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






Contents


Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Motive and Research background
1.2 Objectives and justification
1.3 Research problems
1.4 Scope and limitations
1.5 Steps and procedures
1.6 Organization and conceptual plan
1.7 Terminology


Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Music Education in Primary Schools
2.1.1 Transformation of Primary School Music education Curriculum
2.1.1.1 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 2006 2010 (PIPP)
2.2 History of Recorder
2.2.1 Early development
2.2.2 Names of recorder
2.2.3 Type of recorder
2.3 Techniques of Recorder Playing
2.3.1 Posture
2.3.2 Fingering
2.3.3 Breathing Technique
2.3.4 Tonguing
2.4 Recorder Ensemble
2.5 Importance of Recorder Teaching


Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Steps and Procedures
3.2 Research Design and Hypotheses
3.3 Target group
3.4 Research instruments
3.5 Data collection


Chapter 4 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Analysis of interpretation of music teachers toward recorder teaching
4.2 Analysis of the practice of recorder teaching in elementary schools
4.3 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 Star
District




Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Conclusion
5.2 Suggestions and recommendations


Bibliography
1. English Books
2. Non- English books
3. 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 Research
Research Framework
Types of Recorders
Techniques of Recorder Playing





















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)


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 18
th
century
due to the development of other woodwind instruments.


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 18
th

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 20
th
century 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.

1.1 MOTIVE 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 16
th
of January 2007, the former Prime
Minister, Datuk Sri Abdullah Badawi, launched The Education Blueprint 2006
2010 ( Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan 2006 2010 ), 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.
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
2006 2010, 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 2006 2010,
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 45 46). 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.


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
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


1.2 OBJECTIVES 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 teaching
2. How teachers integrate it with the curriculum
3. 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
teacher. There are differences and correlation between 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
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 music
teachers 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 District
primary 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 education
curriculum 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)

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.



1.3 RESEARCH PROBLEMS
Mention 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
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 methodology
used for recorder teaching in schools as well as the problems faced by the
teachers in school.


2. Correlation
a) 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 the
integration of teaching materials and curriculum content?






1.4 SCOPE 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.



3. Research Instruments

This research uses self design 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.





1.5 STEPS 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 self- design 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.


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 and
suggestions
Recorder teaching
Instrumental
teaching(local &
foreign)
Variables of music
teachers
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/ Musical
Background
2. Type of school
3. Teaching experiences
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 self- design 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
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.


















1.7 Terminology
1.7.1 Primary School Music Teacher
The 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 Recorder
Recorder refers to the 8 holes fife which is popular in Europe since the medieval.