Taylor Quimby

Professor Chen
Music 100a
1 December 2014
Literature Research Report
Research Question: What are the most important ways through which children learn rhythm?
Article 1: Number concept and rhythmic response in early childhood- Laura Habegger
Article Review- After reading the articles abstract, then starting to read through the article itself,
I found that it moved in a different direction than I had expected. It turned out that the article was
actually mostly a report on a study that was done in order to track number concept and rhythmic
response in children. Most of the author systematically described the different aspects of the
study, in order to explain everything that was being observed. One of the main issues that came
up throughout the article are that the two concepts of number concept and rhythmic response
are very specific terms, and not easily understood by someone who does not know them
beforehand. This becomes difficult, because the readers can certainly understand these concepts
after she explains them, but since the results of the study are based on them, the results mean less
to the reader and are less concrete for others to understand or work with in other areas of study.
Another large problem that the author also realized and discussed is that the two main qualities
that the study searched for are dependent on the subjects(a childs) short term memory. The
author also discusses this, talking about working memory and the childs ability to manipulate
information it has just received. Because the study is so dependent on memory, however, it
seems that the overall growth shown in the different ages in children could mostly be memory;

so there may not be an accurate description on a childs growth in either of the two target
observations.
This could help to learn about my research question (What are the most important ways
through which children learn rhythm?) because all of the testing for the study was done in a
copy/response fashion, where the subjects would have to respond to whatever rhythm was given
to them; the author has a large discussion on how rhythm develops in children and what different
factors contribute to that growth.
Article 2: Teacher Modeling as an Effective Teaching Strategy- Warren Haston
Article Review- This article had a different focus of its own; the main purpose seems to be to
inform teachers of different methods of teaching children, as well as how children learn rhythm.
One of the main methods that the author brought up was through teachers modeling different
aspects of learning music, such as showing a child how to play violin by showing visually, or
playing a rhythm first, having them repeat it afterward. Most of the article is more descriptive
than prescriptive, more describing and reflecting on different teaching methods.
The most important thing I can use from this article to answer my research question is to
look at how it suggests that kids will learn different rhythms in the sample lessons- very largely
it is through modeling teachers or tutors who show them based on their own knowledge and
experience.
Article 3: Why should we teach classical music in schools? Repetition, Recognition,
Transformation- Mark Whale
Article Review- This article has a very odd purpose, in that it focuses on keeping classical music
alive in schools, and promoting childrens involvement in it. I dont think the article really had a
large amount of evidence or facts that supported the main idea of the article, nor did it seem very

solid in its assertions of the argument. Also, the author uses an argumentative tone while there is
no opposition presented. Despite me not liking the article as a whole, and being confused on the
premise of its existence, I find that the closest connection to my research question would be that
the author talks about how children spend time listening to the music, and its repetition. The
author emphasizes repetition throughout most of the article in fact. This brings a final point to
how children learn rhythms, however. They learn them through repeatedly listening to music,
whether classical or not. Music is general very repetitive, and while children are surrounded by
music, they learn rhythm simply by being around different rhythms in music that they hear, and
becoming more comfortable with recognizing them as they hear songs repeatedly.

Works Cited
Habegger, L. (n.d.). Number concept and rhythmic response in early childhood. Music Education
Research, 269-280.
Teacher Modeling as an Effective Teaching Strategy. (n.d.). Music Educators Journal,93(4), 26-30.
Retrieved from Ebscohost.
Whale, M. (n.d.). Why should we teach classical music in schools? Repetition, Recognition,
Transformation. Canadian Music Educator / Musicien Educateur Au Canada, 49(3), 28-29. Retrieved
from EbscoHost.