Individual Music Listening as an Option for Free-Choice Time

in Early Childhood Classrooms

Wendy L. Sims, Ph.D.
University of Missouri

Music listening clearly is valued in current society, as evidenced by the proliferation of personal music players being sold, the “buds” that seem to grow out of the ears of adolescents and college students and dog walkers and joggers, the esteem with which the winners of reality-TV performance competitions are held, the popularity and accessibility of downloadable music, and the ease of viewing performances online of almost any piece whether by Bach, the Beatles, or Beyoncé.  While most adults spend the greatest amount of their listening time individually listening to music of their choice via headphones or car stereos, and…