This thesis examines the effects of formal musical experience in infancy on musical, social and communicative development. Parents and care-givers have a wide-range of choices of activities and products for an enriched musical experience for their infants, yet prior to the studies in this thesis little was known of the effects of formal musical experience on development.
In chapter 1, I outline the introduction to my thesis. In Chapter 2, I examine the effects of Kindermusik training on rhythmic enculturation. Infants who participated in these classes demonstrated a heightened interest in rhythmic patterns but also showed a stronger preference for duple metrical patterns, indicating that musical classes for infants can accelerate the development of culture-specific metrical perception. In Chapter 3, I present results showing that infants who participate in active musical classes showed superior development of prelinguistic communicative gestures and social behaviour as compared to infants assigned to a passive musical experience. In Chapter 4 I examine the development of joint attention in infants assigned to active and passive musical experiences. Although no significant results were found, I suggest that either more sensitive measures or a longer period of study might well show differences between the groups.
Together these findings indicate that infants are able to engage in meaningful musical training when the developmentally appropriate pedagogical approach is used, and that formal musical experience in infancy can enhance culture-specific musical acquisition as well as impact social and communication development. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/18078 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Gerry, David William |
| Contributors | Trainor, Laurel J., Psychology |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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