Exploring and expanding upon current understandings of early childhood music education, this book provides a much-needed response to the rapid social, cultural and technological developments affecting children's experience of music today. Critical New Perspectives in Early Childhood Musicreturns to the core question of how children engage, participate, and learn through music, and how we are to best harness musical resources to their benefit. Chapters move beyond conservative or traditional models of practice and draw upon new and emerging insights from the fields of childhood studies, neuroscience, psychology and sociology. In-depth analysis of research and real examples from practice illustrate the strengths and possible shortcomings of each approach and acknowledge the diverse impacts of digitisation, increased child autonomy, intensive parenting practices, and cultural and economic diversity on the child's experience of music. An invaluable theoretical overview of current thinking in relation to contemporary musical childhoods, this book will support and challenge students and early childhood music educators as they rethink practice for the present day.

Exploring and expanding upon current understandings of early childhood music education, this book provides a much-needed response to the rapid social, cultural and technological developments affecting children’s experience of music today. Critical New Perspectives in Early Childhood Music returns to the core question of how children engage, participate and learn through music, and how we are to best harness musical resources to their benefit. Chapters move beyond conservative or traditional models of practice and draw upon new and emerging insights from the fields of childhood studies, neuroscience, psychology and sociology. In-depth analysis of research and real examples from practice illustrate the strengths and possible shortcomings of each approach and acknowledge the diverse impacts of digitisation, increased child autonomy, intensive parenting practices, and cultural and economic diversity on the child’s experience of music. An invaluable theoretical overview of current thinking in relation to contemporary musical childhoods, this book will support and challenge students and early childhood music educators as they rethink practice for the present day.

This book examines four main areas of music in early childhood: the traditions of music for young children, their capacities for music, the way they make music with others, and constructed and mediated musical childhoods. It studies several themes in detail, including music making in the home and family life, various musical experiences in schools, day cares, and the community at large in several locations around the globe. It looks at technology and diverse musical repertoires, as well as innovative pedagogies, children’s agency, and brain research. Expanding on the knowledge bases on which early childhood music education typically draws, the book brings together contributions from a range of authors from diverse fields such as education, psychology, sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, philosophy, ethnomusicology, and the neurosciences. The end result is a volume that offers a broad and contemporary picture of music in early childhood.

This book focuses on the importance and role of adults in promoting music in the early years. Designed to promote the idea of the value of music in the early childhood years, the research discussed in this book explores the experiences of a number of adults working with children from birth to age 8. The initiatives discussed in this work all focus on adults who have encouraged the development of musical identities ranging from music in the home, to musical play in the preschool years, preparing a performance with children, and programs for disadvantaged groups that use music as a communicative tool. Each chapter will start with a description of the particular setting and the protagonists’ specific skills and interests and how they came to be working with young children. Themes for the chapters have emerged from the videos and interviews conducted and consist of both reflective and affective experience. The themes include musical background, the adults' own stories, theories of childhood, and pedagogy and philosophy.

In early childhood, the most important period of learning and human development, young children often achieve developmental milestones in a short time. Learning from Young Children: Research in Early Childhood Music presents research on the importance of fostering musical growth during this period. These studies discuss: · applying brain research to young children's musical growth · music in the home and child-care contexts · musical characteristics of the young child · language acquisition as a lens on music learning · music as a foundation for communication · parental conceptions of the role of music in early childhood · music as a pathway for building community · using music to elicit vocalizations in children with special needs With research designs ranging from statistical, mixed methods, survey, content analysis, and case study, to philosophical inquiry, this book will help practitioners base their practice in research and offers a wide range of information for scholars and researchers studying early childhood music learning and development.

Investigation of the role of music in early life and learning has been somewhat fragmented, with studies being undertaken within a range of fields with little apparent conversation across disciplinary boundaries, and with an emphasis on pre-schoolers' and school-aged childrens' learning and engagement. The Oxford Handbook of Early Childhood Learning and Development in Music brings together leading researchers in infant and early childhood cognition, music education, music therapy, neuroscience, cultural and developmental psychology, and music sociology to interrogate questions of how our capacity for music develops from birth, and its contributions to learning and development. Researchers in cultural psychology and sociology of musical childhoods investigate those factors that shape children's musical learning and development and the places and spaces in which children encounter and engage with music. These issues are complemented with consideration of the policy environment at local, national and global levels in relation to music early learning and development and the ways in which these shape young children's music experiences and opportunities. The volume also explores issues of music provision and developmental contributions for children with Special Education Needs, children living in medical settings and participating in music therapy, and those living in sites of trauma and conflict. Consideration of these environments provides a context to examine music learning and development in family, community and school settings including general and specialized school environments. Authors trace the trajectories of development within and across cultures and settings and in that process identify those factors that facilitate or constrain children's early music learning and development.

The Handbook of Research on the Education of Young Children is the essential reference on research on early childhood education throughout the world. This outstanding resource provides a comprehensive research overview of important contemporary issues as well as the information necessary to make knowledgeable judgments about these issues. Now in its fourth edition, this handbook features all new sections on social emotional learning, non-cognitive assessment, child development, early childhood education, content areas, teacher preparation, technology, multimedia, and English language learners. With thorough updates to chapters and references, this new edition remains the cutting-edge resource for making the field’s extensive knowledge base readily available and accessible to researchers and educators. It is a valuable resource for all of those who work and study in the field of early childhood education including researchers, educators, policy makers, librarians, and school administrators. This volume addresses critical, up-to-date research on several disciplines such as child development, early childhood education, psychology, curriculum, teacher preparation, policy, evaluation strategies, technology, and multimedia exposure.