Making music in early childhood: A study of the formats of participation

This paper presents research carried out in a kindergarten in Catalonia with the aim of studying the different kinds of musical activity that take place during one school day. This is an ethnographic study where the researcher became an extra teacher in a group of one to two-year-olds and interacted with them musically. The methodology is based in a participatory observation approach and data are collected via video-recordings, field notes and a daily exchange of impressions and reflections with the teacher. The results show four different kinds of participation that determine the type of musical activity carried out when children are placed in the spotlight: (a) active audience, (b) performer pointer (c) performer proof with expert, and (d) performer proof without expert.