This study was undertaken to gain insight into how children cognitively process music events. A basic premise of this investigation was that music is a cognitive event which is wholistically perceived and experienced over time. In accordance with this perspective, music cognition was broadly defined as the processes involved in gaining an awareness and understanding of music sounds while performing, creating, and listening to music. Two of these music cognitive processes, transformation and abstraction, are considered to be responsible for conceptualizing relationships in music that result in a sense of unity and cohesion. Serafine (1986, 1988) has described the process of transformation as a general source for conceptualizing relationships in music. As applied to this study, relationships are considered to be generated by the recognition of similar and different aspects of a music event, such as, phrases within songs that are the same, similar, or different than the initial phrase. Abstraction is the second process which involves recognizing some aspect of a music event apart from its original context. For example, two phrases may be recognized as similar if the pitch sequences are the same for both the original and comparison phrases while the rhythm in the comparison phrase is significantly altered. Music cohesion is presumed to be achieved by recognizing some relationship or connection between the original and subsequent appearance.To test the theory that these processes are used by children, the study assessed children's comparisons of phrase types within a four phrase song based on alterations in melody, harmony, and rhythm. Three groupings were examined: (a) three basic types-same, similar, or different, (b) four subcategories derived by considering the number of altered parameters in the similar category, and (c) eight classifications obtained by considering which parameters were altered in the similar category. Developmental, experiential, and gender factors were examined as main effects which may have influenced the subject's accuracy in comparing phrase types.The test format involved listening to a four phrase song three times before indicating, during the fourth listening, if phrases two, three, and four were the same, similar, or different, in respect to the initial phrase. The test population consisted ofN= 201 subjects (females =101;males =100).