Factors Influencing the Pitch-Matching of Junior High Boys

Abstract

The skill of pitch-matching is a prerequisite for even the most casual musical participation. While singing accuracy has been carefully researched at the elementary level, there has been comparatively less research done with adolescents. The purpose of the study described here was to examine the influence of perceptual ability, task demands, and singing range on the pitch-matching performance of adolescent boys in various stages of the voice change. We found significant differences between certain, inconsistent, and uncertain singers in their perceptual skills and found that a contextual pitch-matching condition was significantly easier than a single-pitch condition. There was no difference by singing range. Future research should explore the progression of these skills longitudinally and continue to examine performance related to different task demands.