Correlations Among Music Aptitude, Singing Voice Development, and Singing Accuracy Achievement in Young Children

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Portuguese children's use of singing voice and their singing accuracy on the pitches belonging to the Singing Voice Development Measure (SVDM) criterion patterns (Rutkowski, 2015), as well as the influence on singing with a neutral syllable or text on both variables. Children aged 4 to 9 (n = 137) were administered the SVDM individually and three raters evaluated recordings of the children's singing, both for the use of singing voice (i.e., effective use of pitch range and register) and singing accuracy. Prior to data analysis, the validity and reliability of the measure was examined and assured. A significant relationship was found between both variables. Favoring the neutral syllable, significant differences were found in response mode for singing accuracy, but not for use of singing voice, suggesting that the use of neutral syllable in classroom singing activities might be beneficial to improve accuracy. Older children and girls obtained higher scores for the use of singing voice and accuracy. Within a common pitch range, children with higher SVDM scores sang accurately a higher number of pitches, suggesting that expanding children's use of singing voice might also improve singing accuracy.

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Research-to-Resource: Designing Singing Assessments for Classroom Use

Update Applications of Research in Music Education ◽

10.1177/8755123319843428 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

pp. 5-8

Author(s):

Bryan E. Nichols

Keyword(s):

Scoring Systems ◽

Singing Voice ◽

Singing Accuracy ◽

Summative Assessments ◽

Voice Development ◽

Music Classrooms ◽

Classroom Use

Research has provided several scales for valid assessments of singing skills. Singing voice development and singing accuracy (tunefulness) are frequent objectives targeted by teachers in music classrooms. Teachers and directors may find established scoring systems useful for implementing formative or summative assessments. This research-to-resource article provides examples for teachers to use or adapt to promote and encourage singing growth.

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The Relationship Between Children’s Use of Singing Voice and Singing Accuracy

Music Perception An Interdisciplinary Journal ◽

10.1525/mp.2015.32.3.283 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 32 (3) ◽

pp. 283-292 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Joanne Rutkowski

Keyword(s):

Significant Relationship ◽

First Graders ◽

Singing Voice ◽

Vocal Development ◽

Singing Accuracy ◽

Vocal Registers ◽

Music Audiation ◽

Voice Development ◽

And Control ◽

The Relationship

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the relationship between children’s use of singing voice (vocal register) and singing accuracy. In previous studies recorded examples of kindergartners’ (n = 37) and first graders’ (n = 38) singing were assessed with the Singing Voice Development Measure. For this study, these recorded examples were also evaluated for accuracy by two different raters. There was a significant correlation between children’s use of singing voice and singing accuracy, but no significant relationship for either variable with tonal aptitude as measured by Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation. When children’s accuracy was assessed based on their usable register, the influence of register on accuracy was very small suggesting that the relationship between vocal development and accuracy is a function of children’s access to, and control of, a wider singing range. Teachers interested in improving singing accuracy in their students are encouraged to work with them on expanding their usable vocal registers.

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Developing the Singing Voice

This Too is Music ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190884956.003.0013 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 213-222

Author(s):

Rena Upitis

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Direct Instruction ◽

Original Work ◽

Singing Voice ◽

Pitch Matching ◽

Classroom Activities ◽

Individual Voice ◽

Musical Context

This chapter discusses how young children can develop their singing voices as part of a community of singers and creative musicians. Teaching singing is approached both through direct instruction and through the compositions that children themselves create. Some of the techniques discussed involve pitch matching in a musical context, including solfège techniques and songs. The importance of voice regulation is also discussed, and several classroom activities involving chants and poetry are described, where children can both learn about voice regulation and create original work. The emphasis throughout is on singing with meaning and on the joys that can come with developing one’s individual voice in a community that sings.

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The effect of focused instruction on young children’s singing accuracy

Psychology of Music ◽

10.1177/0305735617713120 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 46 (4) ◽

pp. 488-499 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Steven Demorest ◽

Bryan Nichols ◽

Peter Q. Pfordresher

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Skill Development ◽

Music Instruction ◽

Control School ◽

Pitch Matching ◽

Singing Accuracy ◽

Early Grades ◽

Music Specialist ◽

Experimental Group ◽

Development Proceeds

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of daily singing instruction on the singing accuracy of young children and whether accuracy differed across four singing tasks. In a pretest-posttest design over seven months we compared the singing accuracy of kindergarteners in a school receiving daily singing instruction from a music specialist to a control school receiving no curricular music instruction. All children completed four singing tasks at the beginning and end of the study: matching single pitches, matching intervals, matching short patterns, and singing a familiar song from memory. We found that both groups showed improvement on the pitch-matching tasks from pretest to posttest, but the experimental group demonstrated significantly more improvement. Performance on the familiar song task did not improve for either group. Students achieved the highest accuracy scores when matching intervals. Regular singing instruction seems to accelerate the development of accurate singing for young children, but the improvement was evident only in the pitch-matching tasks. It is possible that singing skill development proceeds from pitch-matching to the more difficult task of singing a song from memory. If so, this has implications for how we structure singing instruction in the early grades.

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Measuring Singing Voice Development in the Elementary General Music Classroom

Journal of Research in Music Education ◽

10.2307/3345758 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 35-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Lili M. Levinowitz ◽

Pamela Barnes ◽

Susan Guerrini ◽

Margaret Clement ◽

Pasquale D'April ◽

...

Keyword(s):

General Music ◽

Singing Voice ◽

Music Classroom ◽

Elementary General Music ◽

Voice Development

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A real‐time display system for singing voice development

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.4781949 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 121 (5) ◽

pp. 3088-3088

Author(s):

David M. Howard ◽

Helena Daffern ◽

Jude Brereton ◽

Graham F Welch ◽

Evangelos Himonides ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Display System ◽

Singing Voice ◽

Voice Development

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Self-Assessment of Singing Accuracy

The Oxford Handbook of Assessment Policy and Practice in Music Education, Volume 2 ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190248130.013.65 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 652-678

Author(s):

Patricia Riley

Keyword(s):

Elementary School Children ◽

Peer Feedback ◽

Teacher Feedback ◽

Singing Voice ◽

Self Assessment ◽

Singing Accuracy ◽

The Third ◽

Long Period ◽

Melodic Contour ◽

Voice Matching

This chapter presents a series of three research studies conducted to determine how teachers can best employ self-assessment to help elementary school children improve their singing accuracy. The first study examines the accuracy of children’s self-assessment, the second details the effects of teacher feedback on self-assessment accuracy, and the third describes the effects of peer feedback on self-assessment accuracy. Implications are that informal self-assessment of singing skills, conferencing with peers regarding singing skills, and practicing singing and self-assessment are activities that may contribute to accurate self-assessment in using correct words, singing in time, and using singing voices, and to somewhat accurate self-assessment in ability to match pitch. Including teacher feedback and peer feedback individually has yielded mixed results in increasing singing self-assessment accuracy in the combined areas of using singing voice, matching pitch, and melodic contour—with peer feedback over a slightly long period of time being more effective.

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Assessing Singing Voice Development

The Oxford Handbook of Assessment Policy and Practice in Music Education, Volume 2 ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190248130.013.64 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 628-652

Author(s):

Joanne Rutkowski

Keyword(s):

Rating Scales ◽

Singing Voice ◽

Pitch Accuracy ◽

Vocal Registers ◽

Definition Of ◽

Voice Development ◽

Research Studies

This chapter focuses on various tools and strategies that have been used in research studies for assessing singing voice development, particularly of children. The chapter is organized around the following: A definition of singing development, which includes use of the singing voice (vocal registers) and then pitch accuracy, is provided. An overview of approaches used in research to assess singing development is then presented. These approaches include singing tasks, such as echoing patterns and singing a song, which the children perform to have their singing assessed, human raters using rating scales/rubrics to assess children’s singing, and technology. A more thorough discussion of selected rubrics and rating scales as well as suggested protocols for using them follows. Recommendations for using these tools and strategies for applications in research and classroom settings are included.

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Investigation of the effect of a male singing model on kindergarten children’s use of singing voice achievement

International Journal of Music in Early Childhood ◽

10.1386/ijmec_00003_1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 167-180 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Joanne Rutkowski

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Kindergarten Children ◽

Test Time ◽

Female Teacher ◽

Singing Voice ◽

Female Model ◽

Male Undergraduate ◽

Male Teacher ◽

Voice Development

Replicable singing models are important as children learn to use their singing voices. Previous research indicates that for elementary school-aged children a child model is most effective, then a female model, then a male falsetto model, then a male baritone model. In my work with preschool children in a more informal setting, I noticed that many of these children did not seem to have difficulties singing along with male undergraduate students. In a recent study I conducted, significant differences in male and female models were found, favouring the female model. However, gains in singing were not noted until the second half of the year and the male teacher was only part of instruction for the first half of the year. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a male singing model over an entire academic year of instruction on kindergarten children’s singing voice achievement. Kindergarten children (N=15, N=10) received informal music guidance once a week for 30‐40 minutes from October to May from a team of two music teachers, one female and one male. The teachers sang together during activities, but sometimes the female teacher would take the lead; other times the male teacher. The Singing Voice Development Measure (SVDM) was administered four times during the instructional period. For each test time, the female teacher administered the test with her voice as the singing model; on a different day the male teacher administered the test with his baritone voice as the singing model. Two raters evaluated the randomized recordings of the children’s singing; reliabilities were acceptable. A three-way repeated-measures ANOVA revealed a significant interaction by time and model. The children’s scores, while quite high on the pretest, showed an increase over time for both models except for the final performances when singing with text with the female model; one of these performances appears to be an outlier.

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