Examining Tonal Stability in Children's Production of Conventional Songs
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Authors
LaRosa, Kamille
Issue Date
2010
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
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Abstract
The present study highlighted tonality as a key variable in the development of singing
proficiency and musical ability in children between the ages of 3 and 7 years in the production of
conventional songs such as Brother John. The central purpose of the study was to quantitatively
examine whether a child's ability to sustain the resting tone, or the tonic in a conventional song
becomes more proficient with age. The study analyzed data obtained from a singing test battery
developed by Dr. Annabel J. Cohen (2008; 2009a; 2009b) for data collection and used Stadler
Elmer's Microanalysis Pitch Analysis Procedure (2000) for analysis of data from the Advancing
Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS) Research Collaborative. It was predicted that the
ability to sustain the tonic in conventional song will increase with age and that younger
participants will exhibit more overall deviation from the tonal center than older participants.
Pitch values were obtained from each participant's rendition of Brother John and the average
deviation from the tonic was obtained for each participant. The average deviation from the tonic
was compared across age and analyzed using a one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and a
Mann Whitney-U Test. No significant differences were found between the age groups and their
average deviation from the tonic. However, general observations of data obtained from the
current study suggest the importance of maintaining phrase contour on sustaining the tonic and
the dominant tone (the fifth degree of the diatonic scale). A future investigation is encouraged to
test whether maintaining phrase contour is connected to or precedes the acquisition of tonality in
children's singing. The results of this study suggested continuing improvements on the design
and administration o(the AIRS test as the AIRS Project develops the battery beyond the pilot
stages to increase its versatility in multiple contexts of edueation, well-being, and development.
Description
vi, 37 p.
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