Council for Research in Music Education

Music and Language: A Learning Window from Birth to Age Ten Author(s): Jack J. Heller and Maria B. Athanasulis Source: Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, No. 153/154, The 19th International Society for Music Education, ISME Research Seminar, Gothenburg, Sweden. School of Music, University of Gothenburg, August 3-9, 2002 (Summer - Fall, 2002), pp. 18-22 Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Council for Research in Music Education Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40319135 . Accessed: 12/11/2013 09:39
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2002, No. 153/4 Bulletinof theCouncil forResearchin Music Education Spring& Summer,

Music and Language: BirthtoAge Ten A LearningWindowfrom

Abstract
window tested a theory Thisstudy qualitiesin ofexpressive fortheperception ofa learning window must a practicewindow that musicand speech.Thetheory overlapthelearning suggests andfifththirditcloses aroundage 10. Forty gradersparticipated graders, first-graders, before at each grade level was musicclasses. Each student receivedbiweekly All students in thestudy. thesame speech and musictests.The speech testcontained30 itemswhereeach administered whereeach 30 items short item consisted phrases. Themusictestalso contained spoken ofthree musicalphrases.All three short item containedthree phrases in each itemwerethesame written or expression in interpretation wordsor notatedmusic,butone phrase was different fromthe tobe thesame in interpreother twophrases.Twoofthephraseswereintended bytheperformers The or expression. in interpretation to be different onephrase was intended or expression; tation phrases in each itemand wereasked to choose theinterpretation subjectslistenedto thethree did Since theability thatwas different oftheolderstudents fromtheothertwoin interpretation. thetheory on themusictest, notleveloff mayneed modification.

Introduction
and ofmusic effects the about hasbeenmuch There listening positive speculation of music Thoseof us in thefield activities. mental other music study uponvarious of positive with all sorts musical to ascribe education areperfectly activity willing oflifelong tothedevelopment intervention is early benefits. Howimportant learning andotherwise)? skills (musical is illumibirth after fewmonths inthe first brain ofthehuman Thedevelopment could infants to six-month-old showed that three Wendrich perceive (1981) nating. ifno specific lostthisability butthat in sungpitches differences byage three they brain's the Nash(1997)describes time. took developintervening placeinthe practice ment as follows: ofthe cellsinoneneighborhood with Liketeenagers telephones, their cellsarecalling andthese inanother, friends brain arecalling alover and another over one andthey friends, again keepcalling these that is growing ... Evidence were most as ifthey autodialing. ofthebrain, theshape bursts ofelectrical actually change activity the newenable that circuits into mental eventually patterns carving the first it....During the world around infant toperceive born years Starta series ofextraordinary the brain oflife, changes. undergoes more trillions a brain ... after birth, baby's produces ingshortly use.Then... the that itcanpossibly between neurons connections ornever orsynapses that areseldom eliminates connections brain the around ... [arepruned] used.Theseexcesssynapses starting and ofemotion whose behind a mind patterns age often, leaving for better orworse, are, unique, (pp.49-50) thought 18

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Heller& Athanasulis

19

usedthey that aredeveloped for music arenot toNashifthesynapses According muandprimary school ofconsistent andrepeated Theimportance preschool atrophy. ... that"thenumber of synapses is strengthened sic activities by Nash's report toform nerve fibers continue between life, [but] connections] throughout [microscopic atthat ataround theage oftwoandremain densities their reach average highest they is repeated What wires thebrain theage oftenoreleven. leveluntil experience." (p. in lifeis further music ofrepeated The importance 54, italics added.) listening early exercise cortical neurons that "when children (1996)assertion byBegley's supported circuits usedfor mathematarealsostrengthening toclassical music, they bylistening andenhances their use in complex brain theinherent ics. ... Musicexcites patterns tasks" (p. 57). reasoning the cortical excite andenhance tomusic that Ithasbeen might exposure proposed in thus usedin spatial-temporal affecting ability cognitive reasoning firing patterns based research neural code.Behavioral this that share tasks complex spatial-temporal scored that students & Ky 1995)found onthese Shaw, (Rauscher, college predictions soafter toa Mozart tasks onspatial-temporal listening reasoning higher significantly ofa causal the existence "established but such studies wasshort Thiseffect nata. term, et music andenhanced between (Sarnthein, reasoning." spatial-temporal relationship al 1997, p. 107.) enhancemusic that etal (1997) showed Rauscher long-term training produced intheir Thechildren children's ofpre-school ment study reasoning. spatial-temporal for lessons wasgiven onegroup four into were divided piano keyboard private groups; as controls. served nolessons) other thethree sixmonths, computer, (singing, groups while thecontrol test on a spatial-temporal Thekeyboard reasoning improved group modificaThis enhancement not did long-term suggests significantly. improve groups with music" concerned ... not neural "inunderlying tions (p. 2). primarily circuitry shestated when viewearlier this Rauscher that, (1995)suggested common the andpriming for actsas anexercise music repexciting cortical flow ofthe andsequential ertoire responsible patterns firing tomusic cortex's the brain functions. for response ...Perhaps higher ofhigher for the'code' orinternal stone' is the'Rosetta language function, brain (p. 47) in lifealso has beensupported activities of music The importance bythe early outthat, Nash(1997)points notion ofcritical learning periods. there ofchildhood few inthe first that believe scientists years many when the or'windows' orsensitive ofcritical area number periods, orstabilize tocreate inorder ofinput certain demands brain types ofwintobe a series There structures. certain appears longlasting for window The dowsfor syntax acquiring language. developing for thewindow ofagewhile orsixyears as five closeas early may learn a second to The close. never words new ability may adding andthe birth between is highest undergoes ageofsixthen language decline, andinexorable a steady (pp.55-56) in window ofa learning model a similar andCampbell Heller (1972) proposed to andbegins window thelearning model In this music andlanguage. opensatbirth music for the closebetween (andspeech) practicing agesof6 and10.Ifopportunities the seems tolearn child closesthe window the before tochildren areprovided learning andGibson music andlanguage. for rules Heller, (1982) Campbell, implicit necessary for the rules off levels this that haveshown operate age 10.Ofcourse byabout ability topractice. hastheopportunity child the inwhich culture the musical orwhatever musical the Whatever (classical, pop,orJavanese), jazz, rock, genre that areaccepted rules arespecific there thelanguage, performance implicit stylistiis stylistically isperformed a musical inwhich Themanner orsyntactically. phrase cally in an Theuse ofa portamento arefollowed. rules cultural iftheimplicit appropriate

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20

Window Music/Language

is emphasized for inwhich note andthemanner a particular aria, (rhythmic example, rule orpitch Inspeech, the areways musicians inflection) phrases. implicit manipulate foradjective order in theEnglish us to say"a bigredbus."It is language requires rule incorrect inEnglish tosay"a redbigbus."There is animplicit English language ifwe for Andthere a phrase order. areimplicit rules that tellushowtospeak adjective not knowwish a particular Forexample, when oneenters a house toimpart message. in which someone is there, themanner one says"hello"is very telling. ingwhether thansaying "Hel-lo" dropping a musicalinterval is muchdifferent of a third hasthe orfifth down a third. Musical fourth then "hel-lo-o," style going upa musical samekind ofimplicit inspeech is as important rulestructure. Howwe saysomething is played as what is said.Howweperform is as important as what or a musical phrase orperform to thesubtleties ofhowtospeak (orimplicit rules) sung. begins Learning take ina child's life. placevery early Thestudy ofrelationships in theimplicit for communication rulestructure proin the videsan important for ofknowledge foundation therepresentation examining andthe that take andproblem-solving. mind, processes placeduring learning Campbell andHeller intheimplicit that there areimportant rulesystems (1981)claim parallels for music andspeech. about for abstract Information strategies cogniorganizational tive ina child's et brain follows from studies inmusic (Rauscher, processes cognition likespeech, is a system inwhich cuesareusedbythe al, 1995,1997).Music, multiple toevoke covert inthelistener. performer responses The musical andreconstructed as intended construct, bythe by theperformer structure canonly be investigated Like the nucleus of the its listener, atom, indirectly. bemust be inferred from thepredictive offunctional models. Thatis,overt validity for haviors ofatoms, to what is and listeners must performers, correspond predicted a model tobe validated. Traditional in speech the to studies andmusic education approaches emphasize variables inwritten be andinmusic notation. Thefocus should represented language on the ofspeech andmusic, andshould address theculturally relevant performance ofthe communication Thisincludes what is generally calledthe components process. orexpressive ofcommunication. interpretive aspect Welch inearly outthat "musical is childhood (1998)correctly points development a complex ofhuman and mediated sociowith, product potential interfacing being by, cultural influences andopportunities" music (p. 27). Likelanguage, early experiences that reinforce thesocial/cultural conventions ofmusic be critical tolater musical may Thisanalogy skills. tolanguage that learn students best inearly childlistening implies hood when teachers musical that the provide experiences emphasize interpretive aspects ofmusic rather than traditional music basedon notation, emphasize theory concepts for andrhythm (Heller, 1982). example, pitch Thisstudy wasdesigned tofurther the ofa learning window for the explore theory ofmusic andspeech Thetheory that a pracperception expressive qualities. suggests tice window must atleast with the window before itclosesat partially overlap learning about ageten.

Data Collection
Datawere collected todetermine whether the inlistening toexpression in growth music andspeech levelsoff students 6 years byabout (about age 10.Forty lst-grade students 8 years students old),40 3rd-grade (about old),and40 5th-grade (about10 in this All students received music classes old) participated study. regular biweekly years intheir school. Eachstudent ateachgrade levelwasadministered the samespeech and music tests. The speech test contained 30 items, with a male, andchild female, perthe onthe test. Eachtest item consisted ofthree short forming spoken phrases (4 second) Themusic test alsocontained 30 items. These were spoken phrases. phrases performed

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Heller& Athanasulis

21

short test contained three on themusic on a clarinet, cello,andpiano.Each item (4 the words ineachitem were samewritten ornotated Allthree second) phrases phrases. in interpretation from the or expression was different butone ofthephrases music, tobe thesameininterintended were other two. Twoofthe bythe performers phrases ininterpretation or wasintended tobe different andonephrase orexpression pretation ineachitem andwereaskedto listened tothethree Thesubjects phrases expression. from theother twoininterpretation. that wasdifferent theinterpretation choose a student's tocategorize that andGibson Heller, (1982)showed ability Campbell, musical andwithin within differences phrases phrases performed spoken interpretive inthis toleveloff thegrowth increases between ability begins ages6 and8, butthat window that with the between prelearning theory ages8 and10.Thiswasconsistent thecurrent toclosebyage 10 (See Figure dicts that thewindow 1); however, begins a continued Data demonstrate needmodification. that thetheory datasuggest might inthespeech data off inability inleveling wasa trend from age6 to 10.There growth much be related tothe inthe music data(See Table1.)Thismay butnot period longer with music. Serious than birth with encounters ofmeaningful onward) (from language inlife. much later music begins listening usually 6 and10-year-olds for between the difference showed that ofvariance Ananalysis PostHoc Comparison tasks themusic (10.7%) was significant (p < . 01). A Sheff the 6 and8-year-olds between mean difference the showed that (4.8%) wasnot signifithe 8 and10-year-olds between mean difference the but that (5.8%)was(p < .05). cant, ofage. as a function off inleveling notrend was small, increase While this appeared the doesnotsupport Thisresult theory. 8 to andfrom 6 to8-year-olds from tasks showed ofthespeech growth Analyses < differThe mean were Both differences .01). (p significant statistically 10-year-olds. 6 and between the mean difference was 10.7%while 8 and10-year-olds encebetween for the older students decrease for did curve the So was 17.3%. Voids learning 8-year occurs as age increases. off that a leveling thetheory Thissupports tasks. thespeech window themusic/speech toexamine willbe designed research Future learning is in window ofthelearning a modification wellbe that It mayvery theory theory. a better from research evidence As more order. mounts, understanding may empirical arelearned. ofmusic howtherules shows that listening develop

Figure 1. Speech/MusicLearningand PracticeWindows

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22

Music/Language Window

Table 1 Music & Speech Means and StandardDeviationsin Percentages

MusicMean difference between Grades1 & 3 (43.2 & 48.1) = 4.9%* between Grades1 & 3 (48.4 & 65.7) = 17.3%*** SpeechMean difference MusicMean difference between Grades3 & 5 (48.1 & 53.9) = 5.8%** between Grades3 & 5 (65.7 & 76.3) = 10.6%*** SpeechMean difference
* No difference significant (p. > .10) (Sheff Comparison) ** difference Significant (p. < .05) (Sheff Comparison) *** Significant < .01) (Sheff (p. Comparison)

References
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