Effects of Word Type, Context and Vocal Assistance on Children‘s Pitch Matching in Singing

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of word type, context, and vocal assistance on children‘s pitch matching in their singing. The researcher taught a song to thirty six preschool children, aged 4-5, and tested each child‘s pitch, sung in 12 test conditions, including the same melodic pattern with different words, in and out of context, and different types of vocal assistance. Results indicated that children‘s pitch-matching abilities were better with the presence of vocal assistance (df=35, t=8.02, p<.005). There were interaction effects between word type and vocal assistance type (df=35, t=-1.48, p<.1), context and the presence of vocal assistance (df=35, t=5.95, p<.005), context and vocal assistance type (df=35, t=1.92, p<.05), and among word type, context, and vocal assistance type (df=35, t=-2.88, p<.005). These results were discussed in terms of factors which affect children‘s pitch-matching abilities and developmental and educational issues.