In creative music-making, activities using non-musical objects or stories as starting points are easier to introduce because of the use of visual elements, such as concrete objects and images that can be associated with sound and music. However, the result of such activities tends to be sound effects or onomatopoeic. Therefore, instead of concrete objects, this practical study adopts Lego bricks, three-dimensional abstract models, in which the learners consider musical elements and structures, and then express their ideas in music. Learners listened to the music and represented its characteristics in three-dimensional models using Lego bricks; they then created music based on the models using Song Maker, a tool for sound play. Both tools involve composition by combining square forms, hence the musical elements and structures can be viewed as different parts and overall image in the Lego-brick model, and then be converted into actual music by transferring them into the squares of Song Maker. The three-dimensional Lego-brick model enables the learner to consider completely different musical compositions by changing the direction of view and is easy to check visually and correct the sound while listening to it in Song Maker. This method can transform the learner's thoughts and intentions into musical ideas and resolve technical issues when realizing them as musical expression. When conducted with university students, the overall31musical structure was devised from the shape of the Lego bricks, learners were able to compose music of a certain length independently and express the music they intended, regardless of their skills in musical expression.

The purpose of this study was to identify the issues involved in promoting independent and interactive learning in music classes, by analyzing the process of collaborative learning regulation for creative music-making undertaken by junior high school students. In this study, the students’ dialogues during collaborative learning activities and the teacher’s utterances in the creative music-making classes of a junior high school were coded from the perspective of the intent of the statements. The resulting codes were classified using a bottom-up approach to generate the higher-level categories. The results indicate that the students actively engaged in dialogue related to task analysis and goal setting, which correspond to the Forethought Phase1. However, they did not speak much about the Performance and Reflection Phases, which include self-observation and self-judgment. The teacher’s suggestions for the group to consider were limited to the length of the piece being close to the target of one minute. Although there were some instructions given during the Forethought Phase in learning coordination, such as suggestions for working strategies and musical ideas, there was no mention of the Performance or Reflection Phases, which may include information such as carefully monitoring performances and offering a point of view when evaluating their own performances.

In Japanese school education, “singing” is often understood as expressing one’s feelings about a song as a composed work. However, the meanings and forms of human singing are more diverse. We conducted a case study on “Dialogue Singing,” in which elementary school students create a song, pass it on to others, and others respond, which is based on the Bhutanese Playful Singing Dialogue Tsangmo. Consequently, we proposed a framework for teaching Dialogue Singing. Analyses of the students’ comments revealed that they realized the importance of interactive communication through singing, found new forms and values, and enjoyed singing.