An approach to Children’s singing between Forty to Fifty Months Old

Abstract

In early childhood, the first vocal attempts follow the general contours of the target melody. Those attempts gradually improve, turning into a more accurate performance both in melodic shape and tonal stability. The aim of this study was to test some categories disigned to typify children´s vocal development during childhood. These categories involve vocal emission and tonal stability. A group of forty three children were selected between forty and fifty months old in a kindergarten school of La Plata, Argentina. The task consisted of singing two chosen songs: one beginning in an ascendant pentachord and the other in a descendent one. We used a karaoke sound track in a comfortable tonality for the age (D Major). Answers were recorded and the responses were assessed by a team of judges. Melodic and tonal categories were designed to analyze the anwers. The songs were taught by a teacher. The test was supplied twice: each child was recorded singing both songs on two different days. The majority of the children sang with an emission pitch close to the speech mode without a tonal centre. The results show statistical signification and positive correlation between vocal emission and tonal categories in both songs.