The text outlines the central ideas in Edwin Gordon’s theory of early childhood music development through an analysis of his linguistic analogies. According to Gordon, the first nine years of life are crucial for shaping a child’s musical potential, which is initially fluid but gradually stabilizes. Optimal development requires musical learning to occur in a natural, spontaneous, and intensive manner, analogous to first-language acquisition. Gordon identifies four “musical vocabularies”: listening, singing/rhythm chanting, audiation–improvisation, and music literacy, emphasizing the foundational role of the first two, formed earliest in life. At the core of his theory stands the concept of audiation—the process of internally hearing and understanding music, which underlies all musical actions. Gordon argues that musical development is often hindered by the dominance of verbal practice, which obstructs the spontaneous emergence of the singing voice. Therefore, early home music-making is essential for establishing musical experience and understanding. The text highlights the need for music pedagogy to recognise its unique nature, distinct from verbal instruction, and to adopt educational approaches grounded in the natural mechanisms of children's musical learning.