Creative Ability of Students as a Precondition for the Successful Development of Children’s Musical Creativity in Teaching Music in Lower Grades of Primary School

Abstract

The effectiveness of teaching music in lower grades of primary school depends on competences of pre-service and in-service teachers who have to teach the subject curriculum. During their formal education, student teachers at pedagogical faculties acquire elementary knowledge of the theory of music and didactic-methodical competencies, but the important factor of successful teaching has to be their musical-performing and creative abilities. In this paper we examine the musical and creative abilities of student teachers in the final year of their bachelor studies (N = 48), by analyzing their products within the course of the Methodological Practicum of Music Teaching. Descriptive method and procedure of qualitative analysis of obtained student teachers’ products in the field of music creation were used. The results show that student teachers’ musical and creative abilities and the quality of their creative products do not exceed the level of curriculum requirements for teaching music in the fourth grade of primary school. The aim of this paper is to determine the level of creativity aptitude of student teachers in order to improve it by adequate methodical procedures and training in order to achieve an optimal level sufficient for developing musical and creative activities in teaching young children in a regular school context. On the basis of the obtained results, it can be concluded that frequent neglect of work in the field of developing children’s musical creativity in music teaching practice is connected with teachers’ insecurity about their own creative abilities and competencies necessary for teaching music.