Unison versus Individual Singing and Elementary Students' Vocal Pitch Accuracy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of unison singing versus individual singing on the vocal pitch accuracy of children in Grades 1, 2, 3, and 5, as well as to observe the effects of gender and maturation on children's singing ability. Subjects (N = 241) were asked to sing a simple children's song both individually and as a member of a small group consisting of children's voices only. Responses were recorded on separate channels of a multichannel tape recorder and subsequently scored for pitch and melodic interval accuracy. Results indicated that singing in unison and singing individually did have an effect on the children's vocal accuracy. Children at each grade level studied sang more accurately when singing in unison with their peers than when singing individually. Both group and individual scores improved with each successive grade level; however, the difference in scores between group and individual singing was much greater for children in Grade 5 than for the other three grade levels. Results also indicated that in each of the grade levels and for each of the singing conditions, girls sang more accurately than did boys.