Exploring the lives of songs in the context of young children's musical cultures

This paper provides an overview of a study of the processes through which new songs become part of young children's existing musical cultures. The study combines creative work and field research, employing a mixed methods design to follow the 'lives' of original songs created by the researcher, and shared with three- to five-year-old children in a childcare center in Sydney, Australia. The methodology was derived from practice-led research in the arts, ethnography and portraiture. Three key concepts underpin this research, linking the creative and fieldwork phases: relationships, reflection, and reciprocity--and all three are facilitated by music. These concepts are the tools employed to explore the development of a set of six songs, metaphorically represented as a human life cycle. Findings show that communication and interaction are at the heart of young children's relationships with songs.