Young Children’s Musical Inventions in Playgrounds, Parks and Public Spaces in Israel

Young children’s musical expressions have been studied globally by a number of prominent researchers, revealing a diversity of social, cognitive, emotional, and contextual perspectives. Children’s spontaneous music making reflects cultural norms and ideals, and helps children express their surrounding world. The framework for this study draws from this literature, wherein spontaneous musical expression is seen as a universal, core element of children’s play. Two main types of spontaneous music have been categorized as being universal to children: (1) Free-flowing invented material, usually occurring during solo play as an introverted, quiet expression, and (2) Known material, usually expressed socially in louder registers, in short bursts of sound. The aim of this study was to investigate the spontaneous music that young Israeli children created in parks, playgrounds, and public spaces, providing insight into what influences their musical creativity.

Research questions for this study developed from preliminary observations of Israeli children’s play, which seemed to contain few examples of children’s free-flowing, inventive spontaneous music making. Surprised by this initial perception, which didn’t align with “universal” qualities, I sought answers to the following questions:

1. What are the salient characteristics of children’s play in Israel?
2. What types of musical gestures are seen and heard in schools, community settings, parks, and playgrounds around Israel?
3. What types of settings seem to encourage children’s spontaneous singing?

Thirty locations in Israel were purposively selected for maximum variation. These locations included ten public spaces, ten private preschool settings, and ten public playgrounds. Religious and secular Jewish populations both wealthy and low-income were included, as were Israeli Arab and Bedouin populations. Each observation lasted between 20-40 minutes, during which time interaction with children was kept to a minimum and thick-description field notes were recorded.

Results suggest a high cultural valuation for music and for children’s free-play. Yet spontaneous music making existed primarily in short blips and bursts of known material, with very few examples of imaginative, free-flowing, invented songs. The universality of children’s musical expression is therefore questioned. Interestingly, the “Junkyard” playgrounds in kibbutz preschools were the exception to this, and seemed to be a natural catalyst for invented free-flowing songs. Pedagogical implications include the rethinking of play spaces to allow for maximum creativity, and reshaping the music education curriculum to encourage children’s invented songs. It is concluded that creativity in musical expression develops alongside agency, when appropriate time, space, and materials are made available.