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Developmental psychology attempts to describe the musical growth that takes place in children at certain stages of their lives. Newer trends in this discipline also put an increasing emphasis on a 'life-span' approach, in which behavioural changes in adulthood are also incorporated.24 The following discussion on musical growth will, however, concentrate only on children aged 7 to 12 years of age, because most children start their instrumental music studies in this time bracket. Another reason for this limitation is that the researcher-developed model of integrated Aural Training discussed in section two, concentrates on incorporating Aural Training into instrumental lessons, starting from the very beginning.

First of all, the developmental theories of Piaget, Gardner and Swanwick-Tillman will be introduced. Secondly, other research results will be summarised in order to complete the picture of the developmental level of 7- to 12-year-old children.

The structural cognitive-based developmental theory of Jean Piaget has been referred to by many authors in connection with the nature of the mind and the acquisition of musical knowledge. In his epistemological approach to the domain of physical and logical-mathematical thinking, Piaget determined a universal, invariant sequence of four main stages of development, of which each serves as a preparation for the next:

Sensory-motor intelligence (index level) (0-2 years of age): The child reacts to his environment mainly through

his own perception (reflexes and senses) and actions upon it. He is capable of delayed imitation and starts to use his body in the simplest form of symbolic play, that of enacting images.

Pre-operational intelligence (intuitive or symbolic thought) (2-7 years of age): Symbols such as language,

mental images, and others are used to refer to the world which the child had previously known directly only through reacting to it. This use of symbols is, however, still static in the sense that the child cannot manipulate the 'images' that he carries about in his head. This phase is also characterised by imitative behavioural patterns.

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Gertrud Meyer-Denkman, "Wahrnehmungspsychologische und neurophysiologische Aspekte des Musiklernens" in Giinter Kleinen (Ed.), Musikpiidagogische Forschung, Band 5: Kind und Musik. Laaber: Laaber, 1984 p. 157.

Emily Ruth Brink, A Cognitive Approach to the teaching of Aural Skills viewed as Applied Music Theory. Doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University Evanston Illinois 1980. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1980 pp. 99-107.

David J. Hargreaves, The Developmental Psychology of Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986 p. 1.

Concrete operational intelligence (7-11 years of age): Mental operations such as classification, an understanding of spatial relationships and the ability to organise (group) elements are present. The operations of conservation and reversibility are important in this phase.25 Operations are broadly defined as representational acts being organised into a functioning whole, related to other such systems. Operations can be recombined in order to produce new operations, to cancel or undo other operations.

Fonnal operational intelligence (sign level)(12-15 years of age): Operations are conducted using logical and abstract hypothetical thinking. Events can be compared to each other and their own thoughts can be evaluated. Equations can be written, propositions be uttered, and logical manipulations upon strings of symbols can be performed by, for example, combining them, contrasting them, negating them.26

His theory is furthermore based on the assumption that knowledge is not innately predetermined, but is constructed through the interaction of the child with his environment. Development is influenced by maturation, experience, social transmission and equilibration. Through equilibration, cognitive structures are developed towards greater levels of differentiation, integration and adaption. This process of equilibration furthermore involves the processes of

assimilation (integration of external elements into evolving or completed cognitive structures) and accommodation

(modification of cognitive structures by the assimilated elements). Through these processes qualitatively different and higher modes of understanding are reached. Newly encountered objects and events are assimilated and accommodated by changing the ways of thinking about them. As a result of this, a new level of equilibration is entered.

As mentioned earlier, this theory captured the attention of many music psychologists. The applications of Marilyn Pflederer-Zimmerman and Emily Ruth Brink are only two examples among many. According to Brink, physical motion or drawings are used to represent musical events between the pre-operational and operational intellectual levels. Dictation tasks, for example, require formal operation in that the melody is first perceived and then mentally reconstructed in order to form meaningful concepts about it. This perceptual-conceptual knowledge is finally represented at the sign level through notation of the mental reconstruction of the melody.27

Most of the research done on the implications of Piaget's theory for music development, concentrated on the area of musical conservation, which is defmed as the ability to understand theme and variation in music. pflederer- Zimmerman, for example, proposed five laws of musical conservation: identity (conservation of melody with change in timbre), metrical groupings (conservation in meter with change in rhythm), augmentation and diminution

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"Piaget's original experiments in conservation involve physical quantities that undergo transformations in appearance, but not in physical amount. ... For example, in the conservation of liquid task, the child is shown two identical glasses containing the same amount of water. Once the child agrees that each glass has the same amount, the contents of one glass are poured into another glass of a different size and shape. Typically, children below the age of 6 or 7 claim that the amount of water changes when it is poured into the other glass .... In contrast to younger, older children maintain that the amount of water remains the same ... . The response of the older child reflects an ability to decenter and to perform a reversible operation. In the case of conservation, the most important of these operations involves an understanding of reciprocity or compensation. The ability to perform reversible operations is a characteristic of the concrete operational stage of development. "

Carolyn Hildebrandt, quoting Piaget, "Structural-Developmental Research in Music: Conservation and Representation" in J. Craig Peery, Irene Weiss Peery and Thomas Draper (Eds), Music and Child Development. New York: Springer, 1987 p. 82.

Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence. Totowa, New Jersey: Littlefield, 1960 pp. 106-125.

Emily Ruth Brink, A Cognitive Approach to the teaching of Aural Skills viewed as Applied Music Theory. Doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois 1980. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Mi- crofilms International, 1980 pp. 69-70.

(conservation of melody with change in tempo) transposition (conservation of melody with change in key), inversion

(conservation of harmony with chord inversion),28 Although, according to Pflederer-Zimmerman, a wide variety of Piagetian music results were presented, general trends indicated that at about the age of 9 qualitative changes in children's thinking begin to occur, and by the age of 14 formal operational music thought was observed.29

Hildebrandt,however, criticised pflederer-Zimmerman, because her use of the Piagetian term conservation differs in its formulation from that of Piaget. Three of the abovementioned laws do no define the properties of concrete operational structures in music, because they do not define musical attributes that remain the same under given transformations. Only the conservation of meter under rhythmic variation and the conservation of rhythm under tempo variation involves compensation or reciprocity in the Piagetian sense,30 David J. Hargreaves also pointed out that the musical tasks differ from the Piagetian tasks, in that the child cannot observe the transformations as was the case in the Piagetian tasks. This is because musical events are ordered in the dimension of time, and two versions of a melody cannot be attended to at the same time.31

The unavoidable question arises as to the value of the application of Piaget's theory to Music Education, if some of these applications have been criticised. Due to the fact that the attributes of music differ in nature and character to those of physical and logical-mathematical thinking, direct parallels cannot be drawn between the Piaget definition of conservation, and what was defined as musical conservation. What is more important, however, is the fact that valuable knowledge about what children can achieve at certain ages was explored through these research endevours applying Piaget's theory, and some general correlations between music development and logic-mathematical thinking were determined.

Although Howard Gardner pointed out that Piaget neglected central aspects of human cognition by basically ignoring the sophisticated forms of thinking involved in literature, art and music, Gardner did refer to similarities between his theory and that of Piaget. In an attempt to integrate affect and cognition, Gardner developed an informal model of artistic development based upon empirical research conducted by many investigators in the Harvard Project Zero, and his own observations, impressions and intuitions as a parent, teacher and reader.

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David J. Hargreaves, The Developmental Psychology of Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986 p. 46.

Marilyn Pflederer-Zimmerman, "Music Development in Middle Childhood: A Summary of Selected Research Studies" in Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Winter 1986 pp. 23-26.

Carolyn Hildebrandt, "Struc,tural-Developmental Research in Music: Conservation and Representation" in J.

Craig Peery, Irene Weiss Peery and Thomas Draper (Eds), Music and Child Development. New York: Springer, 1987 pp. 84-85.

David J. Hargreaves, The Developmental Psychology of Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986 p. 46.

Along with Dennis Wolf, Gardner proposed four major stages of artistic development: The child as direct communicator

The child as symbol user The youth as craftsman

The youth as critic and full participant in the artistic process.32

There is a remarkable similarity between Gardner's and Piaget's first two stages of development. The child's first encounters with his environment through basic sensory activities and motoric movement serve as a prerequisite for artistic activity in the sense that they awake the child to various means of communication. These activities are, however, not directly involved in the Arts, because of the Arts' unique involvement with the understanding and manipulation of symbol systems such as various sounds, lines, colours, shapes, objects, forms and patterns. These all have the potential to refer to, exemplify or express some aspects of the world.

Between the ages of 2 to 7 the child's capacity to use, manipulate, transform and comprehend various symbols matures rapidly. This development was seen in children from all cultures, regardless of different educational systems. Gardner and his colleagues observed an initial grasp of the major symbolic medium of the 7-year-old child's culture seen in his ability to sense what occurs within a piece of music, and the ability to combine fragments to produce a new piece in a familiar style. This same sense of composition, balance and construction was observed in the child's work in the visual or plastic arts.

"With what I hope will be regarded as benign exaggeration, I have suggested that the young child of this age is an incipient artist. By this I mean that he now possesses the raw materials to become involved in the artistic process: a 'first draft' notion of how symbols work in a raft of symbolic media, some knowledge of how to construe a work, some capacity to construct one on his own. Indeed, he can enact the roles of performer, artist, and member of an audience. Only when it comes to the task of being a critic - who, like Piaget's formal operator, must be able to reason on the level of words or logical propositions - is the young school child significantly deficient. "

In order to develop as a mature artist the child needs (a) additional knowledge about the medium, (b) more understanding of the culture in which he lives, (c) an increased flexibility in the way that he regards artistic objects, (d) greater psychological insight into human nature, and (e) superior technical skills to permit him the desired effects in a particular medium. Although this development may require a lifetime, Gardner maintained that no new level of cognitive operation is required in order for the child to participate fully in the artistic process. What is needed is not a new qualitatively different level of thinking, but a quantitative approach which implies an in-depth study. In this particular argument is contained the major difference between the theories of Piaget and Gardner. According to Gardner, Piaget's phases of concrete and formal operational thought needed for the development of the scientist are not directly relevant to the artist's task.

The 7-year-old child has not only gained enough of an intuitive familiarity with symbol systems to be able to work with them adequately on an elementary level, but also is preeminently equipped to learn. New skills are acquired within a short time with a joy that is a characteristic of this age. They are not anxious about the use of terminology or about making errors, and these years are often described as 'the golden age of creativity'.

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Marilyn Pflederer-Zimmerman, "Music Development in Middle Childhood: A Summary of Selected Research Studies" in Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Winter 1986 p. 20.

Unfortunately this enthusiasm about acquiring skills in the Arts and the capacity to fully "immerse" himself in an expressive medium seem to lack in most adolescents. As this phenomenon cannot be related to the student being less intelligent or motivated, Gardner referred to Piaget's theory that during adolescence critical reasoning skills are developed. This results in the student viewing his own work more critically by comparing it to that of highly skilled artists. Their own attempts often appear inadequate in comparison to that of other artists, and because of this, motivation declines.

Gardner strongly emphasised the role of education during the pre~adolescent period, in order to prevent this decline of interest. Children should be motivated to develop to a sufficiently high level during this period, in order to prevent the urge to reject their own artistic works at a later stage. Children should also be encouraged to take a more critical view of their own work during pre-adolescence. By presenting the child with problems, exposing him to various solutions, and providing the opportunity to evaluate and improve his own work, he can become familiar with critical reasoning abilities before he reaches adolescence.33

Swanwick and June Tillman actually developed a theory of musical development based on "compositions" of children aged 13 to 15 years, coming from many different ethnic and cultural groups. The term composition was used for the "briefest utterance as well as more sustained invention", with or without notation. Over a period of four years 745 composition of 48 children were gathered. The children were provided with several Orff and percussion instruments, and were also encouraged to use their voices. After a child was satisfied with his composition and could repeat it twice, it was recorded. The repetition of the composition served the purpose of investigating whether the child could remember what he had composed, and the extent to which this took place. After analysing the compositions, different trends linked to age could be distinguished, and four developmental modes were determined. These modes, or so- called 'transformations', are both cumulative and cyclical. Problems attached to, for example, the first stage, appear every time that a new instrument or new idiom is handled.

Mastery: sensory and manipulative (04 years of age): Pure sensory delight in sounds is transformed into an urge for mastery. Children are fascinated with dynamic levels and different timbres. The elements of music are disorganised, the pulse unsteady and the use of timbre has no clear structural or expressive meaning. After the age of three, children show an interest in handling instruments, start to organise a regular pulse and use techniques related to different instruments such as glissandi, tremolos, trills, etc. Compositions are fairly long and "wild" with repetitions of the mastered skill such as glissandi.

Imitative thinking: personal expression and the vernacular (4-9 years of age): Personal vocal expressions such as deliberate changes of speed and loudness levels appear in a rather unstructured spontaneous way. The vernacular mode becomes visible at the age of 5 and is clearly established at the age of 7 to 8. During this phase the use of patterns such as repeated melodic and rhythmic figures can be observed. Short pieces are produced in applying general musical conventions such as two-, four- or eight-bar melodic phrases in common metrical organization, often with the use of syncopation, melodic and rhythmic ostinati and sequences. Existing melodies are sometimes presented as their own compositions.

Imaginative play: speculation and the idiomatic (10-15 years of age): Although not fully integrated in the style of the piece, speculation, experimenting with new material, often appears in compositions. Structural possibilities and ways to contrast or vary musical ideas are explored. This can often be observed in a novel ending of a melody that follows established norms. At the age of 13-14, structural "surprises" are more fully integrated into a recognizable style. Based on copied models and clear popular idiomatic practices, contrast

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Howard Gardner, Art, Mind and Brain - A Cognitive Approach to Creativity. New York: Basic Books, 1982 pp. 86-109,208-217.

and variation are incorporated. Emphasis is placed on harmonic and instrumental authenticity, answering phrases, call and response, variation and elaboration and contrasting sections that crystallise in longer, more complex technical, expressive and structural compositions. A growing urge to enter the adult world is reflected in the imitation of the musical styles of, for example, pop stars.

Meta-cognition: symbolic and the systematic (15 +): The term meta-cognition usually describes the process of becoming aware of and articulating ideas of their own thought processes. At the symbolic level, a strong personal identification with particular pieces of music, a growing consciousness of its affective qualities, a tendency to think about the musical experience and communicate it to others, can be observed. The systematic level is characterised by the ability to reflect on, and communicate experiences in intellectual, organised ways. Musical compositions may be influenced by the study of new systems such as tone-rows, and/or organizing principles, containing an element of musical theorizing. "... the universe of musical discourse is expanded, reflected upon, discussed and celebrated with others."

Swanwick furthermore maintained that this model of musical development can also be applied to the performer, music listener and music critic.34

Against the background of the above developmental theories and other research results, the following synoptic Table on increasing musical intelligence was constructed. Because the Piaget theory did show some correlation with the other two theories, it was also included.3S Researchers often differ slightly about the exact age of a specific development, and only general trends were incorporated into the Table.

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Keith Swanwick, Music, Mind, and Education. London: Routledge, 1988 pp. 52-87.

W. Jay Dowling, "Melodic Information Processing and Its Development" in Diana Deutsch (Ed.), The Psychology of Music. New York: Academic Press, 1982 pp. 413-429.

Marianne Hassler, Musikalisches Talent und raumliche Begabung. Doctoral dissertation, Eberhard-Karls- University Tubingen, 1984. Tubingen: BOlk, 1984.

Marianne Hassler, "Kompositionstalent bei Madchen und raumliche Begabung" in Klaus-Ernst Behne, Gunter Kleinen and Helga de la Motte-Haber (Eds), Musik Psychologie - Empirische Forschungen - Asthetische Experimente, 2, 1985 pp. 63-85.

Carolyn Hildebrandt, "Structural-Developmental Research in Music: Conservation and Representation" in J. Craig Peery, Irene Weiss Peery and Thomas Draper (Eds), Music and Child Development. New York:

Springer, 1987 pp. 84-85. -

Robert G. Petzold, "Auditory Perception by Children" in Journal of Research in Music Education, 17/1 (Spring 1969) pp. 82-86.

Marilyn Pflederer-Zimmerman, "Music Development in Middle Childhood: A Summary of Selected Research Studies" in Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Winter 1986 pp. 23-26.

Karin Poppensieker, Musikpadagogik - Forschung und Lehre, Band 23: Die Entwicklung musikalischer