Children’s Musical Cultures

The general perception is that children are surrounded by a [blank] of musical experiences. There are often fewer and fewer opportunities for children to actively engage in music-making themselves. They are inundated with music emitting from a wide [blank] of electronic devices, toys, and computers offering a limitless number of musical selections. However, much of the music in children's lives are "unchosen," in other words they are [blank] recipients in much of the music in their lives, and not actively engaged in its selection. They experience background music in computer games, cartoons, TV shows, films, on iPads, radios, and ringtones. They listen to music choices of their parents or siblings, and even the schools they attend often play music before the school day begins or in classrooms while students are working. Studies are being [blank] on the effects of the ubiquitous pre-recorded music they encounter and whether or not it is intruding on their desire to [blank] their own music or interact with each other on the playground.