Bennett Center Case Study for Joey
As part of my coursework for Music 295A, I observed Joey at the Bennett Center for my case study. Joey was a preschooler in the first music class at the Bennett Center. Over the course of the semester, I observed Joey's participation or lack of response in music class during my observation and teaching episodes.
After completing my last teaching episode, I reviewed the notes and observations I had made. In general, I noticed several patterns in Joey's behavior. Joey was very introverted and withdrawn from the music group. Most classes he would sit quietly by himself and not participate in any of the activities. On several occasions, he would walk into the classroom and immediately go over to an alphabet poster and stare silently at it with his back to the group. When he did try to participate occasionally, his movements were out of tempo and sometimes didn't even relate to the activity at hand. Another pattern was that he rarely interacted with his fellow preschoolers; instead, he interacted more with the lone male teacher in music class. The connection with an older male counterpart could be indicative of Joey's feelings about the teacher as an additional "fatherly" figure when his father was at work, a connection which provided a natural sense of familiarity. On a related note, Joey refused to leave the teacher's lap twice because he was crying and very upset. Finally, he missed a couple of the music classes initially for reasons unknown to me. These absences probably contributed to Joey's lack of participation since it gave him fewer opportunities to become comfortable with this classroom activity. Despite his absences, I had enough information from the other sessions to accurately write about his musical development over the course of the semester.
All of Joey's behaviors are typical of a child in the acculturation phase of audiation. Specifically, these behaviors are indicative of the first stage of acculturation, absorption. According to the 295A Course Packet, the absorption stage is defined as "Child hears and aurally collects the sound of music in the environment." This perfectly describes Joey's behavior during music class. Most of the time he would be watching the instructor closely and attempt to duplicate the body movements during activities. Once, he briefly was in the imitation phase of audiation when he responded to the music question "Where is Michael?" by following the teacher's model and pulling his scarf in time with the vocal response. However, throughout the course of the semester, Joey never responded vocally, whether trying to sing along with a song or improvise during the allotted group improvisation session.
In the end, Joey showed little to no progress in his musical development. By the end of the semester, he was still in the acculturation stage of audiation and his behavior did not provide any indication of progressing in his musical development. Factors that might help his development are becoming more accustomed to being at the Bennett Center and learning to trust his surroundings. As a former day care student, I can empathize with his situation. It is very hard to adjust to being in a strange environment away from people you are close to for long periods day after day, especially when you are there for several years. Comfort in surroundings and trust in more teachers will help Joey open up more in music class and possibly lead to greater participation in class activities.
After completing my last teaching episode, I reviewed the notes and observations I had made. In general, I noticed several patterns in Joey's behavior. Joey was very introverted and withdrawn from the music group. Most classes he would sit quietly by himself and not participate in any of the activities. On several occasions, he would walk into the classroom and immediately go over to an alphabet poster and stare silently at it with his back to the group. When he did try to participate occasionally, his movements were out of tempo and sometimes didn't even relate to the activity at hand. Another pattern was that he rarely interacted with his fellow preschoolers; instead, he interacted more with the lone male teacher in music class. The connection with an older male counterpart could be indicative of Joey's feelings about the teacher as an additional "fatherly" figure when his father was at work, a connection which provided a natural sense of familiarity. On a related note, Joey refused to leave the teacher's lap twice because he was crying and very upset. Finally, he missed a couple of the music classes initially for reasons unknown to me. These absences probably contributed to Joey's lack of participation since it gave him fewer opportunities to become comfortable with this classroom activity. Despite his absences, I had enough information from the other sessions to accurately write about his musical development over the course of the semester.
All of Joey's behaviors are typical of a child in the acculturation phase of audiation. Specifically, these behaviors are indicative of the first stage of acculturation, absorption. According to the 295A Course Packet, the absorption stage is defined as "Child hears and aurally collects the sound of music in the environment." This perfectly describes Joey's behavior during music class. Most of the time he would be watching the instructor closely and attempt to duplicate the body movements during activities. Once, he briefly was in the imitation phase of audiation when he responded to the music question "Where is Michael?" by following the teacher's model and pulling his scarf in time with the vocal response. However, throughout the course of the semester, Joey never responded vocally, whether trying to sing along with a song or improvise during the allotted group improvisation session.
In the end, Joey showed little to no progress in his musical development. By the end of the semester, he was still in the acculturation stage of audiation and his behavior did not provide any indication of progressing in his musical development. Factors that might help his development are becoming more accustomed to being at the Bennett Center and learning to trust his surroundings. As a former day care student, I can empathize with his situation. It is very hard to adjust to being in a strange environment away from people you are close to for long periods day after day, especially when you are there for several years. Comfort in surroundings and trust in more teachers will help Joey open up more in music class and possibly lead to greater participation in class activities.