Musical communication in scaffolding young learners’ expressive agency

Abstract

In a qualitative study of the nature of musical communication during scaffolding music learning, the most important themes to emerge reflected the role of musical communication in blossoming young learners’ expressive agency. The study focused on two different groups of young piano learners (aged 4–9) during collaborative (listening, creating, and performing) problem-solving experiences. Working as a teacher-researcher in the context of my own studio piano classes, I documented verbal and nonverbal interactions that occurred during the lessons. Data were collected primarily through video observation, field notes and a reflective journal. Analysis included the construction of narrative vignettes from these data. Analysis revealed that the children’s music learning was a creative process of transformation, as they negotiated and renegotiated their own meaning and that of others through musical communication. Possessing their own communicative musicality, learners exhibited ability to share a range of musical understanding and sensitivities through both sound and physical motion. Findings suggest that children’s music learning is not only located in individual minds but is anchored in a communicative landscape and when learners are engaged in musical scaffolding their expressive agency is enabled.