ABSTRACT
This chapter describes aspects of music processing in three phases of childhood: infancy, the preschool period, and the primary school years. It describes age-related changes in music cognition and the ecology of children's musical lives—facets that contribute to socialization in family and community and to the acquisition of culture-specific musical knowledge and skill. Although infants might be expected to have a relatively blank musical slate, their music perception skills parallel those of adults in many respects, with some intriguing differences. Infants' ignorance of culture-specific musical conventions occasionally results in greater infant than adult sensitivity to culturally atypical musical materials. Infants' inclination to move to music, which is readily observable at home, has also been documented in the laboratory. Middle-class parents provide a range of informal musical experiences for preschoolers. Technology also figures prominently in preschoolers' musical experiences. Preschoolers sing while they play alone or with others, frequently moving as they sing or listen to music.
