Introduction. This paper deals with the phenomenon of musical aptitude in senior preschool children, and new ways of its detection. The purpose of this work is to offer techniques for early detection of this personal quality in the course of art activities.
Methods. Research methods were bases on ideas of identifying the child as gifted (J. Renzulli, A. Gesser, K. Heller, F. Monks, K. Eriksson, A. I. Savenkov, D.B. Bogoyavlenskaya, V. D. Shadrikov, A.А. Nikitin, M. Storfer, E.I. Shcheblanova and others), the concept of the “Art-composition” educational technology as a resource for art education (L.Y. Kalinina), research data on aspects of art activities by senior preschool students of the “Creativity” non-school education center in Samara.
Structure of the Study. A hypothesis based on the obtained data predicts that it is possible to identify a talent in the course of art activities in the early stages. An approach to the testing of the hypothesis was developed, the key role in which has the “Art-composition” educational technology: a conclusion about the presence of a talent can be drawn from the results of the child’s creative performance, and the evaluation of the products of their activity using special criteria.
Results. The study describes experience of encouraging creativity in senior preschool children in classes with elements of art-composition. To improve the arsenal of means for early identifying of talent we offered diagnostic tools that are applicable in a natural learning environment. General activities of a teacher aimed at revealing musical aptitude in senior preschool children in the course of teaching art-composition were described.
Conclusions. Authors present an easy-to-use methodology that makes it possible to “indicate” the presence of musical aptitude in senior preschool children based on generalization of the theory and work experiences.