The emergence of musical aesthetic reaction in children

Abstract Based on cultural-historical psychology, this project aimed to study the emergence of aesthetic response in children. Thus, we carried out music listening sessions with children aged seven to twelve. They heard snippets of musical compositions previously chosen by the researchers, and then, their dialogue with them was recorded on camera. Their reactions were observed (gestures, expressions and comments) in the course of the session. After that, they were asked whether or not they felt some emotion and, if so, whether they could identify which were the emotional reactions experienced. The data were analyzed in order to describe their reactions, based on the cultural-historical psychology. Analysing these results, it was found that music listening sessions carried out along with conversation are suitable for the study of the emergency of aesthetic response in children aged seven or more.