The effects of the inclusion of text on the singing accuracy of preschool children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether children sing more accurately when taught songs on a neutral syllable or when they are taught with the original text. The subjects (N = 89), ages 3 to 5 years old, were enrolled in three preschools in Eastern Maryland. The children were randomly assigned to groups and then each group was randomly assigned to one of two treatments. The Text Method retained the text of all songs sung during the treatment period. The Neutral Syllable Method removed the original text of all songs sung during the treatment period and replaced it with a neutral syllable such as loo or lah. The subjects participated in two 30 minute classes per week for eight weeks. Lesson activities included singing, moving, listening to music, and playing a variety of small, hand-held percussion instruments. The Singing Accuracy Test (Posttest I) was administered individually to each child during the study's ninth week. The test required the child to echo the test song in phrases and then the song in its entirety. A second treatment occurred during week 11 in order to present the song material to the subjects in the opposite manner. A second test (Posttest II) concluded the study in week 12. Repeated Measures ANOVAs, t-Test for Independent Samples, t-Test for Correlated Samples, and Newman-Keuls Post-Hoc Comparisons were used to measure mean differences and interaction in the data. Results of the study indicated no significant difference of scores between the treatment groups due to the method of instruction. However, a closer investigation comparing differences between age groups revealed that the 4-year-old children scored significantly higher when singing the text of the song. Finally, a significant difference was found for all subjects when comparing phrase performance scores to whole song performance scores for Posttest I and Posttest II. The results suggest that 4-year-old children sing more accurately when performing songs with text. Further, it appears that young children are more accurate when singing a song in phrases then when singing a song in its entirety.