Reexamination of a Method to Assess Pitch Discrimination of Musical Sounds by Children

Abstract

In Experiment 1, 3 year-old children tried to determine pitch sequences by matching them with pictures and musical sounds. The results showed that 3 year-olds had difficulty associating sounds with pictures and making choices between two stimuli. In Experiment 2, 97 children ages 2-6 were participants These children identified four musical sounds produced by Montessori bells. The children in Experiment 2 were more successful at identifying the sounds than the children in Experiment 1. Although it may not prove effective for 2-and 3-year old children, the results of Experiment 2 suggested a possible new method to evaluate the pitch discrimination abilities of young children.View full abstract