The purpose of this study is to elucidate the phenomenon of spontaneous singing, as it appears in the behaviour of young children and the development of melody processing in children. The approach is a cognitive-ethnomusicological one. Examples of the spontaneous songs of children aged three and under produced in free playing situations at a day- care center are examined as explorations of the children's enculturation process. A number of spontaneous songs are examined as examples of standard children's songs that are produced without reference to any singing models provided by adults. Melody processing in the songs, and in the singing of young people generally is examined developmentally. The foundation of this study is schema theory. Already by the age of three children are ready to develop melodic schemes, especially with respect to melodic contour. Using these schemes, children process the melodic information in songs they have experienced. Songs (N=71) were collected on video tap
es as empiric material. Spontaneous songs (N=54), and especially variants of one particular children's song (N=41) were examined (1) generally, when the dynamics of children's playing and action situations were studied contextually, (2) transcriptionally, where the successive organization of melodic contours was especially examined, and (3) culturally, where the patterns of melodic contours that were different from those in the song model were compared with a song co{pus and, with variants in other standard songs. Children are able to match certain tones in fragments and also to organize two to three melodic contours as part of a meaningful whole. Tonality changes between fragments. The results confirm the view that tonal relations have a meaning only for a short time and over short periods of musical sound. The organizational pattern of melodic contours in variants are considered to be early realizations of melodic schemes. Body movement in playing situations stimulates the process of interaction between these schemes. Results show an internal, personal representation of a certain tone level in standard songs. There is no requirement of singing together. The organization of melodic contour elements in spontaneous songs, as in standard songs, demonstrates an internalized understanding of meaning in music and also that the enculturation process has reached a certain stage. This study identifies four representational models for the enculturation process: a model of pattern, a model of formula/scheme, a model of fragment/preset, and a model of preset/variation. In these models the age of the children does not explain the enculturation process involved.
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