Johannella Tafuri, Conservatorio di Musica "G.B. Martini" di Bologna, Italy
What can infants hear? What are their reactions to music? Is it useful
for them to sing and listen to music? Is their auditory sensitivity
developed before their birth? At what age do they start singing, and
clapping their hands? How can their musical development be improved?
These (and other) questions are present in today's debate on music
education and the responses are normally given in an intuitive way. It
is now necessary and urgent to sketch a developmental profile of
infants, starting from their earliest manifestations.
In the last 30 years, research in this field has been progressively
developed. In most cases research has been devoted to single aspects of
more complex problems. Moreover, it has been based on non-homogeneous
categories of subjects and by different methods. Motivated by the fact
that many open problems need to be solved, Professor Tafuri decided, in
1998, to begin a longitudinal research project devoted to studying the
musical development in children from 0 to 6 years, with particular
attention on the ability to sing in tune. During these 6 years, the
children would have a regular music education experience with their
mothers and often other members of the immediate family.
This book has two main areas of focus. The first reconstructs the
development of human musical abilities. Tafuri systematically reports
studies of the development of vocal, rhythmic and motor abilities
through the observation of the same participants for three years,
beginning with the mothers' experiences in the last three months of
pre-natal life. The programme of musical activities and the modalities
of the collaboration with the parents are described.
The second area of focus puts forward an educational perspective based
on the results of the research. The amount and the quality of the
collected data can allow parents and educators to plan different
activities by considering the starting point for individual participants
and the development of their musical abilities. The long-term aim is to
reach an overarching understanding of the personal musicality of each
subject.
The book will be of crucial interest to parents and nursery/kindergarten
educators so that they can have scientific, theoretical and
methodological foundations for their educational strategies, as well as
being of considerable interest to all musical educators, irrespective of
the age of their pupils: a good knowledge of the first stages of
musical development can permit a better evaluation and a fulfilment of
later educational needs in music.
Contents: Foreword, Graham Welch; Introduction: the reasons for a
research study; Part I Musical Development: The literature on musical
development from 0 to 3 years of age; The inCanto project; Procedures
and results; The parents have their say. Part II From Research to
Teaching Practice: Promoting musical development; Suggestions for
musical activities; Postlude, Johannella Tafuri and Donatella Villa;
Appendix; References; List of audio and video recordings; Index.
About the Author: Johannella Tafuri is Professor of Music Education at
the Conservatorio di Musica "G.B. Martini" di Bologna, Italy
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Content )
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Introduction )
Illustrations: Includes 9 b&w illustrations, 5 graphs and 33 music examples, 1 CD and 1 DVD
Published: February 2009
Format: 234 x 156 mm
Extent: 212 pages
Binding: Paperback
