1. Exploring Shared pitch dimensions in music & Mandarin Chinese
An Interdisciplinary Approach to L2 Mandarin Tone Acquisition
Dominique Lopiccolo
SRHC April 1, 2016

2. What is pitch? The perceived highness or lowness of a sound
Acoustic correlate = Fundamental frequency (F0)
Measured in Hertz (Hz) = Cycles per second
What is pitch? Pitch is the property of sound by which we can place on a scale from low to high. Its concept is based in the physical measurement of fundamental frequency or cycles per second. This is also known as Hertz. The height of pitch is directly related to the number of frequency waves or cycles which pass per second. Thus, the larger the number of cycles per second the higher the pitch.

3. mā = ma = Linguistic tone
Change in pitch over the unit of a word that determines its lexical meaning
Tonal Languages vs. Intonation Languages
Level vs. Contour mā =
Pitch plays a special role in language. In intonation languages, like English, we use pitch to express emotion, give grammatical cues, or note turn-taking. In tonal languages, like Mandarin—the topic of this study—pitch is used to denote meaning. Several tonal languages make use of different pitch shapes like level and contour tones. As the names imply, level tones remain at one “level” where as contour tones move in some direction away from their initial pitch. Take the Mandarin word “ma”. If said with a high level tone, it means mother. But be careful, “ma” said with a dipping contour tone means horse. ma =

4. Mandarin Chinese World’s largest # of native speakers Tonal System
890 million
Tonal System
Tone 1 = High Level
Tone 2 = Mid Rising
Tone 3 = Low Dipping
Tone 4 = High Falling
Another important thing to note about Mandarin is that with around 890 million native speakers, it currently holds the spot for the largest # of speakers in the world. However, despite this burgeoning pool of first language users, second language users are relatively sparse. One reason this is can be reasoned by its complicated tone system. There are a total of four citation tones in Mandarin Chinese with Tone 1 being high level, Tone 2 being mid rising, tone 3 a low dipping, and tone 4 a high falling. Mandarin tones become even more complex when concatenated together, which I will simply leave as a matter of fact for time sake.

5. Musical pitch A definite pitch Assigns pitch to distinct note values
E.g. ”Middle C” = 262 Hz
Height vs. Chroma
Intervals
Pitch also plays an important role in music. Instead of adding emotion to discourse or meaning to words, music assigns specific note values to pitch. Its pitches are also definite. In other words, there is a one-to-one relationship between musical note name and pitch. Two other features of musical pitch worth noting are pitch height and pitch chroma. Pitch height, similar to tone, classifies notes on a low-to-high scale. Pitch chroma is unique to music, however. It refers to the acoustic phenomenon that occurs when we hear two notes that exact doubles in frequency of each other as the “same.” For example, the note 8 pitches above middle C (which constitutes a doubling in frequency) is also the note C, only in a higher range. Musical intervals then are the unit which measures the distance between two notes. That distance described between the two notes C’s is then measured by an 8th interval, more commonly known as an octave.

6. Mandarin Tone & musical Pitch
L2 Problem:
Tones are difficult to acquire
Current strategies target mostly intro level learning of tones
L2 Solution
Teach tones by utilizing musical pitch exercises
Include strategies that develop the learners’ “inner ear” (i.e. musical ear training)
Returning back again to Mandarin Chinese and the difficulties its tone system poses, we see a growing need for pedagogical strategies that target students’ tonal development past the introductory level.
The solution that this study proposes as a response to this need emerges from the comparison drawn between Mandarin tone and musical pitch. I.e. that they are built from same acoustic material—frequency. That and the fact that musicians have already been shown to have signification advantages over nonmusicians in acquiring Mandarin tones lay the groundwork for my proposal on a tone-learning approach which utilizes musical pitch as its central component. The strategies outlined, therefore, serve to develop the learners’ “inner ear” or ability to “accurately hear and identify musical elements in the mind” for improving one’s understanding of Mandarin tone. Before delving into these strategies, my study did a comparative analysis on the frequency patterns of the 4 citation tones elicited over the Mandarin morpheme ma with their sung musical correlates. To render the following pitch tracks, the phonetic analysis software PRAAT was used.

7. Tones 1-2 + Intervals T1 High Level E4 = ∅ T2 Mid Rising G3 + E4 = 6th
As you can see, the tracks on the left represent phonetic realizations of Mandarin tones 1 and 2, whereas the tracks on the right represent their sung musical counterparts. Although there are other acoustic realities being realized in the sung tracks, there is an obvious correlation between their pitch heights. Particularly for tone 2, mid-rising, the music interval between notes G3 and E4 were significantly related in frequency with an average of a 20 Hz difference.

8. Tones 3-4 + Intervals T3 Low Dipping C4 + E3 + G3 = 6th / 3rd
T4 High Falling
F4 + F3 = 8th (octave)
Again, this slide demonstrates the other two Mandarin tones, tones 3 and 4, on the left and their respective sung counterparts on the right.

9. Strategy 1: Solfège Learning Objective Pitch Height Detection Method
Teach solfa syllables
Play recorded solfège sequences up and down so students get familiar with “higher” and “lower” pitch
Test students’ ability to detect higher from lower pitches using the solfa syllables
[Optional]: After listening to a short solfa sequence, ask students to state what interval was heard e.g. do  mi = 3rd interval
Now that Mandarin tones and musical pitch have been systematically compared, the first strategy can be observed. Solfège is a system of monosyllables that has a one-to-one correspondence with the musical notes of a scale. By teaching solfege to early learners of Mandarin tone then can enhance their ability to detect accurate pitch height. One way in which these musical monosyllables can be rendered in a tone-learning strategy is by way of having students listen to pre-recordings of scales and attuning their ears to the changes in pitch height. Over time, students will be able to find confidence in their ability to detect a movement from a low to higher pitch and vice versa.

10. Strategy 2: Reference songs
Learning Objective
Pitch Contour Production
Method
Associate intervals to relevant sections of familiar songs
Have students practice singing relevant sections
Have students replace section lyrics with la
Test students ability to reproduce intervals on la by stating the reference song title
“A – ma – zing Grace”
“Here Comes the Bride”
Other than pitch height, pitch contour or shape is also very important to producing accurate Mandarin tones. One way in which this ability could be harnessed is through the use of reference songs. Reference songs are those songs which have become so grounded in our culture that their tunes are familiar and can be easily recalled during a production task. As a pedagogical method for tone learning, references songs can give students a means to better understand how to use their speaker range in communicating Mandarin tones.

11. Strategy 3: Tone Tunes Learning Objective Pitch Sequence Memory Method
Have students listen to musical sequences A-D
Then play question #1’s mystery sequence
Ask students to circle the correct full sequence that was played
[Optional]: To make this strategy easier or harder, adjust sequence length to be shorter or longer. Students can also be asked to transcribe tunes instead of selecting one from a list of options.
The strategies presented thus far focused on only one dimension to tone-learning i.e. pitch height or pitch contour. Strategy 3 works to combine those efforts in a way that also moves learners past an introductory level to understanding tones and onto a more conversational level. To do so, tone tunes test students’ abilities to recall sequences of pitch and to put them together in a way that is meaningful. One way this can be done is by playing a recording of individual sequences for students to hear and then playing for them a full sequence that they are later asked to match with the correct order of shorter sequences. That way, students are challenged to intently listen to the pitch pattern changes over a longer sequence, necessary for understanding tones in connected Mandarin speech.

12. Future research questions
How should the efficacy of these strategies be tested empirically?
At what stage during second language development should Mandarin language students be introduced to musical strategies?
How often should students be exposed to musical strategies?

13. Q & A