ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we present a novel framework of musical development in the Early Years, which is informed by the now well-established Sounds of Intent (SoI) framework for the assessment of the musical development of children and young people with complex needs. Notwithstanding the novelty of the SoI paradigm, where the Special Educational Needs (SEN) world is now coming to inform the so-called mainstream world of Early Years (EY) education, we raise the importance of the conceptualisation of an extensible taxonomy of music educational technologies. We suggest that the theoretical framework of Sounds of Intent in the Early Years is a robust platform on which the proposed taxonomy can sit, and propose a way forward in developing such a taxonomy. We pose that this will lead to the decoupling from current practice that is believed to be tool-centric, often industry driven and not necessarily one that fosters critical thinking that places the child on the centre of the focus.
