A hidden world of song: Spontaneous singing in the everyday lives of three- and four-year-old children at home

This study explores the spontaneous singing of three- and four-year-old children at home, with emphasis on how young children use singing in their everyday lives. Spontaneous singing pervades the everyday lives of young children and can provide insights into a child's musical and extra-musical experience at home. Although several studies have examined spontaneous singing in educational settings, young children's musical lives at home are rarely studied in detail. The home is a difficult space to access, and data collection methods often rely on parental reporting. As a result, some types of singing have been overlooked. Located within the sociocultural theoretical tradition, this thesis draws on and develops theories of musical agency to explore how children act musically to engage with others and manage their own experience. Audio data were collected using LENA all-day recording technology supplemented by semi-structured parental interviews. Over 183 hours of audio recording were collected from 15 children (7 boys, 8 girls), aged between 3:0 and 4:10 years (average age 3:8). The children were recorded for continuous periods during their normal everyday routines. The recordings contained more than nine hours of spontaneous singing in total. The data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis with an element of embedded numerical analysis. Interpretive analysis indicated that the children sang to act on themselves and manage social interactions. Spontaneous singing was used as a tool through which the children could realise personal and social agency and influence themselves and others. The children used different modes of singing in social and solitary contexts, demonstrating knowledge of culturally meaningful ways of singing. The home musical environment, and particularly parental singing, appeared to influence the way young children use singing in their everyday lives. This research used an innovative methodology to access young children’s singing in the home. The findings contribute to a greater understanding of young children’s musical behaviours and the home musical lives of young children. Further, the thesis provides an original contribution to the understanding of how young children use spontaneous singing as musical agents acting in and on the world around them. This research has educational implications relating to the way young children’s musicality is understood and encouraged and the importance of music in young children’s lives

Editorial

Frequently marginalised and maligned, the arts in education are often positioned as a nice-to-have “extra” for students but not academically vital or significant (Ross, 1975). However, as artificial intelligence replaces the traditional workforce in numerous industries, creativity, and the arts, often seen as a conduit for creativity, have attracted renewed interest. Many educators consider the arts essential for their ability to engage and activate responsive critical thinking, possibility thinking and develop flexible learners ready to adapt to an unknown job market. National and international research documents the transformative potential of embedding quality arts processes and learning experiences across the curriculum (Biesta, 2013; Catterall, 2009; Ewing & Saunders, 2018). Recent enthusiasm for 21st-century skills has seen the arts welcomed into STE(A)M (science, technology, engineering, arts, and maths) education as part of a drive to remain economically competitive in an increasingly automated world (Geisinger, 2016; Land, 2013)

Growing up arty: Exploring children's experiences in Baycourt Community & Arts Centre. Phase one research report.

This project was a collaboration between Tauranga City Council and the University of Waikato to explore the role Tauranga’s principal performing arts venue, Baycourt Community & Arts Centre (Baycourt) has played in children’s lives. The overall aim of the project is to understand the relationship between Baycourt and young people in Tauranga Moana. The project addresses arts, identity, belonging, inclusion, community, and cultural citizenship in relation to children, Baycourt and the city. Of the 76 people who responded to a survey, 53 had experienced Baycourt as a child or young person. 13 people took part in either individual or focus group interviews about their childhood experiences in Baycourt. Their memories provide rich insights into the importance of having a city theatre that is accessible for children. The key themes identified are: schools as pathways to Baycourt; feeling a sense of belonging; performance identities; and lasting and transformative childhood experiences. We end the report by highlighting the importance of Baycourt for children as a place ‘of becoming’: a performer; adult; and cultural citizen. Overwhelmingly, Baycourt provides a place where positive and transformative relationships and connections are made between children, adults, schools, communities, and the city

Young children, solitude and singing: self-directed singing and personal agency in three- and four-year-old children at home

This article uses explores how young children use self-directed spontaneous singing at home as a tool of personal agency. Although researchers are increasingly interested in spontaneous singing that takes place outside formal education and care settings, there remains little research into young children’s self-directed singing at home. With improvements in recording technology, it is now possible to continuously record children’s singing. Listening to and analysing singing that takes place when children are alone – and which would otherwise go unnoticed by adults – is a new development in the field of music and children studies. Fifteen children aged from 3:0 to 4:10 years were recorded at home using a continuous recording device and self-directed spontaneous singing was analysed using an interpretive framework of musical agency. The children used self-directed singing as a tool of personal agency to structure their experiences and to manage the self

Editorial

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Children learning to sing in everyday family life in minority world homes

In this chapter we adopt an anthropological perspective to explain the capacities young children ‎possess, which enable them to learn to sing through participation in everyday, family activities. ‎We then present recent research that has explored young children’s singing practices in family life ‎at home, organizing these practices into four types: sing-along, sociable, solitary and smooth-‎running. Although these descriptions are confined to one type of contemporary, minority world ‎childhood, they may illuminate similar processes in the lives of children beyond this narrow ‎demographic and may suggest some additional approaches to singing in educational ‎practice

Music programs for young children during the COVID-19 pandemic: Stories from across the world

The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affected education and services geared toward young children and families, including early childhood music programs. While some programs were shut down, others were able to migrate to online formats and outdoor offerings (where allowed). Early childhood music programs are usually collective, with babies and young children often sharing and exploring common spaces, instruments, and props. These programs are also heavily based on singing, a behavior that is celebrated by early childhood specialists for its emotional expressiveness, communicative potential, and relevance for child development. Because the coronavirus can be transmitted via aerosol particles, singing became highly unsafe during the pandemic. Other challenges arose as early childhood music education programs were transferred into new formats, ranging from issues of logistics and access to technology to adherence to everchanging local and national policies, as well as cultural beliefs and behaviors. In this chapter, teachers, researchers, and program directors offer stories of adaptation and resilience in varied early childhood music programs in Kenya, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Brazil, South Korea, and the United States. Accounts are presented first, followed by their juxtaposition, to reveal common themes and implications for early childhood music education in the post-COVID era

Structural characterization of novel ionic salts incorporating trihalide anions

The crystal structures of several low-melting salts containing trihalide ions, namely 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tribromide ([C2mim][Br3]), 1-ethyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium tribromide ([C2mpyr][Br3]), and 1-propyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium triiodide ([C3mpyr][I3]), are reported for the first time. Thermal analysis reveals that the tribromide salts are lower-melting than their monohalide analogues. Analysis of the crystal structures allows examination of the influence of the anions on the physical properties of the salts.<br /