ABSTRACT
Psychology was criticised for not recognising the importance of social processes, how the socio-economic, cultural and historical context shapes childhood, and for not recognising children's own agency. Early childhood music practice, being conservative in outlook, still tends to be tied to traditional and narrow conceptions of developmental psychology as its primary point of reference. The ideas of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, whose main work was carried out in the 1920s, remain the most influential in current developmental psychology. Developmental psychology can provide some useful concepts for doing so and there are some interesting examples of applied Piagetian theory in early childhood music that show how this can be done. The counter-moves to developmental psychology in music have started to draw on another set of arguments put forward mainly by a group of scholars working under a social justice banner.
