Considering the modern education structures, it is remarkable that “values education” is considered to be a very important part in educational programs of many countries such as United States of America, England, Australia, India and China. Therefore, values education is supported with special projects and transferred through various activities (Halstead and Taylor, 2005; Gulati and Pant, 2013; Law and Ho, 2004; Ho, 2006). The reason of this importance attached to values education can be considered as the fact that humanitarian values are rapidly tarnished throughout the world and societies endeavor to protect their value systems against this destruction.

Being in a dynamic and continuous evolvement within historical process, nations transfer their social and cultural values to the next generations by protecting them for ages. However, while the interaction between individuals and societies increases rapidly as per the relationships established between teachers and students" (Halstead and Taylor, 2005). The school environment is one of the only places where values are learnt through both official and implied programs (Tunca and Sa?lam, 2013) via teachers.  The Ministry of National Education issued a circular note to show these institutions how to perform values education in schools and thus revealed the importance attached to this issue (Yaman, 2012). This circular note (MoNE, 2010) indicated that why the values education is needed and which values should be acquired. In an article attached to the same circular note includes a list of recommendations on the possible activities to be conducted on values education (Yaman, 2012). At this point, activities in Article 5 and 15 related to “Creating environments where teacher, students and other school personnel can exhibit their skills on music, theatre, poetry etc. and rewarding the skills” and “organizing concerts including songs on love, peace, help and solidarity" are especially remarkable. In these articles, the educational functions of songs are emphasized within the scope of exhibition aspect of the music.

Music has educational characteristics by its nature. Education functions of music have four different types as follows: Being educational dimension, being educational instrument, being educational method/way and being education area [u1] (Uçan, 1996). Music is a significant factor in formal education with all these functions.

According to a study conducted by Kaymakcan and Meydan (2012), the following activities are conducted school-wide in conjunction with music within the framework of values education; “creating music tracks, lyrics and composition of which are produced by students under the guidance of teachers”, “having choir studies or adding songs based on values into choir studies”, “teaching the value of the month as integrated with all course subjects and make children perform video clip, song, drama activities including the value of the month”. All these activities can be performed in all schools. However, it is with no doubt that teaching values in every suitable environment and course will ensure continuous and permanent education rather than giving values education with separate activities. Therefore, teaching values through songs especially in music courses enables students to learn these values easily, to internalize them and to transfer these values to the next generations. However, it is thought that while choosing current music textbooks, values are not taken into the consideration sufficiently. In addition, it has been seen that there are different approaches considering the values that will be added according to the class level. The question of “what values should and should not be included in music textbooks” can only be answered by conducting a systematic analysis.

In the literature review, it can be seen that many studies have been conducted on values education(Dilmaç and Ek?i, 2007; Merey et al., 2012; Muwati and Mutasa, 2008). In addition, it can be found that there are some studies conducted in order to investigate the coursebooks. One of these studies is the investigation of Turkish coursebooks in respect with values conducted by Belet and Deveci (2008). In this study, ten themes were determined and the texts in Turkish coursebooks were analyzed. Another study is the investigation of Social Sciences coursebook in respect with values education conducted by Ersoy and ?ahin (2012). In this study, activities towards values education in Social Sciences coursebooks of 6^th and 7^th grades of primary school were investigated in terms of approaches towards values education. Although no published study was found on the investigation of music textbooks in the literature, research conducted on the compositions of educational music were found (Bulut, 2011; Sa?er and Karagöz, 2011; Bar?? and Çaydere, 2011). All these studies approached music education from different perspectives within the scope of values education and made great contributions to in-depth analysis of this subject. The present study differs from other studies previously conducted as it analyzes the songs selected from music coursebooks used in the first stage of primary schools in terms of their distribution by values and conducts content analysis of the lyrics; determines the overlap between these songs and values; brings song recommendations towards values determined by means of scanning the music books available to the researcher. For all these lessons, it is believed that the present study is important to the literature. The basis of this study is to determine which values are included to what extent in different types of educational music in music coursebooks of the first stage of primary schools.  Following questions were answered within the scope of this research; “Which types are included in educational music taking part in coursebooks by grade levels?”, “Which values are included in educational music taking part in coursebooks by grade levels?”

 

Study model

This study, which is done for determining the values in songs that are chosen to be in music textbooks, has been designed as a descriptive survey model. During data collection, data analyzing and data interpreting processes as well as document review examination, which is one of qualitative research methods, are used. Document review analyzes written materials that include facts on the relative study (Y?ld?r?m and ?im?ek, 2006).

 

Paradigm

The sample of this study consists of 92 educational music that are in 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd  and  4^th  grade  textbooks  determined  by  Ministry  of National Education, Board of Education and Discipline, for 2013-2014 academic year with decision date of 07.03.2012 and number 1397. All educational music in textbooks is included in the study.

 

Data collection tool and data analysis

In this study, two types of control lists are developed  for collecting data. For the study, first values are determined within the scope of elementary level. In the evaluation process of elementary school curriculum, it has been found that values may vary based on level of classes (Life Sciences, Social Studies, Music, Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge…) and there is no classification for classes according to class levels. Therefore, values are taken from the circular note with number 2010/53, which is published by Ministry of National Education Values Education Council and Commissions for procedures and principles of establishment, operation, mission, authority and responsibilities need to remain same and correct in all schools and from “Values Education” books that are written according to this circular and belongs to Provincial and District Education Directorates. [u1] In this study, the values are respect, hygiene, love, kindness, hardworking, patience, solidarity, hospitality, responsibility, self-confidence, tolerance, cooperation, prudence, patriotism, honesty, mercy, ethics, peace, modesty, honor, susceptibility, open hearted, loyalty and generosity. After determining these values, another control list is created for encoding that which values are involved in which class book. You may see an example of the list in Table 1.

 

Lyrics of music regardless the music notes are written down and presented to a teacher, who has an experience in this field for more than 20 years, and 8 academicians, who are experts in Music Education, Turkish Education and Drama. Experts marked the value of each word to collection tool by using the control list provided in Table 1. Data are checked and controlled by the researcher and written down in collecting tool shown in Table 2. Researcher and 3 experts determined the genres of the music and put them down into the control list. The data collection tool created is used for determining the frequency of values that are found with analyzing the lyrics and music genres in accordance with the level of classes. A sample of collecting tool is presented in Table 2.

 

 

This section includes results of the investigation conducted on educational music in music textbooks of 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th grades of primary school within the scope of values education and the quotations cited from the songs, folk songs, marches, counting rhymes and tongue twisters determined. The values covered in educational music in the analyzed music textbooks and the frequency of these values are interpreted and shown in tables. The values shown in these tables are supported by quoting directly from the books analyzed.

 

Distributions of educational music in books by types

According to the analysis on primary school music textbooks, it was found that each book has educational music in different types in accordance with the level of the related grade. Distributions of marches, folk songs, counting rhymes and tongue twisters in music textbooks are presented in Table 3 by grade levels. 

 

 

According to Table 3, a total of 69 songs, 4 marches, 5 folk songs, 14 counting rhymes and tongue twisters take part in music textbooks used in primary school. According to the analysis of educational music by grade level, it was found that first grade textbooks have 19 songs, 6 counting rhymes; while second grade has 14 songs, 1 folk song, 1 counting rhyme; third grade has 15 songs, 1 march, 2 folk songs, 3 counting rhymes and tongue twisters and fourth grade has 21 songs, 3 march, 2 folk songs, 4 counting rhymes and tongue twisters, respectively. In addition, there are 92 educational music as 25 in the first grade, 16 in the second grade, 21 in the third grade and 30 in the fourth grade, respectively. According to the information provided in these tables, it is remarkable that the number of educational music in grade levels are not homogenous. It is assumed that this result arises from the fact that theoretical information is given more in grades which include less educational music compared to other grades. In addition, the lack of Turkish Music Songs for Children and few inclusions of folk songs in the first stage of primary education are also some other facts regarding the educational music in these grades.

 

Distributions of values in books by grades

Considering the basis of the analysis conducted on educational music in music textbooks in the first stage of primary education institutions in terms of values education, the values taking part in books and their frequency by grade levels are presented in Table 4. Educational music in the analyzed books takes part in the table as they include other values than those given in primary school.

 

 

As it can be seen in Table 4, there are 8 values in educational music given in the first grade, which is followed by second grade with 12 values, third grade with 7 values and fourth grade with 6 values, respectively. In this table, it is very remarkable that the number of values detected in songs unexpectedly decreases as the grade level increases. In addition, it is remarkable that there is no educational music about patience and hospitality values and "cleaning, goodness and solidarity" values are emphasized once during four years.

According to Table 5, distribution of  "love"  value  is 28.38% and it is the most used value within all grades. This is followed by "patriotism" value with 21.62% and "fidelity" value with 12.16%, respectively. The "responsibility" value has a distribution rate of 6.76% followed by "respect" with 5.41% and "diligence" with 4.05%, respectively. "Friendship, sensibility, being honorable" values have distribution rate of 2.70% followed by "cleaning, goodness, solidarity, tolerance, morality" values with 1.35%. No educational music contains "being patient, hospitality, humbleness, generosity, affection, trueness, mercy, being fair, honesty" values.

 

 

Findings of the first grade textbooks

In the first grade textbook, the most frequently mentioned value in educational music at the first grade level is "love" with a rate of 35.48%, which is followed by "patriotism" value with a rate of 25.81%. "Love, diligence and fidelity" values encountered 3 times in the songs have a rate of 9.68%. Tolerance, sharing and cooperation values are taught once with the rate of 3.23%. In addition, there was no song about "trueness, solidarity, friendship, help, responsibility, sensibility, peace, being honorable and self-confidence" values in the textbooks. Furthermore, no song towards teaching these values directly was found in the analysis. However, it was found that some expressions in lyrics consolidated these values.

For example, the first song titled "What do I have?" in the first grade coursebook is about animal love and tolerance. We can make this interference from the following lyrics: "I have a dog, woof woof woof, calling me, calling me, I never get angry, I never leave". Love and tolerance are among the first values taught in the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd grades. The first song on this issue in the coursebooks is consistent with the objectives of values education. The second song detected is "Bazaar Place" makes references to the diligence with these lyrics: "People in the bazaar place, they wander, wander, they work and work to sell fruits". Another song about diligence is "Beautiful Bee". The diligence value can be inferred from these lyrics: "Happy bees flying in the country, they perch on colorful flowers; they work continuously to make honey for us". The tongue twister titled "Play Ball" in the course book is taught with a game and especially the lyrics "Take it brother/sister, my honey brother/sister, I get tired, you play it" and giving ball to another friend teach sharing value. The song titled "Snowman" is about a snowman made by students together at school and its lyrics like "give the scarf, take the scarf, where is the broom, there is the broom... our work is done, our garden is beautiful now" narrate cooperation value very well.

The song titled "We are the children of Republic" teaches fidelity value and at the same time the love for Atatürk, founder of Republic of Turkey, diligence and patriotism values with its lyrics like "We are the flowers of Republic, our seed is to work...We love Atatürk...we follow his path...". Similarly, songs titled "Me on November Tenth", "23rd April, "My Dearest Atatürk", "Atatürk's Flowers", "I Love Atatürk", "Atatürk in the Picture", "The Sun Arising from Samsun" teach love for Atatürk and patriotism subjects and songs titled "Atatürk's Flowers" and "Atatürk in the Picture" consolidate respect and fidelity values. The last song analyzed in the coursebook is "My Teacher", which consolidates love for teacher and emphasizes respect value replacing parents with teacher.

 

Analysis of second grade textbook

In the second grade textbooks, the most frequently taught value in educational music at second grade level is "love"

with a rate of 16.67%. This is followed by "fidelity, patriotism, responsibility and sensibility” values with a frequency rate of 11.11%. "Goodness, solidarity, friend-ship, help, peace, being honorable and self-confidence" values encountered once in songs have the rate of 5.56%. No song contains "respect, cleaning, diligence, being patient, hospitality, tolerance, sharing, cooperation, prudence, morality, honesty, mercy etc." values.

Various songs take part in the second grade music course books towards various objectives. The song titled "Our School" that we found after the songs titled "What are there in bazaar?" and "Red Fish" was written by Ahmet Muhtar Ataman and it is among the first songs that are learned by almost every Turkish child and through which the love for school is adopted as a value in life. The song titled "Halay" takes attention to an action performed in cooperation socially with its lyrics: "come next to me, take my arm...give your hand, take the hanky". Children at the age group between 6-9 years old corresponding to the beginning years of primary school education frequently play regular games in small groups, they can attach to rules strictly or may experience team spirit by the nature of their social characteristics. There-fore, we can say that the song consolidates the friendship value as it prompts group games in these ages and encourages team to be more dedicated through peer education. The song titled "Red Crescent" in the course book teaches solidarity and help awareness through Red Crescent with the following lyrics: "you succor in case of earthquake, fires; you do so not only in peace but also at war". The song also introduces and praises Red Crescent. The lyrics "it is such a great happiness to help others by giving blood" takes attention to solidarity and helpfulness once again and also narrates responsibility, sensibility and goodness values. The song titled "Domestic Good" narrates patriotism, responsibility and sensibility values and its lyrics "let's eat domestic good, let's wear domestic good, let's buy domestic good, let's sell domestic good, let's produce domestic good, let's consume domestic good" supports the use of domestic goods. The song titled "forest" impresses environment love being a sub-dimension of love value with its expression "how beautiful is the forest" in the chorus describing the forest. The song titled "April 23^rd" in the course book narrates peace, patriotism, being honorable and fidelity values with its lyrics like "this is the most honorable and the happiest day" and "today is a gift from our Father, otherwise you'd be prisoner, believe it". Another remarkable song of the book is "Atatürk". This study clearly narrates the Ataturk's self-confidence and his trust to Turkish Nation with the lyrics "he built the army which frightens the enemy. He said this is our country and we are powerful. He defeated the enemy and gave this beautiful country to us". At this point, we can say that  this  song  includes  self-confidence  value.  The song titled "Longing to Father" includes love and fidelity values with its lyrics as follows: "you are in my heart, in my veins, you are the blood running to the eternity...November Tenth is my biggest mourning".

 

Analysis of the third grade textbook

In the third grade textbook, the most frequently taught value in educational music at the third grade level is "fidelity and patriotism" with a rate of 23.08% followed by "love and responsibility" values with a rate of 15.38%, respectively. The values of “cleaning, friendship and morality" encountered once in songs with a rate of 7.69%. In addition, no song about "respect, goodness, diligence, being patient, solidarity, hospitality, tolerance, sharing, cooperation, help, prudence, honesty etc." values was found. For example, the first song that we encountered in the third grade music lesson is "This Country" consolidates patriotism value with its lyrics "this is a very beautiful country with its air, sea and forest". The song titled "Game" impresses "friendship" value with its lyrics "let's go to garden and play, let's hold hand and laugh always".

The song titled "Atabar?" contains the value of “fidelity” as it reminds and sustains a folk dance, which Atatürk loved with its lyrics as "We have Atabar? which is an inheritance from our Father" The "Republic Anthem" in the coursebook includes “morality, patriotism and fidelity” values as stated in the lyrics "It is an inheritance from my Father, the best administration way is Republic" has the meaning of protecting the inheritance. The song "Praise to Tree" impresses nature love and emphasizes the value of “love”. The song titled "Mr. Microbe" teaches cleaning and responsibility values with its lyrics as "I eat my food this way, I drink my milk this way, I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, I wash my hands this way...I brush my teeth, I sleep early".

The song titled "Playing Traffic" contains the value of “responsibility” taking attention to the traffic rules with its lyrics "the red is on, let's wait and do not pass. Yellow is on, let's wait and do not pass. Green is on, do not wait and let's pass quickly". The song titled "I love Atatürk" consolidates the patriotism value through love for Atatürk and "Atatürk's Flowers" attracts attention [u1] with its lyrics "At every festival, we ornament your beautiful picture; we take oath and mention your name every day". The song narrates student's fidelity to Atatürk by remembering the school oath. In this sense, the song includes the value of “fidelity”.

 

Analysis of fourth grade textbook

In the fourth grade textbook,  the  most  frequently  taught value in educational music at the fourth grade level is "love" with a rate of 41.67% followed by "patriotism" value with the frequency rate of 25%, respectively. Lyrics related to "respect, fidelity, responsibility and being honorable" values encountered once in songs have a rate of 8.33%. In addition, no song about "cleaning, goodness, diligence, being patient, solidarity, hospitality, tolerance, sharing, cooperation, help, prudence, honesty, morality, mercy etc." values was found. In many songs, values may not be expressed directly and they still take part within the scope of values education as teachers teach sub-dimensions of values.

For example, the song titled "Little Sapling" contains the value of “love” with the sub-dimension of love of nature with its lyrics; “Be careful when you play, do not break my branch...never tear my leaf, do not hurt me. I will be pencil, notebook for you...I will blossom flowers and be fruit if you raise me”. The song titled "I wish I were a cloud" in the book narrates love value by teaching the feeling of love for our country with its lyrics "What a cute county is that! What a beautiful country is that! With its sea, sun and air..." The song "In my Country" teaches the love of forest and the song titled "My Cute Dog" impresses the feeling of love for animals. Both songs consolidate love value. The song "Republic" includes the value of fidelity with its lyrics "You are the biggest inheritance from my Gazi"; song "My Flag" includes the value of patriotism and respect to flag values with its lyrics "You are mine, you are everything to me...a thousand of salutes to you". The song titled "Youth Anthem" sung by children and the young for generations with a great love narrates country love and so patriotism with its lyrics "Where else you can find this sky, sea, mountain and these stones? These trees and beautiful birds, let's walk my friends". The song titled "Children of Atatürk" contains the values of “reasonability, patriotism and being honorable” with its lyrics "We are the children of Atatürk and the hopes of our country...with our head high and barefaced...we watch horizons... We, children of Atatürk love people; we carry the future filled with love inside us...How happy is the one who is Turk, how happy I am".

In this study, the educational music in music textbooks of 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th grades of primary education was investigated. According to the research data, a total of 92 educational music as 69 songs, 4 marches, 5 folk songs, 14 counting rhymes and tongue twisters take part in the music textbooks. The lack of Turkish Music Songs for Children and few inclusions of folk songs in the textbooks of the first degree of primary education indicate that the musical values of  our  own  culture  are  not  used  at  all. 

However, the application of principles from concrete to abstract, from plain to complex, from easy to hard, from known to unknown, from close to further and from environment to universe is very important in music education (Günay and Uçan, 1974). The results of an experimental study conducted by Nompula (2011) on the children of Xhosa in South Africa supports this view. Nompula concluded that the use of local songs rather than European children songs in music curriculum results in more positive development for children and the aims are fulfilled more rapidly and comfortably. Ho (2002) reported that Chinese children prefer Chinese folk songs and Chinese classic vocal music compared to other types.

No matter where they live, children take a step forward for music education with the tunes they hear around and they will own, sustain and transfer the musical experience of their own culture to the next generations. Therefore, it is very important to include Turkish art music children songs and folk songs in suitable level while preparing the repertoire of educational music. The primary education period is very important for physical, cognitive, personal and moral development. In this period, children acquire attitudes towards themselves, interpersonal relationship enriches by social development, they acquire personal independency and conscience and values system develop (Erden and Akman, 2001). In such an important development period, educational music that emphasizes the value itself and its sub-dimensions should be focused on and the targets of music course should be fulfilled by means of these songs. As children of this period take part in concrete actions, they are incapable of establishing abstract and reasonable links between events and phenomenon (Erden and Akman, 2001). Therefore, it is assumed that the inclusion of values in songs during music courses offered by teachers and analysis of lyrics in classroom with different methods and techniques will help students to adopt these values.

The analysis of values at grade level is a very important subject that should be well-planned. Ho (2006) reported that values should be determined clearly by the analysis within the scope of musical culture and national identity and they should take part in the music curriculum. Solomons and Fataar (2011) reported that it has been expected from values education to prepare children for more active citizenship and therefore, the curriculum should be consistent with these expectations. In this regard, determination of values take part at various grade levels by specialists in accordance with the develop-mental characteristics of children and their grade levels and preparation of textbooks comprising educational music, which include the determined values, are very important. It is believed that the textbooks prepared this way will facilitate educators to select songs and will make great contribution to values education.

According to the analysis of music textbooks offered in Turkey in the first stage of primary education, it was found that there are educational music containing the values of "love, respect, self-confidence, solidarity, help, peace, cooperation, morality, cleaning, goodness, diligence, friendship, responsibility, patriotism, tolerance, fidelity, sharing, sensibility and being honorable etc."; however, no educational song containing the value of "affection, mercy, honesty, generosity, trueness, prudence, being patient, being fair, hospitality and humbleness" was found. The reason of this finding could be assumed as the fact that values education is given generally in "Life Sciences" and "Social Sciences" courses and it is not generalized in other courses. However, humanitarian values (Dilmaç, 2002) such as "self-analysis, generosity, friendship, internal happiness, being patient, patience, courage, responsibility, gratitude, unity, optimism, sharing, respect, love, peace, tolerance, humbleness, honesty, intimacy, cooperation, trueness, self-respect and respect to environment, affection, empathy, non-violent life, self-control and happiness" are the concepts that can be taught well through songs. We have seen very interesting results based on analyzing the values detected in educational music. For example, "respect" value can be seen only in the first and fourth grades while "cleaning" value is included only in the third grade. The values of "goodness, solidarity and help" as well as "self-confidence", which is very important for children in this age group, are mentioned only once. In a chapter of the thesis prepared by Göher (2006), the topics included in 1000 Turkish songs for children and 1000 Western songs for children were analyzed and two groups were compared with each other. In this research, a total of 30 topic titles were determined. Accordingly, it was found that "country love" theme is the most frequently used topic in Turkish songs for children, generally followed by “love” theme. Songs about animals and seasons-months-days are the third most commonly used song groups in Turkish songs for children. Nature-forest, tongue twisters, friendship-love are other frequently used topics that are mentioned in these songs. This finding is consistent with the present research and it is comprehended that the first and second ranks belong to the values of "love and patriotism".

A powerful personal and social self-control should be obtained in order to transfer national, spiritual and universal values to the next generations. In this sense, it has been assumed that arranging curriculum within the scope of values for different ages and grade levels, determination of the method, techniques to be used and activities to be performed towards values and determining how values will be included in textbooks by a commission consisting of child development specialists, psychologist and sociologists will make great contribution to education.

The author has not declared any conflict of interests.