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 International Journal of Music
Education
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An analysis of the elementary school music teaching course in Turkey

Ilhan Özgül
International Journal of Music Education 2009; 27; 116
DOI: 10.1177/0255761409102321

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An analysis of the elementary school music teaching
course in Turkey
İLHAN ÖZGÜL
Kastamonu University, Turkey

Abstract
In this article, I discuss the Turkish elementary school music teaching course in terms of
the requirements of the Turkish elementary music curriculum and those of other countries
such as the USA, Ireland and Malta. I propose that a more effective and efficient method
of elementary music teacher preparation be put in place based on findings from research
conducted in Turkey, and what is currently considered sound practice within the field of
education in general and the music education profession.

Key words
classroom teacher, curriculum analysis, music education, music teacher, music teaching
curriculum

Introduction

Formal music education in Turkey is organized and carried out in accordance with the nation’s
formal system of contemporary education, which operates on four levels – pre-elementary/
kindergarten, elementary, secondary and higher (tertiary) education. Children three years old
and under are taught in creches; four to six year-olds in nursery schools, and seven to 14 year
olds in elementary schools. The first eight years – five years at the elementary level and three
years at the secondary level – are compulsory. Secondary education comprises various types
of institutions: public and vocational (e.g., science, technical and Anatolian high schools of
fine arts) that offer three-year programs. Higher education consists of vocational institutions
that offer a two-year pre-license education, institutions offering a four-year license/degree
program, and those offering a postgraduate program (Özgül, 2007).
Music education is compulsory in nursery schools, nursery classrooms and elementary
schools. At the nursery level it is offered as a ‘games, art and music’ program and taught by
the nursery school teachers. In elementary schools it is offered as a general ‘music’ course
and taught to Grades 1, 2, and 3 by the classroom teachers, and to other grades by the music
teachers. In the first three years of elementary schooling students receive two hours of music
per week and in the last five years one hour per week. The basic aim of music education
in Turkey is to help students develop their individual and common music capabilities in a
systematic way in order to function effectively in the community.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MUSIC EDUCATION Copyright © 2009 International Society for Music Education
Vol 27(2) 116–127 [(200905)27:2] 10.1177/0255761409102321 http://ijm.sagepub.com
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 Özgül An analysis of the elementary school music teaching course in Turkey 117

Certain conditions, both internal and external, are necessary for students to fulfill their
musical potential. Internal conditions are the student’s perception and level of interest and
motivation, his/her ability to understand and memorize, and level of self-confidence and
image, as well as habits of conduct and discipline. External conditions include the physical
environment, peer pressure and teaching services. The teacher/lecturer/educator has the
responsibility of ensuring that the environment is conducive to enabling students reach their
potential. If a student with musical aptitude and the right attitude is placed in the appropriate
environment, it is likely that that student will fulfill his/her musical potential (Uçan, 1997).
If the music education practices of the last decade are compared with those prior to the
foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the development of the curricular goals can
be viewed as teaching and learning conditions, target behaviors, and measurement and
evaluation tools. These changes reflect the gradual development of the existing curriculum,
which is designed to facilitate the structured learning of the subject content appropriate
for the students’ cognitive levels. In order to make music education more effective in the
classroom, music educators at all levels should cooperate to improve the curriculum. Also,
critical thinking among students should be supported in the application of the curriculum.

Preparation of the music teaching curriculum

Music became a compulsory subject in the Turkish elementary school curriculum in 1968. In
this curriculum, goals, objectives and evaluation tools were clearly described for each stage of
instruction. The evaluation tools in the 1973 pilot curriculum for elementary and secondary
school levels required that a list of topics and activities be specified without determining
goals for the music class. The music curriculum for students with learning disabilities was
developed in 1976. After an analysis of these three music curricula, the draft of the 1982 curri-
culum was prepared. This revised draft curriculum presented specific goals and evaluation
tools for each unit and subject at each stage of the elementary level (Özgül, 2002).
In April 1994, the Elementary School Music Teaching Curriculum was accepted and pub-
lished by the Ministry of Education for implementation and testing in the 1995–96 academic
year.1 This curriculum is based on the experimental method, in which the sub-topics are
organized into units that specify: (1) unit topics, aims, objectives and activities; (2) the model
learning environment; and (3) testing-measurement conditions, and evaluation procedures
for each grade level (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti MEB, 1994).2
The 2006 revision of this curriculum was done by a special commission appointed by the
Ministry of Education Elementary School Public Directorship. This revision was undertaken
with the understanding that public music education is oriented towards a balanced program
in terms of aesthetics, using suitable methods and approaches. The content and approaches
of the 1968, 1973 and 1994 curricula were also taken into consideration. The 2006 curri-
culum consists of an introduction, general objectives of the Turkish national education, the
vision for the curriculum, basic approach and structure, teaching and learning processes,
acquisitions, methods and techniques, measurement and evaluation, texts and resources
(Türkiye Cumhuriyeti MEB, 2006).
The vision for the Elementary Music Course Teaching Curriculum is to equip teachers to
enable students to make involvement in music a lifelong pursuit. Music activities should en-
courage students to become cooperative and peace-loving citizens instilled with civic pride,
tolerance for other cultures, sensitivity and open-mindedness to the other fine arts as well as
confidence in themselves as musicians. It was prepared in accordance with the ‘constructivist
approach’ – a student-based approach that allows students to reinterpret new knowledge
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118 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MUSIC EDUCATION 27(2)

in light of what they have already experienced and know. According to this theory, every
individual comes to the learning environment with previously acquired beliefs and basic prin-
ciples. Learning is not a passive process but one that is part of a continuous and dynamic
social culture in which they participate as individuals. Acquired knowledge is re-structured
by the individual for personal and social purposes.

Basic structure of the 1994 music teaching curriculum

The 1994 elementary music teaching course offered in colleges generally focused on the
components of the elementary school music curriculum listed in Table 1.
Figure 1 shows how some of the Grade 6, 7 and 8 units/topics are developed from the
lowest to highest grade (Özgül, 2002).

Basic structure of the 2006 music teaching curriculum

The general aims of the primary education music course curriculum, which are in line with
the general aims of Turkish education, are as follows:

Improving the aesthetic side through music, ensuring that students can express their
emotions, thoughts and experiences through music, improving their creativity and ability
through production, acquainting them with local, regional, national, international music
cultures, contributing to the development of their personality and self-confidence, ensuring
the development of their mental skills through music, improving their individual and social
relations through music, ensuring that they can participate individually and collectively in
activities of listening to and singing different types of high-quality songs and of performing,
improving their musical perception and knowledge, ensuring that they can use Turkish
correctly and effectively, ensuring that they can recite our national anthems especially the
Independence Anthem properly, improving their feelings of love, sharing and responsibility
through music, ensuring that they have an accumulation of music culture reinforcing our
national unity and integrity and facilitating our integration with the world, comprehending
Atatürk’s views on the development of Turkish music and ensuring that they grow up as
well-educated individuals loyal to Atatürk’s principles and revolutions.3 (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti
MEB, 2006, p. 6)

Table 1 Units/topics at the elementary grade levels in the 1994 music curriculum

Grades 1, 2, 3 Grades 4, 5 Grades 6, 7, 8

• Games, movement, and
music in our lives
• Movement, poetry and
tempo in our music
• Speaking, poetry and
dynamics in our music
• Speaking, poetry and
rhythm in our music
• Melody in our music; form
• Style in our music; form
• Our environment and music
• Atatürk and music
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• Music in our lives and • Humans and music
environment • Voices and musical
• Sounds in our music instruments
• Melody and rhythm in our • Speed, dynamics and
music expression in music
• Pulse and meter in our • Meter, melody and rhythm
music • Modes and tone in music
• Tempo in our music • Texture, form and genre in
• Dynamics in our music music
• Form in our music • Music in our country
• Atatürk, art and music • Atatürk and music
 Özgül An analysis of the elementary school music teaching course in Turkey 119

Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8

Humans and music Humans, art and music Humans, culture, art and
music

Voices and instruments Instruments and sound Music technology and its
groups usage

Music in our country Music in our country and Music in Turkey,

Turkish republics neighboring countries
and the world

Atatürk and music Atatürk, art and music Atatürk and our musical
development

Figure 1 Grades 6, 7 and 8 units/topics developed from the lowest to highest grade

The music curriculum at the elementary level is designed to reflect the common music
education practice that enables individuals to develop music techniques in a consistent and
healthy way. As stated earlier, it was formulated by a special commission appointed by the
Ministry of Education.4 The elements are:

• General objectives of the Turkish national education

• Vision of the curriculum
• Basic approach and structure of curriculum
• Goals and objectives
• Basic abilities and values
• Learning areas
• Student achievements
• Activities
• Rationales
• Music teaching–learning process
• Methods and techniques
• Assessment (evaluation of students)
• Texts and resources

Learning areas comprise the following for all the grade levels throughout the eight years of
elementary education:

• Listening, singing and performing

• Musical perceptions and knowledge
• Music culture
• Creation of music.

As students advance through the different stages, topics and objectives in the curriculum are
built upon each other.5 The content, knowledge, skills, attitude and student achievements
are interrelated and reflect the values that students are expected to display in their lives.
Activities are planned with the intention that students actively participate in the learning
process. Discussions about classroom activities, extra-curricular activities, integration with
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120 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MUSIC EDUCATION 27(2)

other subjects, assessment and basic musical knowledge are also included in the course.
The strengths and weaknesses of the course as well as the teacher/educator/lecturer are
evaluated.

The standards of the music teaching program

In Turkey, the elementary classroom teacher training program, like the vocational music
program, is based on the standards and plans for Music-1 and -2 (YÖK/Dünya Bankası Milli
Eğitimi Geliştirme Projesi Hizmet Öncesi Öğretmen Eğitimi, 1998a, 1998b, 1999).
The components of Music-1 are:

• Music in education – its role and content

• Basic musical knowledge
• Music theory
• Instrumental and vocal training
• Listening, performing and composing activities
• Ensemble

The components of Music-2 are:

Elements of music
• Advanced listening, performing and composing activities
• Introduction to music history
• World music
• Advanced instrumental and vocal training
• Topics and themes in children’s music and games (YÖK/Dünya Bankası Milli Eğitimi
Geliştirme Projesi Hizmet Öncesi Öğretmen Eğitimi, 1998a, 1998b, 1999)

In the Maltese 2001 music education curriculum for elementary and secondary schools it is
stated that students should be engaged in the three interrelated activities of ‘composing, per-
forming, and listening and appraising’ (Malta music curriculum for the primary and secondary
sectors, 2001). Through these activities, musical skills, knowledge and understanding are
acquired that should lead to the enjoyment of the subject.
In Ireland, the Arts Education component states:

Music provides children with opportunities to engage with a wide range of musical styles
and traditions, to become involved in moving, dancing, illustrating, story-telling and
making drama. The Music curriculum introduces children to music reading and writing,
singing, and playing instruments. (NCCA, 2002a, 2002b)

The implementation of this curriculum in new elementary schools started in September

2005, when teaching personnel were given in-service training.
In the USA, nine standards of music education were published as part of the National
Standards for Arts Education. They are:

1. Singing a varied repertoire of music, alone and with others

2. Performing a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others
3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments
4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines
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 Özgül An analysis of the elementary school music teaching course in Turkey 121

5. Reading and notating music

6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
7. Evaluating music and music performances
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the
arts
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture (MENC, 1994; Stock, 2002)

Discussion

The following statements are descriptions of the Turkish 1994 Elementary School Music
Teaching Curriculum :

1. It is based on the behaviorist approach, outcomes of which can be observed and

measured directly.
2. Each objective comprises at least two main behaviors.
3. It is discussed in the general base of unit and topics.
4. There is an intense knowledge transfer in cognitive terms.
5. Objectives are expressed in student-centered ways.
6. It shows more conventional teaching approaches related to teaching conditions.
7. Content is not related to different disciplines directly or indirectly.
8. Music theory in covered in three courses and music practical teaching in two.
9. When it is analyzed in terms of unit topics and the related behaviors, it is consistent,
interrelated and moves gradually from one topic to the next.

The 2006 Elementary School Music Teaching Curriculum can be seen as:

1. A structured approach in which the individual makes the knowledge functional for him-
/herself.
2. An approach based on learning areas.
3. Having objectives and activities at each level progressing as a spiral from one stage to
the next.
4. Requiring students to play an active role in knowledge acquisition.
5. Relating directly to other disciplines when appropriate.
6. Having music theory beginning in the fourth grade.
7. Having the teaching of the recorder beginning in the third grade.
8. Promoting the use of Dalcroze and Orff approaches, as well as Kodaly and Suzuki
methods, when appropriate, along with conventional music practices.

Developing a music teaching curriculum is a gradual, many-sided, comprehensive and con-

tinuous process consisting of designing, pilot testing, evaluating, and reviewing. In formu-
lating the 2006 Elementary School Music Teaching Curriculum, the positive aspects of the
1968, 1984 and 1994 curricula were taken into consideration along with modern curriculum
development approaches. In examining the basic scope of the music curricula of countries
such as the USA, UK, Ireland, Malta and Turkey one sees a focus on listening, performing
and composing alongside the musical elements: duration, tempo, pulse, pitch, dynamics,
structure, style and texture. The aim of music in schools is to help students develop concepts
about the musical elements that they should be able to recognize and identify when
listening, performing and composing. Each of these national curricula also includes listening
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122 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MUSIC EDUCATION 27(2)

and analysis of the respective country’s own folk songs and dances, patriotic music, works
by its prominent composers and music from other cultures.
Formal music education is expected to be more organized, systematic and effective than
informal music education, as it is guided by a curriculum that is designed by trained per-
sonnel rather than being random. It is understandable, therefore, that the music teacher
education curriculum is a very important element of formal music education. Formal music
teacher education without a curriculum is unthinkable. A fully integrated music education
system comprises many entities: student, subject matter, teacher and appropriate resources
(Uçan 2005a).
In a study about readiness level for the Music-1 course, which was conducted on pre-
service elementary school teachers from three different universities, researchers using micro
approaches of the lowest level found that students at the entry level lacked the requisite
cognitive and psychomotor skills (Özgül & Uçan, 1998).
There are seven million children in the six years and under age group in Turkey and only
14 percent of children in the three to six age group benefit from an education service.
Seventy percent of the children in the five to six age group have no access to such education
(Göçer, 2008). Therefore, the social, physical and mental development that should ensue
from involvement in music at the elementary school level is delayed.
Students at the nursery school level in private and some elementary schools are exposed
to games and musical activities that the teachers learnt on their music courses. In data
gathered through observation, it has been found that music is limited to the singing of
popular or folk songs that are related to topics in another subject with no real attention to
musical knowledge. The reason for this is that these teachers have not themselves benefited
from real music education in their own elementary schooling (Akıncı, 2005).
The situation with music teachers is quite different. Music teachers who graduated from
music programs, and gained teaching certification while in these programs, concentrated
on becoming expert instrumental performers through the encouragement of their tutors
and by their own motivation. This kind of musical training is inadequate when a teacher is
appointed to a position in an elementary school. Teachers with this training seem to show
a lack of interest in and insensitivity to what is appropriate for the music classroom; they
simply write a song on the blackboard and have children copy it in their notebooks then
play it on the recorder. This kind of approach cannot even be termed conventional, a term
that has been applied to students writing information about basic musical knowledge and
the lives of composers in their notebooks. These teachers never question whether the know-
ledge they gained during the process of certification is appropriate to teaching music at the
elementary level; they believe that their music teaching course is in keeping with current
practice. A music teaching course for both the elementary and secondary levels should place
emphasis on engaging students in interrelated activities centered on composing, performing,
and listening and appraising, through which musical skills, knowledge and understanding
are acquired that should result in the enjoyment of music.
Before the formulation of the 2006 Elementary School Music Teaching Curriculum, the
Ministry of Education conducted an investigative study to find out in which topics classroom
teachers and music teachers had difficulties. This study revealed that teachers had difficulties
teaching concepts such as texture, style, genre, melody, rhythm, major and minor tonalities, and
melodic composition (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti MEB, 2006). Problems in modern music teaching
are not the only ones in the Turkish education system and developments in Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) over the last 20 years have compounded some of the prob-
lems. The question of what should constitute music education in the 21st century is not just an
issue for Turkish music education, it is also relevant in Europe and the USA.

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 Özgül An analysis of the elementary school music teaching course in Turkey 123

Music educators such as Keith Swanwick (1996), Chris Philpott and Charles Plummeridge
(2001), Gary Spruce (2002), and Janet Mills (1995, 2005) have carried out research in areas
such as musical games, and listening and performing in order to inform music teaching pro-
grams about the best approaches to be taken in the training of teachers. With the help of
their findings we can come to certain conclusions. The content of the 1994 Turkish music
teaching curriculum that was based on the behaviorist approach, and the 2006 curriculum
that was based on the constructivist approach, are basically the same.6 The contents of the
Turkish elementary music teaching course and those of the above-mentioned countries are
basically the same; only the application of the approaches is different. Problems lie in the
abilities of the teachers to interpret the school music curriculum, combine teaching methods/
approaches and organize activities appropriate to the level of the students. Teachers with a
desire to gain a reputation as professionals are amenable to adaptation and transformation;
they are therefore able to assimilate quickly the changes that are taking place within the
profession in Turkey and the outside world.

Recommendations

1. A music education curriculum is a proposed plan of instruction with suggestions as

to how it should be applied. In-service seminars, summer courses and other efforts to
introduce the new curriculum should be organized with a view to training elementary
and high school music teachers to interpret and apply it.
2. Dalcroze and Orff approaches, and Kodaly and Suzuki methods should be introduced
and explained to classroom and music teachers in elementary schools.
3. The musical elements – duration, tempo, pulse, pitch, structure, style and texture – are
the focus in many national music curricula. The music teacher should consider the level
of the students he/she teaches and then determine from the curriculum activities what
would be appropriate for students at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. A
music teacher who is not able to do this will not be effective regardless of the approach
he/she uses.
4. Resources to improve the teaching service such as an assigned music room, piano,
audio equipment, classroom instruments, recordings and printed materials should be
provided by the Ministry of Education.
5. A pre-school music education program should be available to all children in the
country.
6. A musician whose focus is on performance is different from one whose expertise is in
music education; this understanding is borne in mind and applied within the education
system in Turkey.
7. Music education methods are complex and music teachers should be cognizant of this
when planning music activities.
8. The all-music teaching curriculum consists of singing a varied repertoire of music alone
and with others. Choral education should be applicable to all children in the schools. In
voice production, valid breathing techniques must be used, and the body and the chin
must be in a state of relaxation.7
9. Music’s power to instill love, respect, friendship, brotherhood, democratic attitudes,
aesthetic sensibility, responsibility and social skills should not be undervalued.
Therefore, if teachers are not interested and do not plan the music program properly,
the teacher’s success as well as that of the students is jeopardized. Students who do
not love their teacher or trust him/her to impart knowledge that will be of value after

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124 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MUSIC EDUCATION 27(2)

they leave school will not be successful. It is therefore important that students derive
enjoyment from learning music in schools.
10. In Turkey, basic music education at the nursery, elementary and secondary levels
should begin with principles of the Orff approach adapted to Turkish music. Music
teacher education should therefore include training in the Orff approach.8

Acknowledgement
I am grateful to my father, who is a model teacher. I also thank Prof. Ali Uçan, whose knowledge and views
I continuously benefited from.

Notes
1. Uçan A., Şentürk, N., Süer R., Bayraktar E., Akkaş S. and others.
2. Curriculum development takes three approaches: (1) studying the proposed plan; 2) considering how
it will be applied; (3) testing. Among these three approaches, the one most appropriate to the modern
principles of experimentation is without doubt testing, which is an investigation process peculiar to itself.
This process consists of sequential steps: preparation, testing and evaluation of the curriculum followed by
a review. Every step is unique (Uçan, 2005a). According to Ertürk (1972), the curriculum was developed by
a committee consisting of people with different areas of expertise. There were members with specialized
knowledge of the subject, an educational sociologist, an educational psychologist, an educational
philosopher, a teacher in the subject area, an expert in curriculum development, an educational economist,
an expert in educational technology and an expert in measurement and evaluation. At the appropriate
time, a state planning and organization expert and experts in educational planning also participated in the
committee. During the formulation of the 1994 Elementary Music Teaching Curriculum, participants were
provided with a course in curriculum preparation and development.
3. According to the national curriculum for England and Wales, music is a powerful, unique form of com-
munication that can change the way pupils feel, think and act. It brings together intellect and feeling
and enables personal expression, reflection and emotional development. As an integral part of culture,
past and present, it helps pupils understand themselves and relate to others, forging links between the
home, school and the wider world. The teaching of music develops pupils’ ability to listen and appreciate
a wide variety of music and to make judgments about musical quality. It encourages active involvement
in different forms of amateur music-making, both individual and communal, developing a sense of group
identify and togetherness. It also increases self-discipline and creativity, aesthetic sensitivity and fulfillment
(DfEE & QCA, 1999, p. 14).
4. The 2006 Elementary Music Teaching Curriculum was developed by a private specialized commission
for music that consisted of a language expert, a psychological and guidance adviser, a measurement
and evaluation expert, a curriculum development expert for each subject, five classroom teachers, four
music teachers and two university teachers from the main fine arts teaching faculty of the Gazi University
Education Department.
5. In preparing the subjects of a unit, continuity is achieved through repetition of certain behaviors in situ-
ations where complexity is increasing gradually. In this relationship of graduation, the subjects of a unit
are based on the previous unit and are preparatory to the next; it is a relationship of interdependence in
which the subjects of a unit are both consistent and in harmony with each other while consolidating and
facilitating each other. In a study about public music teaching and teaching of ‘rhythm and melody’, seven
units were regulated, la–sol, la–sol–fa, la–sol–fa–mi. This also describes the teaching approach of Turkish
rhythm and melody. The scale of doh major in tonal music is known as the melodic creation çargah in
Turkish music. The notes of the scale of re minor are known as the melodic creation Hussein. When the
units of rhythm and melody were being prepared, the principles of proximity and distance were taken
into consideration and the ‘continuous’ relations in the form of making repetition possible in situations
where the development of rhythms and sounds in units and the level of difficulty is increasing gradually.
‘Graduation’ in the sense of being based on the previous and being preparation for the next, as well as
‘interdependence’, both in the sense of consistency and harmony, and consolidating and facilitating each
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 Özgül An analysis of the elementary school music teaching course in Turkey 125

other in the same situations, were taken into consideration during the arranging and organizing process
(Özgül, 1995, 2001, 2002).
6. Although behaviorism and data processing theories are the product of positivist philosophy, constructivism
is the product of paradigms. Curriculum plans are considered to be in the realm of engineering rather than
science in the constructivist approach. They need to be less analytical, more integral and prepared in the
form of facilitating cooperation between the teacher, material and student. In this sense, the present-day
teacher should be given the new name of ’behavior engineer’. Teaching should be perceived as an area of
behavior engineering.
7. A Turkish study aimed to evaluate the educational, social and cultural improvements in individuals taking
part in several amateur choirs in Turkey. From the findings it was concluded that choir members behave
more sensitively, more consciously and more selectively (Çevik, 1997; Öztop & Çevik, 2007).
8. The Orff approach was adapted to Turkish culture through the creation of a repertoire of songs, melodies
and rhythms from Turkish folk music, that is, from Turkey’s own traditional music and from music created
by Turkish composers. In Turkish school music teaching, imitating and copying songs was the norm for
many years. This first started to change with Muammer Sun’s ‘Turkish school music’, where he created
his own original melodies. Many teachers followed this approach both with their school applications and
by composing original songs for use in schools. Original Turkish school songs still exist from that period.
This was viewed as staying Turkish while being contemporary and embracing globalization. Turkish solfège
methods were applied to non-Turkish methods of teaching recorder, violin, viola and piano in the con-
servatoire, instead of the non-Turkish solfège methods. The most important of these is ‘the theory of
Turkish polyphony/quartet harmony/system of quartet harmony’ developed by Kemal Ilerici, which uses
the system of trio harmony instead of the rules of polyphony within the tonal system. Courses that teach
both the trio harmony system and the quartet harmony system were used in schools. Many songs were
created both to verify this theory and to demonstrate the consistency of its application across choirs,
orchestras and other music groups that played and sang in national and international concerts. (See İlerici,
1981; Karkın, 2002a, 2002b; Levent, 1996a, 1996b; Sun & Katoğlu, 1993; Türkmen, 2007; Uçan 2005b.
Composers that used the quartet harmony system include Cenan Akın, Yalçın Tura, İlhan Baran, Muammer
Sun and Erdal Tuğcular.)

References
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Çevik, S. (1997). Koro Eğitimi ve Yönetim Teknikleri. Ankara: Doruk Yayınevi.
Ertürk, S. (1972). Eğitimde Program Geliştirme. Ankara.
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İ lhan Özgül has worked as a music teacher in many institutions connected to the Turkish
Ministry of Education, such as in preschools, primary schools and at Anatolian teacher
training high schools. He teaches university courses in music and music teaching at license
level, specializing in the elementary school curriculum and early childhood education,
and the application of teaching and chorus education. He has organized concerts with
repertoires appropriate for children, teenagers and adults in many of the institutions where
he has worked as a music teacher. Since 1994, he has published articles, reports, music
course books and educational music on the subject of the primary school and university
curricula, teacher training, school music training and teaching. His research interests
are choruses, composing for music education, music theory, curriculum development,
curriculum analysis, education and music education in the 21st century.
Address: Kastamonu Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi İlköğretim Bölümü, 37200 Kastamonu,
Turkey. [email: ilhanozgul@kastamonu.edu.tr]

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 Özgül An analysis of the elementary school music teaching course in Turkey 127

Abstracts

Analyse du cours d’enseignement de musique en école primaire en Turquie

En ce document je discute le cours d’enseignement de musique en école primaire en termes
d’exigences du programme élémentaire turc dans l’enseignement de la musique et ceux
d’autres pays tels que les Etats-Unis, l’Irlande et Malte. Je propose qu’une méthode plus
efficace et plus décisive du professeur de musique en classe élémentaire dans la préparation
soit mise en place et soit basée sur des résultats de recherche conduits en Turquie, et ce
qui est actuellement considéré comme une pratique saine dans le champ de l’éducation en
général et de la profession de professeur de musique.

Analyse eines Schulmusikerkurses in der Türkei

In dieser Arbeit bespreche ich den türkischen Grundschulmusikkurs entsprechend den
Anforderungen des türkischen Grundschulmusik-Lehrplanes und derjenigen anderer
Länder wie zum Bespiel USA, Irland und Malta. Ich schlage vor, dass eine wirkungsvollere
und effizientere Methode der Grundschulmusiklehrerausbildung an deren Stelle benutzt
wird, basierend auf einer in der Türkei gemachten Forschung, welche im Moment als
Klangschulung im Bereich der allgemeinen Erziehung und der musikerzieherischen Berufe in
Betracht gezogen wird.

Un análisis de la enseñanza musical en las escuelas primarias de Turquía

En este artículo analizo la enseñanza de la música en las escuelas primarias turcas en función
de los requerimientos del currículo turco y en función de los currículos de otros países
como los Estados Unidos, Irlanda y Malta. Propongo que se organice una formación del
profesorado de música de primaria más eficiente basada en los resultados de la investigación
realizada en Turquía y basada en lo que son consideradas buenas prácticas en la educación
en general y en la educación musical.

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