Reimagining Music and Music-Making in Early Learning Spaces

Music has a considerable influence on the lives and development of young children (Gordon R, Fehd H, Mccandliss B, Front Psychol, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01777 , 2015; Wolf D, Why making music matters. Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. https://www.carnegiehall.org/-/media/CarnegieHall/Files/PDFs/Education/Social-Impact/Lullaby-Project/Lullaby-WolfBrown-Why-Music-Matters.pdf?la=en&hash=FDE48CBE47A2E37B407F2987F2C0B1A5&hash=FDE48CBE47A2E37B407F2987F2C0B1A5 , 2016; Zadnik K, Habe K, J Educ Res 11(3):339–354, 2017; Welch GF, Preti C, Singing as inter- and intra-personal communication. Welch GF, Howard DM, Nix K (eds), 369–391. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199660773.013.73 , 2019). Songs can be natural tools for developing phonological and phonemic awareness and foster patterning crucial to children’s mathematical development. Music strengthens young children’s ability to form bonds within the family and beyond, enhancing both a sense of identity and identities development. All evidence points to music education as relevant to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) teaching and learning. However, there is a paucity of research on music education as a catalyst for transformative learning to support participatory pedagogies in the ECCE centre’s daily programmes. This study examined how two discourses—Pedagogy-in-Participation and Kodály-based early music teaching and learning—could inform each other to promote more and better interactive, transformative learning in ECCE spaces. Using the first of four pedagogies situated and conceptualised in Formosinho and Formosinho’s Pedagogy-in-Participation (Formosinho J, Formosinho J, Pedagogy-in-participation: The search for a holistic approach. Assessment and evaluation for transformation. Early childhood, Formosinho J, Pascal C (eds). Routledge, New York, 2016), this study investigated the challenges and perceptions of seven ECCE teachers in Gauteng and the North West Province of South Africa. The data revealed that these teachers believed they were not sufficiently equipped to teach music meaningfully. Similar to the findings of several other studies in the field (Vannatta-Hall JE, Music education in early childhood teacher education: The impact of a music methods course on pre-service teachers’ perceived confidence and competence to teach music [Ed.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]. https://www.proquest.com/docview/863637974/abstract/E82E04F6678D42F7PQ/1 , 2010; May BN, Gen Music Today, 27(1):40–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/1048371313494783 , 2013; Bolduc J, Evrad M, Res Issues Music Educ, 13(1):1–19. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1151097.pdf 9 September 2021, 2017; Van As AJ, Excell LA, S Afr J Child Educ 8(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/saje.v8i1.525 , 2018; Van Vreden M, S Afr J Child Educ, 6(1):10. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v6i1.373 , 2016), this study showed that teachers feel hindered by their perceived limitations in both content knowledge and skills related to music and music teaching. Varner E, Gen. Music Today 33(2):5–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/1048371319891421 , 2018 observes that ECCE teachers who do not feel confident about their own music teaching capacity ascribe less value to the role of music in early learning and development. However, a surprising find in this investigation was that the participants deemed music vital to the holistic education and development of young children and demonstrated a deep awareness of and appreciation for the value of music in early learning spaces.