Finding and making meaning: young children as musical collaborators

Abstract

Observing young children find and make meaning by manipulating and transforming teacher-presented music material provides a unique lens to view collaborative efforts. Collective music-making reveals the fundamental role of others as children make ‘in-the-moment’ adjustments based on their perception of challenge presented and requisite skill. Combining two theoretical frameworks, flow experience and Vygotskian theory, and analyzing the data visàvis event sampling, I examine young music-makers’ interactions in an educational context and how those exchanges influence their learning experiences. Three themes emerge: the power of social influence, the children's transforming behaviors, and the provision of temporal space to explore the music content. Descriptive narratives of 10 musical activities illustrate the children's negotiating strategies and complementary processes. Discovering where to situate themselves and with whom, the 12 children, ranging from 4.3 to 5.9 years old, ‘played off of ’ each other, much like jazz musicians improvising, and intensified their experience through shared ideas.