Spontaneous singing is widely acknowledged as an important part of young children’s everyday musical experience. However, its fleeting and often private nature makes it difficult to study. Research into young children’s singing at home frequently relies on data gathered through parental reporting, and studies are often limited to small sample sizes. In this article, I explore the nature, extent and contexts of spontaneous singing among 15 three- and four-year-old children at home. Continuous audio recording was used to collect naturalistic data during the children’s normal everyday routines. This innovative method resulted in data that could be analysed quantitatively to provide a comprehensive overview of spontaneous singing in young children’s everyday home lives that has so far been missing from the literature. Analysis showed that all the children sang spontaneously. The singing behaviours they displayed were similar to those described in the literature, but contrary to some of the literature, the most prevalent singing behaviours were improvisatory. Spontaneous singing occurred during many everyday activities; however, the strongest influence on singing was found to be the social context in which it took place. The children used different ways of singing when interacting socially or when playing on their own, with most singing occurring when children were on their own, potentially unnoticed by adults.

自发唱歌被公认为是幼儿日常音乐体验的重要组成部分。但是，它的短暂性和通常是私人性质使得它很难研究。对幼儿在家唱歌的研究通常依赖于通过父母报告收集的数据，并且研究通常限于小样本量。在本文中，我探讨了在家中15名三岁和四岁儿童中自发唱歌的性质，程度和背景。在儿童的正常日常活动中，连续录音被用来收集自然数据。这种创新的方法所产生的数据可以进行定量分析，以提供幼儿日常生活中自发歌唱的全面概述，迄今为止，文献中一直没有这些信息。分析表明，所有的孩子都自发地唱歌。他们展示的歌唱行为与文献中描述的相似，但与某些文献相反，最普遍的歌唱行为是即兴的。许多日常活动中都会自发唱歌；但是，人们发现唱歌对歌唱的影响最大是其所处的社会环境。在社交互动或独自玩耍时，孩子们使用不同的唱歌方式，大多数唱歌发生在孩子们独自生活时，成年人可能不会注意到。许多日常活动中都会自发唱歌；但是，人们发现唱歌对歌唱的影响最大是其所处的社会环境。在社交互动或独自玩耍时，孩子们使用不同的唱歌方式，大多数唱歌发生在孩子们独自生活时，成年人可能不会注意到。许多日常活动中都会自发唱歌；但是，人们发现唱歌对歌唱的影响最大是其所处的社会环境。在社交互动或独自玩耍时，孩子们使用不同的唱歌方式，大多数唱歌发生在孩子们独自生活时，成年人可能不会注意到。