Dean, Bronya2021-02-212021-02-212021Dean, B. (2021). Young children, solitude and singing: self-directed singing and personal agency in three- and four-year-old children at home. Early Child Development and Care, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.18659410300-4430https://hdl.handle.net/10289/14126This article uses explores how young children use self-directed spontaneous singing at home as a tool of personal agency. Although researchers are increasingly interested in spontaneous singing that takes place outside formal education and care settings, there remains little research into young children’s self-directed singing at home. With improvements in recording technology, it is now possible to continuously record children’s singing. Listening to and analysing singing that takes place when children are alone – and which would otherwise go unnoticed by adults – is a new development in the field of music and children studies. Fifteen children aged from 3:0 to 4:10 years were recorded at home using a continuous recording device and self-directed spontaneous singing was analysed using an interpretive framework of musical agency. The children used self-directed singing as a tool of personal agency to structure their experiences and to manage the self.application/pdfenThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Early Child Development and Care on 19 February 2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03004430.2020.1865941.Journal Article10.1080/03004430.2020.18659411476-8275