Children’s spontaneous Children’s spontaneous recognition of musical structuresrecognition of musical structures

Richard Parncutt and Margit Painsi

University of Graz

Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Musikpsychologie, Würzburg, September 2005

AimsAims

How and why do children spontaneously recognize musical pitch structures?

Application: ear training courses

Background: Skill acquisitionBackground: Skill acquisition

Genetic/nativist approach:– interaction between genes and environment

Expertise approach:– more practice more skill

Critical periods: – earlier practice more skill

(Intrinsic) motivation: – more motivation more practice more skill– nature or nurture?

Background: Skill interdependenceBackground: Skill interdependence

Musical skills– General musicality?– Independent specific skills?

Is audiation central?– Origins of audiation = origins of musicality?

Background: MemoryBackground: Memory

Strong for meaningful eventsUnreliable if:

– Event too early or late in lifespan– Long time between event and recall

BUTLongitudinal observation of skill acquisition

is also problematic

Background: QuestionnairesBackground: Questionnaires

Kind of question

Problem or prerequisite

Open Unclear

Closed Leading

Quantitative Many participants

Qualitative Trusting participants

ApproachApproach

Personal interviews– In-depth descriptions

Internet questionnaire– Plenty of data

Both– Participants motivated by desire to

understand own aural skills

Structure of questionnaireStructure of questionnaire

4 modules:PreliminaryEarlyInstrumentalAdvanced

Data selection and eliminationData selection and elimination

Collected 1-8 September 2005Not analysed:

– 17 participants gave no info on aural course– 7 did not get “A” (analyse separately)– Some did not complete all modules

Analysed:– Remaining 19 (as pilot)

Personal details: GeneralPersonal details: General

Gender: 10 female, 9 male

Country: Australia 2, Canada 5, Finland 2, New Zealand 2, Sweden 1, USA 7

Western & English-language bias of internet

Age: mean 40, min 22, max 64

Have older people forgotten more ?

Personal details: MusicalPersonal details: Musical

Years of musical practice:mean 33, min 18, max 61Mutual reinforcement performance-audiation?

Main instrument:piano or other keyboard 12, flute 3, classical guitar

2, electric bass 1, trombone 1Does keyboard provide a better visual

representation of aural structures?

Before first instrumentBefore first instrument

Family member whose musical activities were experienced most often:

mother 6, father 6, brother 2, sister 2, grandfather 2, no answer 1

The specific activities:keyboard (piano/organ) 5, choir 4, more than one

instrument 3, listening 2, solo singing 2, violin 1, composition 1, unstated instrument 1

keyboard and choir especially important?

Instruments in the homeInstruments in the home

yes 18; no 1; can’t remember 0 Clearly important

List instruments piano 15, violin 5, clarinet 4, recorder 4, guitar 3,

banjo 2, trumpet 2, mandolin 2, bells 1, concertina 1, flute 1, glockenspiel 1, harmonica 1, saxophone 1, ukulele 1, viola 1, accordion 1

46 instruments / 19 people = 2.5 / person More than one instrument is good Piano is important

Musical toys in the homeMusical toys in the home

9 of 19 participants responded xylophone 4, recorder 2, toy piano 2, drums

2, wind-up toys 2, glockenspiel 1, tambourine 1

Less important than real instruments - or just forgotten?

Early musical activitiesEarly musical activities

“Active” person: mother 9, father 4, brother , other 1, no answer 4

Materials: lullabies, hymns, traditional and folk songs, Christmas songs, Suzuki

songs, hand-clapping song, songbooks

Examples: Mother at piano while kids play drums & sleigh bells Mother sang, I played by ear Mother taught me songs on the piano Dad made up songs about our family My brother and I made up Gregorian chants Singing together while sister played piano Singing at seniors’ homes

Early musical activitiesEarly musical activities

Duration mean 6.7 years

Frequency (7-point scale): 5.1

Age at middle of period 6.0 years

Early musical activitiesEarly musical activities

How enjoyable? mean 6.4

Enjoyment motivation practice

Specific emotions? joy (2x), loved it, keen, importance, envy, cried, total

fulfilment, exhilaration, happy, secure, safe, sense of accomplishment, exciting, anger, fear, rebelliousness, emotions for which we have no words, part of life - like breathing.

Early musical activitiesEarly musical activities

How important were early musical activities for development of your aural abilities (opinion now)?

6.3

Why? Developed listening skills, musical memory, orch. rep. Developed perfect pitch. Early singing = early musical development. Simple as that. I was surrounded by music at a very early age. I often listened to recordings and imitated/arranged them. Learning before age 8 is essential to ingrain skills, which is why I do

not remember the learning process. I had little training or contact with musicians until 11-12. Formal musical ear training was about attaching labels to pitch

relationships that I already understood.

First year of playingFirst year of playing

Age at which began to play instrument regularly mean 6.5 years, min 2, max 15

Early start important?

Instruments played in first year mainly one instrument (first instr. mean 90%) piano 13, violin 2, drums, flute, guitar, recorder

Piano is best first instrument?

First year of playingFirst year of playing

Regular musical activities at that time Practice alone: 5.7 days / week @ 1.7 hours Ensemble rehearsal: 0.8 days / week @ 0.7 hours Performance: 1.2 days / week @ 0.7 hours

Lots of practice plus some ensemble and performance Introverted behavior

Situations in which learned about music Conventional music lessons 68% Working out pieces by ear alone 17% Mental practice 10% Composing alone at instrument 8% Playing by ear with friends or family 7% Composing with friends or family 0%

Conventional lessons are important

First memory of recognizing pitch structuresFirst memory of recognizing pitch structures

AP 4 Heard mother make mistake on piano. Played by ear before starting lessons. Recognized tones while dad tuned / mother played piano.

Harmony 3 Cried when hearing IV6 – iv6. Transcribed pop progressions. Played "Smoke on water" at guitar group.

Other 2 Surprised that others didn't recognize pitch structures. Whatever I heard, I needed to know what it was.

Theory 2 Theory class in high school - ear training exercises. Correspondence course in theory and ear training.

Choir 1 Singing back a pattern for choir auditions.

Melody 1 Matching pitches, singing back melodies, singing in tune.

Piano 1 Apparently played a song on piano by ear.

Age: mean 8.3 years, min 3, max 16. What happened:Age: mean 8.3 years, min 3, max 16. What happened:

Musical stylesMusical styles

Means Heard before starting to play

Played in first year

…in which structures first recognized

Classical 33% 57% 48%

Pop/rock 25% 11% 17%

Children’s 10% 22% 14%

Religious 12% 4% 13%

Folk/trad 7% 2% 4%

Own comp. 7% 4% 3%

Jazz 1% 0% 1%

Participant selection Participant selection bias towards classical? bias towards classical?

Age at which structures recognizedAge at which structures recognized

Means Perform Notate Understand

Melodic intervals 8 10 11

Chord qualities 8 10 11

Chord functions 11 13 13

Close modulations 13 12 14

Distant modulations 15 14 16

Melodic inversion 15 14 16

Consolidate basic structures before building on them

Kinds of notation usedKinds of notation used

Conventional 80% Chord symbols 9% Relative solfege 6% Absolute solfege 3% Tablature 1% Graphs 1% Non-western 1%

No need for alternative notations?

Musical activities since thenMusical activities since then

Contribution of musical activities to aural skill development Solo practice and performance 18% Listening to (any) music 11% Choir 10% Classroom ear training 9% Improvisation 7% Music theory 7% Ensemble performance 6% Music analysis 6% Playing by ear 6% Conducting 4% Composition and arrangement 4% Mental practice 4% Informal practice 2% Self-directed ear training 2%

Inherited or learned?Inherited or learned?

Inherited Learned

Opinion now 39% 61%

Opinion then 34% 66%

Source of info for “opinion then”:Source of info for “opinion then”: Compare memory with current knowledge 8x, Compare memory with current knowledge 8x, parents then 2x, peer comparison then 2x, other 2x, parents then 2x, peer comparison then 2x, other 2x, no answer 5xno answer 5x

Best to believe that aural skills are mainly learnedBest to believe that aural skills are mainly learned

Evaluation of questionnaireEvaluation of questionnaire

How well does it achieve aims? (7-point scale) 4.5

How confident about answers? 5

Suggestions Ask about ethnic affiliation, gender and identity Avoid a “normal” model of musicality, don’t encourage certain types

of responses or experiences Test listening ability with online responses Ask if someone in immediate childhood environment was NOT

musical (e.g. my father)

Further commentsFurther comments

Difficult to answer many questions because I was never aware of developing my aural skills.

Maybe I'm too old and my experiences were too long ago.

My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were all German-Americans. (Implication: separate musical traditions)

ConclusionsConclusions

Aural skills linked to other musical skills– All gain from early, frequent, long-term,

meaningful engagement

Aural skills may be entirely learned– Early musical motivation is largely extrinsic– No evidence against genetic inheritance

Educational implications: IndividualEducational implications: Individual

Recommendations to parents: make and enjoy music own several instruments incl. keyboard encourage child from an early age (6?) to

– be curious (about music)– play and hear a lot of music– play and hear the piano – sing in choirs– take conventional music lessons- but only if it‘s fun for child as well as yourself

Educational implications: InstitutionalEducational implications: Institutional

More musical fun in primary schoolMore musically meaningful activities in

secondary schoolNo ear training at university

– Doesn’t work – May reinforce beliefs of lack of musical

ability – Better to focus on theory?

OutlookOutlook

Original aim was not achieved:– Memory does not reveal how people

spontaneously begin to notice structures.

More data needed:– all conclusions preliminary