The development and characteristics of Korean children’s invented notation for musical representation

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the development and characteristics of invented notation for musical representation. A total of 168 young children aged 3, 4 and 5 years participated in this study. The children listened to rhythm and melody, which represented music, to reveal their use of invented notation. The Korean children used various types of invented notation involving figures, numbers, Hangeul (Korean letters), lines, and mixed forms. The level of invented notation increased with age, similar to other kinds of representation competence. The level of invented notation was clearly and significantly higher when paper and drawing tools were used than when blocks were used. However, there was no significant difference in invented notation according to the type of music played (voice or instrument). This study suggests that providing children with various examples of musical experiences and representations as well as tools allows them to perform free and immediate representation without requiring dual representation. Additionally, the findings confirmed that Hangeul has an advantage in children’s musical representation.

KEYWORDS:

• Musical representation
• invented notation
• young children
• Hangeul

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the ethics committee of the OOO university of Korea (1041455-201906-HR-003-01).

Statement of informed consent

All the subjects participated voluntarily and received a small compensation. Informed consent was obtained from all study participants and their parents in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Notes on contributors

Youngmeen Suh

Youngmeen Suh started playing violin at the age of seven and majored in violin until she graduated from university. She majored early childhood education in university and graduated with a master's degree and a doctorate in early childhood music education. She worked as a music teacher in kindergarten and as a teacher in a daycare center.

Yujin Jang

Yujin Jang majored early childhood education and worked as a kindergarten teacher. She earned a master's degree in early childhood education and a doctorate in child and family studies.