Musical Parenting in a Digital Age

Abstract

Abstract Research into music engagement in early life provides a growing body of evidence that music benefits early learning and development. In pursuit of these desirable benefits, parents have sought out music engagement and education opportunities beyond the home. While the development of commercial programs and musical apps afford parents the opportunity to extend and deepen their music engagement activities with their child, such programs and apps might also potentially replace the day-to-day intimacies of parent-child musical engagement in the home. This chapter outlines the affordances and constraints of music in the parent-child relationship (as musical parenting) in the home and the “public” spaces of commercial providers, and provides a case study of the ways in which families have engaged with online delivery of music early learning programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring the potential of current technology and community based programs to extend and enhance contemporary notions of musical parenting.