Formative Process of a 3-Year-Old Child from Expression to Musical Expression in her Interaction with Sound Materials :

A Study Based on Dewey's Theory of Empiricism

Abstract

  This study aims to clarify the process of how an individual (a three-year-old child)’s interaction with sound material develops into musical expression.

  This research project, titled “Discovering Sound,” was conducted on a class of three-year-old children in a kindergarten.

  The study analyzed the process, from the viewpoint of the principle of interaction and continuity in Dewey’s empiricism, by which one child (hereafter Y) interacted with the sound materials to form expressions. Moreover, it considered the process of interaction between Y and the sound materials to form musical expressions. The conclusions are noted below.

  1) Y's awareness of the sound is a precondition for expression. 2) In the process of expression, an acorn, a play material, serves as a material for creating sound. 3) Y discovers the relationship between the act of manipulating the sound material and the resulting output, the sound. 4) The interaction between the material and the sound is established when Y starts to listen to the sound as the result of her act. 5) Images emerge in the interaction, and a desire for expression arises. 6) The sound materials become a medium through which to express the images. At this stage, Y's manipulation of sound materials becomes an act of musical expression.