The Relationship Between Portuguese Children's Use of Singing Voice and Singing Accuracy when Singing with Text and a Neutral Syllable

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Portuguese children's use of singing voice and their singing accuracy on the pitches belonging to the Singing Voice Development Measure (SVDM) criterion patterns (Rutkowski, 2015), as well as the influence on singing with a neutral syllable or text on both variables. Children aged 4 to 9 (n = 137) were administered the SVDM individually and three raters evaluated recordings of the children's singing, both for the use of singing voice (i.e., effective use of pitch range and register) and singing accuracy. Prior to data analysis, the validity and reliability of the measure was examined and assured. A significant relationship was found between both variables. Favoring the neutral syllable, significant differences were found in response mode for singing accuracy, but not for use of singing voice, suggesting that the use of neutral syllable in classroom singing activities might be beneficial to improve accuracy. Older children and girls obtained higher scores for the use of singing voice and accuracy. Within a common pitch range, children with higher SVDM scores sang accurately a higher number of pitches, suggesting that expanding children's use of singing voice might also improve singing accuracy.

Pertunjukan Musik Berdah di Desa Muarojambi Provinsi Jambi: Sebuah Kajian Bentuk dan Fungsi

“…Sopran dan alto diklasifikasikan sebagai suara wanita, sedangkan tenor dan bass diklasifikasikan suara pria. Wilayah nada pada lagu Muhammadun adalah nada G# sebagai nada terendah dan Bb sebagai nada tertinggi (Pereira et al, 2015).…”

Detection of pitch errors in well-known songs

“…On one hand, the words of songs increase listeners’ and singers’ processing demands because of variable linguistic (phonetic, semantic) and acoustic (fundamental frequency, amplitude, timbre) features. Young school-age children generally sing songs with words, but they achieve greater pitch accuracy when singing on a neutral syllable ( Pereira & Rodrigues, 2019 ), highlighting the potential consequences of linguistic processing on melody production. On the other hand, listeners, especially adults, may engage in automatic semantic processing of highly overlearned songs, with no impact on pitch processing.…”