Invented Notations: A View of Young Children's Musical Thinking

The research reported in this article describes some of the ways in which young children use idiosyncratic symbols (invented notations) to encode their compositional experiences in music. These symbols may be viewed as vehicles for conveying meaning and are precursors to the development of the culturally agreed symbol systems of the adult literate world. The investigation was naturalistic in design and focused on children's individual responses to simple compositional tasks completed in an early childhood setting. A number of categories of symbolisation emerged from the data collected, suggesting that as children become more experienced in encoding their responses, their recordings become less context-bound and more concerned with ideas and concepts.