Lullaby light shows: everyday musical experience among under-two-year-olds

Abstract

This article reports on information gathered from a set of interviews carried out with 88 mothers of under-two-year-olds. The interviews enquired about the everyday musical experiences of their babies and very young children in the home. From the process of analysis, the responses to the interviews were grouped into three main areas: musical resources; recorded music from audio and mixed-media sources; and singing and song repertoire. The interviews sought not only to gather information about equipment, media use and musical activity, but also to uncover something of the social contexts within which music is being used and incorporated into domestic settings and family life. The accumulated information suggests that technological advances that enable the digitization of music are resulting in changes in the nature of music and musical practices in the home for very young children. A case is made for understandings of everyday musical activity among young children to be incorporated into revised versions of children's musical development.