Abstract
As arts education continues to advance globally, research has traditionally emphasized cognitive learning while often neglecting children’s intrinsic perspectives and creative expressions. This study addresses this gap by exploring the application of piano improvisation in immersive early childhood arts education, specifically its role in fostering children’s creativity and expressive abilities. Drawing on the Dalcroze Eurhythmics method as a pedagogical framework, this study involved participants from three preschools in Taiwan, aged 3 to 6, in mixed-age afterschool programs. The study introduced the "PP Teaching Method", which conceptualizes music’s fundamental, formal, and aesthetic elements. The research unfolded in two phases: first, exploring soundscapes from daily life and collecting musical elements; second, combining the immediacy of piano improvisation with the spontaneity of visual art creation in a “moving to feeling, feeling to painting” model. This approach guided children in developing a sense of place through multisensory engagement. The findings highlight that piano improvisation fosters an interactive, multidirectional learning environment, enhancing children’s natural engagement in the creative process and stimulating their learning interest. The innovative teaching model expanded children’s experiences in music and art creation while providing early childhood music educators with an effective pedagogical strategy. This study demonstrates the potential of integrating soundscapes and improvisation to enrich children’s creative expression and offers a new approach to early childhood arts education. Future research could examine the long-term impact of such methods across diverse educational settings.
Author Information
Hsu Hui-Chun, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
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