Helga R. Gudmundsdottir

University of Iceland | HI · Faculty of Teacher Education

Investigation of the role of music in early life and learning has been somewhat fragmented, with studies being undertaken within a range of fields with little apparent conversation across disciplinary boundaries, and with an emphasis on preschoolers’ and school-aged children’s learning and engagement. The Oxford Handbook of Early Childhood Learning...

Í þessari grein verður fjallað um viðtekna kennsluhætti í tónlistarnámi, ekki síst á efri skólastigum, og litið til fræðilegra skrifa um þetta efni á sviði tónlistarfræða og tónlistarmenntunar. Horft verður til kennsluhátta og samskipta í tónlistarmenntun á efri stigum og skoðað hvaða markmið liggja til grundvallar tónlistarnámi. Rýnt verður í fræð...

The Routledge Companion to Interdisciplinary Studies in Singing, Volume II: Education examines the many methods and motivations for vocal pedagogy, promoting singing not just as an art form arising from the musical instrument found within every individual but also as a means of communication with social, psychological, and didactic functions. Prese...

The concluding chapter of Volume 2 synthesizes the findings, methods and cultural perspectives found in the preceding chapters, as well as the applications of findings and the proposed guidelines for practice. The Chapter summarizes the contributions to theory, connecting to the Volume Introduction, and takes a closer look at Dynamic Systems Theory...

The present study employed a protocol specially developed for testing toddlers’ singing competence. The protocol was designed to increase responsivity of toddlers during testing. The singing ranges and singing accuracy of three-year-old children were measured using the protocol ( N = 39). A large proportion of the three-year-olds participated in at...

The present study explored the singing ability of toddlers 16 months to 3 years of age by examining North American adults’ ability to identify toddlers’ renditions of familiar tunes sung with foreign lyrics. After listening to each toddler’s song, half with familiar melodies and half with unfamiliar melodies, adults attempted to name the songs. The...

In this paper, I review the literature on music in early infancy and toddlerhood. More is known about music perception in the first year than about music production abilities. However, by learning about infants’ abilities early in life, we may be better equipped to understand ways to foster and nourish musical abilities. First, I review research on...

The purpose of this study was to investigate what motivates people to sing in choirs as a leisure activity. Subjects were retrieved from members of 10 amateur choirs of various types in Iceland through a paper-based survey. Results indicated that participants gain both personal and social benefits from singing in a choir. Findings revealed differen...

The purpose of this paper is to construct a comprehensive review of the research literature in the reading of western staff notation. Studies in music perception, music cognition, music education and music neurology are cited. The aim is to establish current knowledge in music reading acquisition and what is needed for further progress in this fiel...

The objective of this study was to evaluate how parent-infant music classes would benefit young mothers frequenting a support group for young mothers at a community centre in comparison to a group of older mothers. When the courses had terminated the mothers were interviewed in their homes and their singing-confidence was assessed, as well as their...

This study analyzed the music reading performances of 6—13-year-old piano students (N = 35) in their second year of piano study. The stimuli consisted of three piano pieces, systematically constructed to vary in terms of left-hand complexity and input simultaneity. The music reading performances were recorded digitally and a code of error analysis...

This study examined first-, third-, and fifth-graders' (n = 73) ability to hear two simultaneous melodies. Two familiar melodies and one unfamiliar melody were used as the stimuli. The pairs of simultaneous melodies were presented in different register and timbre combinations. The children were asked to press specially labeled keys on a computer ke...

The present study examined 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders' ability to hear two simultaneous melodies. Two familiar ("Frere Jacques" and "The Barney song") and one unfamiliar melody were used as the stimuli. The pairs of simultaneous melodies were presented in different registers and timbre combinations. The children were asked to press specially labeled...

This study investigated the music-reading errors of 6--13-year-old piano students (n = 35) as they read three unfamiliar musical pieces. The musical pieces were similar in terms of tonality, and rhythmic and melodic complexity, but differed in terms of simultaneity of left- and right hand and complexity of left-hand arrangement. Pitch errors were e...