Musical pathfinders of the kindergarten

Abstract

Based on an empirical study in selected Norwegian kindergartens, this article investigates the practice of musically active employees, with or without professional training. The overarching aim is to develop an understanding of early childhood music practitioners that may challenge dominant views of professional identity and provide some new images of what it means to work musically in a kindergarten. Departing from a sociological approach, five different ‘musical pathfinders’ are identified: the disc jockey, the facilitator, the choir leader, the caregiver and the performer. These ‘ideal types’ are discussed in the light of issues concerning cultural diversity, negotiations of professionalism, repertoire selection, the use of music technology, children’s participation, and the relationship between formal and informal learning. The discussion raises critical questions concerning music activity in early childhood institutions, highlighting professionals’ personal cultural experiences, preferences and practices as legitimate points of reference in the development of professional identity.

Tecnología digital en la educación musical infantil

“…En cuanto a la elección de repertorio, Gorbunova y Plotnikov (2020) resaltan la importancia de implementar metodologías que desarrollen la capacidad de reflexión y el pensamiento crítico ante la abrumadora cantidad de piezas de música pop utilizada por los participantes en su estudio, en detrimento de música popular tradicional y de ejemplos con alto valor artístico y ético. Otros autores atribuyen este hecho a la gran influencia de los medios de comunicación en la población infantil, que propicia la ampliación del repertorio de canciones y su rápida renovación, hecho que, finalmente, también afectará a la identidad personal de los futuros ciudadanos (Knudsen et al, 2019).…”

Reasons for Hope

“…Many of the residents, allegedly without 'cognitive capacity' and in what is sometimes, simplistically, called a 'second childhood' (sic), nonetheless manage to work as musical 'pathfinders' (Knudsen et al 2018), engaging in social learning and helping to promote musical situations and helping each other to orient to the newfangled format of real-time/virtual music sessions. They do this by pointing to Gary Ansdell (the community music therapist, or as he has been called, the 'music man') when he appears on a television screen, or patting a neighbour's arm, or engaging in liminal musical activities such as tapping a foot or waving a hand and, of course, sounding out with voices -singing, whistling, humming, talking, shouting -registering presence in sound and space.…”