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Deborah Leeson is a graduate of the University of North Texas State with a degree in Music Education. She has taught music education at all levels for over twenty years, including undergraduates at the University of Houston. Deborah has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, and under the direction of the late Anton Dorati, former conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra. She has also sung on several children's albums and has performed in Europe in five different countries. Some of her stage work includes, Rizzo, in Grease, Martha, in The Secret Garden and Nancy, in Oliver. Deborah is the co-producer of two international blues albums. She has a Masters of Science from NOVA Southeastern University.
Musical Preferences
Studies of children's musical preferences contain a rather diverse set of approaches. A few investigations have studied preferences in terms of what children like or what they like to listen to most often. Most have examined specific musical characteristics, such as tempo, timbre, or rhythm that seem to influence preference decisions. Other studies have looked at how children's preferences may be changed or influenced by teacher approval, including instructional and listening factors. The most common approaches to studying children's preferences employ self-reports, semantic differential scaling techniques, operant music selection devices, and the manipulation of specific musical and nonmusical variables in experimental settings.
LISTENING. The body of music preference research shows that preference for classical art music tends to decline with increasing age during the elementary school years while preferences for rock, country and western, and other popular music grows (Boyle, Hosterman and Ramsey, 1981; Geringer, 1982; Hedden, 1981; LeBlanc, 1979; Shehan. 1983). Primary age children tend to be less exclusive in their likes and dislikes and seem to be more willing to embrace a greater diversity of music styles than older children (May, 1985; Sims, 1987). Abel-Struth (1981) notes that music with "signal-like" and "marchlike" qualites are highly preferred by primary-age children, while music that is "dancelike," "songlike" or contains "imitation of animal voices" seems to be preferred over music that has "flowing sound" qualities.
There is evidence to suggest that between the ages of 8 and 9 a shift occurs in children's listening preferences in that an increasing amount of time is spent listening to rock music and popular styles over all other styles of music (Greer, Dorrow and Randall, 1974; May, 1985). The factors of melody, lyrics and rhythm seem to play an important part in the change of preferences, although individual responses will be different from group responses (Boyle, Hosterman and Ramsey, 1981).
FACTORS INFLUENCING PREFERENCES. Musical aspects such as tempo, timbre, rhythmic interest, expressive qualities, and harmony have been shown to possess contributing effects in influencing children's preferences. In each of these areas a developmental trend has been noted. Findings indicate an increasing preference for music with the following aspects:
Increasing children's liking of different styles of music is closely linked to the instructional approach used by teachers. Shehan-Campbell (Shehan, 1984) found that instrumental activities associated with a particular tradition, over listening or presenting films or slides on a particular style, have greater influence over children's preferences for a particular style or genre. The transfer of preferences to similar pieces of music from the same genres, however, is not a given, especially when pieces are unfamiliar to children (Shehan-Campbell, 1985).
Findings in the effects of the complexity of a musical example suggest that both very complex and very simple music are less preferred. Music that contains and "intermediate level" of complexity seems to give rise to greater degree of liking (Hargreaves and Castell, 1987). Increasing familiarity with a piece of music, however, contributes to children's liking. The repeated use of listening examples over an extended and distributed period of time may be an important factor to consider when influencing children's preferences.
Musical Preferences...Teaching Ideas
Although children's preferences seem to move from the most inclusive to the least inclusive as they progress through school, music instruction coupled with literature selection can have an effect on what children come to value. Three general principles to consider are:
To expand children's musical preferences beyond like/dislike preferences, several approaches are useful to consider:
Other ideas to consider are:
References:
Abel-Struth, S. (1981). Frankfurt studies on musical audiation of five to seven year old children. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 66-67, 1-7.
Berlyne, D. E., McDonnell, P., Nicki, R. M., & Parham, L. C. C. (1967). Effects of auditory pitch and complexity on EGG desynchronization and on verbally expressed judgments. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 21, 346-367.
Bowles, C. (1992). Music classroom activity preferences of elementary school children. Research report presented at the Research Poster Session, Music Educators National Conference. New Orleans (1993-94).
Boyle, J. D., Hosterman, G. L., & Ramsey, D. S. (1981). Factors influencing pop perferences of young people. Journal of Research in Music Education, 29 (1), 47-55.
Geringer, J. M. (1982). Verbal and operant music listening preferences in relationship to age and musical training. Psychology of Music, Special Issue 47-50, Psychology of Music, 7 2003; vol. 31: pp. 219
Getz, R. P. (1966). The effects of repetition on listening response. Journal of Research in Music Education, 14, (3) 178-192.
Greer, R. D., Darrow, L. G., & Randall, A. (1974). Music listening preferences of elementary school children. Journal of Research in Music Education, 22 (4), 284-291.
Hargreaves, D. J., & Castell, K. C. (1987). Development of liking for familiar and unfamiliar melodies. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 91 65-69.
Hedden, S. K. (1981). Music listening skills and music listening preferences. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 65 16-26.
LeBlanc, A. (1980). General style music preferences of fifth-grade students. Journal of Research in Music Education, 27, 255-270.
LeBlanc, A., Colman, J., McCrary, J., Sherrill, C., & Malin, S. (1988). Tempo preferences of different age music listeners. Journal of Research in Music Education, 36 (3), 156-168.
LeBlanc, A., & Cote, R. (1983). Effects of tempo and performing medium on children's music preference. Journal of Research in Music Education, 31 (1), 57-66.
LeBlanc, A., & McCrary, J. (1983). Effect of tempo on children's music preference. Journal of Research in Music Education, 31 57-66.
LeBlanc, A., & Sherrill, C. (1986). Effect of vocal vibrato and performer's sex on children's music preference. Journal of Research in Music Education, 34 (4), 222-237.
May, W. V. (1985). Musical style preferences and aural discrimination skills of primary grade school children. Journal of Research in Music Education, 32, 7-22.
Montgomery, A. P. (1991). Effect of tempo on music preferences in elementary and middle school. Journal of Research in Music Education, 44, 134-146.
O'Keeffe, V. (1975). Psychophysical preference for harmonized musical passages in just and equal tempered systems. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 40, 192-194.
Shehan, P. K. (1983). Student preferences for ethnic music styles. Contributions to Music Education, 9, 20-27.
Shehan-Campbell, P. (1985). Transfer of preference from taught to untaught pieces of non-western music genres. Journal of Research in Music Education, 33 (3), 149-158.
Sims, W. L. (1987). Effect of tempo on music preference of preschool through fourth-grade children. In C.K. Madsen & C. A. Prickett (Eds.), Applications of research in music behavior (pp. 15-25). Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.
Valentine, (1962). The experimental psychology of beauty. London: Methuen.
Begin where learners are in terms of their likes and dislikes. The selection of age-appropriate performance literature and listening examples is important for curriculum development. Examples that contain "just right" musical complexity is a good place to start.
Provide extended opportunites for playing, singing, moving, and listening to music, realizing that individual tastes will vary.
Distribute listening experiences of unfamiliar music over the entire span of the curriculum.
Incorporate instrumental activities, especially with pieces children have sung.
Incorporate movement activities so as to stimulate children's attention and increase their motivation
"Revisit" pieces of music over an extended period of time so that children may become more familiar with them and build a foundation from which to make musical decisions.
Incorporate musical thinking activities that ask children to give musical reasons or justifications behind their preference decisions.
encourage children to use musical vocabularies correctly, as well as asking children to draw upon their own imagery for what they hear in the music when discussing preferences.
No ONE mode of musical experience or interaction seems to hold sway for influencing children's perferences. Rather, it is providing varied and multiple experiences that may make a difference in expanding children's preferences.
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