Musical Playground

The Musical Playground Global Tradition and Change in Children's Songs and Games By Kathryn Marsh Book 431 pages Through a synthesis of ethnomusicology and music education, The Musical Playground provides unique insights into children's musical playground activities across a comprehensive scope of social, cultural, and national contexts. Kathryn Marsh brings readers to urban and rural school playgrounds in Australia, Norway, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Korea, showing how children transmit, maintain, and transform their games. Copious examples throughout the book and Web site demonstrate characteristics of game genres, children's generative practices, and reflections of cultural influences on game practice. A valuable index maps the distribution of more than 300 games across an array of cultures and geographical locations. In addition, Marsh offers valuable, practical recommendations for developing pedagogies that reflect more child-centered less Eurocentric views of children's play, musical learning, and musical creativity. Contents Section I: Children's Musical Play and Creativity: Adult Views 1.  Conceptions of Children's Musical Play 2.  Children's Musical Creativity and Oral Transmission Section II: Into the Field 3.  Investigating Musical Play: Ethics and Pragmatics 4.  The Playing Fields Section III: Transmission Processes in the Playground 5.  The Influence of Social Grouping 6.  Teaching and Learning in the Playground 7.  Changing the Tradition Section IV: Composition in Performance 8.  Composition in the Playground 9.  Variations on a Theme: "Sar Macka Dora" 10. Style and Cultural Idiosyncrasy in Musical Play Section V: Conclusions and Pedagogical Implications 11. Conclusions and Pedagogical Implications Appendix 1: Index of Playground Singing Game Genres from International Field Sites, 1990-2004Appendix 2: Transcription Methods and Notation and Documentation Conventions Appendix 3: Text Variants of the "Sar Macka Dora" Game Genre Appendix 4: Selcted Musical Transcriptions of Games Transcriptions available online: Appendix 5: Selected Norwegian Games Appendix 6: Selected U.K. Games Appendix 7: Selected U.S.A. Games Appendix 8: Selected Korean Games Appendix 9: Selected Australian Games Appendix 10: Additional Transcriptions