Song Recognition among Preschool-Age Children: An Investigation of Words and Music

Abstract

We sought to discover whether listening to songs over an expanded period of time would contribute to a greater integration of wards and music in memory among preschool children (3-5 years old). The following specific problems guided this research: (1) What are the effects of songs performed with and without texts on preschool children's melodic-recognition ability? (2) Do differences in meter and tonality have an effect on song-recognition capability? and (3) Are songs of similar melodic content, with or without words, more difficult to recognize than songs of diverse melodic content? The subjects ( N = 75) were assigned to one of three treatment conditions in which children, with their parents, listened to tape recordings of eight unfamiliar songs. Preschool children were more accurate in recognizing songs performed without texts when they had heard them performed previously with texts. Melodic content, however, was found to influence song-recognition ability in that distinct (unrelated) melodies were more readily recognized than songs with similar (related) melodies, with or without text.