Special issue on early childhood music education

Abstract

This special issue celebrates the musical lives of young children and the rich and diverse research occurring in early childhood music education. The special issue arose from the meeting of the Early Childhood Music Education (ECME) Commission of the International Society of Music Education (ISME) in Brasilia in July, 2014. The ECME seminar is one of seven that run in the week prior to ISME’s biennial World Conference. The ECME Commission, founded in 1982, aims to bring together early childhood music education practitioners and researchers from around the world, to share and extend knowledge of music education in the early years. Recognising the centrality of music to human life and culture, ECME’s vision is to work towards a world in which every child has the opportunity to be an active music maker, and to have access to music education that supports each child’s identity.1 Each ECME seminar has a central theme, and in 2014 this was “Listening to diverse musical beginnings”. Sub-themes within the broad theme of diversity included a focus on musical beginnings in homes, schools and communities, the role of technology and media, pedagogies across the world, international collaborations and creative and critical thinking. Presenters were from Brazil, Europe, USA, Kenya, Israel, Korea, China and Australia. A historical comparison of the 2014 seminar with earlier seminars reveals a gradual but significant broadening of understanding of the musical lives of young children. This is evident through a shift away from focusing on children’s musical development as primarily the responsibility of trained music educators, towards a more holistic, socially and culturally situated conceptualisation of young children’s musicality and musical learning. This