1. Introduction This paper reports a pilot study where a Test Battery created in Canada and aimed at mapping the musical development of children in different age groups and in different cultures was applied to children speaking Estonian as their native language and living in Estonia. The Battery (Cohen et al., 2009) tests voice range, singing back the 'easy' minor third interval and other musical elements (scales, major triads), vocal creativity, singing back a familiar song, and learning an unfamiliar song. Speech and language abilities are captured at the beginning and end of the Battery. The purpose of the present pilot study was to learn to what extent the Test Battery is applicable in a cultural and linguistic environment different from that of Canada, and to suggest changes for individual components of the Battery for suiting cross-cultural research. The article gives an overview of the piloting process and describes preliminary results. The introduction section of paper presents some background information of this pilot study--why it was initiated, what the main aims are. Also for giving the process and results some reference system, an overview of Estonian music education is given. 1.1. AIRS project Work on the Test Battery is part of a major collaborative research initiative aimed at advancing interdisciplinary research in singing (abbreviated as AIRS (1)) that focus on three themes: (1) the development of singing ability, (2) singing and learning, and (3) the enhancement of health and well-being through singing. These themes may be understood, respectively, as defining what it is theoretically possible to achieve with the human voice given mental, physiological and environmental constraints, what singing behaviors occur in practice, and what the societal implications of singing are. One of the goals of the first theme mentioned is to develop a Test Battery suitable for different cultures and subjects of different ages and at different levels of education. According to Stevens (2004), the aim of crosscultural research in music is to investigate not only the so-called universal psychological principles of music cognition, but also individual differences in music processing. Test Battery is still in the adapting and piloting phase simultaneously in several countries. There is an annual conference to discuss the progress. As Test Battery includes many components that can be related to several substantive research questions according to different interests and domains, it is quite challenging to develop a methodology that would meet everyone's needs. A test can be evaluated at the basis of its reliability and validity. For a test of musical abilities, Karma (1973, 2007) advised to evaluate it using a theory-driven approach rather than at the basis of its ecological validity. He believes that the latter approach is not culture-free and favors participants with prior musical training. An ideal test might be in between: abstract enough to be objective and as culture-free as possible but so close to music that interests and sufficient wideness of scope are maintained (Karma 1973:6). Karma's (1973:13-14) criteria for constructing a good test of musical abilities require the test to be (1) as culture-free as possible; (2) as free as possible from the effects of musical training; (3) objective, so that a single right answer is possible to every item; (4) not too long and boring; (5) not affected by differences between individuals regarding sensory discrimination ability; (6) suitable for participants as young as possible. These guidelines may serve as an outline for cross-cultural validation of the AIRS Test Battery and its possible future improvement. In particular, one may argue that more experienced participants, i.e. those who are older and with more musical training, may have an advantage over less experienced participants in responding to some items of the test. If the primary purpose of the AIRS Test Battery is to measure musical aptitude, i. …