Development of Piano Music Book using Indonesian Folk

Development of Piano Music Book using Indonesian Folk Song for Piano Beginners Presented by: Nerilyn Ann R. Beratio 1*, Azarya Ita Karina Pelawi 2 and Sarah Eugelia Sagala 3 Adventist University of the Philippines

INTRODUCTION ❖ Music is a common language beginning where speech leaves off. It is a social art which brings listeners and performers together harmoniously. It is a vent for the emotions and it serves to stimulate the mind. ❖ Sound and rhythm are not in themselves music, but it is what music is made of. Children are sound-conscious; acutely sensitive to all the elements of sounds. If we wish music to have a real meaning in their lives, we shall educate children through their interest.

❖ The choice of instruments for little children and the way in which they are used demand just as much thoughtful consideration as is given to selecting instruments for older children. Sheehy (1955) says that great music is not the aim or the result, but there is tremendous amount of ‘selfexpression’ and fun in it.

❖ Piano is a very useful instrument when teaching theory and music notation. Not every instrument can be played with more than one note at a time and even if they do, some of the voicing can be a challenge. ❖ The piano with its popularity in the late 19 th and early 20 th century was one of the first relatively accessible and affordable instruments to offer.

� Nowadays, music educators or piano teachers, especially in Indonesia, are importing music books from outside the country that uses western folksongs as their music material. However for some teachers who want to use their own folksongs in their teaching, they are having a hard time in finding music books that use folksongs of their own country.

❖ Apparently no Indonesian has made any piano music book using the country’s folksongs and there is no piano music book that uses any Indonesian folksongs. ❖ The researchers found out that in Indonesia, some people only make folksong compilation book that uses note numbering and uses the right hand only for playing.

❖ The folksong compilation book also uses simple instruments only such as melodeon and recorder. The researchers tried to search if there is a piano music book that uses Indonesian folksongs in local bookstores and libraries, but sadly no results were found. ❖ The researchers also asked some of the piano teachers and pedagogues in Indonesia, and according to them the musicians of Indonesia have not made any music book that uses Indonesian folksongs.

Purpose of the Study This special project aims to help both teachers and parents who have children ages 5 -9 years old to study music, folksongs, and culture of Indonesia. The development of this piano music book will only use the folksongs around Indonesia as the main material in teaching music to children especially for the Indonesian children. This piano music book also contains theory work sheets and piano scores for children.

Scope and Limitations � This study is a project-based research that has been conducted among seven Indonesian children ages 5 -9 years old specifically the Indonesian children at the Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP) and in Jakarta, Indonesia who are taking piano lessons. � This experiment has been conducted for only 5 months for each participant in AUP and Jakarta, Indonesia only. Children below 5 years old or above 9 years old were not included in the study. The book uses only 15 famous folksongs from all around Indonesia archipelago.

Research Questions What are the contents of the proposed piano book? 2. What are the elements of music that will be taught in the book? 3. What will be the contribution of this piano book to Indonesian children who are studying piano? 1.

Methodology ➢ Project-Based Learning Research-is a teaching methodology that utilizes student-centered projects to facilitate student learning, is touted as superior to traditional teaching methods in improving problem solving and thinking skills, and engaging students in their learning. (Holm, 2011). ➢ The research on Project-based Learning (PBL) reports positive outcomes related to student’s learning in the areas of content knowledge, collaborative skills, engagement and motivation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Direct Assessment � Direct assessment was administered to all the participants of this study. Each participant used the proposed piano music book to learn how to play the piano. The assessments were held for 4 to 5 sessions for each participant. Each session lasted for approximately 30 -45 minutes. The assessment was administered to the participants individually inside a room with the piano being used. Assessors were required to submit a video during sessions of each participant to be valid.

Project-Based Procedure in the Material Development � The researchers put the songs into written scores since they lack original written Indonesian folksong scores. They modulated and changed the rhythm of the folksongs to the simplest way in order to make the book suitable for piano beginners. To make the book challenging yet simple, the researchers added left hand accompaniment for each song.

Procedure for Material Development � The researchers chose to use only four – Alfred, John Thompson, Jane and James Bastien, and Hal Leonard – methods among educators in music education based on the effectiveness of teaching music theory and piano. The researchers scanned and searched Children’s folksong in the internet, rearranged it into the simplest way, and used it for the piano beginners to study.

� The researchers chose Indonesian children as the participants to test the effectiveness of the piano music book. The students’ assessment and observational data for this project were collected using this piano book. The book has worksheets and songs that served as a measure in knowing the student’s progress. The instruction on using the book comes from the researchers’ idea as the mentors and writers of the book as well.

Participants � The researchers decided to have seven (7) children aged 5 -9 years old who were taking piano lessons to try the piano book. The participants consisted of four Indonesian children based in Jakarta and 3 Indonesian children based at the Adventist University of Philippines (AUP). The piano book was tested for 5 times to each student. They distributed the piano music book and recorded the children’s positive response, difficulty, problems, and solutions to solve the problems the children encountered when using the piano book in order to see the children’s capability and progress and recorded the progress of each child every meeting.

� Researchers tested the validity of this project-based research by testing it to four (4) piano minor students in the Music Department of the Adventist University of the Philippines. The participants were asked to play the songs of each lesson in the piano music book. They were also interviewed to give their opinion about the contents of the book.

Analysis and Discussion � The main theme of the book was named “Wayang” because it symbolize the culture of Indonesia. By adding the images of Wayang, the researchers also introduced not only music and folk songs, but the culture of Indonesia as well. The book was made colorful design to catch the attention of the children. The Wayang image is shown on every page of the book, the mascot, which helps children in learning piano.

� Researchers also added activities to attract the children’s interest in music. They put activity sheets by order as the lesson advances to the next level. They made these activity sheets to evaluate the children’s knowledge after each lesson so that they can see what they have learned. � The piano book also includes different musical concepts with activities and analysis that are presented in the book so that the students will be able to understand it easily.

� Teaching Points are also included in the analysis of the developed book together with the difficulty, solution and application of the concepts learned in using the folk songs of Indonesia that the student and teacher experienced while using the piano book and at the same time to find out the effectiveness of the project-based piano book. � Through teaching pedagogical approaches, application and observation, and usage of the new developed piano book material, the researchers found out the effectiveness of the book based on the responses of the students and teachers’ assessment with their experience while studying using the piano book.

� There were only seven children ages five to nine years old from Adventist University of the Philippines and Jakarta Indonesia who used the new piano material. They were assessed according to their positive responses, difficulties or problems that they encountered and possible solutions to the problem

The responses of the students are as follows: � All the seven students responded positively to the new develop piano book material. They love to do the worksheets especially the coloring and drawing part of the notes, they enjoyed learning & playing the Indonesian folksongs and they are also attracted to the Wayang characters in the book. � Out of seven children who participated in using the piano book there are four of them who encountered difficulties in studying the material. Most of the difficulties are learning how to read notes on the staff while some were confused with the note names like E, G, B notes; and most of them are also having difficulty with the songs because they are not familiar with the folksongs of Indonesia.

� Most of the problems that the researchers encountered with their students are: their short attention span because they are easily distracted; their small fingers can’t reach far distant notes; and they are too lazy to read and count the value of the notes.

� The solutions that the teacher did to solve the problems are: instead of teaching the letter names they use the sol-fa syllables (do-re-mi-fa-sol); they applied the positive reinforcement in motivating the students like giving praises, giving incentives and positive comments etc. , giving additional worksheets for their practice, learning and singing the folksongs first to make it familiar, and clapping the rhythms of the song together. Furthermore, it is advised to use finger numbers, use games to motivate the students, and assist and guide the students in every step of the way while studying the piano book material.

Results � The children learned from the new developed piano book, they gained appropriate and needed knowledge, and became interested in learning about their own Indonesian folksongs. They even enjoyed and became more excited in learning how to play the piano. They were able to understand the basic theory of music and were able to play the music clearly with the help of the exercises from the book. Their sight reading skills also improved.

� The benefits of the piano book to the Indonesian piano teachers and other piano pedagogues are; the new develop book will attract young piano students especially beginners because of its colorful and attractive design. By using a step by step method, this book will easily help teachers in guiding their students in learning piano. � This book also provides worksheets and exercises so that the teachers do not need to find other sources for assessment. The teachers will have more knowledge and appreciate their own Indonesian folk songs through this new develop piano book.

Summary � The writers of the book found out the effectiveness of this new developed piano book through the positive responses of the students by analyzing the teaching points, finding out the difficulties, and solutions that both the researchers and students encountered through observations and assessments.

Conclusion � Through this new project-based piano book, one can see that the lessons in this book are different from other books in terms of concept and teaching methods. � Basically, the lessons in this book could help the educators, parents, and teachers who need extra understanding in teaching the folksongs of Indonesia especially when it comes to familiarity with their melodies. � Moreover, since the researchers used Indonesian folk songs as the material for this proposed piano music book, this book could help Indonesian children and teachers to be familiar with their Indonesian folksongs which they barely known nowadays.

Recommendations � It is recommended that both the piano teachers and parents use this piano music book in teaching piano for beginners because it is not only an effective and useful teaching material for teaching piano, but also the children will gain more knowledge about the Indonesian folksongs from this book. � The researchers hope that both teachers and the students will have a good time using this book, which is an output of this study, and will enjoy more in learning music.

Further Study � With this research, it is suggested that there be further study for development of piano book that would also be suitable for advanced level who will also be using the Indonesian folksongs or other folksongs from other Asian countries.

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Thank you and God bless!