Exposing young children to music through the production and presentation of music-appreciation television programs

Abstract

This paper reports on a research study of the effectiveness of a series of music appreciation activities for young children in Hong Kong. These activities were designed by using World Music and were presented as part of a local early childhood television program for community interest. One hundred and sixty eight local pre-school children (mean age 4.25) from 16 child care centers or kindergartens and their classroom teachers participated in this study. Qualitative data were collected using individual structured interviews of both children and teachers. Data showed that these music appreciation activities enriched children’s musical experiences and teacher’s musical repertoires in early childhood settings. Teachers also showed positive preferences to learn the activities by using multimedia tools. Implications for the curriculum planning and teacher training of early childhood music education are discussed.