceted academics who are artistic and knowledgeable about physical development, etc.). Because through the active music education approach and methods, it will be possible for individuals, who will develop to be versatile, to discover themselves and their learning styles. For this purpose, the use of the experiential learning style test developed by D. Kolb (1984) will also be valuable. In studies conducted in both music departments and other academic units, the tests developed by [6] for the determination of the learning style of individuals (Kolb 2.0 and 3.0) were used in the studies of [7, 8, 9, 10, 11], however, it has not been examined whether the individual explored the experiential learning style or not through active music education approach and methods. Unlike writers who draw attention to the genetic and biological characteristics of the learning styles, Kolb views learning styles as permanent and durable states formed by the interaction of people and the environment. Individuals prefer different learning styles or use a few at once. According to this theory, four learning stages emerge as concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. For example, in learning through concrete experiences, it is emphasized that it is considered important to understand the current experience and solve problems rather than understanding theories or generalizations. At this stage, feeling the situation is more important than thinking about the subject [12, 13].

The aim of the study: This study has been conducted to understand how the students involved in the study internalized, or learned, their experiences of elementary music and movement education. For these reasons, in this study, an active music education approach and methods that will enable the individuals participating in the study to discover their learning styles were applied in basic sciences and music education. Besides music educators who will give basic music education, it is also important for students who will take this course to explore learning styles with an active music education approach and methods. This is because, in this study, the experience is created with both the educator and the student. In this study using elementary music and movement education, at the core of which there is experiencing and discovery learning, answers to the following questions were sought: What are the behaviors that individuals adopt through elementary music and movement training? Are individuals willing to learn by experience? Is the environment (class size, class order, etc.) appropriate for experiential learning? What kind of an impact their primary, secondary, and high school experiences have on music education and teaching? What is their perception regarding music education and teaching?

2. Method

3. Findings

According to the data, regarding the Kolb learning styles, 30 of the 77-people students’ group were converging, 21 were assimilating, 16 were diverging, and 10 were accommodating. As understood from the data, 51 students had abstract conceptualization skills and 26 students had concrete experiencing skills. While 41 students were observed to learn through active experimentation, 36 students learned through reflective observation (Figure 1).

P37: I have a converging learning style, according to Kolb. I can learn with abstract conceptualization and active experience. That’s why I first put the actions that we learn in the course into perspective then I put them into practice. With the practices and experiments that we do in class, I try to acquire the right information. Since everyone in the classroom offers different ideas and we put these ideas into practice, I can approach the subject with different perspectives. I can participate actively in the course. P30: During our practices, we performed listening rhythm and harmonizing studies. We started from a specific topic in certain practices; it is sort of my area of expertise to concentrate on one thing, as in my learning style. In my learning style, it is essential to organize information and to focus on specific problems. P22: Converging individuals are defined as people who use abstract conceptualization and active experience learning stages and practical applier of ideas. They were expressed as deductive people with problem-solving skills, interested in technical matters. During class practices, generally, I observe first, and then give my opinions, if I have any. Since I think learning by doing is more permanent, I care about practice. So I participate in the practices and activities in class. So, I partially fit in with the converging style in the Kolb inventory. P55: I do not act without thinking. I am cautious. I'm more inclined towards objects and symbols. I learn best with projects, practical assignments, small group discussions. My learning style helped me in class. I am learning through problem solving, decision making, logical and systematic planning of ideas so in the course so I have always asked myself the question of “How.” “How will I do it? How will it happen?” I received the answers to these questions by participating in the applications. I'm good at organizing information, focusing on specific problems. I am successful in problem solving and technical issues rather than social and interpersonal issues. However, in the course, I participated in activities as a part of the group. I have expressed my ideas and voiced my opinions about things that concerned me. I learn by doing, experiencing. That's why I have always been actively involved in the course. Again, it was me who found the mistakes one by one on the board. I constantly questioned the points that I found problematic and expressed my opinions, then we reflected on them together (Figure 2).

P72: While practicing in the course, I always asked myself questions such as; Why will I learn? How will I learn? and I found the answers in practice. I like to work individually, which is a characteristic of my learning style. However, thanks to the practices we do in the course, I've warmed towards group work and I have observed to be more efficient than when I worked on my own. My learning style made me ask more questions during practice. This allowed me to gain a more inquisitive identity and more awareness. P10: In fact, since observing and applying is important in most of the practices we do in class, this learning style helped me a little about learning. The fact that thinking is at the forefront in this learning style has enabled me to benefit from it in this regard since the practices we perform are related to thinking, researching, exploring. I prefer observation as it is in my learning style. I think I have developed myself in terms of learning through group work along with the course. P70: I learn by observing as in the assimilating learning style. I first examine, see then I start to practice it myself. Being preoccupied with details, I ask questions in class such as "Why are we doing these movements?" or "How and where are we going to use them?.” P61: I think the result of this test is right for me because to learn something in my life, first I would like to have information about that thing and to observe, to see how it is done. Before active participation, I like observing. If I were to interpret the Music and Movement course, which we took during the semester, in this context, I think that I have been forced to participate actively as an individual who prefers to do observation and that this has helped me improve to a certain degree in active participation. Because, in our lessons, I saw a process more appropriate for the active participation structure, rather than observation (Figure 3).

Sample expressions selected from several participants at the end of the study are as follows: P14: According to Kolb’s learning style questionnaire, I was in a converging style, but I see myself in the accommodating learning style. The reason for this is that I take action without thinking; I reach the truth through trial and error. I prefer active participation and learn things by doing-experiencing while learning. This is how I learned music through the music lesson we were taught. P48: To be honest, I can hardly understand the narrow definitions of visual intelligence, auditory intelligence so it was very useful to do this test and find out my learning style. The diverging learning style summarizes me very well. I'm a serious observer. Even if I understand things, I refrain from action, think and judge within myself, ask questions of why and how but participating or sharing my ideas is not for me. That's why I never mentioned my ideas during practice. Things come to my mind because I pay attention to the course, it is my favorite lesson, but I always have trouble in participating in the class. After discovering my style of learning, nothing has changed. I still observe in the same way but I either participate because I have to, or I participate without sharing my ideas and thoughts. By watching, I learn in a calm, patient, elaborative, very detailed and objective way. However, I like working individually. P43: I think this lesson fits my learning style. It is because diverging learning needs sensory organs while learning. We are actively using our sensory organs in our course. Diverging learning mostly uses sight. In the course, we apply the movements by looking at our teacher. This means that we use our vision. I find the applications in the course parallel to my one-to-one learning style. P56: When shaping my ideas, I consider my feelings and thoughts. The reason why this learning style is called diverging learning is that individuals with this style show better performance when they are asked to create alternative ideas in concepts such as brainstorming. Thanks to our practices in the course, I warmed up more to group work and observed that I had more efficiency than individual study. My learning style made me ask more questions during practice. This allowed me to gain a more inquisitive identity and more awareness (Figure 4).

P42: I think I fit the accommodating learning style. I can easily relate to people, adapt to change, I like change. I always plan before doing anything. Planning is important to me. I trust my intuition. I prefer active participation in the lessons. Because as I mentioned above, I think a student learns best through doing and experiencing. When studying, I think that the more the subject appeals to the senses, the better the student understands. P47: I have an accommodating learning style. And according to this style, I have a character that can establish easy relationships with people, and sometimes I am very impatient. I'm open-minded and when I see that something we’re doing is lacking, wrong or unusual, I speak my mind directly. However, individuals with this style are said to be able to adapt easily to changes, but I am a little stubborn and I can't easily adapt to changes (Figure 5).

P75: Elementary means simplification of complex education. The concept of elementary that facilitates learning has an important place especially in terms of the education of children. P15: The elementary concept of Orff-Schulwerk refers to making education basic, easy and simple. Originating from the Latin word “elemetarius” means belonging to the oldest, beginning and basic elements, first-hand. We can say that it means transforming a complex structure into a structure that is easier and more solvable. P61: Breathing, tapping out the rhythm with the heartbeat, making sounds with tongue movements and giving music meaning with various body movements are the things we can frequently see in this concept. It is also possible to participate in this structure with simple instruments and simple dances that express the structure of music. In short, it is an area that individuals can use to express music by simplifying and transforming the complex theoretical teachings of music. It is expressing music by using the sounds in nature and sounds, rhythms and movements that are present in the human body (Figure 6).

P48: Orff Schulwerk and movement education is the expression of emotions that come from inside of the individual. It teaches children to move together, and the harmony that occurs when they adapt. It allows productivity through cooperation. The outputs provide enormous benefits in the cognitive, social and emotional areas of children during the process, they provide an aesthetic sense. P39: In Orff's exercises, the student-centered course type is taken as a basis. In these studies, the teacher determines the principle, purpose, method, and content, informs about "What?" to do, however "How?" it will be carried out is determined together with the students. Each work process is divided into stages in itself. The main methods of this practice are improvisation, gameplay, discovery, re-finding, experiencing, transforming and discussing. Among them, especially improvisation and gameplay are predominant. Also, various social forms such as group work, circle form, U form are frequently used. P7: In the Orff system, students discover and acquire knowledge. This makes the information permanent. Lessons become more fun and enjoyable. Music teachers' learning and using these methods well makes the lesson more enjoyable and ensures that the knowledge taught will be permanent. It will be useful to apply it to all schools. P27: Music is the means through which people express themselves. What’s special about Orff teaching is that it enables the individual to move freely, improvise, express himself or herself with music. This art does not belong to a single culture in the world and is universal. Children need to develop their imagination. The formation of music is a result of movements. Music and movement constitute a whole. Even the generation of our voice occurs as a result of the movement of our vocal cords. Children's creativity improves. There are no single set of straight rules, and everyone is free to make the music they want. It is out-of-the-box music education. Children engage in creative activities by singing and playing. Music and movement arise as a result of children's free movement in an environment where they can think freely (Figure 7).

P7: In music lessons in our public schools, students sit at their desks without moving and the teacher talks. There is not much participation in class. In this traditional teaching, there is information and music is taught from the information. However, in the Orff method, the student is active, interacts with other children and the teacher guides. The student is the one who thinks, puts effort, researches. Improvisation encourages students to think in different ways. It is also a useful method for mental improvement. In the Orff system, the student explores and learns the information. This makes the information permanent. Lessons are more fun and enjoyable. Music teachers' learning and using these methods well make lessons more enjoyable and ensures that the information is permanent. It will be useful to apply it to all schools. What I do in the course will enable me to spend a lot of fun and active time with children when I start my profession. The student is completely active. With confidence, they will express themselves and their thoughts better. Even we find this lesson very different and have fun, I think children will love it. It will have an illuminating effect on their future. It is amazing… P10: Another one of its effects on learning is that what is to be learned becomes a game with music and dance. In this way, especially kids who like to play games will enjoy learning more quickly without realizing it by taking pleasure. Such learning will also last longer and be permanent. Also, since this education style is aimed at all individual s of all ages, everyone becomes active within the learning process. In other words, not only those who are skillful on that subject, but everyone gets involved. In addition to developing creativity develops, the social and mental states of individuals will also improve. Through the development of creativity, it contributes to individuals' gaining certain skills in art. Also, since this training is carried out in free environments, through music, meaning through factors such as movement, rhythm and dance, individuals get the opportunity to express themselves. That is because music allows people to express themselves better. This type of education will improve the self-confidence of individuals since they can express themselves better. Since this style provides learning by experience through music, it will arouse curiosity and interest in individuals (Figure 8).

About 20.8% of the participants stated that compared to previous experiences in music education, it may be difficult to implement music and movement practices due to crowded classes and material problems. While 11.5% of the participants have stated that long practices have a negative effect, 7.3% stated that the fact that Orff-Schulwerk or elementary music and movement practices in Turkey are not common and the classes where the practices are to be carried out are small are also preventative factors. About 10.4% of the participants stated that the division of the class into small groups of 20–25 people would reduce the factors that would adversely affect the practices.

P11: The elementary system can be applied to courses with suitable lessons and fewer people. It is not a system that can be applied in the classes where the number of people is high. Because for the movements to be carried out as a group and effectively, there should be fewer people. It is not a suitable system for every course. It is a system that must be implemented in classes since it is a system where the children express their thoughts, present their ideas, and the teacher is a guide and the students are in the center, as opposed to the memorization system. In our country, many academics and teachers are working on this subject. However, there is no institutionalization in this regard. P50: This education style is unfamiliar to me. Because I did not receive this education from the moment I started school at a young age and I got used to another style. And one of the things that are hard for people is to give up their habits. However, if this education is given to new generations, it will be easier for them than it is for us. P32: Applications with too many people in a small class sometimes lead a few students to get disconnected from the course, fail to establish one-on-one communication and to generate enough productivity. Therefore, the course environment and the class number should be taken into consideration. For that purpose, splitting into four different groups and changing the lesson times at the beginning of the semester have been much more useful. Consequently, for music and movement education, a special classroom and a limited number of students are required. P60: Since I have not had a proper music lesson until now, my skills and interest in music had become rusty. Because, since elementary school, we generally had free time during music lessons. P45: The state in particular should provide the necessary instruments for the universities and primary schools. And finally, our practices could be more energetic. The reasons why it could not be more energetic were due to both the size of the class and the unwillingness of students. Maybe a little bit of technology could have been utilized to make it more energetic; for example, a projection device could have been used to reflect on the board, we could have watched videos about Orff education, and our teacher might have wanted us to recreate what we saw similarly. Our teacher could have made an observation and joined when necessary, more fun activities could have been done in the classroom altogether. Songs could have been faster and played on the computer; we could have accompanied the song with our bodies and voices (Figure 9).

4. Conclusion, recommendations and discussion

4.1 Conclusions and discussion

In the preliminary interview with the students who participated in the study, they stated that their musical experiences were quite limited. The majority of the students stated that music courses in primary, secondary, and high schools were empty and meaningless, that they solved tests in music class in middle school and high school and those who studied music at the primary or secondary education stage stated that they memorized only the names of notes and rhythmic structures in the course. One student stated that their teacher would sing to them and they would sing along the song while sitting at their desks.

In light of the data obtained from the study, to ensure active participation and observation of the students, the class of 76 people was divided into four groups consisting of approximately 20 people. To provide a "U" shaped seating arrangement, the desks arranged in rows were rearranged with the students. All students participating in the study found it positive that the course was taught by dividing the class into four groups. Also, they stated that with classes limited to 20–25 people the lessons were more comprehensible and everyone participated in class. However, some students stated that since there are crowded classes in the Turkish national education system, it would not be able to attain this ideal number and therefore these practices could not be implemented.

The students who participated in the study stated that everyone's opinion was taken during the 1–1.5-hour studies and creating ideas together had a positive effect on them. However, the lessons were long and exhausting since it was about interpreting and re-synthesizing instead of memorizing information. This is the negative aspect of the study according to them. They stated that at the beginning of the study, listening to sounds in nature or class during practice, speaking and imitating these sounds, imitating these sounds by hitting their bodies with hands, finding the corresponding sound of imitated sounds with Orff instruments and finally, transferring them on a graph (graphical notation) to A3-sized cardboard of using EVA materials increased their interest in the sounds of nature and the duration of these sounds. They stated that the same or a similar study could be used to improve the hand skills of students in the first and second grades of primary education. In the application of the study, problems were observed while making the sounds on cartons for the duration of the sound. Therefore, the studies were continued by transferring them to nursery rhymes and counting rhymes. In similar studies on nursery rhymes, sample works similar to the aruz prosody were developed with the participants. While working on the rhythm of syllables and words, they also made sure that the syllables and letters were uttered on time, with the correct emphasis and toning. Since the works resemble the aruz prosody, some information from Divan literature was transferred to the Turkish language and literature (Figures 10–12).