Abstract
Processes of musical canonization occur at different levels of culture and society. People have a strong propensity to categorize, differentiate, and evaluate the music that is important to them, and music is ascribed value in action by people in real-life settings. Based in these premises, the article discusses two questions: First, how does the idea of a canon of children’s music influence the daily musical activities and repertoires used in children’s day care facilities and family homes? Second, in what ways is music legitimized in the everyday lives of children? Our data is collected by observation and interviews conducted in two pedagogical day care facilities and nine family homes. Children, day care staff and parents participated in the study. We find that a discussion of canonization in children’s music along the following four paths of legitimation is meaningful: the “good, old stuff,” the need for renewal, the inclusion of other types of music other than that aimed at a child audience, and the need for a wide array of genres and sentiments. Finally, we argue that although the legitimation and canonization in children’s music obviously involve considerations of musical aspects, separating these canonization processes from the prevailing socio-cultural ideas of childhood and children’s best interest is impossible.
Highlights
In 2017, the program committee of the Norwegian Conservative Party, Høyre, led by the Minister of Education and Research, Torbjørn Røe Isaksen, made an initiative to establish an official Norwegian cultural canon
Instead of providing an overview of potentially valuable works, our intention is to discuss the following two questions of canon and canonization: First, how does the idea of a canon of children’s music influence the daily musical activities and repertoires used in children’s day care facilities and family homes? Second, in what ways is music legitimized in the everyday lives of children?
Basing on a micro level-oriented analysis of ethnographic data,4 we find that a discussion of canonization in children’s music along the following four paths of legitimation is meaningful: the “good, old stuff,” the need for renewal, the inclusion of other types of music other than that aimed at a child audience, and the need for a wide array of genres and sentiments
Summary
In 2017, the program committee of the Norwegian Conservative Party, Høyre, led by the Minister of Education and Research, Torbjørn Røe Isaksen, made an initiative to establish an official Norwegian cultural canon. The worry expressed was not a nostalgic hesitation to leave a traditional repertoire behind, but a concern that contemporary children would be deprived of important emotional experiences, which, among other things, involved strong ties between people—in childhood, as well as later in life This kind of repertoire and sing-along culture remains common among the participants, but it is rarely implemented in contemporary settings of early education and care: “Nobody knows it anymore,” the participants argued. A valid interpretation of this idea could be that the teacher is resisting marginalization and is strengthening her position as an expert provider and gatekeeper of music by constituting a specific, personally adapted version of the classic canon of Christmas that works on slightly different premises than the implied great tradition In this little tradition, her personal experience and voice matter. The data reveal the privileged status of the idea of a grand canon within the observed professional day care settings
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