The Local Musical Style of Kindergarten Children: A description and analysis of its natural variables

The study of children's music as a distinct genre of its own rather than as adult, mainly Western 'art' music in the process of development, is still rare. This article provides a brief summary of what has been done and aims to identify the characteristics of young children's musical style, as presented in the instrumental (only percussion) compositions of several 5-year-old children. They created these compositions while engaged in free play, without guidance from adults, in the music corners of two Israeli kindergartens. It is argued here that, within the natural constraints typical of children, a common musical style may be found to be present in both the kindergartens studied, while allowing for individual differences among the various children. The analytic tool employed in this study is based on the framework proposed by Cohen (D. Cohen, East and West in Music , Jerusalem, The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1986; On comparing musical styles: East and West, Israel Studies in Musicology , 4, pp. 73-92, 1987; Directionality and complexity in music, in: M. Boroda (Ed.) Units, Text and Language: An Interdisciplinary Approach , Bochum, Brockmeyer, 1995; D. Cohen D. Cohen & H. Mondry, Learned and innate (natural) schemata, Proceedings of the Third Triennial ESCOM Conference, pp. 605-610, 1997). This framework for the analysis of a musical composition makes it possible to define any musical style in any culture. It allows for a descriptive analysis within a qualitative research perspective. This method has not been used previously in the study of young children's compositions. The findings show a style characterised by an original and highly diverse use and choice of timbre. These are very different from the conventions presented by adults. The level of complexity in all the productions in this study is primarily low and momentary. The directionality ranges from clear and momentary to less clear but moving towards some sort of definite conclusion.