A comparative study of creative and traditional instructional approaches in music education among selected form 2 students in Hong Kong

The purpose of this study was to find out how successful the creative approach would be compared with the traditional instructional approach in music education of junior secondary level in Hong Kong. This study should be meaningful because the creative approach has not been widely used by local music teachers. It is hoped that this study can provide some information about the application of the creative approach in local secondary schools. This study attempted to answer the following question:"Is the creative approach more effective in arousing interest in music education than the instructional approach?" The basic hypothesis of this research was:"Students will demonstrate relatively more positive thinking in three aspects: (i) musical preferences; (ii) perceived meaning of music; and (iii) perceived advantages and disadvantages of music, if they give creative music-making activities in their general music lessons." A quasi-experimental research approach was applied. This study compared two groups of selected Form 2 students which were taught using either creative or traditional instructional approaches over on term. The measuring instruments included two sets of questionnaires designed by the researcher, supported with observation by the researcher and other teacher, interviews with music specialists and students, and video recording of the teaching process. Results revealed that the creative approach was more welcomed by the students than the traditional instructional approach. This conclusion was supported by the following evidence: (i) The students had a significant change towards a positive direction in perceived meaning of music; and perceived advantages and disadvantages of music after the teaching using the creative approach; (ii) under the same approach, more students stated that they would join the musical extra-curricular activities; and (iii) most of the students preferred the creative approach to the traditional instructional approach. The experimental group showed itself to be more interested in music lessons and participated more actively in the creative music-making activities than the control group did in their traditional instructional teaching activities.