Focus group interviews: Music teachers' perspectives on promoting creativity in young children

This paper will present the findings of a research project whose major objective was to investigate how teachers think and behave about using a new approach in music education centered on promoting creativity in young children.. Focus group interviews were conducted with 30 participants from 2 local kindergarten with nearly equal socio-economic status. These interviews were transcribed and video-recorded for later analysis. The interview questions covered five main topics on the theme "Early Childhood Teachers' Promoting of Creative Music Education for Young Children" and included: definition of musical creativity, observable characteristics of creative kindergarten teachers in music, types of teaching strategies/activities that stimulate musical learning, social interactions and problem solving and characteristics of musically creative kindergarten children. Preliminary analysis of the findings revealed different views and perspectives concerning musical creativity. Observable characteristics of creative kindergarten teachers in music included flexibility, and willingness to try different methods to encourage enjoyment in children. A creative musical classroom should provide access to musical instruments, integrate music elements into the daily curriculum and provide free play experiences. Music teachers should apply teaching techniques that make use of demonstration and encourage problem-solving skills. Musically creative children express themselves readily are willing to take risks.