Musical Engagement Among Families with Young Children: a CMBI (V.972) study

Music experience in childhood has beneficial effects on early cognitive and linguistic development. Most children under the age of five experience music every day, with family members. Yet, few studies that have focused on Parental Musical Engagement (PME). The issue is there are but few psychometrically standardized measures that target PME. The Children’s Music Behaviour Inventory (CMBI) developed by Valerio and Reynolds is the ‘gold standard’. The current study translated CMBI to Hebrew, and surveyed 300 members of the general population. The study demonstrates that CMBI is culture free, and presents an updated set of norms for in-home musical behaviours of children 0–5 and parent-initiated musical engagement. The article illustrates CMBI itself, as providing an opportunity for parents to gain insight about the value of music engagement for children under five years of age, and come to an understanding about music as an essential component within the parent–child relationship.