Adaption to Estonian children of the protocol for cross-cultural research in singing

Abstract

A Test Battery created in Canada, aimed at mapping the musical development of children of different ages and in different cultures, was piloted within a group of Estonian children (N = 26, age 4 to 12 years) with varying degrees of musical training. The verbal parts of the test were translated into Estonian and adapted, where necessary, to the temporal structure of the sub-tasks involving rhythmic and metric aspects. Participants were able to successfully comply with the majority of the test components. The most interesting discrepancy regarding the rationale of the original Battery was related to the different possible concepts of the term 'song' by the participants. As many children exhibited considerable shyness during testing, a longer warming-up period may be required for them in order to overcome the effects of an unfamiliar environment and the unexpected nature of some tasks within the Battery. Various suggestions are presented for the further development of the Test Battery.