ABSTRACT
One day, six-year-old Michele returned home in tears: "Mama, the teacher told me I' sing out of tune." His mother was surprised; to her, the child usually sang in tune. He sang badly at that moment because he was distracted, and the teacher, who did not yet know him well, had immediately passed judgement and put him in a category that some teachers appear to use often quite confidently. The first ample and systematic study on the musical development of children during the early years of life was that undertaken by Moog in 1960-61 for his doctoral thesis, a work that still marks a milestone in this field for the number of subjects, for the period examined and for the musical experiences taken into account. As the programme of musical activities offered to the children in the research study had a specific role, this chapter presents some pedagogical-didactic guidelines that had proved to be effective when applied during the study.
