The aim of this study was to investigate, describe and understand the developmental function (musical and social/emotional) of nine toddlers' private spontaneous songs. Between the initial interviews with the eight families and follow-up interviews 5 to 6 weeks later, parents observed their child at home twice a week for 4 consecutive weeks. When the child was alone at bedtime, the parents stood outside the bedroom door and completed a written Parent's Observation and Reflection Form (PORF) describing and contextualizing what they heard on a minute-by-minute basis for the first 15 minutes of each session. Additionally, the parents collected audio recordings of the eight sessions using a smartphone that they placed inside the child's room. Data sources included transcripts from family interviews, field notes, PORFs, and audio recordings. Findings suggest that many of the toddlers used solitary spontaneous singing at bedtime as a way to demonstrate and practice musical skill, reflect, experiment, self-soothe, and understand their own worlds. Spontaneous singing functioned to support these adaptive strategies during this intense developmental period. Further research is needed to understand the conditions and varieties of toddlers' private spontaneous crib song.
In this article, we review literature documenting the presence and use of popular music within family contexts. After providing a definition of family from a psychological perspective, we present studies that explore popular music in traditionally structured families across the lifespan. We continue by exploring bands with members who share blood ties and progress to analyse contexts in which popular music provides space for sharing meaningful interactions and for developing feelings of family identity, such as nursing homes, homeless shelters and prisons. Considerations for the use of popular music in everyday life and implications for music education are provided.
This article highlights a composition project from an undergraduate musicianship course at a private liberal arts college. For the project, students studied a Prelude by J. S. Bach and utilized their analysis as a framework to compose new melodies. Instead of writing in the style of Bach, many students chose to transform their compositions into popular music styles. The study discusses the students’ processes and addresses how the new compositions were largely representative of popular music in a range of styles including heavy metal, punk, surf and rap. The unexpected transformations became an opportunity to implement a responsive pedagogy that became a bridge between classical and popular music. Implications for teaching are presented and include discussion of the use of popular music in the undergraduate theory classroom.
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