ABSTRACT
Young children’s interactions with and within two different worlds-the physical and the digital-seem to constantly change. However, in international curriculum documents, digital technologies do not always appear integrated with music-making in early childhood education. Researchers have suggested to let children’s curiosity and intuitions (Bamberger, 2011) shed light on our attempts to investigate their thinking processes, in order for researchers and practitioners to shape new pedagogical approaches. Research has indicated that within the initial chaotic manifestations in young children’s music-making, patterns may reveal that allow a better understanding of children’s musical behaviours (Barrett and Tafuri, 2012). This chapter considers research on cognitive, emotional and social aspects of musical development in early years, with an orientation to digital contexts. It is suggested that young children may take advantage of the affordances (Gibson, 1977) of innovative digital environments, to unfold their potential musical abilities in various and probably new ways. Understanding young children’s music-making in the emerging and constantly changing digital worlds may provide one way of considering how best to bridge the gap between children’s experiences of music-making and the pedagogical paths for their effective orchestration. A shift from a product-focused to a process-focused approach of the investigation of young children’s music-making is proposed.
