ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to retrospect of the history of early childhood music education research in Korea and abroad so as to guide new vision for future research in this academic area. From the review of the related literature, it was found that the some features(e.g., the main stream of the history of early childhood music education, research method and teaching content) were shared by Korea and the United States, also the differences existed between the countries in terms of the periodical length of research history and the emphasized research topics. For example, the quantitative measurement devices for child`s musical aptitude or achievement were developed in abroad while it was not in our case. Major problem in the current early childhood music research in Korea was the lack of interdisciplinary cooperation between two academic areas; early childhood education and music education. Past research were performed by the music majors as well as early childhood education majors without. inter-communication therefore the applicability of the accumulated research results into the practical situation seems to be low. From this study, those followings were suggested for the development early childhood music education. First, early childhood music research needs to be concerned both with the theories of music education and those of child development as well. Second, early childhood music educators need to apply diverse types of curricular integration in terms of curriculum per se., (e.g., thematic web ; threaded ; immersed curriculum), subjects (e.g., social studies, literature), musical activities (e.g., singing, listening, playing), artistic application(e.g., movement, visual arts) and educational environments (e.g., home, preschool) in teaching of music to their children. Third, early childhood music education should be processed with the basis of pre-designed short-term as well as long-term teaching plans. Lastly, the suggestions in the above need governmental level supports in order to be activated through the long time with concrete methods.