Music at home with the under fives: what is happening?

Young children’s musical activities in the home

“…Parents play a foundational role in nurturing young children's development including participation in music. Arguably, parents from musical backgrounds are more likely to provide opportunities for participation in musical activities for their children, especially infants (de Vries, 2009;Ilari, 2005) Custodero et al, 2002, however, this does not lead to the conclusion that parents without a musical background do not provide such opportunities. Custodero et al, (2002) found that whilst infants were likely to be exposed to singing and music playing daily, children aged 24 months and older were less likely to experience singing and music making.…”

“…Other reasons for the low levels of shared daily engagement in music activities in the home included lack of time, lack of parental knowledge about music and parents reporting that children could access music independently through use of technology such as videos and CDs which did not require adult participation. Parents often report that the car provides an ideal opportunity to engage in shared music activities with children (de Vries, 2009;Ilari, 2005). This suggests that parent's confidence as well as time and place play a significant part in determining the fulfilment of children's entitlement to participation in musical activities.…”

Music Early Learning Programs: Parental beliefs, aspirations and participation

“…De Vries (2009) conducted a survey with Australian parents aimed at gauging the frequency of music use in the family home. Parents were asked how often they played music, sang, played instruments, and encouraged musical play with their child, as well as how often they encouraged their children to create or make up their own music.…”

“…Seven participants (11%) played music once a week or less and 6% never played music to their children. For the remainder of the questions the most common response indicated that the majority of parents sang, encouraged musical play, played an instrument or encouraged children to create music once a week or less (de Vries, 2009).…”

“…In many of the studies on music use in the home, singing is the most commonly reported parent led activity (Blackburn, 2017;De Vries, 2009;Custodero & Johnson-Green, 2003Ilari, 2005;Trehub et al, 1997). Singing to children is a practice that crosses cultures and time .…”