The purpose of this study is to compare early childhood pre-service teachers’ self-perceptions with their
actual understandings of musical knowledge. 121 pre-service teachers in Korea participated in the study
after taking a music education course. They completed a questionnaire that set out to measure their selfperceptions
and actual understandings of musical knowledge. The results showed significant differences
between pre-service teachers’ perceived knowledge and their actual level of understanding. The gap
between self-perceptions and actual level of understandings of musical knowledge was not significantly
different among the groups of participants with different periods of musical training except for timbre
and dynamics. The results of this study were discussed in terms of what early childhood pre-service
teachers still need, and how teacher education programs should prepare the teachers equipped with
necessary knowledge in order for them to provide rich musical experiences for young children.