Building a profile of Australian parents’ musical beliefs, values, and practices

Vicky Abad, Mary Broughton, Margaret S. Barrett, Graham F. Welch

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (Book)Researchpeer-review

Abstract

Understanding the musical beliefs, values, and practices of parents provides insight into how children experience music in early childhood. This chapter presents a profile of parents enrolled in a longitudinal investigation of Australian families. Strand 1 families attended a Music Early Learning Program (MELP) while Strand 2 families did not. Parents’ musical beliefs, values, and music participation and engagement practices in everyday parenting including music in the home were sought through survey. Parent profiles identify mature-aged, well-educated adults in stable relationships with stable incomes, who were musically experienced. Many had music training in their childhood and/or engaged in music-making throughout their schooling. All parents valued music and reported that they used music almost daily for both personal and family use with their children to create calm, to relax, to re-energize, and to have fun. Emerging themes are identified and considered based on the resulting profile data.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Oxford Handbook of Early Childhood Learning and Development in Music
EditorsMargaret S. Barrett, Graham F. Welch
Place of PublicationOxford United Kingdom
PublisherOxford University Press
Chapter19
Pages266-296
Number of pages30
ISBN (Electronic)9780190927554
ISBN (Print)9780190927523
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Cite this