A classroom ethnographic study of the uses of sound was conducted in church- and state-sponsored kindergartens in Haifa, Israel, and Konstanz, West Germany. Three German and four Israeli classes were selected for systematic study. Structured observations were made of class activities, the uses of space, and salient movements in the classroom. Attention was given to glosses teachers applied to activities and to the functions of talk in the kindergarten. Observations were analyzed along several dimensions, including the impact of control through sound and the effects of sound used to establish routines or to provide opportunities for creativity. Findings indicated that the most urgent use of sound in the kindergarten was the creation of talk. Different approaches to talk in the two cities were found, and each teacher's sound profile was revealed to be idiosyncratic. Paralinguistic sounds were also found to be significant to the ongoing context of the kindergarten. Music making was shown to be modeled in the kindergarten as a synchronized, intentional, and entirely predictable way of using sound, with the activity of making music and the sounds of music serving the kindergarten teacher as a covert means of control. The reality structured by sound in the kindergarten is discussed, and a description of data coding and scoring procedures is appended. (RH)