Musical creativity in Early Childhood Education: analysis of textbook activities

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to analyse the activities for promoting musical creativity included in Early Childhood Education projects. The sample consisted of 2200 musical activities included in the textbook educational projects (textbooks) for the 2nd cycle of Early Childhood Education (ages 3-6 years) most commonly used in the Region of Murcia schools. For data collection, an ad hoc instrument was designed called the Protocol for the Systematic Analysis of Musical Activities in Early Childhood Education, which included the following sections: (I) data on the Educational Project; (II) activity identification data; (III) activity planning and contents; (IV) levels of musical creativity, established from an adaptation of the 4C creativity model by Kaufman. The information obtained was subjected to descriptive and inferential analysis (Chi-square, Spearman’s correlation, Cronbach’s alpha, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis). The results revealed that only one out of five musical activities was creative. One positive note is that the most commercially successful textbooks were also those that included the most creative activities. However, it was also observed that these were less present in the most current projects, while there were more creative activities in earlier editions. Regarding the musical areas focusing more on creativity, movement/dance and listening stood out as those that incorporated more creative proposals. Finally, only 2% of the musical activities included technological resources to promote creativity, in spite of the importance of this type of resource.