Musical Ability Research Articles

Development of Pianistic Skills of Preschool Children during the Early Education Period

The article examines pre-reading music period as a necessary and important period in the process of musicians training. The success of learning at this stage depends on the effectiveness of further mastery of playing a musical instrument. Based on the study of the literature, it is determined that musical development is relevant for the children of preschool age because at different age stages, the child reveals and develops different abilities that correspond to the characteristics of a certain age period. An important sign of a preschooler’s musicality is his creative attitude to music, because while listening and perceiving a piece of music, the child emotionally imagines an artistic image at his discretion, reproducing it in singing, playing, dancing or on paper. The pre-reading music period of a student-pianist training is defined as the initial period of training, when the student, during active music playing the piano without using sheet music, develops musical and creative abilities, gets acquainted with basic musical concepts, masters posture and forms elementary pianistic skills. The main task of the teacher is to help each student to adapt individually to the instrument, to find their own feelings of comfort, to feel free, natural movements, a relaxed state of the hands and the whole body. A survey of 124 piano teachers was conducted regarding the features of the introduction of the pre-reading music period in the practice of teaching beginners. The survey proved that pre-reading music training is an important stage of training of beginner and most of the interviewed teachers pay attention to this stage. At the same time, piano teachers do not clearly understand the specifics of this period and most of them do not have the necessary methods and forms of work. Prospects for further scientific research are related to the development of the authors’ method of the pre-reading music period of training for piano students and its verification during an eaucational experiment.

Musical hearing in the system of musical abilities

По мнению исследователей, отсутствие интонационного слуха лишает человека возможности заниматься музыкой даже в качестве любителя. А развитый мелодический и гармонический слух позволяет музыканту добиться высоких профессиональных результатов.

Melodic models and modelling: The fundamental system of knowledge acquisition in music

In the pursuit of developing a fundamental understanding of terms, phenomena, rules and meanings in music, vital to the performance and interpretation of a musical work, it is necessary to apply a methodologically grounded system to the reading of a score that efficiently establishes a basis for understanding the musical content and contributes to the development of musical abilities and musicality more broadly. In the musical-pedagogical process, as part of the wider set of music disciplines (harmony, counterpoint, music forms, knowledge of music styles), the most crucial are the methods and systems of work which allow the reading of musical notation and the understanding of a musical piece to be generated and profiled. The system of models and modelling is a form of work about the perception and reception of a musical work composed on a musical model and the process of working with that model, i.e. modelling. The complexity of the system is reflected in the two sub-elements of modelling: the development of associative abilities by recalling the sound of the model, and gaining an automatic response to sound. Until now, work on models and modelling has been treated using a musical-pedagogical approach. In this study it is defined as a system which is applicable to the process of reading and interpreting a musical text, without being predicated on musical style or the tonal bases of music.

Information Technologies for the Development of Musical Abilities of Children with Disabilities

Information Technologies for the Development of Musical Abilities of Children with Disabilities

Verification of the metric properties of E. E. Gordon’s Advanced Measures of Music Audiation among non-music major students in Croatia

The aim of the study was to investigate the metric properties of the Advanced Measures of Music Audiation test by E. E. Gordon (1989) on a sample of nonmusic major students in Croatia. The study was conducted with female students of early and preschool education at the Faculty of Education in Osijek (N = 235). The descriptive indicators of the AMMA test and the normality of the distribution of scores in the Croatian sample do not differ from the results obtained during the standardization on the American sample and the Polish sample of nonmusic major students. It was found that the reliability coefficient of the AMMA test, calculated using the split-half technique, was 0.87, and high intercorrelation values were obtained between the Total test and the Tonal (r = 0.88) and Rhythm (r = 0.87) subtests. Lower values of the difficulty level and discrimination power (< 0.20) are the weakest features of the application of the AMMA test to the Croatian sample. Considering the overall observed metric properties, it can be concluded that the AMMA test is a reliable measurement tool for the assessment of auditory musical abilities in nonmusic major students in Croatia.

Monitoring and Model Analysis of Vocal Performance Teaching Environment Using Cluster Analysis from the Perspective of Core Literacy.

To cultivate students' artistic quality, enhance their vocal music quality, and prepare them to make great contributions to the innovation and development of my country's vocal music art is the main goal of opening vocal music performance major in colleges and universities. With the advancement of technology and the demands of talent development, the vocal music teaching methodology for the vocal music performance major in colleges and universities must be continuously enhanced. Otherwise, there will be an issue of disconnect between teaching style and talent development, which will harm both the development of high-quality vocal music talents and the innovation and growth of vocal music performance majors in colleges and universities. The vocal music performance major at colleges and universities should actively support the reform and innovation of the vocal music teaching mode in order to extend students' knowledge, develop their all-around ability, and provide a strong foundation for vocal music performance, to develop students' all-encompassing musical abilities. This research suggests a design strategy for the monitoring and model optimization of the teaching environment for vocal performance majors from the standpoint of core literacy. To increase the efficiency and objectivity of course instruction, cluster analysis aids students in categorising and searching for vocal music performance main repertoire as well as using collaborative filtering recommendations to locate their own vocal music performance. The simulation test analysis is completed lastly. The method has a certain accuracy, which is 7.59% higher than the conventional algorithm, according to the simulation findings. In addition to significantly increasing student interest in studying vocal music performance courses, we further reform and innovation of the teaching method for these courses at colleges and universities can also strengthen students' understanding of various repertoire styles and significantly enhance their musical literacy.

ТЕОРЕТИКО-ПРАКТИЧНІ ЗАСАДИ РОБОТИ ЗІ СТУДЕНТОМ-ВОКАЛІСТОМ ЕСТРАДНОГО СПІВУ

Pop art is one of the most socially widespread and mobile types of art. The study of this phenomenon helps to better understand the spiritual processes taking place in society. In this regard, in recent decades there has been an increased interest of researchers in this type of art: in its sources, history of formation, questions of theory and terminology, definition of its role and place in artistic culture, problems of professional training of specialists. The purpose of the article is to identify the professional foundations of the training of pop singers in institutions of higher education. The methodology of the work consists in the application of such methods as: empirical method, method of analogy, axiomatic method, elementary-theoretical method, method of systematization. The scientific novelty is to determine the theoretical foundations of the professional training of a pop singer, to highlight the criteria and basic principles of teaching pop singing, to characterize the basic principles of the educational process in working with student vocalists in institutions of higher education. To find out the methodological and pedagogical principles of the development of the skill of pop singers in institutions of higher education. To find out that the formation of a professional musician requires the integration of a lot of knowledge, abilities and skills, personal attributes into a complex structurally organized system. To reveal the practical principles of the professional training of pop vocalists in institutions of higher education, to consider the main methods and forms of organization of the educational process. To determine that in order to create the most favorable conditions for the development of musical abilities, aesthetic taste and professional growth of the student, a combination of different teaching methods is effective. As a conclusion, the article notes that the methodological and pedagogical principles of the skill development of pop singers need further professionalization. This will help solve the task of training a qualified pop artist and teacher in the formation of professional education in the field of pop music.

Measuring Audiation or Tonal Memory? Evaluation of the Discriminant Validity of Edwin E. Gordon's “Advanced Measures of Music Audiation”

Edwin E. Gordon developed the Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA) test to quantify the extent of an adult's stabilized audiation as a fundamental indicator of musical ability. Although intended to measure audiation exclusively, AMMA is based on a test design similar to the tonal memory subtest of the much older Measures of Musical Talents (SMMT) test developed by Carl Seashore (1919). However, previous studies have shown mixed results regarding AMMA's construct validity. It therefore remains unclear whether AMMA is suitable for measuring audiation exclusively, as intended by Gordon, or whether it additionally measures tonal memory. Accordingly, we tested this hypothesis in two steps. First, responses of 364 participants were used to identify – in terms of the Rasch model – those items of AMMA that could form a “revised” scale showing measurement invariance; second, we used a Bayesian post hoc correlation analysis ( N = 83) to measure the construct (discriminant) validity of the revised version of AMMA compared to an equal number of items in the tonal memory subtest of SMMT. Results from both studies revealed that (a) only five out of 30 items of AMMA showed a model fit that was adequate to form a scale which meets the psychometric requirements of invariant measurement, although with a low internal consistency and an increased probability for ceiling effects, and that (b) both measurements showed a strong correlation ( Mdnτ = 0.56, 95% CI [0.42, 0.70], BF+0 = 2.67·1012). We can thus conclude that there is no practical evidence to assume that both test procedures (AMMA and SMMT) are independent.

A study on the relationship between musical ability and EFL pronunciation proficiency

This study investigates the relationship between musical ability and pronunciation proficiency of English as a foreign language [EFL] of university students of English philology. English pronunciation of the participants is evaluated by academic teachers of English in three categories: the general impression of the foreign or native accent, the accuracy of production of English sounds and the use of word stress and intonation. This experiment was conducted entirely online. Participants’ musical ability was tested using Gordon’s Advanced Measure of Music Audiation [AMMA]. The results of this study demonstrate a moderately positive correlation between musicality and FL pronunciation proficiency. The more musical students, the higher marks from the judges. The present findings seem to be consistent with other studies which suggest that musical skills may positively affect the acquisition of foreign language pronunciation.

О художественном содержании макама

The article is devoted to researching Islamic professional oral music. Maqam is the most high form of this, its conception is spiritual catharsis. Maqam is a chain of ascending parts, each of them elaborating on the main theme of the music. It progresses to a culmination and then descends to the cuitial stage. Maqam’s spiritual contents are the sorrow of love in the form of improvisation first of all, but also songs and dances. Maqam unites dramatic and lyrical characters. Every maqam has its own semantic canon, which is actualized by means of the deepest research of human feelings. Semantic and structure canons connect with the performer’s liberty in emotional detail. Maqam represents a peculiar type of authority (not in absolute form of composer’s art) and is based on classical orient poetry. The highest form of maqam is instrumental (without singing), which expresses the character of its singing-instrumental “parent”. The maqam’s performers must have a special complement of musical abilities and study in music empirient schools. It is necessary to mark particular antithesises, which illustrate a “emotion–ratio” relation in macam’s dramaturgy: passionate contents and strict verified form; originality and canon; euphoria and self-control of a performer; melody and polyphony (instruments imitate singing). Maqam represents a penetrating, “endless” melody with its ability to develop. The elite character of maqam’s genesis and contemporary democracy of the genre are explored, as well as the relations between two forms of maqam: maqam-tune and maqam-genre.

GENETIC FOUNDATIONS OF THE INDIVIDUAL’S MUSICAL ABILITIES DEVELOPMENT

The article presents an overview of available foreign publications on the genetics of musicality, which is a new direction of modern science (see list of references). It is emphasized that national psychologists define the following components of musicality structure: emotional response to music as its center; the sense of rhythm; the sense of mode, and musical auditory perceptions. At the same time, foreign scholars consider musical pitch, the sense of rhythm, and the ability to experience the pleasure of music as the criteria of musicality. Foreign researchers have linked 36 genes and 7 chromosome regions with those traits. Thus, the genes AVPR1, GALM, GATA2, PCDH7, SLC6A4, and chromosome regions 4q22, 4q23, and 8q13-21 with still unidentified genes correlate most closely with musicality (Szyfter & Witt, 2020). Among the above-mentioned genes, genes GATA2 and PCDH7 are involved in the auditory system development and functioning. Genes SLC6A4, and AVPR1 are responsible for getting pleasure from music, and GALM conducts carbohydrate metabolism. According to Tan, McPherson, Peretz, Berkovic & Wilson, the standard expression of TRPA1 (8q21.11) provides absolute pitch and a sense of rhythm (2014). However, absolute pitch is typical only for 1-2% of professional musicians, which gives reason to doubt it is necessary to achieve a musical career (Jobling, 2014).
 The authors suggest that further research on the genetics of musicality should be based on the technology of broad genome associations research. Its value is not determined by the genes involved in musicality identification but by distinguishing the minor structural variations in the DNA molecule. These variations can alter the functioning of relevant genes in a wide range and, thus, vary the level of general musicality or special musical abilities. The identified set of genetic variations will serve as a marker for early diagnosis of musically-gifted children to ensure their successful education, upbringing, and development in the process of mandatory and regular musical and practical activities.

Assessment of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions Input-Output Function in Individuals with and without Musical Abilities

Background and Aim: Musical training has shown to bring about superior performance in several auditory and non-auditory tasks compared to those without musical exposure. Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) input-output function can be an indicator of the non-linear functioning of the cochlea. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the differences in the slope of DPOAE input-output function in individuals with and without musical abilities. Methods: Twenty normal-hearing individuals were considered in the age range of 18–25 years. They were divided based on the scores obtained on the questionnaire of musical abilities, as individuals with and without musical abilities. DPOAE input-output function was done for each of the two groups. The slope of the DPOAE input-output function was compared at different frequencies between the groups. Results: The results of the Mann Whitney test revealed that the slope was significantly steeper at 2000, 3000, 4000 and 6000 Hz in individuals with musical abilities. There was no significant difference in slope at 1000 and 1500 Hz. Conclusion: The increased steepness of the slope indicates a relatively better functioning of the cochlea in individuals with musical abilities. The enhanced perception of music may induce changes in the cochlea resulting in a better appreciation of music.

Master class as a leading pedagogical technology in professional improvement of individual performing qualities of singers

The purpose of this article is to identify and clarify the pedagogical perspectives of a master class as a leading teaching method that actively influences the process of forming and improving the professional level of singers. The practice of individuating of the educational process in music pedagogy is based on the cooperation of all participants and is aimed at developing musical abilities and individual skills of performers. Master classes play an important role in the improvement of vocalists’ professional skills and provide active spreading of performing and pedagogical experience in the world. This article describes the history of master classes as a special teaching technique in music education, examines and analyzes the peculiarities of conducting vocal master classes by prominent singers: Thomas Quasthoff, Тномas Hampson, Jerzy Artysz, Ursula Schongals, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Montserrat Caballé, Mirella Freni, Joyce DiDonato at.al. Master classes open new ways to raise the level of performer's skills, and thus are the key to further successful development of singer’s career. Therefore, the master class is an effective pedagogical technology in the professional growth of individual performing qualities of singers of different ages and different levels of vocal-technique and performing skills.

What Makes Babies Musical? Conceptions of Musicality in Infants and Toddlers.

Despite major advances in research on musical ability in infants, relatively little attention has been paid to individual differences in general musicality in infants. A fundamental problem has been the lack of a clear definition of what constitutes “general musicality” or “musical ability” in infants and toddlers, resulting in a wide range of test procedures that rely on different models of musicality. However, musicality can be seen as a social construct that can take on different meanings across cultures, sub-groups, and individuals, and may be subject to change over time. Therefore, one way to get a clearer picture of infant musicality is to assess conceptions of musicality in the general population. Using this approach, we surveyed 174 German adults, asking about their view and conceptions regarding behaviors that characterize a musical child under 3 years. Based on previous studies on adult and child musicality, we designed a survey containing 41 statements describing musical behaviors in children. Participants were asked to rate how indicative these behaviors were of musicality in infants and toddlers. PCA analysis revealed 4 components of musical abilities and behaviors in under-3-year-olds: Musical Communication, Enthusiasm and Motivation, Adaptive Expressiveness, and Musical Abilities as traditionally defined. Professional background and musical expertise of the respondents did not significantly influence participants’ conceptions. Our results suggest that, in order to capture musicality in young children, a wider range of skills and observable behaviors should be taken into account than those assessed by traditional musical ability tests for young children.

Research on Music Teaching and Creation Based on Deep Learning

Under the background of quality education, music learning is also changing, from the original shallow learning to deep learning gradually. In-depth learning is a new teaching concept, which pays full attention to students’ perception and exploration of music so that students can fully experience the charm of music. It can not only help students master more music knowledge and improve their music skills but also cultivate students’ music literacy and enhance their music ability (Świechowski, 2015). Therefore, in junior high school music teaching, teachers should actively apply the deep learning model and then improve the teaching level and comprehensively cultivate students’ music literacy (Whitenack and Swanson, 2003). In this paper, two convolution-based deep learning models, Breath1d and Breath2d, were designed and constructed, and a multilayer perceptron (MLP) was used as a benchmark method for performance evaluation, and a long short-term memory (LSTM) network is applied for the classification task. This paper discusses the value and application strategies of deep learning in junior high school music teaching and hopes to provide some reference for all educational colleagues (Zhang and Nauman 2020).

Diotic and Dichotic Mechanisms of Discrimination Threshold in Musicians and Non-Musicians.

The perception of harmonic complexes provides important information for musical and vocal communication. Numerous studies have shown that musical training and expertise are associated with better processing of harmonic complexes, however, it is unclear whether the perceptual improvement associated with musical training is universal to different pitch models. The current study addresses this issue by measuring discrimination thresholds of musicians (n = 20) and non-musicians (n = 18) to diotic (same sound to both ears) and dichotic (different sounds to each ear) sounds of four stimulus types: (1) pure sinusoidal tones, PT; (2) four-harmonic complex tones, CT; (3) iterated rippled noise, IRN; and (4) interaurally correlated broadband noise, called the “Huggins” or “dichotic” pitch, DP. Frequency difference limens (DLF) for each stimulus type were obtained via a three-alternative-forced-choice adaptive task requiring selection of the interval with the highest pitch, yielding the smallest perceptible fundamental frequency (F0) distance (in Hz) between two sounds. Music skill was measured by an online test of musical pitch, melody and timing maintained by the International Laboratory for Brain Music and Sound Research. Musicianship, length of music experience and self-evaluation of musical skill were assessed by questionnaire. Results showed musicians had smaller DLFs in all four conditions with the largest group difference in the dichotic condition. DLF thresholds were related to both subjective and objective musical ability. In addition, subjective self-report of musical ability was shown to be a significant variable in group classification. Taken together, the results suggest that music-related plasticity benefits multiple mechanisms of pitch encoding and that self-evaluation of musicality can be reliably associated with objective measures of perception.

МУЗИЧНЕ ВИХОВАННЯ ДОШКІЛЬНИКІВ В УМОВАХ ПЕРЕДШКІЛЬНОЇ ОСВІТИ

The subject matter of this article is fundamental problems connected with school preparation education as the intermediate link of preschool and primary education. The aim of the paper is to investigate theoretical aspects of school preparation education and reveal main ideas relating to the implementation of successive connections in the organization of musical education in preschool and primary education. It is determined legal bases of school preparation education and strategy of its development in the context of Ukraine’s movement to the European educational space. The essence of concepts «school preparation education», «succession», «musical education» is clarified the article. Due to the analysis of the academic literature it is highlighted the aim and the main tasks of the school preparation education: the aim of thiseducational unit lies in the necessity of implementing principle of the succession ofeducation by ensuring the integrity of the process of education development of senior preschoolers and junior schoolchildren, providing children with equal development opportunities during their preparation for school. It is pointed out correlation between the main categories of school preparation education, namely: succession, perspective, readiness of a child to study at school, succession of education and their coherence in relation to the purpose of preschool education. It is the importance of the succession in musical education. Musical education is defined as the process of achieving certain aims at certain age: formation of musical culture principles, development of children musical abilities to develop child`s creative personality. It is stated that the principle of succession in musical education is to be based on the complication of musical thinking. The tasks of musical education that have common character with preschool and primary school education are formulated in the article. Due to the analysis of programs on musical education at preschool institution and primary school in terms of New Ukrainian school the discrepancies in ensuring of succession in musical education are singled out. It is emphasized the necessity of more thorough preparation of programs on musical education.

Enhancing students' understanding and skills on dance music: An action research

Dance students in university tend to have minimum understanding and skills in processing music to address the creativity needs in new dance works. Therefore, effective and critical learning strategies are needed so they are able to process music to create dance works. This research aims at enhancing dance students’ understanding and skills to process music in creating new dance works in the future. It was conducted using an action research design involving 30 dance students at one of the universities in Indonesia. The results showed that, in terms of skills and understanding of music, students were not used to processing music for their dance works, since they were mostly assisted by music stylists. Through internal and external music exploration learning, the musical dance students’ skills could be improved. Therefore, the findings of this research are recommended to be used as an alternative learning in enhancing dance students’ musical ability.
 Keywords: Dance Music, Movement Exploration, External Music, Internal Music, Dance Creativity.

Development of Assessment of Music Perception for the Hearing-impaired

Purpose: Enhancement of musical perception has a positive impact on the emotional stability, quality of life, and aural rehabilitation in individuals with hearing loss. In Korea, however, there are a few test batteries available for properly assessing their abilities to perceive music. The purpose of this study was to develop a evaluation material for the music perception ability, Assessment of Music Perception (AMP) considering the Korean culture and emotion.Methods: A total of 15 normal hearing adults (33.1 ± 11.4 years) were recruited. They performed the AMP which includes eight sub-tests: pitch, melody, rhythm, timbre, and harmony perception test, emotional reaction test, Music listening Attitudes and Satisfaction Questionnaire (MASQ), and Mismatch negativity (MMN).Results: The average percentage of correct answer was 94.0% ± 6.1% in pitch perception test, 94.0% ± 7.1% in melody perception test, 99.3% ± 1.8% in rhythm perception test, 78.9% ± 41.8% in timbre perception test, 96.7% ± 10.4% in emotional reaction test, 85.7% ± 14.1% in harmony perception test. The area of the negative waveform for MMN was 275.27 ± 225.65 μV·ms with the intensity of 70 dBnHL.Conclusion: Considering high scores of a instrument, a developed AMP could be applied for evaluating the music perception ability. However, a little bit of correction for each factor of materials is recommended for comprehensive AMP material. In the future, the music perception ability of the hearing impaired should be evaluated utilizing AMP.

Musical Aptitude as a Variable in the Assessment of Working Memory and Selective Attention Tasks.

Background and ObjectivesThe influence of musical aptitude on cognitive test performance in musicians is a long-debated research question. Evidence points to the low performance of nonmusicians in visual and auditory cognitive tasks (working memory and attention) compared with musicians. This cannot be generalized to all nonmusicians, as a sub-group in this population can have innate musical abilities even without any formal musical training. The present study aimed to study the effect of musical aptitude on the working memory and selective attention.Subjects and MethodsThree groups of 20 individuals each (a total of 60 participants), including trained-musicians, nonmusicians with good musical aptitude, and nonmusicians with low musical aptitude, participated in the present study. Cognitive-based visual (Flanker’s selective attention test) and auditory (working memory tests: backward digit span and operation span) tests were administered.ResultsMANOVA (followed by ANOVA) revealed a benefit of musicianship and musical aptitude on backward digit span and Flanker’s reaction time (p<0.05). Discriminant function analyses showed that the groups could be effectively (accuracy, 80%) segregated based on the backward digit span and Flanker’s selective attention test. Trained musicians and nonmusicians with good musical aptitude were distinguished as one cluster and nonmusicians with low musical aptitude formed another cluster, hinting the role of musical aptitude in working memory and selective attention.ConclusionsNonmusicians with good musical aptitude can have enhanced working memory and selective attention skills like musicians. Hence, caution is required when these individuals are included as controls in cognitive-based visual and auditory experiments.