Using verbal reports to investigate children's aesthetic experiences with music

The purpose of this study was to explore children's aesthetic experiences with music through verbal report. (The term "aesthetic experience" was defined as follows: "intense subjective and personal experience; feelingful reaction; requires perception, experience of feelings and reactions, and psychological involvement," Price, 1986, p. 152). Participants were fourth graders, 31 girls and 29 boys, who possessed a variety of developmental statuses and conditions: normally developing (n = 35), gifted (n = 11), and special needs (n = 14). Students listened individually to Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43, Variation 18. Immediately following the listening session, I used structured interviews to investigate the students' aesthetic reactions to the music. Their comments were recorded and later transcribed. Content of the transcripts was analyzed, and categories emerged from the responses. Although it is impossible to ascertain if these children truly had aesthetic experiences, data indicate that they did respond to the music and could communicate their feelings verbally, some of which were deeply emotional. Except for word counts of student responses, there was little difference in reactions from the three developmental groups (normally developing, gifted, and special needs).