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.
The Relationship Between Portuguese Children's Use of Singing Voice and Singing Accuracy when Singing with Text and a Neutral Syllable
This research was developed in the framework of CESEM (Sociology and Musical Aesthetics Research Center – UID/EAT-00693/2013) and financial support was provided by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through a PhD grant (PD/BD/114489/2016), co-financed under the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES). I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of Joanne Rutkowski in advising aspects of this project and reviewing the manuscript.
Ana Isabel Pereira, Helena Rodrigues; The Relationship Between Portuguese Children's Use of Singing Voice and Singing Accuracy when Singing with Text and a Neutral Syllable. Music Perception 1 June 2019; 36 (5): 468–479. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2019.36.5.468
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