Age, Sex, and Vocal Task as Factors in Singing "In Tune" during the First Years of

Schooling
Author(s): Graham F. Welch, Desmond C. Sergeant and Peta J. White
Source: Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education , Summer, 1997, No.
133, The 16th International Society for Music Education: ISME Research Seminar
(Summer, 1997), pp. 153-160
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Council for Research in
Music Education

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Bulletin for the Council for Research in Music Education Summer, 1997, No. 133

Age, Sex, and Vocal Task as Factors in Singing "In

Tune9' During the First Years of Schooling

Graham F. Welch, Desmond C. Sergeant, and Peta J. White

Centre for Advanced Studies in Music Education
Roehampton Institute London, London, England

Abstract

An ability to sing "in tune " has often been regarded (whether appropriately or not) as a
characteristic indicator of general musical ability. As such, this particular musical behavior has long
been of interest to music educators and researchers. Previous research studies have reported
significant differences between children in relation to the age and sex of sample populations. In
general, (a) the relative proportion of "in-tune " singers has been found to increase as a function of
age and (b) fewer boys than girls are reported as being able to sing "in tune" for each sampled age
group. The established research literature, however, is characterised by an absence of longitudinal
data. Such data could enable a comparison to be made of how the singing abilities of the same sample
develop and/or remain stable over time.
Accordingly, as part of a larger study of singing development in early childhood, a longitudinal
sample (N=184) were assessed on a variety of vocal pitch matching tasks during each year of their
first 3 years in school (i.e., at age 5, 6, and 7 years. The assessment protocol embraced a specially
constructed test battery of pitch glides, pitch patterns, and single pitches as well as two sample songs,
with vocal pitch accuracy being assessed by a team of judges. The results suggest that (a) vocal pitch
accuracy is task-specific, (b) there is a greater homogeneity in vocal pitch matching abilities between
girls and boys than previously reported and (c) it is only at the age of 7 years that the previously
reported sex difference in favor of girls emerges, and this is only in relation to the sample song
material, not in relation to other more elemental forms of vocal pitch matching.

aSh! He's drunk and singing- a most unpleasant racket.

How clumsy and out of tune!
Hell be sorry for it .... let's teach the untutored oaf how to sing."
(Eurypides, Cyclops)

Introduction

For more than 50 years, "out-of-tune" singing (sometime labelled "grunt-

ing," "growling," "monotoning," "uncertain," and "poor pitch singing") has been
a recurring feature within the music education research literature. This form of
perceived musical "disability" is believed to characterize the musical behaviors
of significant numbers within the population, both child and adult, across all
Western-style societies2 . However, although omnipresent, this "disability" is
known to be variable3 . For example, the proportion of children who sing "out of
tune" (irrespective of definition) is unevenly distributed across the primary
(elementary) and secondary years of schooling. A summary comparison (Welch,
1994a) of sample children aged 7 and 11 years reveals a general consensus
within the research literature that approximately 35% of 7-year-olds in Western
cultures sing out of tune compared with a much smaller percentage of approxi-
mately 7% for sample 11 -year-old populations (with a caveat mat this latter

153

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 154

proportion does not distin

onset of puberty and con
Closer examination of th
literature reveals clear se
consistently being rated
ger, 1994; Welch & Mur
(Ellis, 1993), England (H
continued to support the
sus that the proportion of
age group4.
Almost without exception, however, the available research literature is
based on "snap-shot" studies that have examined particular sample populations
at one given moment in time. Apart from a few adolescent voice studies5,
virtually no longitudinal evidence is available to provide a clear empirical per-
spective on how singing behaviors develop, persist and/or transform over time.
Furthermore, despite a wealth of research literature6 on the efficacy of different
pedagogical approaches to the remediation of out-of-tune singing, our under-
standing of the exact nature and variety of in-tune singing behaviors continues to
require definition, particularly if one adopts a model in which sociocultural
context, musical genre, and musical task are critical to definitions of singing
development and of singing in tune.

Experimental Sample
An initial 3!/2-year study of singing development in early childhood7 fo-
cused on mapping the singing development of groups of children aged 4 to 8
years, taking account of the social and ethnic populations from which they were
drawn, and comparing these to other sample populations aged 3 to 12 years. A
major aspect of the research was a longitudinal study of children during the first
phase of compulsory schooling, embracing Key Stage 1 of the English National
Curriculum for Music (age 5 to 7 years). The longitudinal sample (N= 184; boys
= 87, girls = 97) were drawn from ten Primary schools in the Greater London
area, chosen so as to provide a mixture of social class, ethnicity and urban/subur-
ban locations.

Method

The research protocol was designed to examine the different kinds of sing-
ing competency that are evinced by a range of singing tasks. A review of the
previous research literature had revealed a variety of singing assessment proce-
dures clustered into two main types, specially chosen song material (e.g., rounds,
folk songs, nursery rhymes, national anthems - see Anderson, 1937; Joyner,
1969; Plumridge, 1972; Buckton, 1982; Welch, 1986; Wurgler, 1990; Ellis,
1993) and individual pitches and patterns of pitches/melodic fragments (e.g.,
pitches presented either singly, in pairs, or as a series - see Madsen et al., 1969;
Greer et al., 1973; Yank Porter, 1977; Welch, 1985; Welch et al., 1989). The
testing protocol embraced these two broad categories, with glissandi added (as
schematic pitch contours), ensuring that all the "individual pitches and melodic
fragments/patterns" items were also embedded within the pitch typography of

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Welch, Sergeant, and White

pairs of specially const

pattern of a3-f4-d4 wa
The stimuli for singing
to assess the subject's ab
patterns [melodic fragm
two songs. To reduce t
random or testing varia
pitches) were recorded o
to control for direction
grade). The sound source
chorister and electroni
modelled on audio tape b
two weeks prior to testin
Each subject learned a
that their pitches were w
age groups (a3-220Hz t
matter deemed to be sui
words, and comprised s
taught to the children b
in the schools, keeping t
the number of teachi
consistent with practi
"authentic" experience f
exposure to the songs. I
the research team revis
mally on earlier visits)
area away from the clas
data collection situatio
session either singly or,
No starting pitch was pr
and each singer spontan
vocal responses were re
tioned 15-20cm below th
For an evaluation of the
the purely sung acoustic
sis), edited versions of
experienced professiona
against previously agree

Results

Judges' ratings of subjects' vocal pitch accuracy revealed that, in general,

the female and male subjects were consistently close in all three years (see Table
1 and Figure 1), with the greatest differences being attributed to the nature of the
task and the year of testing11. The other findings in relation to the sex of the
subjects were as follows: in years 1 and 2, there were no statistically significant
sex differences in ratings for vocal pitch accuracy, although girls generally had
greater mean ratings for song performance, whereas boys had greater means for
responses to test items (with one exception, single pitches in year 3). However,

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156

Table 1
Multivariate Analysis of Variance to Test for Interaction Effects Between Year of Test
and Mean Rating Levels of Vocal Pitch Accuracy for Test Battery (Fragments, Single
Pitches, Glides) and Songs Across Sexes (?V= 184; boys = 87, girls = 97)

Source of variance F value p

Sex 0.02 0.893

Test-type 261.96 <0.001

Test-year 31.67 <0.001
Sex by test-type 3. 1 89 0.760
Sex by test-year 0.89 0.389
Test-type by test-year 1 1 .32 O.001
Sex by test-type by test-year 0.92 0.454

Table 2
Differences Between Mean Ratings for Vocal Pitch Accuracy
by Sex for Test Battery Items and Songs (t tests)

Year I Year 2 Year 3

Test item p Sex* p Sex* p Sex*
Test battery and songs together .230 boys .729 boys .904 boys
Songs (x2) .394 girls .249 girls .016 girls
Test battery: .342 boys .708 boys .782 boys
Fragments
Simple glides (i.e., uni- or bi-directional) .237 boys .038 boys .315 boys
Complex glides (multidirectional) .512 boys .597 boys .440 boys
Single pitches '.887 boys .325 boys .684 girls
♦indicates the group (male/female) with the larger mean rating
significant differences are indicated in bold

sex differences emerged in the data between the songs and the batt
in (a) year 2, with boys being rated significantly better in pitchin
(p=.038; but a non-significant difference in other years) and (b)
girls achieving significantly higher ratings for their vocal pitch acc
singing (p=.0\6; see Table 2). Closer inspection of this sex diff
singing in year 3 revealed that the mean ratings for the sample boy
linearly across all 3 years, whereas the means for the girls had r
tively constant (see Table 2 and Figure 1).

Discussion

The reasons underlying the decline in the boys' mean ratings for vocal pitch
accuracy in the song singing condition relative to girls across the 3 years are
unclear. Boys' general vocal pitch accuracy for all test items across the 3 years
was very similar to that of the girls, with both sexes showing a steady improve-

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Welch, Sergeant, and White

Figure 1 . Ratings for songs an

ment in each year of testin

girls (see Figure 1). It is on
artifact (i.e., in the singing
each year and (b) declined
years). It may be that th
associated with the sex of
female) who were the prim
and that boys' increasing
negative by-product of the
subject taught by female t
song singing combines lang
competency development
development. For example,
these sex differences in so
aspect of linguistic develop
reading competency bein
(Sammons, 1995).
Nevertheless, irrespective
female subjects in song sing
is of the homogeneity of

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158

vocal pitch tasks. There

study of children's singi
age 5 with broadly simila
maintained across the f
singing. However, this p
statistically significant,
observed in the data. Of
nature of the task and
research literature of a
singers is not generally su
singing. On the contrary
between the sexes than h
It may be that there is
girls' rather than boys
artifacts. The lack of dif
matching tasks (as exam
that any such difference
to be cultural in origin ra

Notes

barker, A. (1984) p. 83.

2For the purposes of this introduction, a "deficit" model of singing "disabil-
ity" (i.e., singing "out-of-tune") is being used as this is the model that most
characterizes the majority of studies within the research literature. In this cus-
tomary "deficit" model, the focus is on a lack of ability, on what certain children
and adults appear to be unable to accomplish with their singing voices when
compared with others who are "normal" in that they are able to sing "in-tune."
An alternative perspective is one that views, singing competency as a multifac-
eted developmental process in which variation is normal, being socially and
culturally located in relation to specific musical tasks, with vocal skill acquisition
subject to development over time in relation to appropriate experience (see
Welch, 1994b).
3For a recent comprehensive review of the research literature on "out-of-
tune" singing, see Welch and Murao (1994).
4A caveat is that the research literature on "out-of-tune" singing is firmly
located in Western musical aesthetics and genres. Singing development and
abilities in relation to non-Western musics may be different because of differing
musical traditions and structures. Although singing is a commonplace human
activity, it is also culturally diverse and so definitions of "out-of-tune" singing
may be equally culturally variable.5
5Naidr et al, 1965; Frank & Sparber, 1970; Rutkowski, 1984; Huff-Gackle,
1991; Cooksey, 1993.
6See, for example, Rupp, 1992; Phillips, 1992; Young, 1993; Moore, 1994;
Welch, 1994a; Rossiter, 1995.
7The project, Singing Development in Early Childhood, was originally
funded by the Leverhulme Trust (1990-1994) under research grant F569A, and
subsequently as part of an award (R2014) from the Roehampton Institute London
Research Committee (1994-1997).

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Welch, Sergeant, and White

8Two versions of the tapes were prepared to test for directional reversals
(i.e., ascending/descending, prime/retrograde). Two further versions of the tapes
were prepared to take account of ordering effects during years 2 and 3 of the
longitudinal study.
9In the first year of testing, all the five-year-old subjects learned the same
two songs. In the second and third years, teachers were given a choice of a wider
selection of alternative pairs of songs, including the original two.
10Welch(1979).
1 lrThe main findings of the longitudinal study in relation to the test items and
year of testing are discussed elsewhere (see Welch, Sergeant, & White, Singing
Development in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Study [forthcoming]).
12The gender effects and bias within school music (with the exception of
music technology) as a predominantly "feminine" subject area may be found in
several research studies (for example: Finnegan, 1989; Archer & Macrae, 1991;
Bruce & Kemp, 1993).

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