Mode Discrimination Abilities of Pre-School Children

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate young children's ability to perceive mode changes in music and to identify major and minor stimuli. Children received short training in the use of the words "major" and "minor" and their application to music. In the post-test, subjects listened to a children's song which presented eight mode changes. They were asked to (1) clap (Pilot Study) or move (Main Study) when they heard a change in the music, and (2) label the major and minor fragments of the song. Results of the Pilot Study showed that kindergarten children (5-year-olds) identified mode changes more accurately than pre-school children (4-year-olds) and were able to perceive more than half of the mode changes when using the terms "major" and "minor". Song familiarity did not affect children's performance in thd test. The Main Study corroborated kindergarten children's ability to perceive mode changes. It also showed that children were able to express their perception better through verbal than non-verbal responses.