An Exploratory Study in the Measurement of Children's Pitch Discrimination Ability

Abstract

To investigate 6-11-year-olds' ability to detect pitch differences within a semitone, the Modified Sergeant Pitch Discrimination Measure (MSPDM), based on Sergeant's (1979) pitch test, was developed and administered to 169 subjects. On each of the 30 items, subjects indicate which one of five tones differs from the others and whether it is higher or lower than the standard. The MSPDM facilitates direct comparison of performance on two types of task: detection of a difference, and labelling the direction of the change. The MSPDM was group-administered in grades 2-5. and individually administered using a manipulative response mode in grade 1. Statistical analyses revealed that subjects in grades 2-5 were more successful at detecting differences than at labelling their direction; no significant difference between these tasks was evident in grade 1. Older subjects received higher mean scores than younger subjects. No significant gender differences were evident.