ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I problematize the issue of musical engagement and well-being in the first eight years of life. I discuss existing research on young children’s musical engagement in light of Rosemary Roberts’ four components of well-being, namely, physical development, communication, belonging-and-boundaries, and agency. A discussion of the extant literature reveals how the conceptions of musical engagement and child—as undergoing a process of “being” or a process “becoming”—that underly individual studies impact how well-being is construed; either as an extemporaneous phenomenon or as long-term goal. Implications for future research and practice are outlined at the end.
