A Study on the Creative Thinking in School Music Education : The Effectiveness of Metacognition in Interpreting and Expressing Music

Abstract

This study examined thinking process in music learning from the aspects of both creative thinking (E. Boardman, 1989) and critical thinking. How metacognition affects both types of thinking in music learning is the object of this study. These two types of thinking processes both creative and critical, prove to be clues in fostering students' interest and maintaining positive attitude toward the study of music. The following three implications were discovered. (1) Consciousness of the learning process should be emphasized in music learning activities. (2) Both creative thinking and critical thinking are indispensible to music learning processes. While critical thinking emcompasses the rational understanding of music, creative thinking reconstructs that musical understanding along with the elements of music, to create original interpretations and new thinking patterns. In music learning, these two processes supplement each other. (3) In ordrer to encourage thinking in students, we must introduce the concept of metacognition. Thinking processes become conscious, moreover, it promotes students' creative interpretations and expressions. By considering and incooporating the above three implications, students' thinking will positively be activated. Below please find more detailed examinations concerning questioning and guidance for inducing different thinking processes.