AIRS 1st Annual Meeting: 2009

Title: A key issue of theorizing on singing development: analyses of the child's strategies in
making a new song
Authors: Stefanie Stadler Elmer (University of Zuerich, Switzerland)

Abstract

Among previous developmental theories we find the idea that musical behaviour follows an
invariable and age-related sequence of mastering more and more intervals or `contour schemes'
of the occidental music system. Often, we find a hidden ethnocentricity, since, tacitly, occidental
musical rules are considered to be universal. Or, it is assumed that musical development is a
matter of biology and innate talent. Alternatively, when trying to find early roots that can be
considered to be precursors of musical behaviour, music cannot be viewed as a physical object,
but rather as a socio-cultural one. The newly proposed theory, inspired by Piaget’s thinking,
shares the idea with J. Huizinga and with E. Cassirer, that music is rooted in play and in human
symbolizing. Music is a symbol system created by humans for the sake of emotional functions
such as enhancing social belonging, influencing moods, regulating emotions of others and of
the own ones. The voice starts to organise at birth, and gradually adapts to the cultural
surrounding and its conventions concerning language, music, and social rules. Vocal and
musical behaviour are highly 
 

adaptive and constructive, and concern two symbolic
systems: music and language. The child develops the voice by playing and imitating. The
development proceeds from sensorimotor activities towards more and more conscious actions
and thoughts. In order to study children’s singing, computer aided programs were devised to
analyse and represent pitch, timing, pitch qualities, and syllables. This method yields complex
configurations of these parameters describing children’s song singing. Detailed descriptions
allow to reconstruct the strategies children apply to invent or learn new songs. Empirical results
from children at various ages demonstrate that the focus on the analysis of the organization of
the vocal expression is a promising research strategy. It is not a single sung song or some
selected features that indicate a development stage. Rather, the way a child creates or learns a
new song reveals his or her understanding of how such a complex event is organized.