We know children learn about their world as they grow, from object permanence (why peekaboo only works on the littlest kids) to understanding sense of length, volume, and then the weight of objects.
Similarly, language develops in a predictable way—children start with sounds, then single words, then they add words, and then layers of grammar complexity (plurals, verbs, conjugation, prepositions, articles).
Music should be no different, and in my study it wasn’t. I showed children between the ages of 5-7, acquire five musical concepts in this order:
- identity (the same song is recognized when performed by a different instrument/voice)
- pitch (it can be recognized performed higher or lower)
- tempo (with a change of speed)
- rhythm (when the rhythm shifts)
- contour (when notes are inverted)
Children’s growing musical understanding is based purely on living in our world, with no musical training. To me, that shows music is as a fundamentally human as language and understanding the objects around us. If only we treated music with the gravitas it deserves.
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