Psychology of Music Learning Miksza MUSICAL ABILITY

R & B - Definitions Ability - often used as a ‘slippery’ term fluctuating among: talent, musicality, capacity, aptitude, achievement Finer definitions… (see pg ) –Ability - being able to do something, regardless of how a person became able –Aptitude - potential success prior to specialized music learning –Capacity - ability that is a result of heredity and maturation –Achievement - specific musical accomplishments often the result of instruction –Development - growth and maturation process –Learning - observable change in behavior (?)

R & B - Influences on Ability Hearing acuity - sufficient sensitivity is important Genetics - hereditary capacities (although not necessarily specific skills), advantageous physical characteristics, brain characteristics, handedness Musical Home - critical development periods, expectancies, brain plasticity, balancing early musical experiences at very early ages Physical features - ‘cupid’s bow’ example Creativity - an obvious element of composition and performance, does not necessarily explain musical ability Intelligence - definitional issues…, lack of relationships with music aptitude measures, asymmetric relations, savants as evidence for separate abilities Gender and race - stereotypes persist in some areas, cultural differences

R & B - Learning Theory See summaries of Behaviorist and Cognitivist approaches to understanding learning…

R & B - Development Innate musical responses –Reacting to musical stimuli in utero –Cooing and babbling varying in loudness, contour, etc. Experiments of infant attendance to stimuli –Especially beat and tempo Spontaneous song –Replaced by ‘learned song’ by four –Varies with cultural differences –Concept of tonality may ‘stabilize’ around five/six years old –Notation developing from abstract-iconic-symbolic

R & B - Abnormalities Amusia - “without music” - an inability to produce or recognize music –Often studied in relation to brain trauma –For some unrelated to speech and other auditory processes Monotonism - singing one tone regardless of situation –Related to vocal difficulties Synesthesia - simultaneous experiencing a stimulus –Chromosthesia - blend of color and sound perception

R & B - Measurement Aptitude –Seashore Measures of Musical Talents (1919) Pitch, loudness, time, timbre, rhythm patterns, tone patterns –No total score –Wing Standardised Test of Musical Intelligence (1954) Melodic, harmonic, rhythm discrimination: chord analysis, pitch, memory, rhythm, harmony, intensity, phrasing –One total score –Gordon Musical Aptitude Profile (1965) Tonal imagery, rhythmic imagery, musical sensitivity –One total score »PMMA, IMMA, AMMA »Later versions of Gordon aptitude approach »Based on ‘audiation’ concept