Formal Musical Training Research Articles

Individual differences in music-evoked autobiographical memories

Music is increasingly used as a cue for autobiographical memories in psychological research and clinical interventions. Despite the burgeoning body of evidence on the phenomenology of music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs), few previous studies have focused in detail on how the capacities and experiences of individual listeners impact features of MEAMs. The present work examined the relationship of individual differences in visual and auditory imagery, musical familiarity and engagement, musical reward sensitivity, musical training, and gender to MEAM features. Participants ( N = 304, ages 18–25 years, 156 female) completed a self-selected MEAM task, in which they described an autobiographical memory they often associate with a piece of music of their choice, and a cued MEAM task, in which they described and rated autobiographical memories evoked by 16 chart-topping pop songs, alongside a series of questionnaires assessing individual differences in mental imagery and musical behaviors. In the cued MEAM task, memories elicited by more familiar songs were more frequent, more vivid, and more positive, whilst general engagement with pop music also positively impacted the vividness and emotionality of these memories. The amount of visual imagery within MEAMs was positively related to individual capacities to generate vivid visual and auditory imagery, and higher scores in musical reward sensitivity were associated with greater emotional intensity of MEAMs. Formal musical training did not predict any MEAM features. Results are discussed in relation to how such findings can maximize the efficacy and rigor of experiments and interventions that use music as an autobiographical memory cue.

Musicianship Modulates Cortical Effects of Attention on Processing Musical Triads

Background: Many studies have demonstrated the benefits of long-term music training (i.e., musicianship) on the neural processing of sound, including simple tones and speech. However, the effects of musicianship on the encoding of simultaneously presented pitches, in the form of complex musical chords, is less well established. Presumably, musicians’ stronger familiarity and active experience with tonal music might enhance harmonic pitch representations, perhaps in an attention-dependent manner. Additionally, attention might influence chordal encoding differently across the auditory system. To this end, we explored the effects of long-term music training and attention on the processing of musical chords at the brainstem and cortical levels. Method: Young adult participants were separated into musician and nonmusician groups based on the extent of formal music training. While recording EEG, listeners heard isolated musical triads that differed only in the chordal third: major, minor, and detuned (4% sharper third from major). Participants were asked to correctly identify chords via key press during active stimulus blocks and watched a silent movie during passive blocks. We logged behavioral identification accuracy and reaction times and calculated information transfer based on the behavioral chord confusion patterns. EEG data were analyzed separately to distinguish between cortical (event-related potential, ERP) and subcortical (frequency-following response, FFR) evoked responses. Results: We found musicians were (expectedly) more accurate, though not faster, than nonmusicians in chordal identification. For subcortical FFRs, responses showed stimulus chord effects but no group differences. However, for cortical ERPs, whereas musicians displayed P2 (~150 ms) responses that were invariant to attention, nonmusicians displayed reduced P2 during passive listening. Listeners’ degree of behavioral information transfer (i.e., success in distinguishing chords) was also better in musicians and correlated with their neural differentiation of chords in the ERPs (but not high-frequency FFRs). Conclusions: Our preliminary results suggest long-term music training strengthens even the passive cortical processing of musical sounds, supporting more automated brain processing of musical chords with less reliance on attention. Our results also suggest that the degree to which listeners can behaviorally distinguish chordal triads is directly related to their neural specificity to musical sounds primarily at cortical rather than subcortical levels. FFR attention effects were likely not observed due to the use of high-frequency stimuli (>220 Hz), which restrict FFRs to brainstem sources.

Music Matters – A Qualitative Evaluation of a Nurse-Led, Group-Based Music Program Complementary to Early Intervention for First-Episode Psychosis

First-episode psychosis is a significant mental health condition that can have a profound and lasting effect on an individual’s functional abilities and overall quality of life. While music therapy has shown promise in improving these areas, there is a lack of research exploring the impact of music groups led by mental health professionals without formal music therapy training in the context of early intervention in psychosis. This study aimed to conduct a qualitative evaluation of a once-weekly, 12-week, nurse-led music group, offered as an adjunct to early intervention in young people with first-episode psychosis. The specific objectives were to explore social interaction and experiences of participants and instructors in relation to the music group and provide focus points for implementation in clinical practice. The study utilized Interpretive Description, collecting data through participant observation (6 sessions × 1.5 hrs; 9 hrs in total), key informant interviews (n = 1), and group (n = 4) and email-based (n = 2) interviews. The data was transcribed, thematized, and analyzed using NVivo12 and Interpretive Description inductive analysis resulting in three main themes: Practicalities of the music group, Restored identity, and Music as medicine reflecting the potential of the music group to contribute to a sense of non-patient identity, decreasing symptoms related to mental illness, foster social relationships and a feeling of belonging to a musical community. This study highligts how participation in music groups can be a possible promoter of recovery. However, sustainability appears contingent on the skills and resources of the facilitator (i.e., nurse). Suggestions for a program theory and clinical implications are presented and discussed.

Experiential Knowledge as a Musical Resource

Historically, music pedagogy has witnessed the implementation of diverse teaching models in different educational settings. Within the academic realm, for example, music theory and instrumental training approaches have been developed to align with standardized curricula, considering the diverse musical histories and cultures across the globe. Even so, there is a growing trend among individuals to explore alternative modes of instruction beyond traditional school environments. These alternative methods encompass online platforms and one-on-one in-person tutoring, among other options. Such modalities have prompted recognition of exponents who provide music tutorage having not acquired formal music training but possess knowledge through lived experience. Their practically inclined teaching approaches and demonstration of musical artistry have sparked interest in people, who subsequently aspire to learn music and play instruments. Their efforts have played a crucial role in fostering the need for music education in the music domain and the entire art industry. In doing so, they establish a prominent presence in music pedagogy, and consequently, in formal educational settings. Considering this, I examine the contributions by such educators within the music industry, particularly in the field of education. Using qualitative case study methods such as interviews, I explored different non-formal pedagogical approaches and interrogated their impact on learners. Insights from these interviews revealed that observation, replication, and innovation are utilized as instructional approaches in non-formal settings, with students studying under peers, master musicians, and family members. Through this, students acquire musical exposure as they develop skills that align with the music industry. Such training ought to be integrated into academic curricula to enhance music scholarship and ensure its relevance locally and within global contexts.

Is Hey Jude in the right key? Cognitive components of absolute pitch memory.

Most individuals, regardless of formal musical training, have long-term absolute pitch memory (APM) for familiar musical recordings, though with varying levels of accuracy. The present study followed up on recent evidence suggesting an association between singing accuracy and APM (Halpern & Pfordresher, 2022, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 84(1), 260-269), as well as tonal short-term memory (STM) and APM (Van Hedger et al., 2018,Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71(4), 879-891). Participants from three research sites (n = 108) completed a battery of tasks including APM, tonal STM, singing accuracy, and self-reported auditory imagery. Both tonal STM and singing accuracy predicted APM, replicating prior results. Tonal STM also predicted singing accuracy, music training, and auditory imagery. Further tests suggested that the association between APM and singing accuracy was fully mediated by tonal STM. This pattern comports well with models of vocal pitch matching that include STM for pitch as a mechanism for sensorimotor translation.

Unravelling individual rhythmic abilities using machine learning

Humans can easily extract the rhythm of a complex sound, like music, and move to its regular beat, like in dance. These abilities are modulated by musical training and vary significantly in untrained individuals. The causes of this variability are multidimensional and typically hard to grasp in single tasks. To date we lack a comprehensive model capturing the rhythmic fingerprints of both musicians and non-musicians. Here we harnessed machine learning to extract a parsimonious model of rhythmic abilities, based on behavioral testing (with perceptual and motor tasks) of individuals with and without formal musical training (n = 79). We demonstrate that variability in rhythmic abilities and their link with formal and informal music experience can be successfully captured by profiles including a minimal set of behavioral measures. These findings highlight that machine learning techniques can be employed successfully to distill profiles of rhythmic abilities, and ultimately shed light on individual variability and its relationship with both formal musical training and informal musical experiences.

MUSICAL TRAINING ON TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS: INSIGHTS FROM NCHIRAA PRIMARY SCHOOLS

The study sought to investigate the status of music education within the creative arts curriculum, with a specific focus on Nchiraa primary schools in the Wenchi municipality of the Bono Region of Ghana. The primary aim was to investigate the factors contributing to the limited attention given to music instruction by teachers in Nchiraa primary schools within the performing arts strand of the creative arts curriculum. Drawing on the Music Theory Learning by Edwin Gordon, the research adopted a qualitative paradigm with a case study design. Four schools were included in the study, within the Nchiraa circuit, selecting two teachers from each school. Purposive sampling was used to select the two teachers from each school making eight participants for in-depth exploration. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews and observation, with thematic analysis employed for data interpretation. The findings revealed that while teachers in Nchiraa primary schools acknowledge the importance of music in the creative arts curriculum, they lack the expertise due to a lack of formal musical training. Recommendations include sensitising the Ghana Education Service (GES) to the need for teachers with appropriate competencies in creative arts education and establishing training opportunities for generalist teachers in creative arts in the various schools.

Can the professional study of a musical instrument be associated with the development of cognitive processes? A meta-analytic study

The objective of this work was to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis to understand the effect that formal music training has on cognitive development, specifically on executive functions, memory, and intelligence. Of the 84 studies identified in the meta-analysis, 16 met the inclusion criteria. The cognitive processes analyzed were divided into three different cognitive domains: executive function, memory, and intelligence, with two moderating variables, age and professional experience. The results indicated that professional musicians score higher in the three cognitive domains: executive function, memory and intelligence. Taking into account age and musical experience, these differences lessen for executive function and increase for memory and intelligence, but always with higher scores for professional musicians. This data indicates that formal music training might go along with cognitive development, and thus be indicative of the development of cognitive processes, which remains over time.

Development and Standardization of Low-Verbal Material for Assessment of Central Auditory Processing in Arabic Language

Development and Standardization of Low-Verbal Material for Assessment of Central Auditory Processing in Arabic Language

No Musician Advantage in the Perception of Degraded-Fundamental Frequency Speech in Noisy Environments.

Pitch variations of the fundamental frequency (fo) contour contribute to speech perception in noisy environments, but whether musicians confer an advantage in speech in noise (SIN) with altered fo information remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of different levels of degraded fo contour (i.e., conveying lexical tone or intonation information) on musician advantage in speech-in-noise perception. A cohort of native Mandarin Chinese speakers, comprising 30 trained musicians and 30 nonmusicians, were tested on the intelligibility of Mandarin Chinese sentences with natural, flattened-tone, flattened-intonation, and flattened-all fo contours embedded in background noise masked under three signal-to-noise ratios (0, -5, and -9 dB). Pitch difference thresholds and innate musical skills associated with speech-in-noise benefits were also assessed. Speech intelligibility score improved with increasing signal-to-noise level for both musicians and nonmusicians. However, no musician advantage was observed for identifying any type of flattened-fo contour SIN. Musicians exhibited smaller fo pitch discrimination limens than nonmusicians, which correlated with benefits for perceiving speech with intact tone-level fo information. Regardless of musician status, performance on the pitch and accent musical-skill subtests correlated with speech intelligibility score. Collectively, these results provide no evidence for a musician advantage for perceiving speech with distorted fo information in noisy environments. Results further show that perceptual musical skills on pitch and accent processing may benefit the perception of SIN, independent of formal musical training. Our findings suggest that the potential application of music training in speech perception in noisy backgrounds is not contingent on the ability to process fo pitch contours, at least for Mandarin Chinese speakers. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23706354.

Vocal singing skills by cochlear implanted children without formal musical training: Familiar versus unfamiliar songs.

Vocal singing skills in pediatric CI users are not much known due to the limited number of studies. The principal aim of the present study was to evaluate vocal singing skills in Italian pediatric CI users. A further aim was to investigate factors that may significantly influence their performance. The participants were twenty-two implanted children and twenty-two hearing peers. Their vocal singing skills for familiar ("Happy Birthday to You") and unfamiliar songs ("Baton Twirler" from Pam Pam 2- Tribute to Gordon) were evaluated in relation to their music perception (the Gordon test). Acoustic analysis was performed using Praat and MATLAB software. Nonparametric statistical tests and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to analyze the data. Hearing children outperformed implanted peers in both music perception and vocal singing tasks (all measures regarding intonation, vocal range, melody, and memory for the familiar song versus measures regarding intonation and overall melody production for the unfamiliar song). Music perception and vocal singing performances revealed strong correlations. For the familiar and unfamiliar songs, age-appropriate vocal singing was observed in 27.3% versus 45.4% of children, all implanted within 24 months of age. Age at implantation and duration of CI experience were moderately correlated with the total score obtained from the Gordon test. Implanted children show limited vocal singing skills in comparison to their hearing peers. However, some children implanted within 24 months of age seem to achieve vocal singing skills as good as their hearing peers. Future research could be useful to better understand the role of brain plasticity to implement specific training programs for both music perception and vocal singing.

Closed-field Auditory Spatial Perception and Its Relationship to Musical Aptitude

Introduction: Musical aptitude is the innate ability of an individual to understand, appreciate, improvise, and have a good sense of pitch and rhythm, even without undergoing formal musical training. The present study aimed to understand the effect of musical aptitude on auditory spatial perception. Method: Forty nonmusicians were subjected to a musical aptitude test Mini Profile of Music Perception Skills (Mini-PROMS) based on which they were divided into two groups. Group I included 20 nonmusicians with good musical aptitude (NM-GA) and Group II comprised 20 nonmusicians with poor musical aptitude (NM-PA). Auditory spatial tests included interaural time difference (ITD) and interaural level difference (ILD) threshold tests and a closed-field spatial test called virtual acoustic space identification (VASI) test. Results: Kruskal–Wallis test revealed a significant difference between Group I (NM-GA) and Group II (NM-PA) in ITD (p < 0.001), ILD (p = 0.002), and VASI (p = 0.012) tests, suggesting the role of musical aptitude in auditory spatial perception. Correlational analyses showed a moderate positive correlation between Mini-PROMS scores with VASI (r = 0.31, p = 0.04) and a moderate negative correlation with ILD (r = −0.3, p = 0.04) and ITD (r = −0.5, p = 0.001). Conclusion: This study defines a positive association between musical aptitude and auditory spatial perception. Further research should include a comparison of spatial skills among musicians and nonmusicians with good musical aptitude.

Does Musicality Assist Foreign Language Learning? Perception and Production of Thai Vowels, Consonants and Lexical Tones by Musicians and Non-Musicians.

The music and spoken language domains share acoustic properties such as fundamental frequency (f0, perceived as pitch), duration, resonance frequencies, and intensity. In speech, the acoustic properties form an essential part in differentiating between consonants, vowels, and lexical tones. This study investigated whether there is any advantage of musicality in the perception and production of Thai speech sounds. Two groups of English-speaking adults-one comprising formally trained musicians and the other non-musicians-were tested for their perception and production of Thai consonants, vowels, and tones. For both groups, the perception and production accuracy scores were higher for vowels than consonants and tones, and in production, there was also better accuracy for tones than consonants. Between the groups, musicians (defined as having more than five years of formal musical training) outperformed non-musicians (defined as having less than two years of formal musical training) in both the perception and production of all three sound types. Additional experiential factors that positively influenced the accuracy rates were the current hours of practice per week and those with some indication of an augmentation due to musical aptitude, but only in perception. These results suggest that music training, defined as formal training for more than five years, and musical training, expressed in hours of weekly practice, facilitate the perception and production of non-native speech sounds.

Absolute pitch judgments of familiar melodies generalize across timbre and octave.

Most listeners can determine when a familiar recording of music has been shifted in musical key by as little as one semitone (e.g., from B to C major). These findings appear to suggest that absolute pitch memory is widespread in the general population. However, the use of familiar recordings makes it unclear whether these findings genuinely reflect absolute melody-key associations for at least two reasons. First, listeners may be able to use spectral cues from the familiar instrumentation of the recordings to determine when a familiar recording has been shifted in pitch. Second, listeners may be able to rely solely on pitch height cues (e.g., relying on a feeling that an incorrect recording sounds "too high" or "too low"). Neither of these strategies would require an understanding of pitch chroma or musical key. The present experiments thus assessed whether listeners could make accurate absolute melody-key judgments when listening to novel versions of these melodies, differing from the iconic recording in timbre (Experiment 1) or timbre and octave (Experiment 2). Listeners in both experiments were able to select the correct-key version of the familiar melody at rates that were well above chance. These results fit within a growing body of research supporting the idea that most listeners, regardless of formal musical training, have robust representations of absolute pitch - based on pitch chroma - that generalize to novel listening situations. Implications for theories of auditory pitch memory are discussed.

The Relationship between Formal Music Training and Conflict Control: An ERP Study.

Music training involves manifolds of sensorimotor processes that tie closely with executive functions, including conflict control. Past studies have found consistent evidence in children of the link between music learning and executive functions. However, the same relationship has not been found in adult populations, and conflict control has yet to be studied in a focused manner. Via the Stroop task and event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study examined the association between musical training and conflict control ability among Chinese college students. The findings exhibited that individuals with music training outperformed individuals without music training by demonstrating higher accuracy and faster reaction times on the Stroop task and exhibiting greater N2 and smaller P3 amplitudes compared to the control group. The results support our hypothesis that people who received music training demonstrate advantages in their capacity for conflict control. The findings also provide scope for future research.

How do perceptual benefits from musical experience compare with those from speech experience?

Acoustic consistency facilitates perceptual processing while acoustic variability challenges it. This is evident in perceptual interference tasks, in which listeners categorize a target word/pitch when produced by either a single talker/musical instrument or multiple talkers/instruments. Responses are faster and/or more accurate for single-talker (e.g., Stilp & Theodore, 2020 AP&P) and single-instrument conditions (e.g., Shorey et al., 2022 ASA). While patterns of results are parallel across domains, listening experience is not. Participants in speech tasks are experts at their native language, but in the music task the contribution of musical experience is unclear because Shorey et al. tested solely nonmusicians. This raises two questions: (1) does more musical training increasingly protect against timbral variability when making pitch judgments, and (2) how does musical expertise compare with speech expertise? To evaluate these questions, we tested native English speaking nonmusicians (<2 years of formal musical training), intermediate musicians (2–9 years), and experienced musicians (10 + years) in speech interference and music interference tasks. We predict that musical training offers resilience to variability, such that interference in the music task will decrease with increasing musical experience. We also predict correlated interference for advanced musicians (i.e., experts) across speech and music tasks. Results will be discussed.

Beat alignment ability is associated with formal musical training not current music playing.

The ability to perceive the beat in music is crucial for both music listeners and players with expert musicians being notably skilled at noticing fine deviations in the beat. However, it is unclear whether this beat perception ability is enhanced in trained musicians who continue to practice relative to musicians who no longer play. Thus, we investigated this by comparing active musicians', inactive musicians', and nonmusicians' beat alignment ability scores on the Computerized Adaptive Beat Alignment Test (CA-BAT). 97 adults with diverse musical experience participated in the study, reporting their years of formal musical training, number of instruments played, hours of weekly music playing, and hours of weekly music listening, in addition to their demographic information. While initial tests between groups indicated active musicians outperformed inactive musicians and nonmusicians on the CA-BAT, a generalized linear regression analysis showed that there was no significant difference once differences in musical training had been accounted for. To ensure that our results were not impacted by multicollinearity between music-related variables, nonparametric and nonlinear machine learning regressions were employed and confirmed that years of formal musical training was the only significant predictor of beat alignment ability. These results suggest that expertly perceiving fine differences in the beat is not a use-dependent ability that degrades without regular maintenance through practice or musical engagement. Instead, better beat alignment appears to be associated with more musical training regardless of continued use.

The impact of formal musical training on speech intelligibility performance: Implications for music pedagogy in high-consequence industries

In high-risk industries, responding accurately and promptly to spoken commands is crucial to ensure safety and productivity. When simultaneous sounds occur, it increases the difficulty of responding efficiently and accurately. This study examined responses to spoken commands in an audio-visual multitasking paradigm that simulated a high-consequence working environment. Participants had varying levels of formal music training (FMT): no FMT, 1–3, 3–5, and 5+ years of FMT. We found that FMT groups were similar in accuracy overall and background music decreased accuracy for all groups. The degree of FMT significantly impacted non-response. Additionally, there was an interaction where the no FMT group responded 1.5-fold less frequently in the presence of background music; however, participants with 5+ years of FMT had no decrease. Considering the similar accuracy with less frequent responding, the 5+ years FMT group appears well calibrated to when they were unsure of the answer, suggestive of improved meta-cognition which could be valuable in high-risk industry settings. Future research can examine performance within different types or quality of musical training, and pedagogical approaches can be compared.

Influence of auditory working memory in discriminating children with good musical abilities from children with poor musical abilities

Abstract Purpose: Musical abilities are associated with the perception of complex acoustic features in an auditory scene, which requires a good load of cognitive processing. Musical sleepers (individuals with good musical abilities without formal music training) were proven to be in adults, and their enhanced cognitive abilities were established, but such a phenomenon in children is not explored yet. Hence, the present study was carried out to assess auditory working memory (AWM) abilities in children with widespread musical abilities. Materials and Methods: Twenty-nine children within the age range of 7–13 years participated in the study. The children’s musical abilities were assessed using the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Musical Abilities and scores were recorded. Sixteen and thirteen children were categorized into individuals with good and poor musical abilities, respectively, based on the 50th percentile score as the cutoff. The tests for AWM, such as forward span, backward span, and N-back, were administered. Results: Point biserial correlation showed that groups had a significant positive association with forward span (r = 0.65; P = 0.00), backward span test (r = 0.41; P = 0.02), and N-back test (r = 0.70; P = 0.00). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated a significant main effect of groups, and post hoc analysis showed that children with good musical abilities outperformed the ones with poor musical abilities in all three working memory measures. Further, Fisher’s discriminant analysis revealed that the N-back test, with discriminant coefficient of 0.75, is the best auditory-cognitive predictor of musical abilities in children. Conclusions: Children who had no musical training exhibited better musical ability. This may be mediated by improved AWM, but an additional investigation into the relationship between musical aptitude and other psychophysical abilities in children without musical training is necessary.

#SaveTheAmazon: Promoting global competence and making bridges in the middle school music classroom

This article offers an overview of a semester-long general music class unit in an international middle school. Due to international schools’ transient nature, students come from various backgrounds, and many do not have formal musical training. Using samba and popular music as a base for the unit, students developed critical awareness and explored socio-ecological issues in sustainability, resource consumption and environmentally friendly education about the Amazon rainforest. This action research will discuss the teaching strategies used in the classroom to promote student-led learning, problem-solving and collective music-making in times of hybrid learning and physical constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, students studied rhythms and developed musicianship while using popular music repertoire. Subsequently, students investigated the impact of deforestation in the Amazon basin and how it may affect the world. Finally, they learned about activism in art and were encouraged to take action through songwriting and social media, developing critical awareness and global competence.