Children's Recognition of Their Musical Performance

Abstract

The present study was designed to obtain indications about unskilled children's music performances by means of a computer-based performance task. In particular, we assessed children's abilities to recognize their own performances and their self-awareness of such competence. A total of 240 children from Southern Italy, subdivided into 3 age groups, performed their own version of a familiar song. After 4, 6, or 8 days according to the group, participants were asked to recognize their own interpretation among two other performances recorded by participants in the same age group. Finally, the reasons for their recognition were elicited. Children's verbal responses were sorted by independent judges into different categories reflecting the cognitive strategies used in the recognition task. Results show that children are able to discriminate their own musical interpretation with a great degree of accuracy. Concerning the verbal responses, children mentioned the Dynamics category more frequently than other categories like Duration, Tempo, Structure, Elimination strategy, Error detection, Aural and tactile discrimination. No significant differences among groups with different retention intervals have been found, suggesting that memory of children's own musical performances is stable for several days. The comparison with a similar American sample shows cultural differences in the strategies used for recognition. Theoretical and methodological implications are also discussed.