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Arts & Communication Japanese children’s musical flow

Table 1. Definition and examples of flow indicators 9
Flow indicators Definitions Examples*
Self-assignment Purposeful activity initiated by the child rather than by the The child fingers a scale on the violin while waiting for others to get
adult. tuned.
Self-correction Error acknowledgment and adjustment to conform to The child adjusts fingering while playing the violin with no external
established “rules” for an activity in the absence of physical or cue.
verbal instruction from an adult.
Gesture The quality of movement is very focused and controlled, often With a straight posture, the child slowly and carefully places fingers
exaggerated but with no extraneous motion. on the fingerboard, one at a time.
Anticipation Verbal or physical attempts to guess or show “what comes The child readies the feet and legs to prepare to demonstrate the
next” during the presented activity. sequence of steps for establishing the correct violin playing posture.
Expansion Making the presented material more challenging, child The child creates novel rhythmic movements to substitute for a
creates novel rhythmic movements to substitute for a pre-established pattern.
pre-established pattern, transforming it in some way.
Extension Continuing to engage with the presented material after the The child continues to play/sing the piece after the teacher said it was
teacher has finished. over.
Social awareness Any observable interactions that involve prolonged gaze, The child changes his movement to the music to match that of his peer.
head-turning, or physical movement toward another person.
Attempts to engage another person physically or verbally are
particularly noteworthy.
*Note: The examples were based on school-aged children (with an average age of 6.3 years) in Suzuki group violin classes. 9
she moved on to another booth. Similarly, a 5-year-old many children carefully placed the bow on the strings and
girl engaged in repetitive button pressing; however, she moved it slowly at a moderate tempo, particularly when
was looking at the 3-year-old girl and the other boy next caregivers were occupied with violin playing. However,
to her pressing the buttons in the same manner. She was anticipation was not observed in the violin section, as
not specifically pressing the button to create a musical beat; previously mentioned. Expansion behavior was apparent
rather, she simply repeated pressing the buttons. She left in children aged three to five, as they moved the bow
after approximately 3 min. Many young children utilized faster and sometimes played while walking, occasionally
the buttons in a rhythmic manner similar to drum playing; matching their movements with the musical beat. This
however, none remained in the booth for more than a younger generation openly experimented with different
couple of minutes. Notably, there was no intervention or angles, speeds, and placements of the bow. Extension
support from caregivers observed in this booth. behavior was primarily observed in younger children aged
three to five. In many cases, caregivers practiced the violin
3.2. Violin to learn the notes of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star next
Self-assignment was somewhat observed in children above to their children for longer than 10 min. Although the
ages five or six. In most cases, caregivers suggested playing children were not playing certain notes, they continued
the violin by saying, “This is the instrument that you would to play open strings for an extended period. The behavior
never play.” Caregivers also requested guidance from the of others was apparent as children frequently observed
researcher on how to hold the bow and produce sound. The others when making a sound. For instance, a 6-year-old
researcher encouraged them to explore the instruments. girl glanced at a violinist sitting 3 m away with a baby
However, only a few caregivers spontaneously approached and mother attempting to play the violin. However, the
the violin, picked up an instrument and bow, and attempted violinist was occupied with the baby and did not notice
to create sound. For younger children aged between three the cue. An amateur violinist assisted the children in
and five, many either received instruction from caregivers playing the E and A strings, enabling them to produce two
or followed their lead in violin play. Self-correction was tunes back and forth. After playing a few times, the girl
not frequently observed due to caregivers’ intervention attempted to put the violin down, but her mother said,
in many cases. Caregivers held their hands and guided “Hey, it sounded good. Listen carefully,” and she resumed
their bows to produce sound. When caregivers played playing.
the violins, children played the open strings alongside In general, one of the most noticeable indicators was the
them, leading to some self-correction as they replaced the “awareness of others,” particularly in terms of caregivers’
bow or adjusted the sound. The gesture was observed as interventions and support. For example, a 3-year-old girl

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2024) 4 doi: 10.36922/ac.1782