International Journal of Music in Early Childhood - Volume 19, Issue 1-2, 2024

Early childhood music offerings often fall under two categories described as either philanthropically funded projects intended to reach underserved communities or tuition-dependent classes offered to parent–child dyads. The cost, time commitment and energy required for both children and parents to participate in these classes is similar to the cost, time commitment and energy associated with intensive parenting. Of the organizations that provide tuition-dependent classes in the United States, several companies provide opportunities to those interested in operating an early childhood music franchise (ECMF). The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between US geographic locations (as indicated by zip codes) with ECMFs and the capacity to intensively parent. The following questions guided our inquiry: (1) to what degree do those living in geographic areas where ECMFs are located reflect the income, education, age, race, ethnicity and urbanicity associated with intensive parenting? and (2) to what extent do these characteristics align with national averages? Of the 41,618 total zip codes in the United States, we found 1362 zip codes with at least one ECMF. In those 1362 zip codes, median family income, educational achievement and a combined measure of educational achievement, income and employment in professional or executive positions were all statistically significantly higher than national averages. There were more people under the age of 50 than the national average, and although the areas were overwhelmingly more urban than rural, the race/ethnicity of those living in these areas was less diverse than typically found in urban areas. Results indicated that ECMFs in the United States are located in areas with households that share the attributes of those likely to practice intensive parenting.

This article explores the views of kindergarten in-service and student teachers in Greece regarding the potential impact of music, particularly in strengthening the emotional and social development of children. Despite the growing interest in integrating arts, particularly music, into education to enhance children’s emotional and social competence, it seems that although teachers recognize the benefits of music to their personal lives, they are rather reluctant to incorporate music into their everyday classroom practice to the extent one might anticipate. The study of their responses yields important insights, particularly with regard to existing prevalent preconceptions that often influence or define music education practices, revealing certain limitations of psychologically oriented thinking and leading to the identification of about certain gaps in music educational research. It remains unclear how developments in the field of psychology of music can be effectively integrated into music education research and subsequently applied in a more planned and purposeful manner in practice.

Gordon’s Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA) (1986) measures the developmental music aptitude of primary elementary students. The purpose of the current pilot study was to (1) determine if our procedures and analyses were feasible and (2) reveal preliminary results regarding the reliability of the online PMMA with kindergartners. Two teachers administered the PMMA across five weeks to participants (n = 68). Overall, raw scores were higher for paper versions of the tonal (M = 28.12, SD = 4.86) and rhythm subtests (M = 27.54, SD = 4.95) than the online version subtests (Mtonal = 26.28, SD = 5.16; Mrhythm = 23.43, SD = 4.39). Using parallel-form reliability, we found that the paper and online versions of the PMMA were weakly to moderately associated (r = 0.24–0.46). Regarding the feasibility of our testing procedures, we found that they were mostly appropriate, albeit problematic for kindergarteners and their teachers administering the PMMA. Our preliminary interpretation of the pilot study results indicated that the online version of the PMMA may not be a feasible alternative option for kindergartners due to problematic reliability and internal validity concerns including instrumentation and environment. The full study will include kindergarten, first- and second-grade children.

The following is a report on the 2024 International Convention of the Early Childhood Music & Movement Association (ECMMA). This report includes a discussion of the reasoning behind the convention theme and subthemes, a description of the location of the convention, a summary of the various partnerships and sponsorships that helped to fund the convention, and an overview of convention sessions with a particular focus on the headliner presenters. The authors conclude with an encouragement to look forward to the next convention and for readers of this report to consider attending and assisting in the logistics of the next convention.

This article discusses the concept of children’s cultures as a driving axis for understanding active listening in music education. It builds on the assumption that meaningful learning in music listening depends on a creative bodily musical play centred on movement in educational contexts, which is directly linked to the diverse ways in which children relate to their daily musical experiences. The text focuses on a theoretical approach, converging the concepts of music creActivity, children’s cultures and child body. The definition of creActive music listening is suggested in an interdisciplinary perspective involving childhood studies, music education and body and movement studies. The discussion addresses implications for further music education practices, with emphasis on tuning the teacher’s look and hearing in relation to children’s musical experiences in school.

Zero to Three’s Problem Solvers project is a curriculum supplement featuring early math and music activities for toddlers and pre-schoolers. This effort embraced a commitment to equity from its inception, including design of activities, approach to instruction and ways in which we connect with families around curriculum. The driver behind the Problem Solvers proposal concerned data showing that children whose families live in poverty arrive in kindergarten with significantly lower math scores than their more affluent peers. However, we know these data do not represent ability. Rather, the data tell a story about access: to rich curricula, to resources and to challenging learning experiences and to early math concepts and language. By increasing access, we can shift the trajectory of children’s early skills (starting in toddlerhood) and disrupt these early disparities. The development of the free Problem Solvers curriculum was designed to democratize access to rich curriculum on early math with 22 activities appropriate for children aged 30–48 months. Likewise, we understand the importance of early childhood music development and its power to engage and connect learning across disciplines. By integrating mathematics and music learning trajectories in play-based activities, this curriculum provides the beginning of a new pedagogy, where each content area is valued for its unique contributions to children’s development and skilfully and purposefully aligns in a holistic curriculum that fosters equity and access. In this article, we outline the process used to map early mathematics learning with early music learning objectives and develop the 22 original songs composed for the curriculum.