scholarly journals Musical Training Enhances Automatic Encoding of Melodic Contour and Interval Structure

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1010-1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takako Fujioka ◽  
Laurel J. Trainor ◽  
Bernhard Ross ◽  
Ryusuke Kakigi ◽  
Christo Pantev
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Pitch Structure ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Interval Condition ◽  
Automatic Encoding ◽  
Education Process

In music, melodic information is thought to be encoded in two forms, a contour code (up/down pattern of pitch changes) and an interval code (pitch distances between successive notes). A recent study recording the mismatch negativity (MMN) evoked by pitch contour and interval deviations in simple melodies demonstrated that people with no formal music education process both contour and interval information in the auditory cortex automatically. However, it is still unclear whether musical experience enhances both strategies of melodic encoding. We designed stimuli to examine contour and interval information separately. In the contour condition there were eight different standard melodies (presented on 80% of trials), each consisting of five notes all ascending in pitch, and the corresponding deviant melodies (20%) were altered to descending on their final note. The interval condition used one five-note standard melody transposed to eight keys from trial to trial, and on deviant trials the last note was raised by one whole tone without changing the pitch contour. There was also a control condition, in which a standard tone (990.7 Hz) and a deviant tone (1111.0 Hz) were presented. The magnetic counterpart of the MMN (MMNm) from musicians and nonmusicians was obtained as the difference between the dipole moment in response to the standard and deviant trials recorded by magnetoencephalography. Significantly larger MMNm was present in musicians in both contour and interval conditions than in nonmusicians, whereas MMNm in the control condition was similar for both groups. The interval MMNm was larger than the contour MMNm in musicians. No hemispheric difference was found in either group. The results suggest that musical training enhances the ability to automatically register abstract changes in the relative pitch structure of melodies.

The impact of a music education program on meta-musical awareness, logical-mathematical, and notational skills in preschoolers

2021 ◽  
pp. 025576142110272
Author(s):  
Oriana Incognito ◽  
Laura Scaccioni ◽  
Giuliana Pinto
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
General Domain ◽  
Music Program ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact

A number of studies suggest a link between musical training and both specific and general cognitive abilities, but despite some positive results, there is disagreement about which abilities are improved. This study aims to investigate the effects of a music education program both on a domain-specific competence (meta-musical awareness), and on general domain competences, that is, cognitive abilities (logical-mathematical) and symbolic-linguistic abilities (notational). Twenty 4- to 6-year-old children participated in the research, divided into two groups (experimental and control) and the measures were administered at two different times, before and after a 6-month music program (for the experimental group) and after a sports training program (for the control group). Children performed meta-musical awareness tasks, logical-mathematical tasks, and emergent-alphabetization tasks. Non-parametric statistics show that a music program significantly improves the development of notational skills and meta-musical awareness while not the development of logical-mathematical skills. These results show that a musical program increases children’s meta-musical awareness, and their ability to acquire the notational ability involved in the invented writing of words and numbers. On the contrary, it does not affect the development of logical skills. The results are discussed in terms of transfer of knowledge processes and of specific versus general domain effects of a musical program.

scholarly journals Perception and learning of relative pitch by musicians using the vibrotactile mode

2021 ◽  
pp. 102986492110152
Author(s):  
Carl Hopkins ◽  
Saúl Maté-Cid ◽  
Robert Fulford ◽  
Gary Seiffert ◽  
Jane Ginsborg
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Success Rate ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Professional Musicians ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Schools For The Deaf

This study investigated the perception and learning of relative pitch using vibrotactile stimuli by musicians with and without a hearing impairment. Notes from C3 to B4 were presented to the fingertip and forefoot. Pre- and post-training tests in which 420 pairs of notes were presented randomly were carried out without any feedback to participants. After the pre-training test, 16 short training sessions were carried out over six weeks with 72 pairs of notes per session and participants told whether their answers were correct. For amateur and professional musicians with normal hearing and professional musicians with a severe or profound hearing loss, larger pitch intervals were easier to identify correctly than smaller intervals. Musicians with normal hearing had a high success rate for relative pitch discrimination as shown by pre- and post-training tests, and when using the fingertips, there was no significant difference between amateur and professional musicians. After training, median scores on the tests in which stimuli were presented to the fingertip and forefoot were >70% for intervals of 3–12 semitones. Training sessions reduced the variability in the responses of amateur and professional musicians with normal hearing and improved their overall ability. There was no significant difference between the relative pitch discrimination abilities between one and 11 semitones, as shown by the pre-training test, of professional musicians with and without a severe/profound hearing loss. These findings indicate that there is potential for vibration to be used to facilitate group musical performance and music education in schools for the deaf.

Musical training improves memory for instrumental music, but not vocal music or words

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-159
Author(s):  
Jonathan M. P. Wilbiks ◽  
Sean Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Instrumental Music ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Vocal Music ◽  
Verbal Material ◽  
The Other ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Facilitative Effect ◽  
Musical Excerpts ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Brain

In previous research, there exists some debate about the effects of musical training on memory for verbal material. The current research examines this relationship, while also considering musical training effects on memory for musical excerpts. Twenty individuals with musical training were tested and their results were compared to 20 age-matched individuals with no musical experience. Musically trained individuals demonstrated a higher level of memory for classical musical excerpts, with no significant differences for popular musical excerpts or for words. These findings are in support of previous research showing that while music and words overlap in terms of their processing in the brain, there is not necessarily a facilitative effect between training in one domain and performance in the other.

Absolute Pitch and Relative Pitch in Music Students in the East and the West

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken'ichi Miyazaki ◽  
Andrzej Rakowski ◽  
Sylwia Makomaska ◽  
Cong Jiang ◽  
Minoru Tsuzaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Music Students ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Japanese Students ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Musical Context

Absolute pitch (AP)—an ability to identify an isolated pitch without musical context—is commonly believed to be a valuable ability for musicians. However, relative pitch (RP)—an ability to perceive pitch relations—is more important in most musical contexts. In this study, music students in East Asian and Western countries (Japan, China, Poland, Germany, and USA) were tested on AP and RP abilities. In the AP test, 60 single tones were presented in a quasirandom order over a five-octave range. In the RP test, ascending musical intervals from 1 to 11 semitones were presented in four different keys. Participants wrote down note names in the AP test and scale-degree names or musical interval names in the RP test. The conservatory-level Japanese students showed the highest AP performance and more than half of them were classified as accurate AP possessors, but only 10% were classified as accurate RP possessors. In contrast, only a small percentage of participants from Poland, Germany, and the USA were identified as accurate AP possessors, whereas many more were accurate RP possessors. Participants from China were typically intermediate on both measures. These noticeable contrasts between AP and RP performance in different countries suggest influences of the underlying socio-cultural conditions, presumably relating to music education. Given the importance of RP in music, the results suggest that more emphasis should be place on RP training, particularly in East Asian countries.

scholarly journals Vowel Content Influences Relative Pitch Perception in Vocal Melodies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Russo ◽  
Dominique T Vuvan ◽  
William Forde Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Response Times ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Interval Size ◽  
Final Note

Note-to-note changes in brightness are able to influence the perception of interval size. Changes that are congruent with pitch tend to expand interval size, whereas changes that are incongruent tend to contract. In the case of singing, brightness of notes can vary as a function of vowel content. In the present study, we investigated whether note-to-note changes in brightness arising from vowel content influence perception of relative pitch. In Experiment 1, three-note sequences were synthesized so that they varied with regard to the brightness of vowels from note to note. As expected, brightness influenced judgments of interval size. Changes in brightness that were congruent with changes in pitch led to an expansion of perceived interval size. A follow-up experiment confirmed that the results of Experiment 1 were not due to pitch distortions. In Experiment 2, the final note of three-note sequences was removed, and participants were asked to make speeded judgments of the pitch contour. An analysis of response times revealed that brightness of vowels influenced contour judgments. Changes in brightness that were congruent with changes in pitch led to faster response times than did incongruent changes. These findings show that the brightness of vowels yields an extra-pitch influence on the perception of relative pitch in song.

Youth Orchestras

2012 ◽  
pp. 859-877
Author(s):  
Margaret Kartomi
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
International Context ◽  
Youth Orchestras ◽  
The World ◽  
Youth Orchestra

Youth orchestras are central to the music education of tens of thousands of children and teenagers throughout the world, yet studies of their social function, cultural significance, and pedagogical value remain largely unexplored. Even if students receive their principal musical training through individual lessons and school ensembles, participating in a separate youth orchestra can be a life-changing experience for many musicians. This article defines youth orchestras in an international context, and then articulates and measures the pedagogical value of them in one particular case study: the ethos and educational outcomes of the Young Australian Concert Artists program of the Australian Youth Orchestra.

scholarly journals Vowel Content Influences Relative Pitch Perception in Vocal Melodies

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank A. Russo ◽  
Dominique T. Vuvan ◽  
William Forde Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Response Times ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Interval Size ◽  
Final Note

Note-to-note changes in brightness are able to influence the perception of interval size. Changes that are congruent with pitch tend to expand interval size, whereas changes that are incongruent tend to contract. In the case of singing, brightness of notes can vary as a function of vowel content. In the present study, we investigated whether note-to-note changes in brightness arising from vowel content influence perception of relative pitch. In Experiment 1, three-note sequences were synthesized so that they varied with regard to the brightness of vowels from note to note. As expected, brightness influenced judgments of interval size. Changes in brightness that were congruent with changes in pitch led to an expansion of perceived interval size. A follow-up experiment confirmed that the results of Experiment 1 were not due to pitch distortions. In Experiment 2, the final note of three-note sequences was removed, and participants were asked to make speeded judgments of the pitch contour. An analysis of response times revealed that brightness of vowels influenced contour judgments. Changes in brightness that were congruent with changes in pitch led to faster response times than did incongruent changes. These findings show that the brightness of vowels yields an extra-pitch influence on the perception of relative pitch in song.

Learning Music Composers’ Styles: To Block or to Interleave?

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Shi Hui Wong ◽  
Amanda Chern Min Low ◽  
Sean H. K. Kang ◽  
Stephen Wee Hun Lim
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Aural Skills ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Education Practice ◽  
Teaching Music ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Musical Styles

The ability to recognize and distinguish among varying musical styles is essential to developing aural skills and musicianship. Yet, this task can be difficult for music learners, particularly nonexperts. To address this challenge and guide music education practice, this study drew on cognitive psychological principles to investigate the effect of interleaved presentation of music pieces by various classical music composers on learning to identify these composers’ styles. Participants with 4 or fewer years of musical experience were presented with music pieces from six composers in an interleaved manner (alternating between listening to different composers’ works) and music pieces from another six composers in a blocked fashion (listening to works by one composer at a time before moving on to the next). A later test in which participants had to classify novel pieces by the same 12 composers revealed the superiority of interleaved over blocked presentation, although most participants misjudged blocking to be more effective than interleaving. This finding provides evidence for the utility of interleaving in teaching music composers’ styles and extends the literature on the interleaving effect in category induction to the auditory domain. Practical implications and future directions for the use of interleaving in music education are discussed.

Brazilian Policies on Education Assessment

2019 ◽  
pp. 322-338
Author(s):  
Sergio Figueiredo ◽  
Luciana Del-Ben
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Education Assessment ◽  
Evaluation Procedures ◽  
Internal Coherence ◽  
Assessment Procedures ◽  
Education Process

This chapter presents and discusses policies on education assessment in Brazil. A major evaluation system is examined regarding higher education (undergraduate and graduate). This evaluation system provides general guidelines and criteria for educational levels, and organizes evaluation procedures in diverse documents. Part of these documents includes evaluation in music education. The purpose of this chapter is to critically analyze documents that refer to the assessment of Brazilian education, discussing how such documents are interpreted and applied in practice. In general, the documents have internal coherence, and the main objective is to contribute to the quality of Brazilian education. However, the documents do not always interact with each other, which contributes to the partitioning of the assessment procedures throughout the education process.

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