This study is an investigation of the relationships among acoustical measurements of pitch-matching accuracy, speech fundamental frequency, speech frequency range, age, and gender in preschool children. Consideration was taken in applying known research concerned with the anatomical characteristics of the developing child voice to see if a relationship between the acousticfindings and anatomical structure andfunction was evident. Participants in the study were 70 English-speaking children, ages 36-71 months, from three geographical areas of the United States. Subjects were asked to engage in directed and spontaneous speech activities and short echo-singing activities. All speech and singing data were taped and subsequently analyzed for fundamental frequency (Fo) using the Cspeech acoustical voice analysis program. Results revealed (a) both speech Fo and speech range were the overall strongest predictors of pitch-matching accuracy (p < .0001) and (b) that age in months was a significant predictor (p = . 03) of the ability to sing the lower pitches (C and D) used in the study. Gender also emerged as a significant predictor of pitch-matching accuracy, but not as strong as speech fundamental frequency or speech range. The acoustic findings supported previously established research findings concerned with child vocal anatomy and function.Numerous studies have been conducted in music education about the manner in which young children learn to sing. Results of these studies have provided music educators with knowledge and strategies to aid them in helping children find and use their singing voices. However, the majority of these studies have emphasized assessment at BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIV on March 15, 2015 jrm.sagepub.com Downloaded from JRME 79 of children's singing ability by evaluating accuracy of singing melodies and/or pitches, with little or no attention to the other function of the voice-speech-or to the physiological characteristics of the child vocal apparatus.Since speech is generated by the same mechanism that generates singing, it is possible that the way a child displays pitch production in speech may be directly related to the manner in which the child uses the voice to sing. This study solely concerns the direct acoustical relationships between vocalizations for speech and singing. The nature of this kind of study implies that the characteristics of not only the sounds produced be investigated but also unique characteristics of the sound generators (laryngeal and respiratory systems) and that multiple approaches to acoustical assessment of the voice in young children be addressed. Physiological Characteristics of the Very Young VoiceThe voice of the very young child (from birth to 5 years) is not like the voice of an older child or an adult. Primarily, it differs in that (1) the muscles needed for vocalization are not completely formed, (2) the vocal ligament is lacking at birth and begins to develop between the ages of 1 and 4 years, (3) very young children produce most high and low sounds primarily by raisi...

This article summarizes currently available brain research concerning relationships between singing and language development. Although this is a new field of investigation, there are findings that are applicable to general music teaching classroom. These findings are presented along with suggestions about how to apply them to teaching music.

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Researchers in several recent studies have investigated the relationships between pitch-matching accuracy and the native language of children (Chen-Haftek, 1999; Rutkowski, Chen-Haftek, & Gluschanoff, 2002;Trollinger, 2003), as well as vocal use in singing by bilingual children (Mang, 1999). In these studies, the results suggested that significant relationships exist between how the child used the voice in speech and how the child matched pitch (e.g., Trollinger, 2003) or sang specific songs (e.g., Chen-Haftek, 1999). The rationale for this kind of research is based on empirical evidence in voice science in that (1) the manner in which the young child uses the voice directly contributes to how the voice is used for the remain-Valerie L. Trollinger, is an assistant professor of music education with the Music Research der of life, and (2) due to physiological development, the speech voice is the singing voice in young children. Research supporting these findings is found in Trollinger (2003), and also in works cited in the present study. The particular interest in studying the effect of a second language stems from the fact that children who learn to be bilingual when young need to be more kinesthetically perceptive of how their voices work to create the sounds that distinguish one language from the other.The purpose of this study, the second I have done in this area, was to investigate the degree to which pitch-matching accuracy was related to preschool children's development as either a single-language speaker (English) or as a bilingual speaker (English and Cantonese). In addition, it was important to determine if the vocal behavior exhibited by the children in this study reinforced previously established findings from physiological research in the disciplines of voice science, vocal pedagogy, speech science, and voice therapy. Definition of Bilingualism for This Study Definitions of bilingualism range from the simple to the extremely complex (Bialystok, 2001; Hamers & Blanc, 2000). Numerous characteristics need to be taken into consideration when defining bilinguality: whether (1) the second language is learned formally or functionally, (2) the language is read but not spoken, or vice versa, and to what levels of competency, (3) the language is learned simultaneous-ly along with the native language, or it is learned later, (4) the language is reinforced in social life, and (5) the languages are similar (e.g., Spanish and Italian) or different (e.g., Spanish and Cantonese). Defining bilingualism in linguistic research is as challenging as defining degrees of musician/nonmusician in music education research. In addition, few researchers have addressed the function of the vocal mechanism in the production of sounds (e.g., Wei, 2002), the dominant foci of bilingual research , or these studys' relationship to cognition, intelligence, and communication.Based on careful consideration of the research literature in linguistics, the children in this particular study are called bilingual and monolingual solely to help del...

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