Effects of Gender and Age on Vocal Modeling and the Pitch-Matching Accuracy of Elementary School Children

This study was conducted to determine the effects of gender and age on vocal modeling and the pitch-matching accuracy of young children. Ninety-three students in grades one through five were tested on their ability to respond vocally to one of three different vocal models. Of the 93 participants, 53 were female and 40 weremale. The vocal models included a child female, a child male, and an adult female. All participants were asked to watch a video-taped recording of one randomly chosen vocal model. Each participant was asked to respond vocally to a set of random melodic phrases from the song "Are You Sleeping?" on the neutral syllable "loo." Then, the participants listened to "Are You Sleeping?" sung on text. Finally,each participant was asked to echo the phrases of the song as provided to them using the rote-song approach. All vocal responses were recorded and later examined for their pitch-matching accuracy by the researcher. These accuracy ratings were tested against a group of judge's ratings to account for reliability.While the vocal model made no significant impact upon the vocal accuracy of the participants, the gender of the participants and the text method did. The females sang significantly more accurately than the males for both sections of the study, and both gender groups sang significantly more accurately using the neutral syllable "loo"rather than the text. These results may indicate that the song-learning approaches elementary general music teachers use in their curriculums may need to be reexamined.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music

Grantor dc:publisher

The Ohio State University

Year dc:date

2005

Author dc:creator

• Pluth, Amy Garver

Contributors dc:contributor

• David Frego, R.J.

• Music

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1364222884

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:osu1364222884