Young children’s experiences of music and soundings in museum spaces: Lessons, trends and turns from the literature:

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the value and role of early years music and sound activities in museum spaces, in relation to children themselves, as well as to their families and wider communities.

Abstract: This article considers the value and role of early years music and sound activities in museum spaces – in relation to children themselves, as well as to their families and wider communities. The ar...

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Elwick, Alex ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9930-798X, Burnard, Pam,
Osgood, Jayne ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9424-8602, Huhtinen-Hildén,
Laura and Pitt, Jessica (2020) Young children’s experiences of music and soundings in
museum spaces: lessons, trends and turns from the literature. Journal of Early Childhood
Research, 18 (2) . pp. 174-188. ISSN 1476-718X [Article] (doi:10.1177/1476718X19888717)
Final accepted version (with author’s formatting)
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Young children’s experiences of music and soundings in
museum spaces: lessons, trends and turns from the
literature
Alex Elwick
1
, Pam Burnard, Laura Huhtinen-Hildén, Jayne
Osgood & Jessica Pitt
1
Middlesex University & UCL Institute of Education
a.elwick@mdx.ac.uk
Middlesex University, The Burroughs, London, NW4 4BT

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Young children’s experiences of music and soundings in
museum spaces: lessons, trends and turns from the
literature
Introduction
This paper considers the value and role of early years music and sound activities in
museum spaces – in relation to children themselves, as well as their families and wider
communities. While ‘active music-making is relatively common amongst preschoolers’,
Lamont (a British music psychologist) took up a further concern saying, in 2008, that ‘to
date there has been very little systematic enquiry into early musical experiences that take
place outside either the home or preschool educational settings’ (249). Furthermore,
Young noted in 2016 that there was ‘no research-based literature describing, analysing
and critiquing early childhood music education policies, programmes and systems’ (15)
outside of a special issue in which she was writing. Drawing from the literature on
cultural psychology of music education, Barrett (2011) argues that culture plays a
significant role in shaping young children’s musical thinking and engagement. She makes
explicit the situated knowledges which reveal the imperative for re-thinking what matters
when young children engage with expressions of music, and where music and sound
reflects and represents a group of people, with the repertoire of different groups identified
or not from which it originates. This alerts us to think more about the way we define and
frame music and sound in terms of the impact and value of education and practices: the
‘representational practice’ that serves to locate and identify specific identities (Duffy
2018, 189).
This paper aims to review the literature around early years music and sound
activities, participation and programmes in museums, focusing on the role of music and
sound in such spaces and particularly seeking to identify gaps in the literature and areas
for further research. The review focuses on parents and young children; music, sound and
multi-modal arts practice; museum spaces; and community engagement (particularly with
so-called ‘hard-to-reach’ families). Initial searches found that there was a lack of studies
which explicitly focus on music with young children in museum spaces, and so instead
this review has concentrated on the intersections between these broader foci, in order to
establish frameworks for how music and sound modalities for young children might find
expression in museums. Furthermore, we are interested to explore the generative
possibilities that might come from bringing music, young children and museum spaces
together. This presents some interesting challenges and dilemmas for adults including
parents, carers, museum and early years staff: dilemmas that invite a reconceptualization
of the child and the museum and which we endeavour to map out in this paper.
The paper is based on a pilot study funded by Cambridge University (Burnard et
al. 2018) which set out to investigate the role that musical and sonic activities in
museums can play within their local communities: museums represent a potentially rich
space for families with young children in disadvantaged communities to access, and
hence enjoy, multiple benefits. Specifically, museums hold the potential to engage such

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families in early years music practice, which has been shown to offer myriad cognitive,
social, emotional, and educational benefits (Pitt & Hargreaves, 2016; Pitt & Hargreaves,
2017; Osgood et al., 2013a). Furthermore, perhaps more broadly, ‘a permeating presence
of self-initiated music making in childhood suggests that it may serve a purpose in human
development, that is, to provide the child with the cultural tools necessary to make sense
of their world’ (Custodero et al. 2016, 56). However, despite the recent and dramatic
increase in museum education, disadvantaged communities neither regularly access
museums, nor do museums generally offer inclusive music and sound-based programmes
to very young children. As such the broader project sought to identify the potential extent
of impact and actual support for museums as spaces for very young children and
music/sound to come together in productive ways. Understanding relationally the
potential for museums as places in which music and sound-based spaces can be
cherished, as articulations of time-space enactments of social and material practice,
requires more research attention and framing for policy change.
By reviewing the wider field of literature this paper aims to map the current
research terrain, as well as identifying key gaps and opportunities for additional research.
There is a recent field of enquiry which contextualises the child and the museum in new
ways: re-constructing the child in the context of museum experiences (Hackett et al.
2018a); proposing new understandings of the role of space; and exploring the role that
co-authoring can play (between children and adults) in terms of constructing
understandings of museums as spaces for debate rather than as ‘temples’ (e.g. Carr et al.
2018). But even though these new contextualizations of the child and the museum space
are exciting and open up new possibilities for understanding, they don’t engage yet with
music or sound. In contrast, there is a growing body of literature which explores music-
making in the home (e.g. Young and Gillen 2007) or in public spaces (e.g. Custodero et
al. 2016) but which has yet to centre on museum spaces – which provides a rationale for
exploring this area more fully.
Method
This systematic review used inclusion and exclusion criteria in order to structure our
search and to determine which scholarly literature and documents to review. These
criteria included:
 Language of publication: English
 Date of publication: 2000 and more recent
 Topic: including at least two of the areas of focus: i.e. studies had either been
located within museum spaces; involve participants comprised of young children
and their parents; or involve music-/sound-making/multi-modal arts practice and
engagement.
Our search strategy itself was designed to maximise the experience and expertise of the
whole research team and thus allowed for individual team members to nominate
prospective papers and sources for review – these were collated in an online ‘cloud’
storage system and reviewed alongside other literature that was identified via a search of
online databases including ‘Summon’ (Middlesex University’s in-house platform); ‘Web

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of Science’; and ‘ERIC’. All items that met the inclusion criteria were reviewed, initially
via their abstracts and then in their entirety.
This paper considers literature in a number of key areas, firstly concentrating on
the role of music and sound in young children’s lives and secondly on early childhood
experiences within museums and why this is important now. It then turns to some of the
ways children are reconceptualised within museum spaces – particularly with regards
their relationships with each other and with adults. Although there are few studies which
directly address music in museums, those that do exist are discussed, before the review
considers the generative possibilities available when early-childhood, music and museum
spaces are brought together; and specifically how this might offer potential for wider
communities and, specifically, so-called ‘hard-to-reach’ families, to conceive of
museums as spaces that are both inviting and relevant.
Music and sound in early childhood
The value of music and sonic activities, and engagement with music and sound for young
children, has been professed by numerous studies and relates to a number of benefits,
including the development of language and literacy skills, emotional skills, mental
wellbeing and happiness. Hallam’s comprehensive synthesis and review of literature
suggests that active engagement with music can be of benefit throughout our lives, but
specifically cites the development of ‘perceptual skills which affect language learning’;
‘acquisition of literacy skills’; ‘fine motor coordination’; and improved ‘spatial
reasoning’ as benefits that emerge during early childhood music activities and the playing
of instruments (2010, 277-280). Interactions between young children and adults/their
families are important in recognising such benefits: music can be a central pillar of
emotional coordination between mothers and their children (Dissanayake 2010); and
Blandon’s research around music sessions involving young children and care home
residents showed that for both groups, happiness improved after taking part (2017).
Although with older children, Zarobe and Bungay’s research suggested that structured
group activities help build resilience and mental wellbeing (2017). Furthermore, this can
lead to happiness and enjoyment and music can help overall learning according to
practitioners (Zarobe & Bungay, 2017). Barrett suggested that music can be a form of
story-telling, and performing/engaging in music can help young children to:
Identify the characteristic features of their worlds and how these operate,
the nature and extent of the web of relationships in which they live, and
give voice to their innermost feelings, their likes, their dislikes, their
wishes and desires [providing] a means of making sense of events that
might otherwise seem disconnected, even chaotic in their life work
(Barrett 2010, 406).
In their editorial to a special issue on music-making in early childhood, Niland and St.
John described some of the more holistic benefits that can emerge from music-making
practice for children – particularly outside of the formal environments in which such
practices are often conceived:

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What have the authors contributed in "Young children’s experiences of music and soundings in museum spaces: lessons, trends and turns from the literature" ?

Elwick, Alex ORCID logoORCID: https: //orcid.org/0000-0001-9424-8602, Huhtinen-Hildén, Laura and Pitt, Jessica this paper 

Q2. What is the main focus of the review?

The literature reviewed draws upon a wide range of theoretical traditions from social learning theories to sociological attention to the cultural capital and exclusionary practices often associated with music and museums. 

Q3. What is the role of the children in museums?

Museums constitute powerful centres for both formal and informal learning (Hein 1998) and have significant educational and developmental potential for children in particular (Hooper-Greenhill 1991). 

Q4. What are the main characteristics of the activities Herman suggests?

In terms of the practical aspects of activities or sessions, Herman suggests that relatively unstructured start times, the ability to not require advanced registration, and buy-in from/negotiation with other parts of the host organisation are all vital (2012). 

Q5. What is the key to delivering such benefits?

The uniqueness of a museum space is often identified as key in delivering suchbenefits – providing an alternative environment to the classroom or home. 

Q6. What is the common way that museums can engage with their local community?

It has been argued that one of the ways that museums can adopt socially engaged practices is by forming closer connections and working with their local community (e.g. Frasz & Sidford 2017), which can often include working with so-called ‘hard-to-reach’ families. 

Q7. What is the importance of music making in the early years?

Existing research stresses the importance of music-making in the early years, the centrality of museum as spaces for childhood; and the need to ensure more inclusive community engagement in both. 

Q8. What is the role of art museums in the development of young children?

If educational programmes encourage children to interact with artworks in meaningful ways, art museums can provide significant learning environments for young children (Chang 2012). 

Q9. What is the common definition of a problematic aspect of the discourse?

‘Hard-to-reach’ familiesA problematic aspect of the discourse which has been briefly referred to above, is the deficit model which is often adopted to characterise decisions by individuals and families not to engage in either formal/structured music-making activities or museum visiting (and thus applies to the combination of the two). 

Q10. What is the significance of walking around museums?

Hackett suggests that walking is communicative and movement around museum spaces can ‘provide a realistic context for the meaning making of young children in that place’ (2014, 20). 

Q11. What is the purpose of this section of the literature review?

As such, this section of the literature review will consider the broader experiences of young children and their families (often their parents/guardians) in museum spaces, focusing on the benefits of such experiences; the uniqueness of the museum environment itself; and other related spatial concerns – which might then lend themselves to anunderstanding of the importance of space as a consideration in their wider discussion. 

Q12. What are the gaps in the literature and critique that have been highlighted in this paper?

The gaps in the literature and critique that have been highlighted in this paper present an opportunity for museum practitioners, educators and curators to open out ideas and practices about how music and sound might engage young children, their families and their local communities (and particularly non-typical audiences) in unanticipated, but generative ways. 

Q13. What criteria were used to structure their search?

This systematic review used inclusion and exclusion criteria in order to structure their search and to determine which scholarly literature and documents to review.