DeVries: Music at home with children under five

In this study, Peter DeVries wanted to know more about what kind of musicking was happening in the homes of children under the age of five. A survey was sent out to parents of children in three Australian preschools, and then two focus groups were created in order for parents to discuss more thoroughly the answers to the survey and to comment on each others' opinions. 63 parents responded to the survey and the focus groups had 5 parents in one and 6 parents in the other.

Many of the parents admitted that they had few to no musical activities on a regular basis, citing mainly lack of time and lack of confidence in their own musical abilities as excuses. Most parents were under the impression that school took care of whatever musical education their children needed and added that besides, music wasn't as important as reading or math, anyway.


As far as the method is concerned, there was really only one thing that stuck out to me. It is never stated in the article which parent was in the focus group or answering the surveys and if the other parent was asked questions as well or kept informed. I found this worrying; after all, in a self-declared "unmusical" household, it is not likely that everyday musical events would be discussed between parents, so how could one parent be sure of the other's musical interactions with the children? If parents are not aware of the music that spontaneously happens (as when children hum to themselves or tap rhythms), then a Daddy and daughter duet in the car on the way to the grocery store is not likely to be a topic of conversation at dinner, so the other parent may never know what sorts of musical things are going on, and so could give misleading answers in the survey or focus group.

The other thing that struck me about this article was the misinformation the parents in the focus groups were flaunting. There seems to be an epidemic of parent insecurity about their own musical abilities and a projection of that insecurity onto their children in the form of differentiating "real music" (formal training) and "not music," which is everything from children making up their own songs, playing with toy instruments, etc. Parents do not seem to value musical exploration in children, and they also seem to be unaware of most of their musicking. I think that if parents were more aware of the music that occurs naturally when children are allowed to explore, then they would feel more inclined to encourage musical expression in their children.