Abstract
In this study, we aimed to explain how children perceive and sense the various types of “beats” in dance music by experiencing the physical activity of dance in an elementary school music department. To achieve this objective, we planned classes to focus on the appreciation of dance music with two different rhythms of folk and court dances. First, the participants listened to two types of dance music, and chose a dance photograph to match that music (Step 1); next, they tried two dance steps (Step 2); they then spoke to another person about the difference in the “beat” attributes (Step 3); finally, the participants evaluated the two types of dance music (Step 4). The class was conducted with 234 fourth and fifth graders of two public elementary schools. Using the Grounded Theory Approach, we structured the theory about the children’s perception and sensitivity based on the description of the children’s worksheets. In addition to the fact that children were able to describe their perceptions and sensitivity to the beat, we found that they gained empathy for folk and agrarian culture; their concept of “beat” was expanded to in-depth knowledge of emotions regarding society and traditional culture.
