| The purpose of this study was to assert the potential of emergent music literacy as a unifying theory in music research with practical implications for music education. The study used language literacy as a model, demonstrating how linguistics, empirical studies in child development, and instructional research have converged to support the role of emergent literacy. Prominent methods of music pedagogy as well as relevant theories of musical cognition were also investigated to discover current theories of literacy development in music. Parallel examination of the cognitive processes attending literacy in language and music indicated that a developmental perspective best explains how children learn to read music. These findings are consistent with the concept of emergent music literacy and support its legitimate potential as a vital component of music literacy instruction. |
