Early acquisition Early acquisition of musical aural skillsof musical aural skills

Richard Parncutt1 Gary McPherson2 Margit Painsi1 Fränk Zimmer1

1Department of Musicology, University of Graz2 School of Music, University of Illinois

ICMPC Bologna 21-26 August 2006

AimsAims

How and why do children spontaneously recognize musical pitch structures?

Improve “ear training”?

Exploratory qualitative study

Acquisition of musical aural skills: Acquisition of musical aural skills: Intuitive cognitive model Intuitive cognitive model

1. Exposure phaseaural (visual, tactile-motor, linguistic) memory

2. Experimentation phasematch memory to performance by trial and error

3. Recognition phaseauditory pattern memory linguistic label

Background: Skill acquisitionBackground: Skill acquisition

Nature/nurture:– interaction between genes & environment

Expertise approach:– more practice more skill

Critical periods: – earlier practice more skill

(Intrinsic) motivation: – motivation practice skill

Background: Subskill interdependenceBackground: Subskill interdependence

Musical skills– general musicality or– independent specific skills?

Is audiation central?– Origins of musicality = origins of audiation?

Relation to other approachesRelation to other approaches

Other studies Our study

real-time retrospective

any or average children

children who will later have good aural skills

N = small - medium N = large

Methodological problem: MemoryMethodological problem: Memory

Strong for– meaningful events

Unreliable if– long ago

BUT Longitudinal observation is also problematic

– implicit skill acquisition

Methodological problem: QuestionnairesMethodological problem: Questionnaires

Aspect ProblemOpen question Unclear

Closed question Leading

Quantitative data Needs many participants

Qualitative data Needs openness and trust

Specific issuesSpecific issues

InstrumentSpecific early experiences Age at onset of recognitionSituationsActive or passiveMotivation Belief in talent

Data collectionData collection

period– Sep 2005 to June 2006

publicity– email lists

participants– 196

missing data– many

Sex of participantsSex of participants

112 female 84 male

Nationality of participantsNationality of participants

51% USA19% UK 7% Canada 5% Australia

Language of questionnaireWestern bias of internet

Age of participantsAge of participants

mean 36 years– min 18– max 83

Aural skills of participantsAural skills of participants

Best grade for an ear training testA: 109B: 23C: 3D: 1E: 1

Years of musical practiceYears of musical practice

mean 28 – min 4 – max 70

Does practice make perfect?

““CV” of average participantCV” of average participant

Began to play regularly… – aged 7 years (min 2, max 21)

Played continuously…– stops for only 1 year

Filled our questionnaire – aged 36 years

InstrumentInstrument

Are some instruments better

for ear training than others?

Main instrumentMain instrument

59% piano 8% guitar 7% flute 5% violin

Keyboard represents aural structures visually?Parents of talented children choose piano?

First year of playing: Instruments playedFirst year of playing: Instruments played

piano 63% violin 13% flute 6%guitar 5%recorder 4%others 9%

Instruments in the homeInstruments in the home

140 people named 311 instruments: piano (106) guitar (40) violin (28) recorder (22) … flute, keyboard, trumpet, harmonica, cello,

organ, clarinet, accordion, banjo/mandolin…

Important for ear training? 86% yes 10% no 4% can‘t remember

Why piano?Why piano?

Upper middle class parents

Piano in houseGeneral support

for music

Early musical experiences Early musical experiences

“Early” = before learning first instrument

What early musical experiences promote development of aural skills?

Early musical experiencesEarly musical experiences

Age at middle of period4.5 years

Frequency of musical experiences5.3 (1 = very rare … 7 = very frequent)

Family member whose musical Family member whose musical activities experienced most oftenactivities experienced most often

49 % mother31 % father 8 % sister 4 % brother

Specific activity No. of entries

Playing an instrument 108

Singing – at home 48

Listening to music 23

Singing – choir, church ... 17

Early musical activities: MaterialsEarly musical activities: Materials

Examples: Mother at piano, kids play drums & sleigh bells

Dad made up songs about our family

My brother and I made up Gregorian chants

• lullabies• hymns• traditional and folk songs• Christmas songs• Suzuki songs

Early musical activities: How enjoyable?Early musical activities: How enjoyable?

mean 6.3 (1 = not at all … 7 = very)

enjoyment motivation practice

Early musical activities: Specific emotionsEarly musical activities: Specific emotions

Music as:

private experience– It was amazing to produce sounds.– Music always gave me an immediate feeling of exhilaration.

part of intensive personal interaction– Happy, closeness with family members, fun and joy in

learning the tune and rhythm of songs– I could switch off from the unhappy family life and escape

into music.– I enjoyed this time because I gave our family the 'glue' that

held us together.

AgeAge

At what age do children

acquire basic aural skills?

First memory of recognizing pitch structuresFirst memory of recognizing pitch structures

Age:Age: mean 8. mean 8.66 years (min years (min 22, max 1, max 188))

Age at which specific structures recognizedAge at which specific structures recognized

Means Perform Notate Understand

Melodic intervals 9 11 12

Chord qualities 9 11 12

Chord functions 11 13 14

Close modulations 13 14 15

Distant modulations 15 15 16

Melodic inversion 15 15 16

Basic structures learned between 8 and 14Basic structures consolidated before building on them

Role of situationRole of situation

In what situations do children

acquire aural skills?

First year of playingFirst year of playing

Situations in which learned about music Conventional music lessons 64% (130)

Working out pieces by ear alone 24% (103)

Mental practice 16% (54)

Composing alone at instrument 16% (72)

Playing by ear with friends or family 16% (46)

Composing with friends or family 19% (9)

But our participants may not be representative

Percentage: average of those who replied (In brackets: number who replied to question)

First memory of recognizing pitch structuresFirst memory of recognizing pitch structures

AP Heard mother make mistake on piano. Played by ear before starting lessons. Recognized tones while dad tuned / mother played piano.

Harmony Cried when hearing IV6 – iv6. Transcribed pop progressions. Played "Smoke on water" at guitar group.

Theory Theory class in high school - ear training exercises. Correspondence course in theory and ear training.

Choir Singing back a pattern for choir auditions.

Melody Matching pitches, singing back melodies, singing in tune.

Piano Apparently played a song on piano by ear.

Wide variety of situations. Examples:Wide variety of situations. Examples:

Context in which skill originally acquiredContext in which skill originally acquired

Aural skills are learnedLearning is mainly active

Wide variety of responses• family and outside• formal and informal• group and solo• instrumental and choral• theory and practice

Musical styles in which structures recognizedMusical styles in which structures recognized

Participant bias towards “classical” musicParticipant bias towards “classical” music

Rank order:1. classical2. children’s3. pop/rock4. religious

Learning stylesLearning styles

Active or passive?Motivated or “just happened”?

Most important factor in developing this skillMost important factor in developing this skill

Category

N=82

Examples

active music making

28 sightsinging, solfege, tuning instrument

starting to play at an early age regularity, persistence, hard work teaching myself experimenting with instrument

listening to music

16 learning how to listen active or intense listening hearing music in many different

contexts Role of active learning

Why motivated to acquire this skill?Why motivated to acquire this skill?Category N=9

6Examples

learning goal

27 to learn specific songs to sing on the correct pitch to do well in music courses, be a better performer to learn music quickly, understand music, compose to sing or play like a specific performer

joy, fun 21 I loved it; it was fun, like a game

no special intention

20 I wasn’t motivated, it just sort of happened a consequence of joining the school choir it was just what we did – it was family

useful-ness

14 reading music took too much time and effort hearing melody helped me hear bass and chords important to make low brass section sound good

Role of relevant, useful goals

Inherited or learned?Inherited or learned?

Questions about origins of skills: – All answers involved musical activities– No-one objected that skills were inborn

“How important were your early musical activities for the development of your aural abilities?”– 5.8 (1 = not at all … 7 = very)

Participants believe skills are learned

Inherited or learnedInherited or learned

Inherited Learned

Opinion then 44% 56%

Opinion now 39% 61%

Source of info for “opinion then”:Source of info for “opinion then”:46% 46% compare memory with current compare memory with current knowledge knowledge 18% 18% parents then parents then 15%15% peer comparison then peer comparison then

Real learning + belief in talent

Interesting but unreliable dataInteresting but unreliable data

Metacognition is weak– Even for the most talented

Memory is unreliable– Respondents may invent or exaggerate

Our participants are biased toward– upper middle class– “classical” music

Consistent with expertise modelConsistent with expertise model

motivation practice skill

Critical periods?

phase age

exposure 3-7

experimentation 7-10

recognition 9-14

Interdependence of musical subskillsInterdependence of musical subskills

Musicality as– independent specific skills

Central role of audiation– supports other subskills

Educational implications: HomeEducational implications: Home

Parents should hear, make, enjoy music themselves own and play several instruments encourage child from an early age (6?) to

– hear, make, enjoy a lot of music– experience keyboard and choral singing – take music lessons– develop own musical tastes and passions

Educational implications: InstitutionalEducational implications: Institutional

Offer parental training incl. music More music in school Musical interaction teachersparents Ear training at school, not university