The AIRS Test Battery of Singing Skills: Rationale, item types, and lifespan scope

Abstract

Singing abilities begin in early childhood and continue throughout life. Audiovideo recordings of singing behaviours collected from a wide variety of individuals can provide a foundation for exploring the complexities of singing acquisition. The AIRS Test Battery of Singing Skills (ATBSS) was developed to provide this foundation using a standard protocol appropriate for longitudinal testing of persons across the lifespan, from different cultures, and levels of musical training. Test components examine the ability to sing an internationally familiar song ( Brother John, Frère Jacques) as well as learn a new song, perform short melodic fragments, sing lowest and highest notes, improvise the ending of a song, and create an entirely new song. Several verbal tasks are included. This article describes the early development of the ATBSS and the first two studies executed to provide proof of concept. The report of the first study focuses primarily on the data of the familiar song acquired during five monthly testing sessions of children aged 3, 5, and 7 years and university students. The report of the second study focuses on the administration of the test to healthy older persons and those with dementia. These studies show the viability of the ATBSS components in general and the applicability of the ATBSS for longitudinal investigations. The work also paves the way for use of the ATBSS in other countries and highlights the value of cooperation and data-sharing among researchers of singing.

The definition of a musician in music psychology: A literature review and the six-year rule

“…Of the remaining 31% of total papers without a MEC split point value (12 out of 39), three papers did not indicate any kind of criterion for membership of the musician category (Comeau, Vuvan, Picard-Deland, & Peretz, 2017; Pearce, Launay, MacCarron, & Dunbar, 2017; Vaag, Bjørngaard, & Bjerkeset, 2016). However, for eight papers, a criterion other than years of MEC was used: at least a bachelor and/or master’s degree in music (Proverbio & Orlandi, 2016), at least an undergraduate level in music (Chiasson, Traube, Lagarrigue, & McAdams, 2017), music training required (Cohen, 2015), music academy training required (Stachó, Saarikallio, Zijl, Huotilainen, & Toiviainen, 2013), at least three hours of practice per week (Marozeau, Innes-Brown, & Blamey, 2013), “amateur” level of singing required (Stewart & Lonsdale, 2016), > 500 on the Ollen Musical Sophistication Index (Lahdelma & Eerola, 2016), and self-reports as musician (Fiveash & Luck, 2016; Fiveash & Pammer, 2014). The use of alternate music criteria highlights the complexity of defining a musician, and the different ways in which music psychologists have tried to split their musicians and non-musicians.…”

“…Of the remaining 31% of total papers without a MEC split point value (12 out of 39), three papers did not indicate any kind of criterion for membership of the musician category (Comeau, Vuvan, Picard-Deland, & Peretz, 2017;Pearce, Launay, MacCarron, & Dunbar, 2017;Vaag, Bjørngaard, & Bjerkeset, 2016). However, for eight papers, a criterion other than years of MEC was used: at least a bachelor and/or master's degree in music (Proverbio & Orlandi, 2016), at least an undergraduate level in music (Chiasson, Traube, Lagarrigue, & McAdams, 2017), music training required (Cohen, 2015), music academy training required (Stachó, Saarikallio, Zijl, Huotilainen, & Toiviainen, 2013), at least three hours of practice per week (Marozeau, Innes-Brown, & Blamey, 2013), "amateur" level of…”

The Development of Musical Skills of Underprivileged Children Over the Course of 1 Year: A Study in the Context of an El Sistema-Inspired Program

“… 3 THE ATBSS the AIRS Test Battery of Singing Skills or ATBSS ( Cohen et al, 2009 ; Cohen, 2015 ) is a comprehensive instrument consisting of 11 components that include: (1) opening conversation; (2) determine vocal range; (3) minor third participant-name-call-back; (4) Sing back “Brother John” song all, as eight phrases, and all; (5) sing favorite song; (6) sing back interval, triad, scale, herein called, musical elements ; (7) improvise ending of a song; (8) free composition to choice of picture; (9) Sing back unfamiliar song “We are one” by Carolyn McDaid, (10) sing “Brother John” from recent memory; and (11) closing conversation. Each component serves one or more specific research purposes as indicated by Cohen et al (2009) .…”

The effect of repeated attempts and test-retest reliability in children’s singing accuracy

“…The first automated, online test was developed by the research group Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS; see Cohen, 2015). The Test Battery of Singing Skills lasts up to 30 minutes and includes many different tasks, beginning with spoken text and data collection on singing range.…”