Young children and music: Adults constructing meaning through a performance for children

The research described in this paper was carried out in an Australian early learning centre providing pre-school programs for children aged three years to six. The centre has specialist programs embedded and one of these is a music program led by a musician. A recent project, consisting of a staff singing group, was aimed at integrating the specialist music program with music initiatives occurring in the separate classrooms within the centre. The study culminated in a staff performance for the children. Participant observation was the main method of data collection for this qualitative study and observations were recorded as field notes, photographs, interviews and recordings of music practice sessions. The singing group, formed by the staff, was viewed as a collaborative activity and in this paper, the performance, which became a focus of the singing group project, has been used to interpret the shared musical experiences of the staff and the children.