Professor Barbara Kaminska

Areas of research:
1. The psychological foundations of music instruction and education
2. Musical psychometrics (the measurement and assessment of musical aptitude, achievement, attitudes and preferences)
3. Kodály's music education system

Selected publications...

My interest in the musical development of children and adolescents was first stimulated by my educational work with pre-school children. Working with young children gave me the unique opportunity to observe the musical development of over a thousand children from the age of four to seven. These observations found their expression in my master?s thesis Introducing the pre-school child to music structure written under Dr hab. Wojciech Jankowski?s supervision. I pursued my interest in music development further under Professor Maria Manturzewska?s supervision and also during my internship at Keel University, England with Professor John Sloboda in 1994. When in England I was also able to present and consult my research program with Professors A. Kempe (Reading University), D. Hargreaves (University of Leicester) and G. Welch (Roehampton Institute, London).
The literature and empirical studies which I then conducted evolved into a description of developmental achievements in successive stages of human life, culminating in an attempt to formulate my own model of the determinants of musical development. My choice of research subjects was influenced by my experience in other lines of my research work. Contact with Kodály?s education theory inspired me to study the development and determinants of vocal competencies in children and adolescents and to present my findings in my postgraduate (habilitation) thesis. Kodály?s theory also encouraged me to study the general developmental functions of music. My experience with music psychometrics, in turn, determined my methodological preferences in my various research endeavours.
My research pursuits also broadened in response to current social pressures. I was one of the people invited to formulate an expert opinion on the state of general music education (this work was supervised by Professor Andrzej Rakowski, 1984) and to participate in a research program ”Training the music teacher” conducted by Professor Jerzy Kurcz (1996). For the sake of this latter project I began to pursue a new line of interest, i.e., musical attitudes, preferences and experiences in adolescents.
Social pressures and the results of my earlier research on the general developmental functions of music led me to focus attention on individuals with special health, psychological and educational needs. I also joined into the work initiated by the ”Music is for Everybody” Foundation (President: Violetta Labanov).
Our psychological understanding of human musical development is now quite rich and it is time to do our best to pass it on to teachers, parents and everybody who is responsible for the level of music culture in our society. This is why I try to popularise the most recent knowledge in this field whenever I can.

Selected publications in this area::

1976

Mozliwosci wprowadzenia dziecka przedszkolnego w strukture muzyki [Introducing the pre-school child to music structure]. In: Wychowanie w przedszkolu, 2, s. 83-86.

1986

Muzyka w szkolach ponadpodstawowych [Music in secondary schools]. In: Podstawowe uwarunkowania dostepu dzieci i mlodziezy do kultury muzycznej [The basic determinants of children and adolescents' access to music culture]. Report prepared in co-operation with J. Przybylski. Warszawa: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music.

1990

Rozwoj muzyczny czlowieka [Human musical development, co-author M. Manturzewska]. In: M. Manturzewska, H. Kotarska (Eds.), Wybrane zagadnienia z psychologii muzyki [Selected issues in the psychology of music]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne.

1993

Human Musical Development (co-author M. Manturzewska). In: Musik und Heilpädagogik. Festschrift fur Helmut Moog zum 65. Geburstag. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

1995

Badania nad rozwojem muzycznym czlowieka i ich znaczenie dla powszechnej edukacji muzycznej [Studies in human musical development and their significance for universal music education]. In: A. Bialkowski (Ed.), Wychowanie muzyczne. Stan badan a praktyka edukacyjna [Music education. State of research and educational practice]. Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej, pp. 189-198.

1995

The development of correct intonation in singing of children and young people. In: M. Manturzewska, K. Miklaszewski, A. Bialkowski (Eds.), Psychology of Music. Proceedings of the International Seminar of Researchers and Lecturers in the Psychology of Music. Radziejowice. Warszawa: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music, pp. 203-207.

1996

Factors determining correct intonation in singing of Polish children. Bulletin of the International Kodály Society, 2 (21), 27-30.

1997

Rozwoj muzyczny czlowieka jako przedmiot badan psychologicznych i refleksji pedagogicznych [Human music development as an object of psychological research and pedagogical reflection] (co-author Maria Manturzewska). In: J. Rostowski, T. Rostowska, J. Janicka (Eds.), Psychospoleczne aspekty rozwoju czlowieka [Psychosocial aspects of human development]. Lodz: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego.

1997

Kompetencje wokalne dzieci i mlodziezy - ich poziom, rozwoj i uwarunkowania [Children and adolescents' vocal competencies - their level, development and determinants]. Warszawa: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music (postgraduate - habilitation - thesis).

1998

Zaniedbany wymiar rozwoju czlowieka [A neglected dimension of human development] (co-author M. Manturzewska). In: M. Smoczynska (Ed.), Studia z psychologii rozwojowej i psycholingwistyki. Tom poswiecony pamieci Marii Przetacznik-Gierowskiej [Studies in developmental psychology and psycholonguistics. A volume in commemoration of Maria Przetacznik-Gierowska]. Krakow, UJ.

1999

The function of play in the musical development of the child. In: M. Jankowska (Ed.), Following Zoltan Kodaly in Poland. Warszawa: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music.

1999

Miejsce muzyki w zyciu mlodziezy [The place of music in the life of young people]. In: M. Manturzewska, M. Chmurzynska (Eds.), Psychologiczne podstawy ksztalcenia muzycznego [The psychological foundations of music education]. Warszawa: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music.

2000

Music in the life of Polish young people at the close of the 20th century. In: W. Jankowski, B. Kaminska, A. Miskiewicz (Eds.), Czlowiek - muzyka - psychologia [Man - music - psychology]. Warszawa: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music.

2001

Muzyczne potrzeby i przezycia mlodziezy. Psychologia Rozwojowa. Mlodziez i jej problemy we wspolczesnej rzeczywistosci [Young people's musical needs and experiences. Developmental Psychology. Young people and their problems in contemporary reality]. In: E. Gruba (Ed.), Sekcja Psychologii Rozwojowej Polskiego Towarzystwa Psychologicznego [The Developmental Psychology Section, Polish Psychological Association] Vol. 6, no. 3-4, pp. 443-452. Krakow.

2002

O potrzebie badan nad rozwojowymi funkcjami muzyki i wychowania muzycznego [On the need to study the developmental functions of music and music education]. In: J. K. Dadak-Kozicka, W. Jankowski (Eds.), Integrujace wartosci muzyki. [The integrative values of music]. Warszawa - Cieszyn: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music, Silesian University Branch].

2002

Sluchowe zdolnosci muzyczne - ewolucja pogladow w psychologii muzyki [Aural musical aptitude - an evolution of ideas concerning music psychology]. In: Narzad sluchu, jego funkcjonowanie i mozliwosci percepcji elementow muzycznych [The hearing organ, its functioning and potential for perception of music elements]. Conference proceedings. The Grazyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Music Academy, Lodz, pp. 33-41.

2002

Upodobania muzyczne - problemy i wyniki badan [Musical preferences - problems and research findings]. In: A. Bialkowski, B. Smolenska-Zielinska (Eds.), Blizej muzyki, blizej czlowieka [Closer to music, closer to man]. Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, pp. 233-252.

2006

Young people's musical attitudes, preferences and competencies in Poland. In: N. Bailer, M. Huber (Eds.). Young people - Music - Socialisation. Empirische Befunde und ihre Bedeutung für die Musikerziehung. Extempore 6. Universität fűr Music and darstellende Kunst Wien. Institut fűr Musiksoziologie, Vienna, pp. 39-52.

Opracowanie: Akademia Muzyczna im. Fryderyka Chopina