| Summary: | We are proud to introduce the proceedings for the 4th conference of MERYC, the European Network of Music Educators and Researchers of Young Children. The aim of MERYC is to create a forum for European research and practice in early childhood music education and to encourage greater communication and collaboration between researchers and practitioners across European countries. We are particularly concerned to create an environment where the strengths of European work - its heritage of methods and approaches, its particular philosophies and theoretical ideas – might be fostered and flourish. And to create an environment where the challenges of European work - the diversity of our many nationalities, languages, cultures and politics and rapidly changing societies - might be discussed and debated to lead to better understanding. As you read through this book of proceedings we hope you will agree that it represents a big step towards achieving those aims and ideals. The proceedings contain some papers that are strongly rooted in practice, some that discuss theoretical and philosophical ideas and some that report on experimental studies. It is always a challenge for education to integrate these many different dimensions so that they are heard in equal balance, with equal status, and can inform one another. Again, this is an aim of MERYC. The participants of MERYC2009 are educators and researchers representing many European countries including Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and UK. MERYC2009 also had a special aim, to promote the participation of researchers and educators from the Eastern European countries, by network relationships and economic support. The abstracts were reviewed by a European Panel composed of 26 experts in music education, psychology of music, and the other topics offered by the Conference. This panel too was widely representative of many European ...
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