Research in aural perception can be concerned with any of the parameters of sound, such as pitch, loudness or timbre. I shall focus on just one aspect of perception: pitch discrimination. This is the ability to assess that there is a difference in the pitch of two tones. Investigations of pitch discrimination often explore how close in pitch tones must be before they are judged to be the same. They may also explore whether the direction of the pitch movement can be
assessed accurately. Thus an individual having his or her pitch discrimination assessed might be asked to listen to two tones and say whether the second one is the same, higher, or lower. One’s ability in pitch discrimination depends on the frequency range used. Very high and very low intervals are harder to discriminate. The investigations referred to below use a frequency range in which children find discrimination particularly easy: their vocal range.
Children’s pitch discrimination has been investigated by many researchers. The pattern that has emerged is as follows:
Children can discriminate very small intervals
In 1893, J.A.Gilbert (Shuter-Dyson and Gabriel, 1981) found that chlidren aged seven could, on average, assess the direction of some intervals as small as two- thirds of a semitone. In the early 1960s, Arnold Bentley (1966) found they could assess one-third of a semitone. In the early 1980s, I found (Mills, 1988a) that the average 7-year-old could assess an interval as small as one-sixth of a semitone, that is, a 1 per cent difference in frequency. Thus several researchers have agreed that normal 7-year-olds can discriminate very small intervals. Quite how small, does not matter for the purposes of this argument. The discrepancies between the three sets of findings are probably attributable to the differing quality of the recording and replay equipment available at the time (Mills, 1984); there is no reason to suppose that the children of the 1990s necessarily have pitch discrimination any finer than those of the 1890s.
Researchers of pitch discrimination have often reported the results of work with children aged at least six years. This is usually simply because younger children might have difficulty coping with the test situation, which often requires children to write their responses. There is no evidence that younger children do not perceive fine differences in pitch. Indeed, Bridger (1961) observed that some babies aged under five days notice pitch differences of about four semitones, and they may be able to perceive much smaller intervals. It is difficult to understand how children could acquire language, and particularly accent, without some pitch discrimination.
Children’s discrimination improves with age
Bentley and Gilbert both wrote of marked improvement over the junior years and into the secondary years. I found that the average 11-year-old is able to assess the direction of an interval of about a 0.85 per cent difference in frequency. Thus the average 11-year-old ear competes with much scientific equipment for sensitivity.
In any age group, there is a considerable range of ability
This has been observed by many researchers. I found some children as young as 9 who could judge the direction of an interval as small as onetenth of a semitone; that is, about a 0.6 per cent difference in frequency.
What is the use of these findings? Researchers (for example, Seashore, 1938; Bentley, 1966; Mills, 1988a) used the range of ability, coupled with the observation that successful performers tend to have superior discrimination, as a basis for devising musical ability tests that include tests of pitch discrimination. The generally fine discrimination of children was, if anything, a nuisance. It meant that tests had to include very small intervals if they were to differentiate between children. And very small intervals are difficult to record accurately.
But some other implications of the three points I have drawn from the pitch discrimination research have more immediate relevance to class teachers.
Teaching the concept of pitch (up/down)
Pitch is one of the basic concepts of music. Understanding of pitch is one of the objectives set for 7-year-olds in Music from 5 to 16 (DES, 1985a). Yet many 7- year-olds do not understand it. We might suppose that a child who has yet to achieve this objective is unable to perceive the pitch differences we are presenting, Our reaction might be to present progressively larger pitch differences to children, in the hope of finding an interval wide enough for them to notice. But as the research shows that the average 7-year-old can discriminate differences much smaller than those usually used in music, the child’s problem may be labelling, not perception (see Crowther and Durkin, 1982). ‘Up’ and ‘down’ are terms associated with spatial movement. Their application to a musical context may need explanation and illustration. Teachers often approach this through the association of musical movement with spatial movement. Children may be asked to sing up a scale as they walk up some steps. They may use a hand to draw the contour of the pitch of a melody that they are listening to or singing.
Many children learn the concept of pitch easily using these sorts of techniques. Where problems persist into the junior phase, a teacher may wish to test a child’s pitch discrimination using a published test (for example, Mills, 1988a). In any case, it would be unwise to assume that a child who does not sing well in tune necessarily has any problem with discrimination (see page 65).
One question remains. If children have problems with the labelling of pitch movement, how do they manage to do pitch discrimination tests? The answer is, I think, linked with the recorded instructions that children are given as part of the test. These seem to be sufficient to enable children to apply the concept throughout the test, even if the children do not remember it, or become able to apply it on other more musical occasions. Certainly, some children who do not seem to understand the concept in a musical context display it during the test. Of
course, there may be other children who would benefit from even more comprehensive instructions.
Coping with musically able children
The considerable variation in pitch discrimination in any age group means that some children have finer pitch discrimination than some teachers. This means that tuning tasks that are difficult for teachers are not necessarily difficult for children. A teacher is not necessarily the best arbiter of what is, or is not, in tune. This has some immediate implications. When children assert that two seemingly identical notes are different, we need to take them seriously. A child who complains that a guitar that her teacher has just tuned is out of tune may be justified. If such children are suppressed by statements such as ‘it will do’ or ‘there’s nothing the matter with it’, they may not bother to listen so closely in future. Rather, their ability can be employed to the teacher’s advantage: the children can assist the teacher with tuning.
There are all sorts of musical activities in which teachers can find that some children are more able then they are. This happens to everyone, not just those who have not had much formal musical experience. The most highly qualified music graduates still find children who play some instrument or other better than they do. We have to suppress a natural reaction to be threatened by this, and instead work out how to use some children’s ability to promote the development of less fortunate children, and also ourselves.
Diagnosing children’s musical problems
The masking of fine pitch discrimination by difficulty with verbal labelling shows the need to think carefully about the causes of children’s musical problems. Does inability to echo a clapped rhythm indicate poor rhythmic memory, or some difficulty with motor co-ordination? Does failure to walk in time with a piece of music necessarily mean that a child cannot hear its regular pulse? Musical perception takes place inside the brain; we cannot tap directly into it. If we want to know whether someone is perceiving accurately or not, we have to ask them to sing, speak, write or move, for instance, and then measure how well they do that. Any problem may result from difficulty with the singing, speaking, writing or moving itself, rather than the perception.
Setting expectations for children
The significant variation in children’s discrimination is a reminder of the need to guard against setting expectations of children so low that they become unable to show us what they can do. Recognition of the dangers of underestimating children is crucial to the effectiveness of curriculum planning.
The implications I have drawn from this research are personal. I have made use of the researchers’ findings according to my particular circumstances as a music teacher. Teachers in different situations may see other implications as more significant. The point is that research questions that seem not to address concerns central to music education can still yield answers that are both relevant and useful. In particular, investigation of a characteristic that is at best only a component of musical activity can have implications relevant to music education.
That said, there are many research questions that can be answered more effectively through investigation of real music making by children. We now turn to a selection of these.