The use of technology to facilitate music learningexperiences in preschoolsPeter de VriesMonash University

ABSTRACT

THIS ARTICLE REPORTS ON the technologies preschool teachers use to facilitate music

learning experiences for children in their classrooms and why they choose to use or not

use technologies. A questionnaire was administered to 185 teachers in a metropolitan

Australian city focusing on the kinds of technologies being used, for what music

activities, and reasons for using and not using these technologies. 81 questionnaires

were returned (a response rate of 44 per cent). Nine of the respondents agreed to a

follow-up day-long classroom observation and interview with the researcher. Results

revealed that CDs dominated teacher use of technology to provide song repertoire and a

model for singing this song repertoire. However, multimedia-based technology was also

utilised for music learning experiences (i.e. DVDs/video, television, internet websites).

However, more recent digital technologies such as digital music players/recorders,

musical toys with digitised components and tablets were rarely used. While preschool

teachers value technology to facilitate music learning experiences for young children,

constraints in using technology were identified, including cost and lack of knowledge

about using these technologies with young children.

Introduction

A growing body of research from arournd the worldhas demonstrated that, prior to attending school,young childrern have had a multitude of home musicalexperiences that revolve around engagement with andthrough technology, and in particular digital technology(Barrett, 2011 ; de Vries, 2009; llari, Moura & Bourscheidt,2011; Lamont, 2008; Lum, 2008; McPake, Plowman &Stephen, 2012; Roulston, 2006; Young, 2008, 2009). AsYoung (2009) writes, 'Digital technology, where availableto children, is changing the nature of music and musicalpractices, particularly in family homes' (p. 695). Young's(2008, 2009) research has demonstrated that technologyin the home environment has expanded the way inwhich children engage with music at very young ages.As McPake, Plowman and Stephen (2012) write, digitaltechnologies in particular 'have the potential to expandyoung children's repertoire of activities' (p. 1).

Despite this engagement with music through and withtechnology in the home environment, the studies thatdo exist suggest that teachers of young children arenot adopting such technologies that children use in thehome in their own facilitation of music experiences in

preschools (Roulston, 2006; Simms, Cecconi-Roberts& Keast, 2011 ; Young, 2006), The aim of this study wasto determine what technologies preschool teachers arecurrently using to facilitate music learning experiencesin their classrooms and why they choose or not chooseto use the kinds of technologies that current researchindicates children are using in the home environment toengage with music.

Literature review

Studies that focus on children's use of technologyin the home environment tend to identify a range oftechnologies, including musical toys, often with digitisedcomponents (Campbell, 1998; llari et al., 2011 ; IVlcPakeet al., 2012; Young, 2008, 2009), television and radio(Barrett, 2011; llari eta l . , 2011; Lamont, 2008; Lum,2008; Marsh, 2004; Young, 2008), karaoke machines(McPake et al., 2012; Young, 2009), CDs (Barrett, 2011 ;de Vries, 2009; llari et al., 2011; Lum, 2008; Roulston,2006), DVDs and videos (Barrett, 2011 ; de Vries, 2009;llari et al., 2011; Lamont, 2008; Lum, 2008; Roulsfon,2006), computer games (Lamont, 2008; Lum 2008),

V o l u m e 38 N u m b e r 4 D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3

digital music players such as MP3 players (McPake etal., 2012; Roulston, 2006), and the internet (Lum, 2008;Nyland, Acker, Ferris & Deans, 2012).

Although young children clearly use these technologiesto engage with music as entertainment (Campbell,1998; de Vries, 2009; Lamont, 2008; McPake et al.,2012; Young, 2008), studies also indicate that these in-home experiences also afford young children specificopportunities to engage with music in multiple ways,including listener of music, singer, instrumentalist,dancer and composer (Barrett, 2011 ; McPake et al.,2012; Young, 2009).

One of the key findings across a range of these in-homestudies points to engagement with music occurringthrough mixed media sources. That is, where the focusis not solely on the auditory, but through multimedia suchas computers and other screen-based media (Campbell,1998; de Vries, 2009; llari et al., 2011 ; Lamont, 2008; Lum,2008; McPake et al., 2012; Roulston, 2006; Young, 2008).

Studies like the one conducted by Roulston (2006) focusingon young children's music preferences demonstrate howimportant technology such as CD players and radio are inchildren's in-home musical experiences, and in particularhow parents use such technologies with their youngchildren to experience music. Young children listenedto music through a diverse range of technologies inthe home in this study, including DVDs where musiclistening was 'inextricably interwoven with viewing'(p. 11). Similarly in a study of the home musicalenvironments of young children in Singapore, Lum (2008)found that the television (and television with DVD player)was a way that young children engaged musically witheach other and their families, as witnessed through theirdancing, singing and improvisation with television content.Television programs also served to introduce youngchildren to musical instruments and song repertoire.Lamont's (2008) study of young children's musicalworlds also revealed the dominance of television, alongwith computer games, as the way that young childrenwere exposed to music. As Lum found, these childrendid not passively consume this music but were activein deciding what music they wanted to listen to usingthese technologies and were active in joining in withsongs heard via these technologies. Interestingly, de Vries(2009) found that one of the key reasons parents providedtheir children with CDs and DVDs with a music focus wasbecause they did not understand what kinds of music andmusic making were appropriate for their young children,relying on these technologies to provide their children withwhat they saw as engaging music activities.

Young children engage with music through technologyin multiple and complex ways. For example, McPakeet al. (2012) documented three-year-old Kylie's use of akaraoke machine, which resulted in shared singing withher mother and other friends. The karaoke machine

afforded Kylie the opportunity to expand the repertoire ofsongs she sang and to 'focus on aspects of performancethat might once have been less salient, such as keepingtime, using dynamics and responsiveness to audience'(p. 8). Young (2009) also documented young children'ssinging using a karaoke machine in the home. She notedthat the girls engaged in a range of auto-didactic music-making and performing decisions, such as selecting songsfor their vocal ranges, practising the songs, and adoptingvocal techniques in their singing imitated from videoversions of the songs or siblings. Young noted that theSingstar™ karaoke machine used by the girls providedvisual tracking of pitch and rhythm as the girls sang(p. 700). In a study of a two-year-old's identity work throughmusic making, Barrett (2011 ) documented a range of waysthat the child engaged with music in the home, includingextensive use of CDs and DVDs to listen to music, tomove to music and as a stimulus to create/compose herown music. What these studies demonstrate is that youngchildren do not use technology to engage with music ina passive way. Rather, they are actively engaged in usingtechnology to be young musicians.

Research design

There were two phases to the research design. Thefirst phase was the administering of a questionnaireto 185 teachers in preschools in one municipality of ametropolitan Australian city. Eighty-one questionnaireswere returned (a response rate of 44 per cent). Thequestionnaire ended by asking the respondents ifthey would be willing to host the researcher at theirpreschool for a day so that the researcher could observemusic learning experiences with children that focus ontheir use of technology. Nine teachers agreed to theseobservations, which concluded with a brief (15-20minute) interview with the researcher to discuss whathad been observed. This was the second phase of theresearch design. The questionnaire results were notonly used to provide a picture of the broader use oftechnology to facilitate music learning experiences in onemunicipality of an Australian city, but also as discussionpoints for the interviews with the preschool teachers.The data from the questionnaire was tabulated. Theobservational and interview data underwent constantcomparative analysis as it was collected (Bogdan &Biklen, 1998), with key themes emerging. These themeswere refined as additional observational and interviewdata was collected.

Questionnaire results

The preschool teachers were asked to nominatetechnologies that they used to facilitate music learningexperiences (Table 1). These technologies were listedon the questionnaire and were drawn from technologies

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identified in previous research as technologies used bychildren in the home environment for music activity.Results clearly demonstrate the dominance of CDsand the stereo systems used to play CDs, with allrespondents indicating they used CDs. Next mostused technologies—although used significantly lessthan CDs—were multimedia (i.e. not just auditory). Atthe lower end of use were digital-based technologies(digital music players, tablets, musical toys with digitisedcomponents).

Table 1. Technologies used to facilitate music learningexperiences

Table 2. Technologies supporting music activities

Technoiogies used to faciiitate Number ofmusic learning experiences responses

CDs 81 (100%)

Stereo system (i.e., CD player, dockwith speakers for digital musicplayer)

Television (with or without DVD/video player)

DVDs/videos

Computers

Computer games/software

Internet websites (i.e. YouTube™)

Digital music players/recorders(i.e. MP3 player, iPod™)

Tablets (i.e. iPad™)

Mus ica l toys w i t h d ig i t i sedcomponents

Karaoke machines (i.e. Singstar™)

Radio

80 (99%)

41 (51%)

28 (35%)

25 (31%)

22 (27%)

12 (15%)

6 (7%)

5 (6%)

5 (6%)

2 (2%)

2 (2%)

Respondents were then asked to nominate which ofthe technologies listed in Table 1 were used to facilitatemusic learning experiences in five music activity areas:singing, playing musical instruments, moving/dancing tomusic, composing/creating music, and listening to music(Table 2). Technologies clearly support particular musicactivities, namely singing, moving/dancing to music, andlistening to music. Interestingly, multimedia technologiesplay a role in musical activities which may not traditionallybe thought of as having a visual component, namelysinging and listening, which are activities supported bytechnologies with auditory and visual components suchas television and DVDs/videos.

Music activityI Number

ofresponses

Singing

Playing musicalinstruments

Moving/dancing tomusic

Composing/creating music

Listening tomusic

CDsStereo systemTelevisionDVDs/videosDigital music players/recordersKaraoke machines

CDsStereo systemDigital music players/recorders

CDsStereo systemTelevisionDVDs/videosDigital music players/recordersKaraoke machinesRadio

ComputersComputer softwareStereo systemInternet websitesTablets

CDsStereo systemTelevisionDVDs/videosComputersInternet websitesDigital music players/recordersMusical toysKaraoke machinesRadio

80803319

22

54

1

81802323

321

1166

CJl

3

788026252410

5512

The questionnaire concluded by asking why or whynot the respondents used any of the technologieslisted in Table 1. Although an open-ended question, theresponses were easily categorised around a range ofcore response areas (Table 3).

V o l u m e 38 N u m b e r 4 D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3

Table 3, Rationale for technology use

Number of! . responses

Reasonsfor usingtechnologies

Reasons fornot usingtechnologies

Provides repertoire/material for musicteaching

Teacher needs this tosupport their singing

Engaging for children

As a teaching aid forthe child

Easy to use/access

Children access thesetechnologies at home

Interactive learning forchildren

Allows for flexible useaccording to child'sinterests

Cost

Teacher is unsureabout how to use thetechnology

Not suitable forpreschool-agedchildren

57

42

35

14

14

9

6

5

48

26

9

While there were a wide range of reasons for usingtechnologies to facilitate music learning experiences,three areas dominated:

1. technology provided repertoire or musical materialfor music teaching, namely CDs, DVDs and videosthat teachers used with children

2. technologies such as CDs played on stereo systemsserving as tools to support their singing with children(many respondents indicated that singing along with CDsgave them the confidence to sing songs with children)

3. technology was seen as a way of engaging childrenwith music-making activities.

The focus on technologies being used as a teaching aidfor the child (14 respondents) referred to children usinga range of technologies independent of the teacher toengage with music, such as listening to CDs on a portablestereo system during free play, playing with musicaltoys, and accessing music software and internet sitesindependent of teacher direction. Responses relatingto using technologies because of ease of use/accessreferred to both ease of use/access for both the teacherand the child. Only nine respondents acknowledged

that they used technologies because they recognisedchildren used these technologies at home and thereforeit 'made sense' (quote from one respondent) to drawon these in-home experiences at preschool. The sixrespondents who indicated they used technologiesbecause they were interactive for children pointed tochildren's use of digital music recorders to record eachother's singing, using a karaoke machine, and watchingDVDs where children were invited to participate inmoving to music and singing with the presenters onthe DVDs, Of these six respondents, five also indicatedthat these technologies afforded flexibility for catering tochildren's different musical interests (i,e. using musical'apps' on the iPad™ in a variety of ways).

The most cited reason for not using technologies tofacilitate music learning experiences was the cost ofthese technologies. Seven respondents who indicatedthe cost of technologies was an issue indicated thatthey were liable to require constant maintenance andreplacement, thus adding to the initial cost of purchasingsuch technologies. Computers, iPads™ and portablestereo systems were highlighted as requiring this kindof ongoing maintenance. Cost was clearly the mostdominant reason for not using technologies to facilitatemusic learning experiences. The next cited reason wasteachers being unsure how to use these technologies formusic teaching: 12 of the 26 teachers who highlightedthis as an issue specifically pointed to the use of iPads™,computer software and music websites. The final reasonidentified by teachers for not using technologies atpreschool was that they were not seen as being suitablefor use in the preschool setting. Three of the respondentsindicated that this was because they believed childrenwere being exposed to excessive amounts of technologyin the home environment.

Observation and interview results

Eight of the nine observations in preschool classroomsrevealed similar practices in terms of the use oftechnology to facilitate music learning experiences forchildren. In these cases technology was largely restrictedto the use of CDs and DVDs/videos, through stereosystems and TV with DVD/video player. In four of theseeight classrooms, music websites were also accessedand used in class. These technologies were used tofacilitate singing experiences and moving/dancing tomusic experiences, generally with an entire class ofchildren. The ninth classroom observation revealed amuch wider range of technologies being used to facilitatemusic learning experiences. This classroom affordedchildren the opportunity to engage in music listeningvia a listening station with headphones where childrencould select listening choices from a range of fiveCDs. Children were also able to play electronic musicalinstruments via an iPad™ app on the class iPad™ and

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through music software on a computer. Children werealso encouraged to create their own music and recordthis using portable digital sound-recording devices.

Technology is used and valued by teachers tofacilitate music learning experiences for youngchildren

All interviewed teachers expressed the view thattechnology was something that enhanced the musiclearning experiences for children in their classrooms.One teacher commented that 'without CDs I wouldn'tbe doing nearly as much singing [with my children]because I'm not musical, I didn't know many songsbefore buying CDs with songs for children'. CDs wereused in all classrooms for whole-class singing wherebythe teacher and children sang along with the CD. In fourof the classrooms DVDs or videos were used in a similarway, although children did not spend all their time singingalong with characters in the DVD/videos because musicwas not the sole focus of these video recordings. Forexample, in one classroom the children and teacherwere watching the animated movie The Lion King] thechildren joined in with some songs in the movie as theywere sung by the characters on screen, but there werelong stretches of dialogue and on-screen action withoutsinging when the children simply watched the DVD. Intwo classrooms the website YouTube"̂ "' was used in asimilar way where the teacher and children sang alongwith people performing a song on YouTube™.

Technology is valued by teacbers as a way toaccess music education resources

Teachers viewed technology as a way to access musiceducation resources for their music teaching. CDs andDVDs/videos provided teachers with a range of songrepertoire. Those who used YouTube"̂ " did so not justto learn a song, but as one teacher said, 'to see theactions that children can do with songs'. One teacherindicated that she valued drawing on children's homemusic experiences in her classroom, which was 'whyI have used the X Factor website [Yahoo!7, 2013] ...all the children know this [television] show [a musicperformance contest] so we will often have a look andlisten ... The song Big Yellow Taxi was one of the songsIon the program] which I thought was a really nice songfor the children to learn'. This teacher played the clip onthe website of one of the performers singing Big YellowTaxi aind then started to teach the song to her class. Inanother classroom children had access to an orchestrawebsite, San Francisco Symphony Kids (San FranciscoSymphony Education Department, 2013), where childrencould explore different musical instruments. The teachersaid, 'I found this mainly for me because I didn't knowmuch about [musical] instruments ... now the childrenuse it more than I do'. ,,

Technology being used is starting to focus onmusic witbin the context of multimedia

With the exception of the use of CDs, the technologyused to facilitate music experiences for children drewon multimedia. That is, children not only experiencedthe auditory, but the auditory with the visual. This wasevidenced in the DVDs/videos used to teach new songs,websites accessed (as mentioned previously), and inthe use of both iPad™ apps and music software wherechildren got to see the music they were creating throughvisual representation on screen (i.e. simple musicnotation focusing on colours and shapes). When askedabout this one teacher commented, 'with technologymusic is not just about music, not just sound, but itworks with what children are seeing and touching even... that's the reality of music for this generation'.

Technology is viewed as facilitating interactivemusic learning

The term 'interactive' was used by five of the nineinterviewed teachers in reference to technology andmusic. 'It [technology] lets the children do more at theirown pace and in a way that really interests them, it'sinteractive because they respond to the music, theydon't just sit back and let it wash over them,' oneteacher said when referring to the way children wereusing the San Francisco Kids website. The teacher whodrew on the greatest range of technologies (i.e. musiclistening station, iPad""""" computer with music software,digital recording devices) stressed that the technologiesallowed children not only to interact with the technology,but the technology facilitated greater interaction amongstchildren. To illustrate this she referred to the way childrenwere encouraged to create their own music, recordtheir music making on digital music recorders, and thenshare these recordings with friends: 'The children notonly play back their songs to me and other children,but we post some of their songs on our website soparents can hear what they have been doing. They lovethat'. This teacher had set up a music listening stationin her classroom. During free play children were ableto listen to music with headphones. 'Even though itcan be a solitary activity, the children still love to sharewhat they are listening to ... they make music witheach other.' I witnessed one child initially sitting alonewith headphones on, humming along to a CD. She thenstarted singing along with the CD, drawing three otherchildren to her who then wanted to 'have a go' (one ofthe children's words) at listening and singing along too.The four girls ended up taking the headphones out ofthe portable CD player and singing the song with theCD to a parent helper. In another classroom the teacherspoke of the children looking forward to their 'karaokeafternoon' scheduled for the following week, where 'oneof the parents brings one [a karaoke machine] in and thechildren get to choose the songs and perform ... we do

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it once a term, it's a highlight for the children, they loveit and it's so much fun ... we ail get up and sing, it's away that gets everyone involved'.

Constraints in using technology to facilitatemusic learning experiences inciude cost, ongoingmaintenance and lacl< of knowledge about usingtliese technologies with young children

Despite valuing technology as a means for facilitatingmusic-learning experiences, the nine teachershighlighted constraints to their potential use oftechnologies for music experiences with children. Allnine pointed to the initial cost of hardware, 'particularlythe big ticket items like up-to-date computers, iPads™'.Ongoing maintenance of technology was also seen asa key constraint: 'Technology invariably goes wrong, weknow that, but put in the hands of preschoolers, somewho don't know any better, well you just know you'llconstantly be having stuff in for repairs'. This sentimentwas mirrored by five of the teachers. However, theteacher who did provide a range of technology-basedmusic learning experiences countered this attitude: 'Ithink that very young children know and understandtechnology and respecr technology to a point wherethey look after it, probably better than adults'. Shementioned this in passing as we observed two childrenplaying an electronic keyboard on an iPad^" app; onechild was reminding the other child that they shouldn'ttap 'too hard' on the screen or 'it might break'. Seven ofthe nine teachers expressed fears about being unsureabout using technologies—namely iPads"""", softwareand some websites—for teaching music. One teachersaid, 'the technology is changing so rapidly, I just can'tkeep up. You've got to teach yourself because there isn'tthe time or money to do any formal PD [professionaldevelopment! and I really struggle with this, being oneof the older ones teaching today. So I tend to stick withteaching music the old fashioned way, just singingourselves and playing percussion instruments'.

Discussion and implications

This study aimed to determine what technologiespreschool teachers are currently using to facilitate music-learning experiences in their classrooms and why theychoose or not choose to use the kinds of technologies thatcurrent research indicates children are using in the homeenvironment to engage with music. The questionnairerevealed that preschool teachers in this study clearlyfavoured the use of CDs and stereo systems to play theseCDs above all other technologies. CDs have become areadily available resource for early childhood musiceducation in recent years (see for example Gillespie &Glider, 2010; Gudmundsdottir & Gudmundsdottir, 2010) sothe prevalence of teachers using CDs was not surprising.The preschool teacher interviews and observations

mirrored these findings. Used significantly less weretechnologies with a multimedia focus, namely television,DVDs/videos, computers and internet websites. However,with the exception of radio, more recent technologicalinnovations such as digital music players, tablets, musicaltoys with digitised components and karaoke machines,were used by few practitioners for facilitating musiceducation experiences.

The questionnaire, and in particular the interviews andobservations, made it clear why teachers valued CDs,and to a lesser extent DVDs/videos and websites suchas YouTube™. These technologies provided preschoolteachers with a way to access music repertoire (i.e. songs)and support their own singing with children. The internetprovided opportunities for teachers to access resourcesand musical knowledge (i.e. the example of the teacherusing the X Factor website or the teacher using theSan Francisco Symphony Kids website). This suggeststhat technology has the potential to provide preschoolteachers with personalised professional development inmusic. Similarly in a study focusing on early childhoodteachers' views and involvement in music professionaldevelopment, Yim & Ebbeck (2011) found participantsidentified viewing music-related TV programs not onlyas entertainment but as professional development. Thenature of music professional development need notnecessarily be part of a formalised course or seminar,but can be something that teachers access as they needit. What is crucial is that teachers are made aware ofthese kinds of professional development resources.Music education organisations like the AustralianSociety for Music Education (ASME) can play a key rolein developing and disseminating information about suchprofessional development, not only to music teachersbut early childhood teachers.

Teachers in the questionnaire and interviews alsoindicated they used technology to facilitate music-learning experiences because it afforded interactivelearning experiences in music that engaged childrenand provided flexibility according to children's musicalinterests. Technology was not seen as making musica passive experience. Rather, as Lamont (2008)has indicated in reference to children's televisionprogramming that features music, technology canelicit a response in children (i.e. singing and dancing).However, the examples observed of children's interactivemusic making through technology also pointed to theimportance of children making and sharing their music,not just individually working with a particular form oftechnology. For example, in the classroom where childrenchose to record songs they created on digital musicrecorders, these songs were subsequently shared withother children and adults. This example demonstrateswhat llari (2011, p. 206) suggests is crucial in the use oftechnology when creating music-making opportunitieswith young children, that is that they 'should be more of a

Aus t ra las ian Journa l of Early Ch i ldhood

means than an end ... technology can be best integratedinto music classrooms (and into our daily lives) when itenhances music-making'.

While the teachers who were interviewed indicatedthat they valued technology to facilitate music-learningexperiences for children, this valuing for most of theteachers was limited, with only one of the nine teachersgenuinely embracing digital technologies in her classroom.Both the questionnaire and teacher interviews pointed tofactors why technologies—and in the case of the teachersinterviewed the digital technologies—are not being readilyadopted in preschool classrooms. Cost of technologies(including ongoing maintenance) is clearly an issue, butso is the fact that teachers are unsure about how to usethese technologies. There is clearly a need for professionaldevelopment focusing on using digital technologies formusic activities with young children. Current providersof music education technology professional developmentcould potentially work with early childhood practitioners todevelop professional development specific to the needsof the early childhood sector.

The use of multimedia-based technologies for musicexperiences was identified in the questionnaire andobserved in the nine classrooms. This somewhat mirrorsthe nature of everyday interactions with music for youngchildren, whether it be through the interplay of the visualand the sonic in children's toys (Campbell, 1998) or fromscreen-based sources (Young, 2008). As Young (2008)writes, today 'children's audio music listening cannot beseparated out neatly from other multimedia, nor frommusic listening patterns within the family as a whole'(p. 41). Therefore drawing on multimedia for music-learning experiences mirrors the reality of children'smusical lives in the home and should be embraced byeducators. Teachers should discuss with children and theirparents what in fact occurs at home in terms of multimediamusic experiences.

Interestingly, the questionnaire revealed a gap in the waythat technology was being used to facilitate music learningexperiences. That is, teachers reported technology waspredominantly used for singing, moving/dancing to musicand listening to music. In comparison, technology wasused much less for playing musical instruments andcomposing/creating music activities. The lack of focus oncomposing/creating music in early childhood settings isnot new. While self-initiated musical play on instrumentsis encouraged in many early childhood settings (Young,2003), music practices in early childhood settings tend tobe ensemble performances of songs and rhymes, withstructured movement and playing instruments to keep thebeat and rhythm where there is little 'opportunity for musicgeneration, for viewing music as a creative rather than are-creative practice' (Barrett, 2006, p. 218). In a study ofmusic-teaching practices in American preschools. Nardo,Custodero, Persellin & Fox (2006) found that composition

was the least afforded of music activities in preschools. Yet,as demonstrated by one of the nine teachers in this studytechnology—particularly digital technology—provides manyways that facilitate music composition for young children.This teacher indicated in interview that she had a particularinterest in both technology and music, so had exploredways in which she could use technology to allow children toexplore music composition. The other interviewed teacherswere not aware of how they might use technology to havechildren playing instruments (although one teacher did pointto sometimes bringing in an electronic keyboard for freeplay time) and composing/creating music. With the ever-increasing range of software, internet websites and appsavailable that allow children to create, compose and recordtheir own music, this aspect of music making appears to bean area that teachers need to know more about. However, itshould be noted that young children's musical compositionfrequently is spontaneous and emerges from play (Barrett,2006; Lau & Grieshaber, 2010; Young, 2009). The somewhatformalised nature of some music composition software andapps may not always be the best mechanisms to capturethis spontaneous composing of music.

This study has provided a contemporary snapshot ofthe technology being used to facilitate music-learningexperiences by preschool teachers in one municipalityin an Australian capital city. The author concurs with llari(2011 ) that technology should not be a substitute for othermusical activities. Rather, educators should expand onpopular culture contexts that children experience throughtechnologies into 'live, playful, and interactive activities'(p. 207). A quality music education for young childrenshould include a wide repertoire of songs, thus allowingchildren to experience the elements of music in a varietyof ways and become musically literate (Kenney, 2013). Theage appropriateness of repertoire for the age group beingtaught is key, as is children's exposure to a range of differentmusical genres. Technology can help with this, but the onusof a quality music education program for young childrenstill lies with the musical interactions between children andteachers. Adding technology to a music program should notmean that the teacher 'takes a back seat'. Children shouldnot, for example, just be asked to sing along with a CD orDVD. Rather, the teacher should be singing with childrenand be acting as a musical model. As de Vries (2009) foundin a study of the use of CDs and DVDs in the home, it is veryeasy for adults to drop out of the music making/sharing/creating act with children when CDs and DVDs are used assubstitutes for music making between adults and children.

As the literature cited earlier in this article indicates, youngchildren are entering preschool with a rich array of musicexperiences that have been mediated through and withtechnology. Educators need to understand how childrenuse these technologies to engage with music and buildupon these in-home experiences. Professional developmentwill be paramount in ensuring that preschool educatorsunderstand how this can occur.

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