Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory of Music Learning in the Music Education in Poland

Abstract

The purpose of this article is the presentation of the results of the research conducted in Poland on the effectiveness of music education realised in accordance with the assumptions of Edwin Elias Gordon’s Theory of Music Learning, which holds an important place in the existing systems of common music education. Gordon pays attention to the need of undertaking the earliest possible music interactions when it comes to children. Some observations conducted among pregnant women and infants during music activities being realised in accordance with the assumptions of Gordon’s theory showed that infants display some reactions indicating the recognition of the music presented before the birth. They also demonstrated that these children reacted to music earlier than the infants who were not musically stimulated in their prenatal period. The experimental research conducted among children at pre-school age and early-school age proved greater, compared to the traditional methods, effectiveness of the interactions resulting from Gordon’s Theory of Music Learning in the development of their music aptitudes and musical achievements. Moreover, they also proved that the stimulation of music aptitudes contributes to the development of children’s perceptive-motor functions especially in the context of developmental shortages compensation. Other research confi rmed the validity of E.E. Gordon’s thesis about the existing relation between instrument timbre preference and the achievements in playing them.