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A Comparison of Home Musical Environment and Musical Aptitude in Kindergarten Students

General music teachers have always encountered beginning kindergartners with mixed degrees of singing ability. Those who demonstrate accomplished singing are a surprise and a pleasure, and those who do not are one of the major challenges ofteaching that grade level. Practitioners and researchers are equally curious as to why some young children sing so well. Is it because of innate musical <aptitude or particular experiences they have had prior to school? Interest in young children's preschool music experiences has become stronger in recent years with the vast increase in numbers of children in day-care and nursery-school settings prior to public school attendance. This research area currently ranges from inquiry into prenatal musical experience (Panneton, 1985; Shetler, 1990) and infant vocalizations (Fox, 1982; Reis, 1982) to observations of infants and toddlers (Holahan, 1987; Kelly & Sutton-Smith, 1987) as well as investigation of preschool experiences (Callihan & Cummings, 1985; Fox, 1990; Kenny, 1985). Earlier research with this age-group had a variety of orientations. Some researchers (Hurst, 1912; Scheinfeld, 1939) focused on attempts to answer the question of nature versus nurture. Later, researchers were interested in probing the musical environment background of infants (Kessen, Levine, & Wendrich, 1979; Kucenski, 1977) and toddlers (jenkins, 1977). Still others interviewed (Kirkpatrick, 1962; Reynolds, 1960; Shelton, 1965) or surveyed (Apfelstadt, 1984; Moore, 1973; Tatem, 1990) parents of young children