The ability to sing in tune is a skill acquired in high school. However, there have been cases in which students did not improve while employing the conventional practice of imitating the teacher's voice.

  In this study, we conducted singing practice that used an information device that allowed high school students ― who had not made progress ― to hear the pitch quality of their own voice. Following this, we examined the efficacy of such practice.

  Using the device, many of the students were able to produce pitches they could not during vocal practice with a teacher. In particular, many of the female students improved their vocalization. Many of the male students, who tended to sing in a low pitch, also saw improvement in their vocalization.

  Based on the above, we concluded that it is more effective to use the information equipment (i.e., the device) with learners who have difficulty when attempting to match a teacher's voice. The reason for this is that when a student practices with her own voice, her own timbre, she is able to concentrate closely on the changes in pitch.

  This study proposes an introductory piano teaching method that enable students learning piano for the first time as an adult to tackle tasks easily and enjoyably within a limited number of lessons.

  The piano teaching method for such students is identical to the method their teachers learned in their childhood. By practicing one piece at a time, starting with easy pieces, students acquire piano playing techniques. Although beginner piano students must acquire the basics of piano playing techniques in 15 lessons, reaching the level of proficiency their teachers expect is challenging due to students' lack of time and the short duration of the course. To ascertain whether the conventional teaching method is appropriate for students learning to play the piano as adults, I attempted a method of teaching which separates the reading of music, which is the input, and the act of playing, which is the output.

  This approach was based on the view that physical knowledge is the foundation of the performance act, including visual and auditory senses. Therefore, I attempted to model the act of piano playing by referring to the results of research on motor learning theory and kinematics. I then focused on “reading music,” “practicing,” and “memory retrieval” as the factors that make performance possible and proposed a method by which beginner piano students should tackle these factors.

  Examining the outline of the class practice reveals that from the first to the seventh class, emphasis is placed on acquiring physical knowledge and a variety of exercises are incorporated. The learning activities, divided into reading music and practicing the act of playing (hand movements), were easy for students who found engaging with the piano to be challenging. Since the practice materials were created based on an analysis of the assigned pieces, beginner piano students could play the assigned pieces without difficulty at the time of introduction, which increased student motivation and self-efficacy.

In the future, I would like to create teaching materials that will enable beginner piano students to systematically acquire the piano playing techniques needed for ‘Childcare Expressive Technology’.

  The purpose of this study is to determine, in a junior high school music composition class, the function of the material selection by students on creative composition. The process of students' creative composition via the interaction between the inner world and the outer world is analyzed in terms of the material selection.

  Using Dewey's Art as Experience as the basis of this research methodology, we first examine the selection of materials for expression. Next, based on the perspectives obtained from the literature study, we conduct a music composition class at a junior high school, and analyze the process of creative expression through the interaction between the inner world and the outer world from the material selection. Finally, the function of the material selection by the students in the creative composition is discussed.

  In this study, relying on Dewey, we define the materials of expression as outer material, consisting of materials such as marble and paint, which belong to the external world, and inner material, consisting of images, observations, memories, and feelings, which belong to the inner world. The records of classroom practice were then analyzed from the perspective of how the outer material and inner material are selected in creative expression.

  The results of the analysis of the functions of the material selection on creative composition led to the following conclusions. First, it serves as a means to solve the problems that need to be solved in order to carry out the music composition process. Second, it connects the inner material and the outer material by eliciting the inner material of the student.

  The purpose of this study is to clarify how much learning is related to the process of sympathy that occurs in a music appreciation class of graphic score making. The results of the study reveal that learning is related to the following in the process of displaying sympathy in the lesson to appreciate graphic score making in this case study.

  First, a problem arose regarding the students' desire to learn to “figure out the meaning of the graphics”. In the process of the students' attempt to solve the problem, the statement of the creator of the graphics that seemed to solve the problem elicited from the creator : a verbalization that emphasized the aspect of substance of the music as perceived by the creator themselves. In other words, the quality produced by the music, and the statement of the creator of the graphics, focused the problem to be solved by the students on the quality that arose from the music. Furthermore, this drew “active interest in others who might be able to solve the problem from the students”. When students listened to music played by their teacher to help them solve problems, the students recalled their own emotional experiences associated with “feeling” that had in common “feeling” formed in their interactions with the music. As a result, the conditions for sympathy were put in place for the students and a sense of sympathy for others who might be able to solve the problem that developed. The aspect of the form of the music was also shared with others and the problem was solved. Moreover, learning took place as the meaning was shared by both the students and others.