Welcome

Musical Children: Engaging Children in Musical Experiences, Second Edition, is designed for students majoring in early childhood or elementary education, or music education. It can also serve as a resource for inservice teachers and homeschoolers. Its goal is to help teachers—some who may only have a limited background in music—bring music and young children together during the prekindergarten and early elementary school years.

Creating a seamless music-learning span from the prekindergarten years to the primary grades is the why of Musical Children. Given the ever-expanding and significant research noting the importance of music learning in the early childhood years (birth to age 8), it is critical that the prekindergarten musical experiences be meaningful (yet playful) learning experiences. Including prekindergarten in the National Core Music Standards, PreK-Grade 12 (2014) emphasizes how better alignment between the prekindergarten and kindergarten music experiences will help children grow intellectually and musically. This curricular alignment will not only help children transition from the prekindergarten music experiences to the more robust primary grade curriculum, but the alignment may encourage the incorporation of some of the best practices of the meaningful but playful experiences of the prekindergarten years into the primary grade curriculum.

This new companion website is home to numerous resources, including all audio files, supplementary notated songs, charts for instrument study, and information on IDEA and children with disabilities—making Musical Children an invaluable guide to assist teachers in engaging children in meaningful, joyful, and playful musical experiences.

Book Information Complimentary Exam Copy