Music Uses in Preschool Classrooms in the U.S.: A Multiple-Methods Study

Abstract

This study reports preschool educators' uses of music in educational settings, as well as challenges faced in incorporating music in the classroom in the U.S. Through a multiple-methods approach, data from two focus groups (N1 = 8, N2 = 6) and a survey (N = 119) are used to gain insight into how frequently preschool educators in the US use various types of music activities in their classrooms, for what purposes they do so, and what challenges they face in doing so. This study also sheds light on the current linguistic landscape of a sample of early childhood and care settings in the US, highlighting the importance of music activities as a tool to engage and teach children whose home language is different from the instructional language of English. Results indicate that preschool educators use music on a daily basis, for both academic and social-emotional purposes. Additionally, educators who have linguistically diverse students tend to use music more than those who have all English speakers in their classrooms. Finally, educators reported facing several challenges in accessing the necessary resources to lead music activities effectively in their classrooms.

Promoting Language and Literacy Skills through Music in Early Childhood Classrooms

“…In terms of challenges teachers face, previous research provides important considerations including a lack of musical expertise and confidence (Bond, 2012; Kim & Kemple, 2011) and a lack of resources for musical instruction (Rajan, 2017). These issues were echoed in our findings, as teachers reported a lack of access to musical instruments, visuals or manipulatives for musical activities, and quality technology for music uses, and also noted lack of access to music in different languages for the DLLs in their classrooms (Kirby et al, 2022). In sum, our results coupled with previous research suggest that ECE teachers would use music more if the challenges they faced, including a lack of music resources, were reduced.…”

“…Given the literature reviewed above, we are committed to supporting educators who opt to use music as a tool for early childhood language and literacy development, especially in linguistically diverse classrooms. The findings of our multiple‐methods study of music use in early childhood classrooms (Kirby et al, 2022) showed that teachers know the value of music in supporting language and literacy development and use music frequently. However, teachers also described challenges they faced in using music to the extent that they would like to and in the ways that they would like to.…”

“…We recently surveyed a sample of American preschool teachers to determine frequency of use of music in their classrooms, the purposes for which they use music, and the challenges they face in incorporating music activities. Over 95% of teachers who participated in our survey reported using music in their classrooms at least once a day with over 70% reporting using music at least three times per day (Kirby et al, 2022). The most common purposes for using music included promoting language and literacy skills, motor skills, creativity and emotion regulation.…”

“…The most common purposes for using music included promoting language and literacy skills, motor skills, creativity and emotion regulation. In our additional focus groups, teachers also commented in particular on the importance of using music to support DLL students (Kirby et al, 2022).…”

Environment‐Friendly Vocal Music Ecological Education: Sustainable Development of Vocal Music Education from the Perspective of Building

“…Otherwise, the modernization of teaching means is not feasible, and environment-friendly ecological vocal music teaching is out of the question. Colleges and universities should proceed from the teaching reality, according to the specific situation of students' classroom teaching and extracurricular practice, strengthening the construction of teaching facilities, such as upright piano, grand piano, multimedia classroom, MIDI classroom, concert hall, audio and video reference room, and professional recording studio [ 23 , 24 ]. For example, the teacher can optimize classroom teaching through a computer-aided method and its powerful multitrack recording function.…”