The Role of Children's Musical Instruments in Communication with Musical Language

Abstract

The study, in which we looked into the role of children's musical instruments in holistic music education, was conducted among children in the initial phase of primary schooling. Based on a theory of dialogue, we observed how children engaged in communication in musical language with respect of their own choice and inventive use of children's musical instruments. The research was conceived as a phenomenological case study. With this method we obtained data which enabled a deeper understanding of what the participants experienced when using musical instruments and insight into their social competences in using musical language. Having used qualitative data analysis, we established in the final grounded theory the following three conclusions: a) working with musical instruments functions as an area where the only possible realisation seems to be in line with the presumption that a person with an instrument personally identify themselves with the sound of the chosen instrument, b) the use of children's instruments cannot be effective outside the framework of dialogical dimensions of musical language, c) by using children's musical instruments, children apprehend the basic principles of group performance.