Children\u27s spontaneous singing : Four song types and their musical devices

Children sing their original song-like sounds more often than has been thought. Their singing extends from uttering music-like sounds to reproducing prelearned songs. The aim of my study is to explain the process of children\u27s sound-organizing behavior and to explore the origin of their musical behavior. I define spontaneous singing behavior as follows : sound-organizing behavior with voiced sounds, which spontaneously starts and ends. I\u27m excluding mere reproduction of prelearned songs. I\u27m using data from children 2 to 4 years of age. I classified singing behavior into four types, not from the viewpoint of sound, but from the viewpoint of the motive of singing and content of the song. A child sings a message because he wants to communicate ("Message Song"); he sings an imaginative story as he wants to put himself in an imaginative play ("Story Song"); he sings about some emotion as he wants to express this emotion ("Keyword Song"); or he sings the sound itself as he wants to enjoy sound-formation ("Syllable Song"). Their improvisational songs are usually well-organized like music is. Each song has a form. Songs are produced from component to unit, and to phrase. Language is the predominant factor in each stage. Various devices, such as "rise and fall of pitch", "syllable manipulation", etc. work as the sound-forming rules. Another musical device for song-production is "to borrow prelearned songs". I believe that it is important for educators to incorporate this spontaneous musical behavior into their formal music education.Children sing their original song-like sounds more often than has been thought. Their singing extends from uttering music-like sounds to reproducing prelearned songs. The aim of my study is to explain the process of children\u27s sound-organizing behavior and to explore the origin of their musical behavior. I define spontaneous singing behavior as follows : sound-organizing behavior with voiced sounds, which spontaneously starts and ends. I\u27m excluding mere reproduction of prelearned songs. I\u27m using data from children 2 to 4 years of age. I classified singing behavior into four types, not from the viewpoint of sound, but from the viewpoint of the motive of singing and content of the song. A child sings a message because he wants to communicate ("Message Song"); he sings an imaginative story as he wants to put himself in an imaginative play ("Story Song"); he sings about some emotion as he wants to express this emotion ("Keyword Song"); or he sings the sound itself as he wants to enjoy sound-formation ("Syllable Song"). Their improvisational songs are usually well-organized like music is. Each song has a form. Songs are produced from component to unit, and to phrase. Language is the predominant factor in each stage. Various devices, such as "rise and fall of pitch", "syllable manipulation", etc. work as the sound-forming rules. Another musical device for song-production is "to borrow prelearned songs". I believe that it is important for educators to incorporate this spontaneous musical behavior into their formal music education