Exploring the rationale for group music activities for parents and young children: Parents’ and practitioners’ perspectives

Abstract

Children’s Centres are widespread in England and comprise multi-professional staff teams seeking to work with families with children aged 0–5 years. Although parent–child group music sessions appear frequently in Children’s Centre activity programmes, the rationale for their inclusion remains unclear. This article presents the results from phase two of an exploratory mixed-methods study which investigated the role of and rationale for parent–child (0–3 years) group music making activities in Children’s Centres. The perceptions of parents and practitioners were considered, and differences were found between them. The themes generated by the initial qualitative interview study (phase one) were investigated further in this quantitative questionnaire study (phase two), which involved 49 practitioners and 91 parents. Seven thematic categories of the perceived benefits of music—Social, Emotional, Learning, Teaching, Links to Home, Parenting, and Organisational—which had been identified in the interview study, were used as the basis of the design of the questionnaire. Statistical analyses revealed some significant differences between the expressed views of parent and practitioner groups, as well as between parents in different broad age groups. Practitioners expressed more positive views about the perceived benefits of music for parents than were expressed by the parents themselves. Parents in the majority age group (27–35 years) appeared to express significantly more positive opinions on a variety of questionnaire items than did parents in both younger and older age groups. Working practices of Children’s Centre practitioners appear to include music group activities for which they have had little training. A new practitioner role is proposed: that of social music pedagogue. The questionnaire results have augmented and enhanced the findings of the interview study and suggest that the rationale for parent–child music group activities in Children’s Centres is centred on the benefits for children’s social, cultural, emotional and cognitive development.

An Investigation Into the Relationship Between Onset Age of Musical Lessons and Levels of Sociability in Childhood

“…Our results imply that participation in regular group music lessons could be a reasonable means for promoting children’s levels of sociability, particularly for very young children whose social behaviors are malleable ( Brownell, 2013 ). Having lessons 2–4 times per month is probably not too much music activity for children and their parents; thus, such effects of sociability also bear out very young children’s parents’ expectations for their sociability in group music activity ( Pitt and Hargreaves, 2017 ).…”

Young children’s experiences of music and soundings in museum spaces: Lessons, trends and turns from the literature

“…The article is based on a pilot study funded by Cambridge University (Burnard et al, 2018) which set out to investigate the role that musical and sonic activities in museums can play within their local communities: museums represent a potentially rich space for families with young children in disadvantaged communities to access, and hence enjoy, multiple benefits. Specifically, museums hold the potential to engage such families in early years music practice, which has been shown to offer myriad cognitive, social, emotional, and educational benefits (Osgood et al, 2013a; Pitt and Hargreaves, 2016, 2017). Furthermore, perhaps more broadly, ‘a permeating presence of self-initiated music making in childhood suggests that it may serve a purpose in human development, that is, to provide the child with the cultural tools necessary to make sense of their world’ (Custodero et al, 2016: 56).…”

Music Early Learning Programs: Parental beliefs, aspirations and participation

“…Parents in this study identified that music was a fun way to learn and practise social and emotional skills. This is supported by Pitt & Hargreaves research that reported parents perceived attending a music group provided children an important opportunity to socialise in a group (Pitt & Hargreaves, 2017).…”

“…MELP attendance was observed to support language development in the home for all of the children through the use of songs and games taken directly from the MELP and used throughout the day, as documented in written and video diaries. Pitt and Hargreaves (2017) reported that the benefits to speech and language skills were considered to be the most beneficial reason for children attending a parent-child music program in the UK. Similarly, Blackburn (2017) reported outcomes of a survey conducted with 125 parents in the UK that identified key benefits of participating in a music program.…”

“…Research findings have reported the ways mothers use songs to maintain traditions, honour the past, and create new family traditions (Custodero, 2006;Hourigan & Byrne, 2010;Pitt & Hargreaves, 2017). Musical dimensions become a part of the daily routines of children and their families; marking time, and helping to organise their experiences through rhythm and temporal time (Adessi, 2009).…”