ABSTRACT
Music is a vital part of children's everyday lives. Indeed, The Importance of Music, a recent government report, makes it clear that the UK coalition government's view is that music is essential for children as an academic subject but also because it provides important social benefits, contributing to enjoyment and enrichment and improved quality of life (DfE, 2011). Children find immense pleasure in music, whether in creating music or in the multiple forms of children's music-making and play genres that are part of their experience of music in this increasingly digital age. It is easy to see how music permeates their lives; from lullabies at bedtime to the songs that we hear as chants in the playground, from the attraction they feel for innovation and novelty, with their own music notation systems, to the popular phenomena of iPhones, iPads, interactive music video games and mainstream technology that can be found in the lounges of millions of homes worldwide.
