Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Year: 2017 A study of the difficulties that preschool teachers’ experience in performance of musical activities in terms of various variables 1 Ilgım Kılıç 2 Şefika Topalak 3 Tarkan Yazıcı 4 Abstract Music education in preschool period is of capital importance to allow individual to use basic education and develop positive attitude to music. The reason is that preschool education provides rich-stimulant environments that are suitable for development level and personal characteristics of early-aged individuals, and helps them to develop themselves in mental, physical, emotional and social terms, and also braces them for primary education. For this reason, the quality of musical activities by preschool teachers and the difficulties become crucial. This study, as a qualitative research, has focused on 20 teachers, commissioned in official preschool institutions in Trabzon- City Centrum during 2013-2014 education period, and it's been determined that teachers experience the difficulties due to musical activity applications, characteristics of teachers and in- service education needs. Keywords: Preschool; music; musical activity. 1. Introduction The first and most important period of education is preschool period. Principally, this includes the period from the birth to primary school, supports the development of children with related ages and also requires certain targets for children education (Ömeroğlu, 1997). Preschool period is an education period that the things learned by children are never forgotten, and that the children complete their physical, psychomotor, socio-emotional, mind-language developments-playing important role for their future-, and that shapes their characters and prepare the children for primary education, a higher level after preschool period (Ömeroğlu and Yaflar, 2004; Erden,1998; Ünlü, 2001). In this period, which is also called “Early Childhood Education”, materialization of the development of the children in line with cultural values of society, increasing the development of their emotions and perceptions, developing their creativity, allowing them express themselves, providing them loyalty to their national, moral, ethical, cultural and humanistic values and enabling self-control and gain independence takes place (Taner Derman and Başal, 2010). A number of studies have found that music plays a critical role in early childhood education. It is a collective activity that can encourage social and emotional learning (Eisner, 2001). 1 This study was orally presented in 2014 ERPA International Fine Arts and Music Congress. 2 Associate Professor, Başkent University, Faculty of Education, Department of Primary Education, ilgimkilic@gmail.com 3 Teaching Assistant, KTU, Faculty of Education, Department of Fine Arts, sefikat@gmail.com 4 Assistant Professor, Mersin University, Faculty of Education, Department of Fine Arts, tyazici@mersin.edu.tr