Attending to “culture in the small”: A narrative analysis of the role of play, thought and music in young children’s world-making

Abstract

Whilst the role of interactive play, thought and language in children’s development has been acknowledged, less is known of the role of interactive play, thought and music. Children’s early music-making is both generative and performative in nature and provides a means by which they engage with self and others. Their independent music-making arises from the infant’s early interactions with carers in a form of “communicative musicality”. Children’s interactive musical engagement may be viewed as foundational in their identity work both as music-makers (identity in music) and as users of music (music in identity), and provides a means for them to trial different ways of being in the world. This article explores the uses of music for a 2-year-old girl and the ways in which she employs music as a resource in her identity work and world-making to narrate a self in and through music.