ABSTRACT
Research into music composition by children and children composing was a springboard to further understanding of children’s musical development (Hargreaves, 1989). It is not surprising that foci of research in the 1980s and 1990s became rooted in children’s compositional development (Kratus, 1985, 1989; Swanwick & Tillman, 1986), quantitative measurement of and psychometric work on creative thinking in music (Hickey, 1995, 2000, 2001; Webster, 1987, 1990, 1992), and assessment rating of creativity in children’s music compositions (Auh, 1997; Hickey, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002a; Webster, 1994; Webster & Hickey, 1995). Of the major developments since, the identification of differing but relevant characteristics include researching: children’s compositional products (Barrett, 1996; Loane, 1984); children’s compositional processes and products (Barrett, 1998; Kratus, 1994, 2001; Levi, 1991); mapping children’s compositional approaches, strategies, and pathways (Burnard & Younker, 2002; Daignault, 1997; Kratus, 1991; Wiggins, 1992, 1994; Wilson & Wales, 1995; Younker, 2000; Younker & Burnard, 2004); children composing with computers (Folkestad, 1996; Folkestad, Hargreaves, & Lindström, 1998; Mellor, 2002; Seddon & O’Neill, 2001); and children’s collaborative compositions (MacDonald & Miell, 2000; Morgan, Hargreaves, & Joiner, 1997/8).
