Development of Music Classes on Gagaku in Elementary and Junior High School

The purpose of this study is to develop music classes using Etenraku, which is one of the oldest existing music in Japan called Gagaku (traditional Japanese court music), as a material in elementary and junior high school. The main points of view on developing music classes are as follows: (1) to pursue the musical substance, (2) to center a proactive and action-oriented learning of students, and (3) to promote and enhance language activity. The music class in elementary school has two goals. One is that students develop an understanding for a mechanism of producing sounds with double reed through the activity to make hand-made musical instrument. The other is that students understand the role of hichiriki (a kind of flute) in Gagaku ensemble, discovering sound aspects of hichiriki, and expressing the sound aspects with their own words. The music class in junior high school has two goals. One is that students understand the musical style of Gagaku through creating rhythm patterns of percussion section for the melody of Etenraku. When creating, students write musical note using composition software. The other is that students engage in entire learning process with language activity, for example, talking together about what they want to express in their work, describing their intention put into their work, or expressing what they feel when they listen other's work