Creative Music Making in Hong Kong Secondary Schools: The Present Situation and Professional Development of Music Teachers

Present research provides strong support for the use of creative activities in school music programmes based on evidence that learning music is more effective when students are exposed to authentic, experiential learning activities, rather than verbal descriptions and explanations by the teacher. Based on this background the purpose of this study was to address the need to train music teachers with the confidence and skills necessary to incorporate creative music making in their classroom teaching.The study was divided into two phases. Phase I included a questionnaire survey that investigated the current situation of music teaching in Hong Kong secondary schools. To extend this survey three composers and three curriculum planners were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews in order to survey their opinions and suggestions on creative music making. Based on the literature review and findings from Phase I, Phase II focused on the design of a teacher education programme that would prepare teachers to undertake creative activities in their classroom music teaching. The programme was trialled twice with two groups of in-service music teachers studying at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The trainees were asked to design their own creative projects that were taught during a four-week Teaching Practice session. Findings reveal that the most effective creative projects possessed a logical teaching sequence, addressed students¡¯ musical preferences, and integrated listening and performing activities with the creative task. Findings suggest that Hong Kong music teachers should adopt the techniques proposed in this study when designing and implementing their teaching programmes in order to nurture the musical creativity of their students. Music teacher education programmes in Hong Kong should also consider revising their modules so that they provide more balance between theory and practice, and integrate subject-based knowledge with pedagogical skills. A major conclusion of the study is that music teaching in Hong Kong secondary schools would benefited from a balance between creating, performing and listening activities where teachers apply a student-centred approach to expose their students to active, experiential and reflective learning environments in which creative musical expression is fostered at all levels of student development