Due to the spread of the COVID-19 disease that shook the world at the beginning of 2020, singing and instrumental music classes were restricted in music classes in public education. Accordingly, the use of wind instruments such as recorders, danso, an...
Due to the spread of the COVID-19 disease that shook the world at the beginning of 2020, singing and instrumental music classes were restricted in music classes in public education. Accordingly, the use of wind instruments such as recorders, danso, and ocarinas that were commonly used in schools was also limited. Even in this situation, remote and in-person classes were conducted in parallel to minimize the occurrence of students' learning gaps. Still, due to the limitations of remote education, an alternative instrument that could be taught in person was required. Therefore, although it was not universally used until now, the ‘Kalimba’ surfaced as an alternative instrument suited for the COVID-19 era. The kalimba has advantages such as blocking possibly contagious contact, limiting movement inside designated spaces, and employing apps. However, educational materials or instructional plans using the kalimba are still insufficient compared to other musical instruments used in education.
Recognizing this point, the purpose of this study is to provide step-by-step guidance methods and educational materials that can be used in free-semester kalimba classes. Prior to the development of this study, the free-semester instrumental music program, the educational use of Korean traditional music, kalimba-related studies, and previous studies on kalimba education programs were reviewed, and the importance of the free-semester system, instrumental music education, and cognitive apprenticeship theory models were reviewed. Examining the history, structure, types, and numbered music score of kalimba and analyzing existing kalimba textbooks revealed that the percentage of Korean traditional music was astonishingly low, highlighting the necessity for Korean traditional music- based Kalimba instructional resources. Based on the requirements that a free semester program for an instrumental ensemble class should meet, 6 songs appropriate for the kalimba ensemble program were chosen and prepared in one to three degrees of complexity for each song.
The cognitive apprenticeship theory model was selected as the instructional model among the learner-centered teaching-learning models, and the contents of the activities were presented step-by-step according to the six methods of the cognitive apprenticeship theory. To this end, a total of 17 classes were organized to enable systematic learning in accordance with the free-semester activities. Students study the fundamentals of musical instruments in classes 1-6, get practice time for the presentation in classes 15-16, and have a presentation in the 17th class. Outside of this, for classes 7-14, a total of 4 sessions were designed by grouping each 2nd session into a block session. The validity of the contents of the study and field suitability were verified through a questionnaire by three experts, and based on this, the guidance plan was revised and supplemented.
This study is unique as there have not yet been many studies on the educational use of the kalimba as well as instructional resources that use Korean traditional music. It also has educational value by creating class models, lesson plans, and instructional resources that can be used in real classroom settings.
It is expected that the educational materials developed through this study can be used in various kalimba classes as well as free-semester and school-year systems. Given that many courses use the kalimba, it is advised that active study be done to find class guiding techniques that are appropriate for each class subject.