Constructing a View of Children's Meaning-Making as Notators: A Case-Study of a Five-Year-Old's Descriptions and Explanations of Invented Notations

Abstract

Investigations of the processes and products of children's invented notational activity have generated a growing body of research that reflects some of the interests and concerns of the study of children's symbolic activity in general. However, whilst the emerging picture of children's use of invented notation in music has suggested some commonalities in the processes and products of children engaged in notational activity, a number of anomalies are also evident. This article provides a brief summary of research in children's invented notation in music in order to identify tensions that exist in the findings of such research. Through the description and analysis of a five-year-old boy's invented notations and his verbal accounts of such notations, it explores the ways in which our understanding of children's notational activity and musical understanding may be enhanced through attentive listening and substantive responding to children's meaning-making as composer/notators.