Psychology of Music

Humans are often exposed to music beginning at birth (or even before birth), yet the study of the development of musical abilities during infancy has only recently gained momentum. The goals of the present study were to determine whether young infants (ages four to seven months) spontaneously moved rhythmically in the presence of music, and whether the presence of visual information in addition to music would increase or decrease infants' movement. While nearly all infants moved in the presence of music, very few infants demonstrated rhythmic movement. Results revealed that, when visual information was present, and particularly when infants appeared to show focused attention toward the visual information, infants moved less than when only auditory information was present. The latter result is in agreement with most studies of sensory dominance in adults in which visual stimuli are dominant over auditory stimuli.

The research of Dr. Anne Savan considers the effects of background music on the coordination of pupils with special educational needs and emotional and behavioural difficulties. Previous research has shown that background music has an effect on certain physiological and biochemical pathways in pupils with special educational needs and emotional and behavioural difficulties. When background music is played during practical lessons, pupils become better coordinated and their behaviour improves. A key issue is why this phenomenon does not occur in pupils in mainstream education. It is proposed that sound stimulation of the limbic system is “age specific”. As the limbic system of the brain is not fully developed until around 2 years, stimulation up to this point will help the development of coordination. If a child has not received adequate stimulation of the limbic system during this crucial time, coordination remains underdeveloped. Case studies of pupils, who were subjects of this research, have shown that over 80% of them had not received high-frequency auditory stimulation during the first 2 years of life for a variety of reasons. Bombarding these pupils with high-frequency auditory stimulation at age 11 alters the body chemistry during stimulation, enabling the underdeveloped coordination system to function more effectively for short periods of time. While these effects have an immediate effect, it is not known at present whether the stimulation will have a cumulative effect or a permanent corrective effect.

Derives and discusses several examples of chromatic scales, with division of the octave into various parts. A definition is presented for major scales of n tones that would be feasible for polyphonic music, in chromatic scales of any number of divisions. Examples are given for the conventional 7-tone melodic scale and for 9- and 13-tone melodic scales. For the latter 2 scales, the equivalent to the conventional 7th chord, which represents the most important dissonant chord, is derived. The author suggests that the 13-tone scale is musically the most economical and aurally the most comprehensible harmonic variation. A slow, gentle period of introduction and exposure is recommended to enable people to get used to the new harmonies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Presents results of a follow-up to the author's (see record 1982-10725-001) previous study; the follow-up used a revised format that examined the aesthetic emotional (AE) response to music appreciation and whether, by removing AE assessments, more positive correlations might be discovered between appreciation and personality factors. Ss were 48 musically trained postgraduate students. Findings indicate that (1) the more relaxed and effortless the experience, the greater the appeal of human emotion, and (2) AE is a matter of enjoyment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Evaluated vocal programs designed to improve pitch discrimination and tonal memory with 6.5–8.1 yr old students. Each S was classified as high, medium, or low in vocal accuracy and randomly placed into 1 of 3 instruction groups. One experimental group used the glockenspiel for instrumental instruction, while another used a vocal procedure based on the solfa system. The control group consisted of a music program with predominantly rhythm objectives. Each group received 20 30-min lessons over a period of 8 wks. Pitch discrimination, tonal memory, and vocal range were assessed before and after the instruction period. Results show that both programs improved pitch discrimination and tonal memory, but did not differ significantly in improving melodic abilities. The vocal program also improved vocal accuracy, but neither program increased vocal range. Ss high or low in vocal accuracy showed more improvement in melodic and vocal abilities than Ss medium in vocal accuracy. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

In the first place, it is a common observation of music teachers that children with high intelligence generally tend to reach higher levels of musical achievement than do children with more modest intellectual abilities. In schools where pupils are "streamed", i.e. grouped in band-widths of I.Q., or according to their abilities in subjects requiring high levels of intellectual reasoning, those groups showing the highest levels of attainment in general intellectual functioning tend to be more highly motivated towards participation in musical activities. The same groups are often claimed to be more successful in acquiring skills such as musical literacy; this superiority is also sometimes believed to extend to acquisition of performing skills. Indeed, teachers of music now frequently question the validity of even attempting to inculcate such skills in groups of children of low general ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

182 music students, ranging in age from 8 yrs to adulthood, completed a test of acoustic structuring and measures of verbal and spatial ability. In 9–20 yr olds, music ability was related to verbal but not to spatial ability; this tendency was much stronger for males than for females and suggests that musical material is processed using the same strategies and neural functions used in listening to speech. Younger females tended to show greater musical talent in accordance with their higher verbal abilities. In the early teens, males with strong spatial ability also showed an ability to organize auditive material, eliminating the sex differences apparent at earlier ages and demonstrating a possible basis of different types of musical talent. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Investigated (a) the appropriateness of the Musical Aptitude Profile (MAP) and the Iowa Tests of Music Literacy (ITML) for non-music majors, and (b) the possible predictive strength of either MAP or ITML-Level-1 for achievement on successive levels of ITML. 86 Ss were administered the MAP near the beginning of the semester. The ITML Levels 1–4 were administered over the course of the semester as examinations to measure Ss' mastery of course content. Results show that the MAP composite score was a significant predictor beyond the .001 level of probability of all ITML composite scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Investigated whether musicians would be able to discriminate among the tonal qualities of musical instruments in 3 price ranges, whether the most expensive instrument would be generally considered the best, and whether the more expensive instruments would generate more elaborate waveforms. Ratings were obtained from 51 university-level trumpet students and band and orchestra directors. Results indicate that Ss were highly consistent in rating particular trumpets via magnitude estimation but that the same instruments were not chosen in the same order for isolated tones as they were for particular excerpts. Waveform and tonal quality both varied with the particular trumpet, but not in any conclusive way. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

126 7–8, 9–10, and 14–25 yr olds were presented with 9 pairs of musical pieces and asked to indicate whether they were the same or different and the reasons for their decision. Data suggest that sensitivity to stylistic categories of music increased with age, although objective-analytic and affective responses showed no consistent relation to age. Objective-global and associative responses occurred less frequently but showed a gradual increase with age. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Data obtained from 101 music students (undergraduates and graduates) confirm the author's findings (1973) indicating that the primary appeal of music is an emotional one. However, it was found that this emotional appeal was less strong with more highly trained listeners, especially when the music was familiar. Of the 3 factors that may be thought to condition S's appreciation—S's musical training, familiarity with the music listened to, and personality—S's musical training was by far the most important. Training varies in degree and detail from one individual to another, and it cannot be completely separated from what may be called S's musical/social context. But whereas it is familiarity that appears to increase enjoyment of music, it is training that furnishes an understanding of it. This propagates an interest in the important facets of music and creates an appropriate pattern of responses. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Teacher verbal reinforcement of on-task behavior and withholding of music performance until the class was ready and quiet both reduced the off-task behavior of 10 "problem" junior high school students in 4 music classes and improved the teacher's appropriate delivery of reinforcement. These gains were maintained in return-to-baseline and fading conditions. Difficulties in introducing behavioral techniques in the classroom and possible reasons for the effectiveness of music performance as a reinforcer are discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The validity of a musical aptitude test is the correlation between test scores and the true musical aptitude of the persons tested. Because the true nature of musical aptitude is not known, substitutes are used. These involve validating tests against teachers' ratings, self-reports, achievement, and well-known tests. The present author demonstrates that when these validity criteria are used, the "higher the correlation, the better the test" principle does not hold. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

In spite of the second-class status so frequently given to aesthetics teaching in primary schools, some children reach such an outstanding level of performance that they can be termed talented. This research was designed to find out how children come into contact with music and graphic art, and why some of them are so successful in practice. The question of how, and in what ways, the outstanding children were different to their classmates was tackled from three aspects: the children, their homes, and their schools. The research concluded that Parental attitudes to the children were of supreme importance in determining children's level of performance in music and art. It was found that Musical and artistic expertise do not necessarily incorporate measurable creative ability. The opportunities provided for the development of special potential in areas of learning such as music or art, reflect the values of the society. These values may in turn be effectively judged by the provision made for these facets of education in schools. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Discusses the neurology and neuropsychology of music perception and performance. Topics include: amusias (amusia with aphasia, aphasia without amusia, amusia without aphasia); auditory agnosias and verbal deafness; progress in the classification of auditory disorders (auditory agnosias, amusias); cerebral hemisphere asymmetry in music perception and production (group studies of unilateral brain damage, positron emission tomography, hemisphere anesthetization, ear differences in normal listeners); progress in the neuropsychology of human music perception; music perception as a skill; and perspectives for the neuropsychological study of music. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Describes the techniques and procedures used to develop and evaluate the Motoric Music Skills Test, a measure of motor pattern coordination, eye–hand coordination, range of movement, speed of movement, and compound factors in young children. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

30 music and 20 nonmusic students were tested to determine if they could attend to simultaneous musical lines that did not overlap into the same underlying harmony. Two simple tunes were subjected to error detection tests. Music Ss found it easiest to detect errors when the melodies were in the same key and most difficult when they were in unrelated keys. Comparison of these results with those of nonmusic Ss reveals that the effect of key relatedness on the ability to monitor 2 simultaneously performed melodies was not confined to music Ss. It is suggested that 2 melodies that harmonize with one another are not treated as 2 separate messages by the listener, but the fact that they share an underlying harmony allows some kind of integration to take place. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Questionnaire data from 118 music teachers indicated Ss' strong belief concerning the importance of their work and teaching in general, moderate satisfaction with their jobs, a negative view of the social recognition of teachers, and concern over "burnout." The most important problems related to teaching were classroom discipline and lack of student interest. Less experienced teachers showed greater dissatisfaction in several areas, such as lack of equipment, large classes, pupil behavior, and pupil attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

10 out of 20 preschoolers (aged 4 yrs 8 mo to 5 yrs 6 mo) failed to identify correctly any of the pitch or loudness differences in 8 pairs of sounds. Among the 10 Ss who were able to detect some of the differences, the number of correct identifications was significantly correlated with verbal abilities. Although this result illustrates the role of language in concept formation, the overlap of verbal scores between the successful and unsuccessful groups indicates that factors other than language level affect the ability to describe differences between sounds. Ss' better performance on loudness than on pitch discrimination may reflect the more common everyday usage of this dimension. Possible explanations for the incorrect identification of changes in pitch include the Ss' use of holistic rather than analytic strategies and a perceptual shift in auditory information processing. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Examined the capacity of 102 1st–4th graders to discriminate between same or different directional patterns through aural/aural, aural/visual, and visual/aural tasks. All instructions and stimuli were presented via a microcomputer. Ss scored higher on the aural/aural tests than on any of the other test combinations. The moving visual and aural combinations seemed to be most effective with the 4th graders and the high- and middle-ability groups. The only group that appeared to be helped by the stationary visuals were the 4th graders, but only when the aural preceded the visual presentation. The amount of differences found for ascending vs descending items and for the number of tones within an item did not appear to change across grades, abilities, or sex. In teaching music to young children, one must teach first the aural/aural matching, then the visual and aural tasks, and finally the stationary visual and aural combinations. It is concluded that the technical capabilities of microcomputers for pairing moving graphics and sounds open new avenues for research in determining how visual motion may affect a child's conceptual development of tonal direction. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Tested the hypothesis previously put forth by the present author (see record 1981-02558-001) that within the broad range of speeds appropriate for any total musical situation, a musician has one or more relatively precise "preferences." These vary consistently in response to changes in any physiological, musical, or performing factor. A series of experiments with 20 undergraduates and the author investigated (a) the possibility of the existence of a discrete series of individual "preferred" tempi in any given total musical situation and (b) the tempo change associated with variation of selected musical, performing, and other factors. Results suggest aspects of tempo behavior that need further investigation and provide varying degrees of support for the hypothesis. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Discusses biological differences between musical and nonmusical sound and explores evidence which may provide a basis for the property of musicality in the hearing system below the level of the cortex. The major concern of musicality is with sounds of sustained constant frequency. Observations suggest that making comparisons between frequencies and sound patterns is an integral part of the musical hearing mechanism and that logarithmic laws are built into its mechanics. Experimental evidence indicates that the physiological mechanism may represent constant frequency sound as pulse trains, obtaining the information in sound from the pattern rather than from the specific location of the pattern in the basilar membrane. In the identification of pitch it is the temporal pattern of change and not the instantaneous pattern of frequency distribution which appears to be essential. Any process of comparing pulse patterns from different sources on the basilar membrane would produce a matching between such sets of impulses which would not occur between other sets. The musical implications of these theories are discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Examined the effects of the Kodaly method of singing instruction—which involves the accompaniment of music with rhythmic movements and the verbal or physical representation of songs—on the development of young children. 20 3-yr-olds were pretested and assigned to either the experimental group, which received twice-weekly special singing lessons based on the Kodaly method over 3 yrs, or the control group, which attended only regular nursery school programs. The experimental group showed greater improvement than the control group on measures of motor development, particularly dynamic coordination; abstract conceptual thinking; and play improvisation and originality. On an adaptation of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, the experimental group showed superior performance on subtests requiring verbal responses but not on those involving drawing. No between-group differences in IQ were found. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

A criterion-referenced music test designated the Infant Musical Profile was developed and administered to 180 5-, 6-, and 7-yr-olds to provide information on the development of musical concepts and performance in children. Results show that the mastery of high/low as isolated sounds preceded the mastery of comparative examples. There was less problem in understanding the concept of loudness than that of pitch, and Ss found it easier to understand the terminology than to express it themselves. A large percentage of the Ss demonstrated mastery of chord perception, indicating an ability to concentrate simultaneously on melodic and harmonic aspects of a song. Results also demonstrate the correlation between conceptual areas, response domains, and types of competence. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

106 8–9 and 10–11 yr olds listened to 12 pairs of extracts from classical or popular music, judged whether or not they were from the same piece, and indicated their reasons for this decision. Ss gave more correct responses when judging popular pieces, and younger Ss performed better than older ones on popular extracts. Older Ss provided more reasons for their decisions, reflecting greater verbal fluency as much as increased auditory acuity. Both groups provided more justifications for their decisions regarding classical music, suggesting a lack of vocabulary to describe popular music. Style sensitivity was related to instrumentation in classical music and to tempo in popular music. Results indicate that Ss were sensitive to stylistic differences in music but required music education to express this sensitivity verbally. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)