introduction(revised)

8/12/2019 Introduction(Revised)

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UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA

RECORDER TEACHING IN

PRIMARY SCHOOLS UNDER THE KBSR SYSTEM

IN THE KOTA STAR DISTRICT

BY

MILDRED TAN KER SHIN

P- SEM0010/06(R)

SUPERVISED BY

DR. JASON TYE


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Contents

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Motive and Research background1.2 Objectives and justification1.3 Research problems1.4 Scope and limitations1.5 Steps and procedures1.6 Organization and conceptual plan1.7 Terminology

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Music Education in Primary Schools2.1.1 Transformation of Primary School Music education Curriculum2.1.1.1 Kurikulum Lama Sekolah Rendah(KLSR)2.1.1.2 Kurikulum Baru Sekolah Rendah(KBSR)2.1.1.3 Kurikulum Bersatu Sekolah Rendah(KBSR)2.1.2 Education Blueprint 20062010 (PIPP)

2.2 History of Recorder2.2.1 Early development2.2.2 Names of recorder2.2.3 Type of recorder2.3 Techniques of Recorder Playing2.3.1 Posture2.3.2

Fingering2.3.3 Breathing Technique

2.3.4 Tonguing2.4 Recorder Ensemble2.5 Importance of Recorder Teaching

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Steps and Procedures3.2 Research Design and Hypotheses3.3 Target group3.4 Research instruments3.5 Data collection

Chapter 4 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Analysis of interpretation of music teachers toward recorder teaching4.2 Analysis of the practice of recorder teaching in elementary schools4.3 Analysis of measurement of recorder learning for students standard 4

through standard 6

4.4 Current status of recorder teaching in primary schools in Kota StarDistrict


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Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS

5.1 Conclusion5.2 Suggestions and recommendations

Bibliography

1. English Books2. Non- English books3. Journals and Magazines

Appendix

Questionnaire to the Teachers (Pre-test 1)

Questionnaire to the Teachers (Pre- test 2)

Questionnaire to the Students (Pre test)Questionnaire to the Teachers (Formal)

Questionnaire to the Students (Formal)

Transcription of Teachers Interviews

Evaluation Form for the Students

Approval Letter to conduct the Interview and questionnaire

Letter to Primary Schools enquiring for assistance

Graphic & Images

Steps and procedures of ResearchResearch Framework

Types of Recorders

Techniques of Recorder Playing


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CHAPTER 1

Introduction

The definition of education varies according to its situation, aim and purpose. The

word education originated from a Latin word, educare, which means to nurse or

cultivate a child (Ee Ah Meng, 1988). However, educationists consider education as

a lifelong process of teaching and learning. Education is not merely through reading

and vocational training but it should also include the arts, sports and music if the

curriculum development committee wants to produce well- rounded youths. Rosanna

Wong Yik Ming stated in her article, Music in Education is education for life that

means music education is an experience to be enjoyed and shared by the students,

cultivate students creativity and also encouraging them to participate in extra

curricular activities (International Journal of Music Education Volume 23, No.2).

Music education created history in 1983 when it was made a compulsory subject in

elementary schools with the complete implementation of the Kurikulum Baru

Sekolah Rendah system. The aim of music education is to produce students who are

equipped with the basic interpretation and knowledge of music as well as possessing

minimum skill in producing music. It also aims to produce creative and innovative

students who will be able to appreciate and enjoy the esthetics of music as well as

observe the moral values in life. (Sukatan Pelajaran Pendidikan Muzik KBSR, 2000)


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In order to produce music teachers who are capable of teaching KBSR music in

elementary schools, some 3000 teachers who were initially trained in other field were

chosen to attend an intensive music education course during the schools holidays. At

the early stage of implementation in 1980s, many problems and shortcomings

surfaced, yet, all these had to be left unresolved due to several obstacles. In mid 1990,

the Curriculum Development Centre (Pusat Perkembangan Kurikulum) of the

Ministry of Education took the initiative to collect additional resources for the

development of KBSR music education. With this effort several traditional songs as

well as folk songs were chosen to be included in the collection for the KBSR music

education. (Johami Abdullah, 1993) However, the effort was found to be ineffective

when the curriculum was reviewed in 2003. Traditional and folk songs were not in

use as the resources used before that were classified as irrelevant when the modified

curriculum was advocated in 2004. Since then, music teachers have had to scout for

their own resources because the Ministry of Education had stopped providing schools

with text books for music education in elementary schools. (Sukatan Pelajaran

Pendidikan Muzik KBSR, 2003).

The teaching of musical instruments in primary school enables the students to

express one and to cultivate the creativity of the students. In many foreign countries

like United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan,

teaching of musical instruments had been noted as an important element in

elementary school music education. Recorder, being the easiest musical instrument

to learn and to teach has been resurrected from its unpopularity in the 18thcentury

due to the development of other woodwind instruments.


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The recorder is the main and basic instrument in music education for years 4, 5 and 6

in primary schools in Malaysia. An instrument of the chordophone family, the

recorder has 7 finger holes at the front and a finger hole at the back for the thumb.

The recorder was popular in the medieval era but lost its popularity in the 18th

century when other woodwind instruments like the flute, the oboe and the clarinet

gained their popularity among the aristocrats with their wide range of melody and

larger dynamics. The recorder returned to its popularity in 20thcentury because it is

the easiest musical instrument to learn in schools. Today, people consider the

recorder as musical instrument for children due to its slim size and light weight.

1.1MOTIVE AND RESEARCH BACKGROUND

In the last 10 to 15 years, music education in Malaysian primary schools lost

importance as a subject though there had been efforts to improve the method of

teaching and collecting resources. On 16thof January 2007, the formerPrime

Minister, Datuk Sri Abdullah Badawi, launched The Education Blueprint 2006

2010 ( Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan 20062010 ), which outlined 6 core

strategies to ensure the success of the national mission in the ninth Malaysian Plan.

The six core strategies emphasized on cultivating nationalists, development of

humanities, strengthening of national schools, narrowing the education gap, raising

the teaching profession as prestigious and increasing excellence in performance. In

accordance to this, 2 arts schools have been established in Johor and Sarawak.


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However, these two arts school only provided the musical education at secondary

school level. Unlike other counterparts in Asia, arts schools are attached to arts

academy or colleges and provide both elementary and secondary education

(http://www.moe.gov.cn,http://www.moe.gov.jp). Under The Education Blueprint

20062010, the Ministry of Education intends to popularize all types of arts,

including music, visual arts and dance, among all Malaysians. In order to realize this,

various activities and festivals had been included in line with the activities organized

by the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Heritage. This was further strengthened with the

establishment of Kelab Tunas in various selected schools to cultivate students in

various forms of arts. Though the number of participants is encouraging, yet, a

majority of elementary schools in Malaysia hardly have regular musical activities in

school. It is estimated that with the launch of The Education Blueprint 20062010,

85% of primary schools will establish art- related clubs and 80% of primary schools

will organize group musical activities like establishing a school choir, a gamelan

group, a strings ensemble, a kompang ensemble, and a brass band without having

any music clubs in schools (PIPP 2006 -2010, pg 4546). All these express the

hope and intention of the Ministry of Education to improve the quality of music

education. Amid the demand of improvement, it shows the need of more qualified

music teachers yet lack music teachers in the schools systems.

The need of a more professional teaching method has been a challenge faced by all

music teachers in primary schools. There have been various books on approaches of

music education and the concept of music education for sale in the book stores.

However, the music teachers must have a certain level of knowledge of the various

approaches before they could apply it onto their classroom teaching in schools.
http://www.moe.gov.cn/http://www.moe.gov.cn/http://www.moe.gov.cn/http://www.moe.gov.jp/http://www.moe.gov.jp/http://www.moe.gov.jp/http://www.moe.gov.jp/http://www.moe.gov.cn/


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The teacher- training of music teachers of primary schools in Malaysia are mainly

carried out by various teachers colleges in the country. Upon graduation from the

colleges, the teachers will be posted to various schools which have vacancies.

However, there are also non music option teachers who are required to teach music

education in primary schools. On the other hand, some music teachers who have

music as their option do not teach music education in schools. With all these

problems, there are differences in the standard and quality of music teaching.

Presently, there are 103 primary schools in the Kota Star District, of which, 76 are

national schools (Sekolah Kebangsaan), 24 are Chinese schools (Sekolah Jenis

Kebangsaan Cina) and 3 are Tamil schools (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil). In

Kota Star District, there are almost 150 music teachers in the primary schools but

whenever there are any musical activities or festivals involving elementary schools,

only about 20% of the schools turn up to participate. As a result, since the last decade,

only those selected A- type schools will participate in the various competitions or

activities held by the Kota Star District Education Office.

Recorder teaching has been the core segment in the years 4, 5 and 6 music education

curriculums. The recorder used in the KBSR music education system is the soprano

recorder which has a higher pitch and is usually played in the main melody. It is

stated in the Music Education Curriculum that the students are to be taught the

correct posture, breathing and tonguing technique, fingering and tone. The range of

notes that the students should know and recognize after the primary school education


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is from middle C to G of a higher octave. Students ought to be able to accompany the

playing of percussions and other instruments and also of singing.

The importance of instrumental teaching is to cultivate the students creativity and

appreciation of music in order to raise the musical interest

1.2OBJECTIVES AND JUSTIFICATION

The objective of this research is to look into the interpretation and implementation of

recorder teaching in primary schools within the Kota Star District.

According to The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, interpretation means the

state of being or process of becoming aware of a thing, especially through any of the

senses or the intuitive or direct recognition of a moral, aesthetic or personal quality.

Practice means the habitual doing or carrying out of something, usual or customary

action or performance.

This research will determine: -

1. How these teachers perceive the value or benefit of recorder teaching2. How teachers integrate it with the curriculum3. How teachers employ the teaching materials

All these aspects are deeply scrutinized and analyzed. Moreover, this paper also

discusses the background variables and the environmental variables among music


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teacher. There are differences and correlationbetween each individuals

interpretation and actual implementation of recorder teaching.

The correlation between:

1. Interpretation

According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, Interpretation means the

particular way in which something is understood or explained. Every music

teachers have the access to the teaching materials provided by the Ministry of

Education but different teachers may interpret the teaching method and materials

differently. For example the way of holding the recorder. In all books, pictures

were shown that the left hand will hold the upper part of the recorder while the

right hand will hold the lower part of the recorder. Some teachers might teach the

other way round to the left-hander students as there are some examples in other

instruments where left- hander guitarist may hold the guitar on the opposite

direction.

AND

2. IMPLEMENTATION

Teaching materials are distributed to every primary school and music teachers are all

trained in the teachers training college the method to teach recorder yet the

implementation of recorder teaching varies among the teachers. In most primary

schools in Kota Star District especially SRJK(c) and SRJK(T), recorder teaching is

not implemented at all as music classes are taken by other subject teachers to teach

examination subjects in preparation for UPSR. During one field trip to one


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prestigious SRJK(C) in Kota Star in 2008, music classes in the school were listed on

the timetable but teachers would use the time to teach other subjects such as Malay

Language, Chinese Language and Mathematics. Even the music teachers in the

school admitted that students of Standard 4 till Standard 6 will not learn recorder at

all. As for the SRK(national school), some music teachers do teach recorder in class

but mostly not applying the method taught.

The objectives of the present research are:

1. To observe how music- option and non music- option primary school musicteachers in the Kota Star District conduct recorder lessons for pupils in

standard 4 through standard 6.

2. To study how the administration and infrastructure at the Kota Star Districtprimary schools have impacted the teaching and learning of recorder to the

pupils in standard 4 through standard 6.

3. To evaluate and assess the effectiveness of KBSR music educationcurriculum in the learning of recorder to the pupils of standard 4 through

standard 6.

JUSTIFICATION

Music education has to be provided through the practical musical experience.

Students have to utilize their technique of memorization and their ability to link and

identify to listen to music regardless of genre. In the process of learning, students

learn to listen, sing, play, move, compose and improvise at the same time understand

the concept of music. They should be able to analyze and evaluate the music. (Aw,

1993)


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This subject is chosen because the research on recorder teaching in primary schools

especially in Kota Star District has not been carried out by any individual or group. It

is hoped that with this research, music teachers can be helped in carrying out

recorder teaching in elementary schools more effectively.

In the recent years, the Ministry of Education has been actively organizing recorder

ensemble competition at the state and national level for primary schools as well as

secondary schools. The competition is held every year to nourish the interest of

music among the students as well as to raise the standard of recorder playing among

the students. However, in Kota Star district, only a few selected schools will be

chosen to represent Kota Star district at the state level. Till the time this paper is

written, the same problem is recurring in Kota Star district. Education officer of the

music department will choose from a handful of elite schools in the district to

represent Kota Star district This is due to a handful of primary schools in Kedah state

or specifically in Kota Star District that have a recorder ensemble. Only these

schools carry out musical activities seriously. This problem is serious in Kota Star

District as the competition for recorder ensemble are normally not organised due to

technical problem as given by the District Education Officer. Other states,

especially in Penang, Perak, Selangor, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak, recorder ensemble

competition is held annually. Teachers and students in the above states look forward

for the competitions every year and are highly motivated to improve recorder

teaching and learning.


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1.3RESEARCH PROBLEMSMention issues discussed here are derived from a pretest conducted from 16 of

August through 30 of August 2008. The pretest was carried out in selected primary

schools in Kota Star District, namely, Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Sultanah Asma,

Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Iskandar, Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Peremba,

Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Bairathi, Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Keat

Hwa S dan Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Sin Min. The music teachers in the

selected schools as well as 30 other music teachers from the Kota District

participated in the pretest. A selected 10 students from each school were interviewed

to identify the problems faced by them.

Though recorder teaching is one core segment in the years 4, 5 and 6, a few music

teachers do not follow the curriculum provided to teach the recorder in schools. They

either follow attentively the resources provided and the method provided in the

curriculum to teach the recorder, or they do it in a conservative way. Most music

teachers still practise the conservative method of teaching whereby it is more of

chalk and talk. Students will then follow the note shown by the teacher and often

playing the same notes throughout a class of 30 minutes. There are many approaches

in teaching the recorder to the students. The 4 main approaches are of Kodalys

vision, Dalcroze, Suzuki and Orff method. Often, music teachers know of these

approaches and understand the concepts of these approaches, but are unable to apply

the teaching method in the classroom. Some music teachers do not have enough

interpretation of the concepts of the approaches, hence are unable to apply those to

their recorder teaching in schools. Many students often complain of being bored of


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learning the recorder in school as the class is always teacher- oriented and not

creatively planned.

Kodaly approach is better known as a vision rather than a method compared to

Suzuki, Dalcroze and Orff.

Base on the objectives, this research will discuss further on the problems arise in

recorder teaching in primary schools under KBSR system in Kota Star District. The

research problems are as below:

1. Interpretation of music teachers towards teaching materials and methodologyused for recorder teaching in schools as well as the problems faced by the

teachers in school.

2. Correlationa) Is there any correlation between the background of the music teachers and the

methodology used?

b) Is there any correlation between the background of the music teachers and theintegration of teaching materials and curriculum content?


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1.4SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

Taking into the consideration of the ability, duration and financial ability of the

researcher, the scope and limitations of this research are as follow:

1. Research Area

The research area of this research is limited to the primary schools in Kota Star

District. This is the place where the researcher resides and works. The researcher

is well aware of the environment and the conditions of the schools. The

researcher is also in contact with the music teachers in the district and is easier to

obtain information from them. The outcome of this research will be of practical

use for the primary school music teachers in the district. However, the research

outcome may only apply to Kota Star District only.

2. Target Group

The target group of this research are the music teachers of primary schools and

the years 4,5 and 6 students of primary schools in the district. Due to the lack of

financial ability and time constraint, only 40 music teachers and 100 students are

selected randomly for the research.


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3. Research Instruments

This research uses selfdesign questionnaire, interview and observation. The

samples are chosen randomly according to the type of schools, options of music

teachers and the area of schools. The quantity and quality of questionnaires

returned are not quite satisfactory and thus unable to determine the exact

outcome of the current status.

4. Research Content

The aim of this research is to study and understand the implementations and

interpretation of primary school music teachers towards recorder teaching. The

content of the research based on the content of curriculum, teaching materials, extra

curricular activities and the background variables among music teachers. However,

other variables that affect recorder teaching like financial support, support of

education staff and colleagues, students learning attitude are not discussed in this

research.


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1.5STEPS AND PROCEDURES

The researcher first collected data and information to understand the current status of

recorder teaching in the primary schools in the Kota Star District. The researcher

then identified the main problem that the researcher wishes to research further, which

is the various backgrounds of the teachers will ascertain the method of recorder

teaching in primary schools in the district.

The researcher then created a selfdesign questionnaire based on a format of a

Taiwanese researchers questionnaire format. The first pilot test included 30 teachers

from both the urban and rural schools. Some alterations were made to the first pilot

test after adhering to the comments and suggestions given by the first group of music

teachers. The second pilot test was carried out a few weeks later to another 30

teachers. Again, some alterations were made before settling to the current

questionnaire. The questionnaires were sent out to 60 music teachers in the primary

schools in the Kota Star District. The outcomes were quite overwhelming and

encouraging as all questionnaires were returned promptly. The questionnaires were

studied and analysed using the SPSS system. The questionnaires were grouped and

analysed, after which analysis and discussions were done. Recommendations were

made to overcome the problems occurred in hoping that it would help improve

recorder teaching in primary schools in the Kota Star District.


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Chart 1.5.1 Flow Chart of Steps and Procedures

Motive and research

background

Research objectives and

problems

Research on similar

reasearches

Planning of research

method

Create questionaire

Examination of

questionaire by supervisor

Edit questionaire

Pilot test and amendment

of questionaire

Actual questionaire

Collect questionaire

Analyse questionaire and

statistics

Conclusion andsuggestions

Recorder teaching Instrumental

teaching(local &

foreign)

Variables of musicteachers


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1.6 ORGANISATION AND CONCEPTUAL PLAN

This is a research research (Neuman, 2006) whereby the researcher gather

information on the backgrounds and attitudes of the target group based on the

objectives and research problems. This helps the researcher to understand the current

status of recorder teaching in primary schools in Kota Star District under the KBSR

system. The concept of this paper is shown as follow:

Picture 1.5.1 Conceptual Plan

This research paper is divided into 5 chapters. The first chapter is divided into 5

subtopics. The first subtopic is the research background. It states the background of

this topic and explains the need to conduct such research. The second subtopic is on

the objectives and justification of the topic. The third subtopic is the research

Use of methodology

and approaches

KBSR curriculum

content and materials

Background Variables

of Music Teachers

1. Academic/ MusicalBackground

2. Type of school3. Teaching experiences


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problems. Based on the objectives, the researcher lay out a few questions as guidance

for the research. Scope and limitations is the fourth subtopic. In the fifth subtopic, the

researcher lay out the organization and the basic concept of this paper.

The second chapter is the literature review. The researcher begins with the value and

benefit of using the recorder in classroom teaching. Then, it continues o the

development of recorder. The researcher further discusses on related research on

recorder teaching in primary schools, follow by the development of recorder teaching

in primary schools under KBSR system.

The researcher discusses on the methodology and research design in the third chapter.

Due to lack if financial support and time constraint, the researcher only chose 40

music teachers and 100 students randomly from selected schools in Kota Star District.

The researcher used a selfdesign questionnaire based on a module conducted by a

Taiwanese researcher of the same topic. The questionnaire had been modified based

on the KBSR curriculum content and the researchers observation and experience. 2

pilot tests were conducted before the actual questionnaires were sent to the target

group. The outcome of the questionnaire was analyzed using the SPSS system.

Based on the outcome of the questionnaires, interviews and observations, analyses

and discussions had been made in the fourth chapter. The analyses and discussions

look into the interpretation of music teachers, the implementation of recorder


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teaching in primary schools, interpretation and implementation of recorder teaching

in primary schools by music teachers of different backgrounds and also the current

status of recorder teaching in primary schools in Kota Star District.

Based on the analyses in chapter 4, several suggestions and conclusion were made. It

is hoped that the suggestions will help other music teachers in their recorder teaching.


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1.7Terminology1.7.1 Primary School Music TeacherThe primary school music teachers mentioned in this paper refers to music teachers

teaching in Kota Star district, including trained music teachers, music- option

teachers not teaching music and relief teacher teaching music. As recorder is taught

in standard 4, 5 and 6, this research will include teachers in standard 4, 5 and 6.

1.7.2 RecorderRecorder refers to the 8 holes fife which is popular in Europe since the medieval.

introduction(revised)

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