Developing a Fundamental Music Notation Reading Curriculum for Children in the Khlong Phai Singto Community

Abstract

Background and Aims: Music can be a part of helping children develop learning skills and progress appropriately according to their age. Therefore, this study aimed to: (1) develop a set of basic Western music note-reading activities for children in Khlong Phai Singto Community, and (2) measure learning achievement using the developed activity set.

Methodology: The sample group used in this research consisted of seven children aged 5–7 years living in the Khlong Phai Singto community, selected through purposive sampling. The research instrument was a set of basic Western music note-reading activities designed for children in the Khlong Phai Singto community. The statistics used for data analysis were the mean and standard deviation.

Results: The developed activity set enhanced children’s basic Western music note-reading skills at a good level. The children were able to sing while distinguishing pitch levels of musical notes and apply note-reading skills to produce melodies. 1)The activity set developed by the researcher enabled the children to achieve a good level of development in basic Western music note-reading skills. The children were able to sing while distinguishing different pitch levels of musical notes, as well as apply note-reading skills to support singing melodies accurately. 2)The assessment of learning achievement using the basic Western music note-reading activity set for children in the Khlong Phai Singto community showed that the children’s mean pre-test score was 0.00, with a standard deviation of 0.00, indicating that the children had no prior knowledge or experience in reading Western music notation. However, after participating in the learning activities designed in accordance with the children’s developmental stages, the mean post-test score increased to 11.28, with a standard deviation of 1.11. A comparison between the pre-test and post-test results demonstrated that the children’s post-test scores were significantly higher than their pre-test scores at the .05 level of statistical significance (T = 0, p < .05), which supported the research hypothesis.

Conclusion: The development of the basic Western music note-reading activity set for children in Khlong Phai Singto Community, consisting of five structured activities, effectively improved children’s note-reading skills. The children demonstrated good development in distinguishing pitch levels and were able to apply note-reading skills to sing melodies accurately.