Musical Ability In Children Research Articles

The role of inhibitory control in the development of musical abilities in children taking music classes

Introduction. Inhibitory control is one of the components of executive functions in children. Through the ability of inhibition, a child can control attention and stop his or her automatic reactions. The results of numerous studies demonstrate the relationship between inhibition and music lessons. However, the role of inhibition in the development of musical ability in children taking music lessons remains incompletely understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between inhibitory control and musical ability and the role of inhibition in teachers' assessment of musical ability in children taking music classes. Methods. The study involved 198 children aged from 64 to 108 months (M=79.28; SD=6.46), studying music in children's music and art schools in Moscow and Krasnodar. To test the level of development of cognitive inhibitory control we used the "Inhibition" subtest of the NEPSY-II complex. To test the level of physical inhibitory control, the "Statue" subtest of the same diagnostic complex was used. To assess children's musical abilities, teachers completed the questionnaire "Assessment of Children's Musical Abilities". Correlation analysis and linear regression were applied to process the obtained data. Results. The Spearman's correlation analysis revealed significant interrelations between inhibition and teachers' estimates of children's musical abilities such as sense of rhythm (r=0,200, p<0,01), pitch hearing (r=0,394; p<0,01), harmony sense (r=0,167; p<0,05) and emotional sensitivity (r=0,282; p<0,01). In addition, the results of regression analysis demonstrate a significant effect of the ability to inhibit spontaneous intentions and follow instructions on the assessments of musical ability. Conclusion. The conducted study confirmed that the children have better skills of response to meaningful tasks and rejection of insignificant ones, the higher teachers evaluate in such children the ability to identify melody's intonational and rhythmic characteristics, as well as the sensitivity to changes in its mood.

Exploring Factors Affecting the Development of Children's Interest in Piano

Children's piano music lessons are well-liked in learning because they make use of children's minds, which are better able to acquire new information quickly. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the factors that influence children's interest in learning the piano, taking into account their family environment, the teaching methods and approaches used by their teachers, and their own motivations. It takes time, consideration, and a good outlook to encourage kids to study the piano. The correct time, a musical environment, and tutors can all help make learning the piano enjoyable. Children can experience the rhythm and emotion of music via their bodies when they are exposed to percussion instruments and activities. It aims to develop children's musical abilities, enhance instructors' teaching strategies, foster a positive musical environment for children, and encourage children to understand the concepts of piano music, so promoting children's intellectual and emotional learning.

Links between musical beat perception and phonological skills for autistic children

ABSTRACT Exploring non-linguistic predictors of phonological awareness, such as musical beat perception, is valuable for children who present with language difficulties and diverse support needs. Studies on the musical abilities of children on the autism spectrum show that they have average or above-average musical production and auditory processing abilities. This study aimed to explore the relationship between musical beat perception and phonological awareness skills of children on the autism spectrum with a wide range of cognitive abilities. A total of 21 autistic children between the ages of 6 to 11 years old (M = 8.9, SD = 1.5) with full scale IQs ranging from 52 to 105 (M = 74, SD = 16) completed a beat perception and a phonological awareness task. Results revealed that phonological awareness and beat perception are positively correlated for children on the autism spectrum. Findings lend support to the potential use of beat and rhythm perception as a screening tool for early literacy skills, specifically for phonological awareness, for children with diverse support needs as an alternative to traditional verbal tasks that tend to underestimate the potential of children on the autism spectrum.

EDUCATION OF MUSICAL ABILITIES, TEACHING ONE AND TWO VOICES

This article provides detailed information on the pedagogical skills of a music teacher, ways to develop children's musical abilities, the role of music in the upbringing of children, the directions of teaching music to children by a music teacher in one and two voices.

Effectiveness of the Orff and Kodaly methods for the development of musical ability in preschool children compared to a standard curriculum (La eficacia de los métodos Orff y Kodaly para el desarrollo de las habilidades musicales en los niños preescolares en comparación con el currículum estándar)

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study is to examine the level of the development of musical abilities of children studying music based on the ideas of Orff and Kodaly compared to a standard curriculum. In order to examine the level of musical ability before and after the experiment, the Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA) method was used. Based on the t-test, it was determined that there was no statistically significant difference between the pre- and post-test results of the groups. In the experimental group, the percentage of children with a high level of musical ability in the post-test increased by 5.1% (p = .047). As a result of the study, it was determined that learning based on the Orff and Kodaly methods contributes to the development of rhythm. The difference between the pre- and post-test indicators in the experimental group has a positive trend and is statistically significant (p = .041). The results have also confirmed the importance of developing musical abilities within the music education programme.

What makes a child musical? conceptions of musical ability in childhood

ABSTRACT Tests of musical ability in children have relied on diverse conceptions of what musical abilities are. Recent investigations suggest that such conceptions can be seen as socially constructed and differ between cultures, sub-groups, and individuals. Based on a previous study on conceptions of adult musical ability, we designed a questionnaire targeting musical behaviours of 3–6-year-old children. 922 German adults who regularly spend time with children assessed how often a musical child would show these behaviours. Principal component analysis revealed four components of childhood musical ability: musical communication, enthusiasm and motivation, analytical understanding of music, and musical abilities in a narrow sense. The importance assigned to the components differed depending on musical expertise: Participants with higher expertise rated analytical music skills as significantly less important. Results suggest that ecologically valid tests of musical ability in childhood should cover a wide range of skills and observable behaviours.

The Differences in Children Music Skills that Follow Kolintang Extracurriculars with Children who Do Not Follow Kolintang Extracurriculars

Children have many abilities that continue to develop; there are musical abilities of children who also develop. At the Kintelan Semarang State Kindergarten there is a kolintang extracurricular to support the development of children's musical abilities, but not all children join the kolintang extracurricular. The aim of this study was to determine the musical ability of children who take kolintang extracurricular activities with children who do not take kolintang extracurricular activities at Kintelan Semarang State Kindergarten. This research uses quantitative research with comparative methods. The subject and population of this study were children of Class B of Kintelan Semarang State Kindergarten. The data collection was carried out by distributing questionnaires. The data analysis technique used is the analysis of the independent sample t-test, which was previously subjected to a prerequisite test, namely the normality and homogeneity tests. The results showed that children who took kolintang extracurricular activities got a minimum value of 86, a maximum score of 134, and an average value of 119.79, while children who did not take extracurricular kolintang received a minimum value of 70, a maximum value of 114, and an average value of 90.93. tcount > ttabel is 4,389> 1,701 and Sig <0.05 is 0,000 <0.05. The conclusion of this study is that there is a significant difference in the musical abilities of children who take kolintang extracurricular activities with children who do not take kolintang extracurricular activities. The suggestion of this research is that the teacher should motivate all children to be able to participate in kolintang extracurricular activities so that their musical abilities can develop optimally.

Discrepancy between musical ability and language skills in children with Williams syndrome

BackgroundChildren with Williams syndrome (WS) show a marked interest in music, a characteristic often explored in clinical settings. However, the actual musical abilities of patients with WS remain debatable due to some of the relevant data being derived from experimental tasks that require a verbal response, despite the known language impairments in WS. The present study aimed to examine musical ability in children with WS using a newly invented pitch discrimination task with minimal involvement of language and clarify its relationship with language skill. MethodsEleven children with WS participated in the study. We used a novel pitch discrimination task that required minimal language use. Two piano tones were presented sequentially, and children were asked to give a non-verbal response as to whether the second tone was higher than, lower than, or the same as the first tone. ResultsPitch discrimination performance in children with WS was lower than the level predicted for their chronological age (CA), even in the non-verbal task. Pitch discrimination ability and verbal mental age (VMA) were shown to be dissociated, such that children with WS with a lower skill level for language showed an unexpectedly higher level of pitch discrimination ability and vice versa. ConclusionsOur results indicated reduced musical ability with respect to CA in children with WS. The dissociation between musical ability and language skills may indicate unique developmental relationships that differ from those in normal children. These findings provide new evidence to support the importance of assessing actual musical ability in WS prior to implementing interventional music therapy.

ДОШКІЛЬНЕ МУЗИЧНЕ ВИХОВАННЯ: ОСОБИСТІСНО ОРІЄНТОВАНИЙ ПІДХІД

The article deals with the theoretical aspect of personally oriented preschool musical education. The concept of personally oriented technologies is highlighted. The purpose of personally oriented technologies is considered, which is to maintain and develop the child’s natural qualities, individual abilities; to assist in the development of its subjectivity, sociality, cultural identity, creative self-realization. The approaches of foreign scientists-teachers, in particular M. Montessori, R. Steiner, K. Orf on the person-oriented technologies of education and upbringing, as well as the possibility of using them in modern preschool music education, are analyzed. Music education for preschoolers is considered an important means of forming their personality and comprehensive development. The principles and features of personally oriented preschool musical education are highlighted. It is precisely in the preschool age that the foundations of musical education and aesthetic attitude towards life are laid. It is determined that the use of personally oriented technologies in the system of pre-school music education contributes to the development of emotional sensitivity and musical abilities of children, as well as the perception of music as a specific language of human communication. The feature of preschool musical education is the creation of pedagogical conditions for the awakening and activation of creative impulses in children for the knowledge of the world of art. An important task of preschool musical education is the harmonious development of children in harmony with the surrounding world, which contributes to the formation of a self-confident personality.

The development of musical children’s health in the process of vocal and intonational diyalnost

The article substantiates the importance of vocal-choral work with children of various age categories in the revival of the national traditions of modern Ukrainian society. Systematized scientific and practical experience regarding the role of art in the creative formation of personality. Various approaches to the definition of “musical ability” have been studied. After a thorough study of the problem, the definition of musical abilities was chosen according to B. Teplov, who claims that musical abilities are a complex of individual psychological abilities necessary for engaging in musical activity and associated with any type of musical activity. The importance of vocal and choral skills in the development of musical abilities of children is revealed. It is specified that vocal skills include singing, breathing, sound production, sound science, diction, ensemble, system, articulation and diction. And the skills of the system and the ensemble; singing skills according to the conductor’s gesture of the teacher belong to choral skills. Attention is focused on the fact that possession of the listed skills contributes to the development of intonation. The results of observation regarding the effectiveness of vocal-intonation activity in the development of musical abilities of children are presented. The necessity of improving the studied phenomenon is proved. Vocal -intonation exercises aimed at developing children's musical abilities are proposed.

Musical abilities in children with an auditory processing disorder

Objective Difficulties in solving musical tasks are observed in clinical practice in children with an auditory processing disorder (APD). There is a paucity of research on musical ability in children with an APD. Material and Methods To assess musical skills we had 15 children aged 6-11 years with the diagnosis of APD perform a test, and compared them to a control group of 15 children. Results APD children did significantly worse in pitch discrimination, reproduction of rhythm and singing. Correlations between language-based and musical skills in the APD-group were observed. Conclusions Greater attention should be paid to musical skills in APD diagnostics. The positive impact of musical training on language development and cognitive abilities in general has been demonstrated in numerous studies. Musical training should be the focus of further discussion for therapeutic methods of APD in the presence of musical deficits.

Relationship between Intelligence Quotient and Musical Ability in Children with Cochlear Implantation.

Children with cochlear implants (CIs) may experience few opportunities for positive musical experiences, and musical perception is therefore often not sufficiently developed. This paper investigates and discusses the relationship between intelligence quotient (IQ) and musical ability in children with CIs compared with children with normal hearing. This was a comparative analytical study conducted in 48 children with unilateral CI and 48 normal-hearing children, 6-8 years of age, with 'normal' IQ and no formal music training. The average IQ score in the experimental and control groups were 105.41 and 106.31, respectively. No statistically significant differences were detected between Raven's IQ scores in both groups. Data were collected by administering Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices IQ Tests and the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Musical Abilities (MBEMA) Test, consisting of scale, contour, interval, rhythm, and memory sections. Mean total MBEMA score in the experimental and control groups was 58.93 and 72.16 (out of 100), respectively. Significant differences were evident between scores of children with CIs in comparison with their normal-hearing peers (P≤0.001). A remarkable direct correlation between IQ and musical scores in both the control (r≥0.38) and experimental (r≥0.37) groups was observed. IQ has a noticeable effect on music processing and facilitates the perception of various musical elements. With regard to the mutual relationship between IQ and musical skills, this study illustrates the advantage of determining music perception scores and highlights the importance of appropriate musical intervention in order to enhance auditory neural plasticity, especially in children with cochlear implantation.

Razvijanje muzičkih sposobnosti predškolske dece kroz određene oblike muzičkih aktivnosti

The goal of the conducted research was to explore how much preschool teachers value certain types of musical activities, which positively influence the development of preschool children's musical abilities. The assumption in the research was that preschool teachers would choose musical games as the most prominent activity type in their educational work, as well as consider them to be the most important type of musical activity. The research results gave completely unexpected and different results from the expected. Namely, preschool teachers use sung songs the most, and do not consider musical games the most important musical activity type. Musical games are in the fourth place on an importance list of five items.

The role of parents in educating the math and musical abilities of children from infancy to seven years

The role of parents in educating the math and musical abilities of children from infancy to seven years

A novel tool for evaluating children's musical abilities across age and culture

The present study introduces a novel tool for assessing musical abilities in children: The Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Musical Abilities (MBEMA). The battery, which comprises tests of memory, scale, contour, interval, and rhythm, was administered to 245 children in Montreal and 91 in Beijing (Experiment 1), and an abbreviated version was administered to an additional 85 children in Montreal (in less than 20 min; Experiment 2). All children were 6–8 years of age. Their performance indicated that both versions of the MBEMA are sensitive to individual differences and to musical training. The sensitivity of the tests extends to Mandarin-speaking children despite the fact that they show enhanced performance relative to French-speaking children. Because this Chinese advantage is not limited to musical pitch but extends to rhythm and memory, it is unlikely that it results from early exposure to a tonal language. In both cultures and versions of the tests, amount of musical practice predicts performance. Thus, the MBEMA can serve as an objective, short and up-to-date test of musical abilities in a variety of situations, from the identification of children with musical difficulties to the assessment of the effects of musical training in typically developing children of different cultures.

No Association between Music Ability and Hand Preference in Children

ABSTRACT Hand preference was studied in 2 groups of children—children with musical ability and children without musical ability—to examine whether particular markers that may connect with handedness patterns, such as bias away from dextrality or mixed-handedness, stabilize during childhood and are associated with musical ability. Children were administered the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory to determine levels of right, left, and mixed handedness. Results demonstrated no differences in hand preference between both cohorts of children, suggesting the relative independence of musical ability and handedness. However, the inclusion of handedness as a motor marker for musical ability in children in conjunction with other preexisting neurocognitive factors cannot be entirely discounted.

The Use of Prescriptive Therapeutic Songs in a Home-Based Environment to Promote Social Skills Acquisition by Children with Autism: Three Case Studies

ABSTRACT: The researcher investigated the effect of prescriptive therapeutic songs on promoting social skills acquisition by children who have autism. Participants were three children with autism. The researcher created an individualized song for each participant, the purpose of which was to decrease an undesirable behavior identified by the parents. The researcher developed the lyrics of each song by following the current guidelines for writing the text of social stories. Social stories is a strategy developed by special educators for modifying problematic behaviors of children with autism. The adapted lyrics were then set to the tune of a favorite song of the child. The song intervention was implemented during the treatment phases of the ABAB reversal design. Even though the results are not conclusive, there is some indication that prescriptive songs are a viable intervention with children who have autism. Autism is a complex developmental disorder originating in infancy. Children with autism vary widely in ability and personality, and often demonstrate challenging cognitive, social and linguistic behaviors (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994). There is no cure for autism; however, appropriate treatment methods and educational programs can significantly improve children's social, cognitive and communication skills while enhancing their quality of life (Simpson & Myles, 1998a). The society indicates that music therapy used in a structured setting may improve motor, cognitive and daily living skills. In addition, the American Music Therapy Association [AMTA] outlines the therapeutic benefits of music therapy for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (AMTA, 2003). Therefore, music therapy may be a helpful addition to comprehensive treatment programs for children with autism. Reports regarding the responses of children with autism to music stimuli exist early in the autism literature. Both Kanner (1943a, 1 943b, 1951 ), the psychiatrist who first offered a scientific account of autism, and Sherwin (1953), a psychiatrist with musical training, noted the unusual musical capacity of children with autism including their ability to retain and sing many songs. Noteworthy, Rimland (1964) included unusual musical capabilities as one of the diagnostic criteria for autism and as a method to differentiate between autism and other disorders. Empirical evidence supports observations regarding the musical abilities of children with autism. Studies have indicated that children with autism produced as complex tone sequences on a xylophone as typical peers (Frith, 1972;Thaut, 1988) and matched individual tones and tone sequences as accurately as typical children (Applebaum, Egel, Koegel, & lmhoff, 1979). While children with autism may reject other auditory features of their environment, they usually accept music. Children with autism preferred the sung version rather than the spoken version of songs (Blackstock, 1978) and a musical auditory stimulus over a visual stimulus (Kolko, Anderson, & Campell, 1980; Thaut, 1987). The findings in these studies support the statement that music is a preferred stimulus for this population. The first case study describing the benefits of music therapy for an eight-year-old girl who had autism appeared in 1964 (Goldstein, 1964). Further case studies indicated that music therapy increased attentiveness, attention span (Mahlberg, 1973), established non-verbal communication (Mahlberg, 1973; Saperston, 1973), increased eye contact (Saperston, 1973), improved music abilities while at the same time reducing inappropriate behaviors at school (O'Connell, 1974), reduced echolalia (Bruscia, 1982), improved reciprocal relationships and increased body awareness (Bryan, 1989; Levinge, 1990; Wimpory, Chadwick, & Nash, 1995). Snell (2002) discusses several case studies derived from her clinical experience in a public school setting. Participation in music therapy sessions taught students how to observe social cues and cooperate with group boundaries, how to wait, how to transition from one activity to the other, and also established trust, reduced frequency of crying fits, increased consistency of responses during a session, and exposed hidden skills. …

Priešmokyklinio amžiaus vaikų dermės pajautimo lavinimas lietuvių liaudies dainų intonacijomis

Straipsnyje analizuojama priešmokyklinio amžiaus vaikų dermės pajautimo (vieno iš pagrindinių muzikinių gebėjimų) lavinimo problema. Pateikti ir aptarti eksperimentinio tyrimo rezultatai, kurie parodė lietuvių liaudies dainų intonacijų panaudojimo veiksmingumą priešmokyklinio amžiaus vaikų dermės pajautimui ugdyti, taikant muzikinių gebėjimų kompleksinio ugdymo modelį.

Measuring Musical Aptitude in Children: On the Role of Age, Handedness, Scholastic Achievement, and Socioeconomic Status

Scores on the Bentley Measures of Musical Ability test (BMMA) for 897 seven-or eight-year-old children were analysed with respect to a number of factors which previous research suggested might be associated with test performance. Comparisons between the 17 schools participating revealed that the same schools tended to produce either high or low scores. Further analyses revealed a significant relationship between BMMA scores and assessments of school achievement (Standard Attainment Targets - SATs). An association was also present between those schools scoring poorly on the BMMA and those containing relatively large numbers of children receiving subsidised school meals. There was also an association with age. No significant relationship was found, however, between handedness and BMMA scores. The results not only identify some specific limitations of the BMMA, but also point to more general problems in interpreting tests designed to screen for musical ability in children.

Musical Abilities of Children

The article discusses the different musical group tests available in Australia, to discover more about the musical abilities of children.