Human Singing: Towards a Developmental Theory

Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain 2011, Vol. 21, No. 1 & No. 2

Copyright 2011 by Psychomusicology DOI: 10.5084/pmmb2011/21/xxx

Human Singing: Towards a Developmental Theory S T E FA N I E S TA DL E R E L M E R University of Zurich & Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences a b s t r ac t—The aim of this article is to propose a revision of models of singing development that identify age-related stages of mastery of basic elements of the Western-European music system. Instead, emphasis is placed on structural and process-oriented approaches, on growing meta-cognitive strategies, on conceptual analyses that go beyond Western-European conventions and on a methodology that allows assessing the simultaneous configuration of linguistic and musical elements in children’s vocal organization from an acoustical standpoint. Hence, singing is conceptualized from various perspectives, conventions associated with singing are analyzed, and basic rules of children’s songs are exemplified by careful examination of a single song. A micro-genetic analysis of early song singing illustrates a method for studying a child’s strategies in organizing a song. Finally, a seven-stage developmental sequence is proposed as a heuristic for further research. k e y wo r d s —singing, development, children, developmental sequence of singing, theory, characteristics of singing, conventions, language and music, analysis of singing

1. i n t ro d u c t i o n Human singing is an interdisciplinary domain because it covers musical, linguistic, physiological, cultural, psychological and developmental aspects. The present article addresses theoretical issues related to singing and its development. The developmental perspective entails the search for origins and the investigation of general laws of emergence of novelty in irreversible time (Valsiner, 2003). The main interest concerns the following question: How does singing development begin, and what aspects of singing change during childhood? 1

This article does not intend to give a thorough literature review on empirical studies on children’s singing (e.g., Stadler Elmer, 2002; Welch, 2006), nor does it include a review of the development of perception of music and language (e.g., McMullen & Saffran, 2004; Patel, 2008), nor an exploration of infant directed singing (e.g., Falk, 2009; Longhi, 2009). Rather, the focus is more theoretical. After a brief historical review of ideas about the course of the development of singing and after addressing the shortcomings of these ideas, there follows an outline of a general framework within which singing is considered as an elementary and universal form of human musical expression. For any theory, careful conceptual analyses and descriptions are essential; hence, the next two sections are devoted to characterizing singing and to analyzing conventions that apply to music and to singing, including an illustration of the rules of children’s song singing with a song in the German language. Finally, hypotheses on a developmental sequence of singing are proposed as a heuristic in order to replace previous conceptions. An example of a micro-genetic analysis of a very young child’s spontaneous song singing provides a representation of this early emergent competence in its complex organization. Almost a century ago, the developmental psychologist Heinz Werner (1917) published the first empirical and pioneering study on children’s singing development using phonograph recordings. He asked 45 children between the ages of 2.6 and 5 years to invent melodies with and without Stefanie Stadler Elmer, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, & Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Stefanie Stadler Elmer, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestr. 14 Box 9, CH-8050 Zürich, Switzerland. E-mail: [email protected]

Stefanie Stadler Elmer

given lyrics. Whereas Werner assumed that all of these children would have been able to reproduce a complex children’s song such as “Fuchs, du hast die Gans gestohlen” (Fox you stole my goosey gander) covering a vocal range of a seventh (11 semitones), he characterizes their typical melodic inventions as consisting of a small number of tones, small vocal range, small intervals, falling directions, and continuous repetitions. Further, he postulated a falling glissando or portamento to be the melodic nucleus from which the “Urmelodie”, the original or primary melody in the form of a falling minor third would have emerged. Most interestingly, he related this early melodic form to the prosodic pattern of calling names, thus emphasizing the relationship between melody and prosody. This very phenomenon was taken up and studied much later again by Fulin (1974).

However, detailed analyses of singing neither confirm an invariable sequence of introduction of musical intervals with development (e.g., Dowling, 1984; Klusen, 1970; McKernon, 1979), nor any universals in this respect (e.g., Nattiez, 1977; Nettl, 2000). The strongest argument against the notion of an invariable sequence of acquisition of musical intervals is the empirical evidence that sung intervals as pitch categories are not as stable and fixed as is often assumed (see below). The analogy with Chomsky’s idea of an innate generative grammar applied to music, the Generative Theory of Tonal Music (GTTM) (Lerdahl & Jackendoff, 1983), has not yet been proved fruitful in the developmental context, since it is based on idealized assumptions (Lerdahl, 2001), for instance “an experienced listener”, and uses a blurred concept of innate musical competence (e.g., Imberty, 2000).

Interval acquisition

Linguistic Primacy

Werner’s (1917) study strongly influenced subsequent research in this domain (e.g., Kube, 1958; Metzler, 1961, 1962; Nestele, 1930; Schünemann, 1929, 1930; Schwan, 1955; Walker, 1927). Over the course of time, his search for the ontogenetic origins of melody and regularities in melodic development led to a simplification or reductionist conception of singing development, the so called interval acquisition theory (Stadler Elmer, 1996, 2000, 2002). This theory assumes that humans possess innate musical structures that naturally unfold during development. Some individuals are more musically gifted or talented than others. Singing development occurs by progressively organising the tonal space in a fixed order: Initially, singing emerges around the scale’s fifth note (also called sol, the dominant, or V), followed by a descending minor third (mi or III), then one tone above the dominant is added (la or VI), etc. (e.g., Kube, 1958). Later on, this invariable sequence has been explained as being derived from the harmonic series embedded in complex tones (e.g., Roederer, 1973). Analogous to Chomsky‘s “Language Acquisition Device”, tonal structures are assumed to develop according to a universal innate program (e.g., Bernstein, 1976, also subscribed to this position).

A second theoretical line is the idea of a linguistic primacy (Stadler Elmer, 1996, 2000, 2002). It reflects a common agreement of several researchers (e.g., Hargreaves, 1986; Moog, 1968, 1976; Rutkowski 1997; Welch, 1986, 1998; Welch, Sergeant, & White, 1998) that in both song acquisition and singing development, words appear first, followed by rhythm, contour, and intervals, in that order. Related to the assumption of a linguistic primacy, singing development is described as beginning with speech-like chanting of the song text, to singing in a limited pitch range (Welch, 2006). Taking a position contrary to the notion that children prioritize the words or lyrics while singing is the work of Papoušek and Papoušek (1981), Kelley and Sutton-Smith (1987), and Stadler Elmer (e.g., 1998). The relationship between linguistic and musical elements in song-singing is not additive, but a synchronized hierarchical organization with inextricable links between the two systems (e.g., Baroni, Dalmonte, & Jacoboni, 1995). In all societies, one is always singing something (Nettl, 2000), lyrics or linguistic elements. Hence, probably in most singing, language or some linguistic elements are an inseparable component, and historically, lyrics have been the link to poetry

2

Human Singing

(e.g., Langer, 1942). Moreover, song production and song interpretation capacities are hypothesized to be pre-adaptations that enabled language in phylogeny (Rousseau, 1781; Vaneechoutte & Skoyles, 1998) as well as in ontogeny (Longhi, 2009).

Contour schema theory A third idea about the developmental course of singing is the contour schema theory. Davidson (1985, 1994) focuses on the range between the highest and lowest pitch of a sung phrase, and he assumes that development proceeds as an increase of the pitch range the child uses while reproducing or inventing a song. A child would create melodies with contour sizes proportional to her or his chronological age. A three-year-old child would reduce any melody to the interval size of a third, a four-year-old to the size of a fourth, and so on, reaching with the age of six or seven years the contour size of a sixth. None of these theoretical conceptions have proved to be convincing. Apart from a lack of conceptual clarity on the defining features of singing, on structural and functional features of singing in relation to music and language, on innate musical competencies, and on the nature of human cultural development, there are severe methodological problems. Most often, children’s singing, song learning or inventions are analyzed on the basis of mere listening or rating, or on the basis of selected acoustic features, but hardly ever has the analysis of children’s singing been based on acoustical properties and on the configuration of several structural features dynamically unfolding in time (Stadler Elmer & Elmer, 2000). Using a combination of listening and acoustic measures is most desirable (see Baumann, 1998), since the human ear is very sensitive, but perceptually and conceptually biased by cultural experience. Moreover, in the current context, the concepts of music and singing and structural features cannot be restricted to the Western tonal system, but need an interdisciplinary approach in a general cultural framework. Hence, the remaining part of this article deals with basic conceptual and theoretical considerations about human singing and its development.

2. s i n g i n g : a n e l e m e n ta ry a n d universal human expression Humans differ from most other nonhuman primates by their huge potential for articulating vocal sounds. Vocal variability has also been documented in primates (e.g., Geissmann, 2000). During evolution, human vocal capacity differentiated into specific forms such as speaking, singing, laughter, crying, etc. that became possible in part through the evolution of neural control of respiration (Vaneechoutte & Skoyles, 1998). Human vocal variability is enormous, considering the 6,000 to 7,000 languages and the indeterminable ways of musical use of the voice in different cultures. This huge vocal variability becomes only apparent through inter-cultural studies. These expressive forms play a crucial role in the communal life of humans. From birth on, the voice enables the human to contact others, to elicit reactions, to transmit information, and to express emotional states. At the beginning, this occurs through uncultivated, involuntary signals, then through idiosyncratic and inter-subjective signs, and later, at a higher level of psychological functioning, the linguistic and musical symbols of the surrounding culture are integrated, and actions become voluntary (Stadler Elmer, 2002). During this process, the already existing vocal and corresponding mental and affective structures are constantly reorganized through selection, variation, and integration. The mechanisms of building generalized mental and affective structures are a result of the organism’s vital tendency to reproduce and achieve adaptation to the environment. This principle of self-organization is also known as a principle of equilibrium (Piaget, e.g., 1974) or autopoiesis (Maturana & Varela, 1987) or as dynamic systems theory (von Bertalanffy, 1933; Luhmann, 1998).

Dynamic systems approach The dynamic systems approach offers a heuristic to examine the continuous process of interaction among the constituents of a system. Whereas the human infant starts to adapt to the humanspecific ways of vocal communication, parents and caregivers intuitively provide a specific kind 3


of infant-directed dialogue. Extended prosodic and melodic modulations, repetitions, and reciprocal imitation are part of “intuitive parenting”, a universal predisposition in both counterparts of parent-infant communication (Papoušek & Papoušek, 1987). Communication is a product of co-evolution that functions from early in ontogeny and is controlled by non-conscious subsystems of behavioral regulation. The musical characteristics of this interaction were emphasized by Papoušek and Papoušek (1981, H. Papoušek, 1996; M. Papoušek, 1996), and since then recognized as belonging to the roots of human musicality (e.g., Dissanayake, 2000, 2008; Trevarthen, 1999, 2008). Growing evidence of pre-natal hearing capacities (Lecanuet, 1996), research on early sources of musical stimulations in infant’s caregiving environment – particularly in infant-directed speech and singing (e.g., Bergeson & Trehub, 1999; de l’Etoile, 2006; Falk, 2009; Longhi, 2009; Papoušek & Papoušek, 1981, 1987) – and research into early vocal development (e.g., Masataka, 2003; Vihman, 1996; Yeni-Komshian, Ferguson, & Kavanagh, 1980) gave rise to the re-conception of development of music and language, and to reconsider the old idea of the “musical origin of language” by Rousseau (1781) and others (see e.g., Brown, 2000; Mithen, 2005; Vaneechoutte & Skoyles, 1998). The growing research literature suggests that infants very early have well-developed perceptual capacities to segment the stream of audio-stimuli (e.g., Fischer, 2009; Jusczyk, 1997) at the basis of acoustic parameters that are relevant to both music and language. From birth on, infant vocalization has a complex structure, and already the newborn’s cry melody seems to be influenced by the surrounding speech prosody, possibly as a result of a predisposition for vocal learning (Mampe, Friederici, Christophe, & Wermke, 2009). Vocal development is targeted to adapt in three directions: i) singing, ii) speaking, iii) social rules regarding the control of affective vocalizations, such as crying, yawning, laughing, etc. Adapting to the environment’s (vocal) culture can also be described as starting with pre-conventional activities (sensori-motor, mental) that become more conventionalised, and finally, show post-conventional organisation of actions and thoughts. 4

Semiotic perspective Both primary directions of vocal development – speech and singing – can be understood from a semiotic perspective, the phenomena of affective self-regulation through signs (Branco & Valsiner, 2010). Affective states or affective phenomena are quasi-structured fields (“affective fields”, cf. Lewin, Vygotsky, Bühler, as described by Valsiner, 2005; Branco & Valsiner, 2010) which undergo differentiation through signs or semiotic mediators. A person obtains an orientation towards the immediate and anticipated future through affective fields. Already during early infant development, vocal play and vocal rituals with caregivers are affective phenomena, and they are precursors of singing as well. Singing, as music making, is play (for definitions see e.g., Hetzer, 1995; Huizinga, 1980; Saner, 1993); it emerges from the earliest vocal play which signals the infant’s state of wellbeing or her or his expression of a joyful activity as an opposition to signalling basic needs (H. Papoušek, 1997, 2001). Joyful vocal play as a precursor of singing is executed as monologue, but it is also characteristic of the early vocal communication between infants and caregivers. At this early state, such pre-musical interactions regulate affective states, both in parents and infants (e.g., M. Papoušek, 1996). Interactive games also create “proto-narrative envelopes” (Stern, 1995), a proto-semiotic form of experiencing time such as duration, and changes between tensions and relaxations (Imberty, 2000), and sound (pitch, timbre, loudness). Originally in ontogeny, singing and making music are profoundly social, together with language, and are associated with shared moments of pleasant and playful emotions. Apart from a biological orientation that is related to the nervous system, the person’s phenomenological orientation is influenced by the subjective experience of affective phenomena. In early social contexts, vocal sounds become meaningful and symbolic, both by producing them and by listening to them. Music making with others, and especially singing, is a powerful cultural means to elicit and synchronize collective affective states. The collectively shared signs and symbols not only represent affective phenomena but also regulate

Human Singing

and create emotions, thus providing a personal and cultural orientation. Singing, in particular, enables quasi repetition of past affective states at a later time, enhances social attachment, feelings of social belonging, but also the reverse, social exclusion, thereby influencing cultural identity (Stadler Elmer, 2004). Vygotsky (1971) speaks about “transformation of affective phenomena” or about the reproduction of socially constructed moods or affective states.

3 . c h a r ac t e r i s t i c s o f s i n g i n g Among the elementary and universal musical activities – perception (hearing) and motor movements – vocalization or singing contains the basic musical features: pitch patterns (melody), their temporal organization (rhythm), loudness, and timbre. These parameters are organized according to explicit and implicit cultural specific norms. These are addressed in the next section, and the discussion to some extent overlaps with the previous section where elements of music have been referred to.

Vowel prolongation The transitions between speaking (and its prosody), chant, and singing are not sharp. Singing and speaking are difficult to define as separate modes, because they intertwine, and because criteria depend on the culture. When Dowling (1984) analyzed his children’s vocalizations, he used prolongation of vowels as a criterion for distinguishing the more singing- from the more speaking-like utterances. So far, this criterion – prolongation of vowels – seems to me the most simple and culture-free defining criteria for singing: if vowels are prolonged, then pitch becomes accentuated and can be modulated. This creates the impression of singing. Moreover, duration of vowels is measurable which may be useful in research contexts. Usually, singing includes language or linguistic elements such as vowels and consonants, syllables, phonemes, words, or text (lyrics), and linguistic and musical components are usually inseparably linked together. In the early periods of vocal development, a distinction

between precursors of singing or speaking does not make sense, because the beginning differentiation between them has to be determined by criteria that are relevant in the infant’s activities and in her or his socio-cultural context. Dowling’s criterion is necessary and helpful but not sufficient.

Temporal organization For singing, another characteristic criterion concerns the temporal organization by regular pulses, periodic accents that – together with the regular pulse – constitute meter, and phrases. Phrases are defined by several features: they occur during exhalation in children’s songs; they last two or four measures (Stadler Elmer, 2002); and they correspond to melodic motives. Song phrases are easy to repeat and to vary. Repetition and variation belong to the very nature of musics and songs (see below), and these features are clearly distinct from sentences used in dialogic speech (Stadler Elmer, 2002). Moreover, in children’s and in folk songs, phrases are bound to the lines of the lyrics, normally sharing the same meter. Thus, song singing shares with poetry the metrical structure or rhythmic rules. Also, the social temporal organization for singing – at least in Western culture – occurs mostly as a joint or simultaneous activity, whereas speaking is mostly organized as turn-taking. Yet, there are exceptions for both modes. Functionally, speaking supports more cooperative communication (requesting, referencing to objects, sharing information, etc., see Tomasello, 2008), the syllables or words are articulated faster, and in general, speaking is more economical from a physiological point of view. For instance, pitch range for speech is usually smaller than in singing. Singing is at the same time music and language, but the temporal framework of singing differs in yet another important aspect from speaking: in children’s songs, each syllable is bound to a distinctive pitch of the melody. Hence, the number of pitches in the melody corresponds in a specific way with the number of syllables of the lyrics. The syllables are framed within the timing rules of the song such that the durations of the pitches may be doubled or subdivided in order to integrate all the lyrics’ 5


syllables. Moreover, the stress pattern of a language is retained by synchronizing stressed syllables of the words with the accentuated beats in the meter (Stadler Elmer, 2012).

Repetition and variation The main functions of music or singing are related to the characteristic features of repetition and variation (Knepler, 1977; Meyer, 1956): Although precise repetition of a temporal event is impossible, the impression of repetition is a very important illusion in the context of singing and of music in general. It is achieved by creating acoustic similarity between the past and the present event. Repetitions are variations, but the latter usually denotes deliberate modifications of the original. In comparison to speech, song singing contains periodicity by the meter that synchronizes pitch and syllables. It is mainly the temporal organization that facilitates the creation of coherent and redundant units (e.g., phrases) that are easy to repeat or to alter during repetition. As a redundantly structured temporal event, a song and the related affective experience can be transposed from the past to the present, and thereby it provides an orientation for the future. It is a cultural tool for creating affective states or “repeating” or transforming them across time. In this sense, song singing functions as affective and mental frames that are based on past experiences, and prepare for the unknown future. As a collectively shared tool to repeat previously experienced affective states, song singing allows anticipating social participation. Hence, song singing always refers to both individual and to collective memories, experiences, and affects. The musical origin of language hypothesis (Vaneechoutte & Skoyles, 1998, see above) fits well with Valsiner’s (2005) hypothesis that mental processes were only possible through the differentiation of affects. The primitive forms of music, such as dance and singing, involve movements and emotional states characteristic of play, social mutuality, and ritual. For Molino (2000) it is the control or mastery of the temporal organization of such activities that underpins all types of syntactic constructions. 6

Human symbolizing acts Two different but complementary philosophical ideas give additional reasons for a cultural foundation of singing and music making in general: Cassirer (1948) defines cultural forms (such as music making and singing) first of all as symbolic in their nature, and not rational. According to him (and others, e.g., Langer, 1942), culture is the result of human symbolizing acts. Huizinga (1980) considers all cultural achievements as originating from acts of playing. As previously mentioned, both cultural philosophers’ ideas – the human mind’s symbolizing acts and play – address basic cultural dimensions of singing. The human voice first of all expresses feelings or affects. The early singing-like imitative or explorative vocalizations already are playful and social, and are acts of meaning-making. A peculiar and early emerging characteristic of singing-like vocalizations – compared to the more speech-like sounds – are accompanying, dance-like body movements. The way the body is stirred while vocalizing, may indicate a young child’s intention either to sing (and play) or to speak (Stadler Elmer, 2003). In the case of the intention to sing, the child may accompany her vocal utterances by regularly moving parts of the body in a dance-like manner, or regularly moving an object to create sounds, whereas the intention of speaking does not include regular motor movements, but can be observed typically in dyadic situations as communicative acts such as referring to an object, requesting, or sharing information.

Types of singing Besides various characteristics of singing and speaking, different kinds of singing should be distinguished, because the singer has intentions that guide – together with the ability to control the vocalization – the degree to which the singing is adapted to social expectancies and conventions. For solo song or solo melody singing, the main types are reproduction and invention. A reproduction follows some conventions, but invention may (deliberately) deviate from rules or conventions. Both may be performed spontaneously or on request. Opposite

Human Singing

to solo singing is joint singing (choirs etc.) and polyphonic singing (canons etc.), and instrumentally accompanied singing (by drums, guitar chords, piano, etc.). Vocal range and pitch matching are used for diagnostic purposes. Although they are vocalizations, they generally are not considered as “proper” singing because the melodic and semiotic aspects are lacking. There exist also expressions for singing that appears dysfunctional: monotone singers (e.g., Joyner, 1969), poor pitch singers (e.g., Welch, 1979). These different ways of characterizing or defining singing are not complete. They need to be supplemented by investigations into culture specific patterns and techniques of using the voice musically in ritualized or repetitive social contexts and the constructed affective fields. Song singing is a powerful example for a cultural tool to socially guide children (or humans in general) into desirable directions. Beginning with the regulation of infants’ physiological states (excitation and inhibition), singing helps to differentiate these feelings and transform them into a subjective experience which Valsiner (2008) calls a general immediate and pre-semiotic feeling. Later, the person may use singing or other cultural tools to construct a personal “inner infinity” (William Stern, as cited in Valsiner, 2008) while being involved in the context but, at the same time, distancing from the here-andnow setting. This affective synthesis is the center of aesthetic experience (Vygotsky, 1971). A learnt song is primarily a socially shared experience with an affective field that – as internalization – can be transformed and used as a cultural tool to recreate the previous affective field in a new context. Song singing may be used deliberately as a means to induce affective states in oneself or in others in order to manipulate, channel or shape individual or collective experiences.

4 . c u lt u r a l c o n v e n t i o n s

Reproduction and invention Already newborns’ vocalisations are structured and may be described in musical terms (e.g., Wermke &

Mende, 2009), but they are not yet conventionalised. Any singing is shaped sounds (prolonged vowels etc.) that express somehow cultural conventions. In order to study the mental processes underlying the organisation, the aforementioned distinction between spontaneous and requested song reproduction and invention is useful to avoid misunderstandings or overgeneralizations. When a person spontaneously or on request invents a new song, she or he decides the organisational rules on her own while singing. While reproducing a song, the person more or less “knows” to follow given rules. Often the two forms (invention and reproduction) coexist, and the singer intends to apply certain rules and simultaneously claims some personal or collective freedom in performance. The performance often deviates unnoticed from the score (see e.g., Seashore, 1938; Vurma & Ross, 2006), and often, performers only partly follow the instructions given by scores. Therefore, precise intonation in singing is a desideratum, and in practice, sung melodies are usually inaccurate with regard to intervals or pitch categories, but much less to contour. Because singing also entails producing syllables, words, or lyrics, it is not only a musical issue, but as previously mentioned, most of the time it is the synchronous organisation of both linguistic and musical components. Arom (2000) identifies two criteria he considers as culturally universal: all music production (including singing) “implies an act of intentional construction”, and it “is set in motion by a formal process, itself the result of convention” (p. 27). The infant’s intention to sing or to speak marks an important milestone in the process of differentiating between the two modes.

Rules of pitch and time The most important rules of any music system concern the organisation of pitch and time. A melody may emerge from mere pitch modulations of some vowels, even if the pitch pattern does not follow identifiable cultural rules. Such primitive melodies emerge in early infant’s vocalisations (e.g., Papoušek & Papoušek, 1981). Music is either measured by regularly paced elements or by an isochronous temporal pulse; 7


seldom is it unmeasured and without relation to any kind of timekeeper (Arom, 1991, 2000). There is general consensus that time in music is hierarchically organized beginning with bottom-up durational periodicity, with strong and weak accents, and grouping (e.g., Patel, 2008). In singing, the breath provides higher order timing at the level of grouping, because singing occurs during exhalation (see section 3 above). Usually, the duration of the phonatory process creates a phrase that may coincide with the given phrase of a song. In most Western cultures, phrases are organised by periodic pulse patterns of stressed and unstressed beats. The time interval between two beats defines the basic durational unit in a piece or song, and long or short time intervals determine the tempo. A stressed or strong beat is attained by increasing its intensity (loudness) or extending the duration, thus creating accents. There are two basic patterns of cyclic alternations of strong and weak beats: they have either two or three beats, a strong and weak beat, or a strong beat and two weak beats. These metrical patterns can be combined and thus are building blocks for generating musical sequences. Any such periodic pulse pattern with stressed and unstressed beats is called meter. In music scores, it is usually represented by bar lines, and as a rule, the first beat is always stressed. In the children’s song in Figure 1, the notation indicates that basic beat pattern consists of two quarter notes, hence, a strong and weak beat. This binary meter is visualized by the bar lines and, in addition, by long and short vertical lines. Whereas beat and meter form the basic temporal structures at the

lowest level of the hierarchy, rhythm is built on top of them. In Figure 1, the melody’s rhythm consists mostly of eighth notes that are derived by subdividing the basic unit of the quarter note, thus, in a bar yielding four eighth notes as durational equivalence to two quarter notes. Most musics use periodicity and symmetry as basic temporal formal principles (e.g., Arom, 2000) at all hierarchical levels. Accordingly, at the highest level, phrases in children’s songs are comprised by either two or four measures (as an example, see Fig. 1). They are organized by the meter, the most important means for creating and maintaining temporal coherence. In song singing, the metrical structure of the melody corresponds to that of the lyrics such that the pitches on a strong beat are synchronized with the stressed word syllables, and respectively, unstressed syllables or one-syllable words coincide with weak beats. This metrical structure in turn is a prerequisite for easy repetition of phrases or units. With regard to the lyrics, the specific linguistic means of rhyme also contribute to the coherence; so does the typical ending on the fundamental keynote in children’s and folk songs (Stadler Elmer, 2002, p. 131). In the song in Figure 1, there are two rhymes, /hopp – Galopp/ and /Steine – Beine/, marked with a bracket. Their positions are symmetrical and corresponding in the second and fourth, sixth and eighth, and tenth and twelfth bar; in other words, each of the two parts is positioned at the end of a two-bar phrase. When the child discovers the rules behind these and other patterns, he or she has an advantage in organizing

Figure 1: An example of a traditional children’s song in the German language. Language matters because of specific phonological rules, for example, stress patterns. The vertical lines represent the regular beat; the long and short lines represent strong and weak accents, respectively (meter). A bar always begins with a strong beat. The phrases and sub-phrases are marked by curly brackets and the rhymes by square brackets.

8

Human Singing

and memorizing the song. Children often spontaneously accompany singing with body movements (with or without instruments) that helps them to create and maintain a steady beat or pulse. Such temporal organisations allow repetitions and variations that both are – as previously mentioned – basic features of music making (Knepler, 1977; Meyer, 1956). In contrast to verbal dialogues, typical singing is structured in coherent temporal units. The dense and redundant temporal organisation resulting from the lyrics and the melody reduces cognitive demands and allows even young children to participate in joint singing and spontaneous movements (e.g., Stadler Elmer, 2002; Moog, 1968).

Sets of pitches Prolonged vowels allow accentuating pitch and making it a salient property of the vocal sound. By this, a melody can be created by contrasting these pitches and by modulating them and forming a somehow ordered sequence. In contrast to instrumental music or to music theory that usually deal with fixed pitch categories, singing can use the pitch dimension very flexibly. A singer may intend to follow more or less conventional rules (see above). Nevertheless, conventions apply. In all cultures, a set of salient pitches is selected from the pitch continuum (which orders sounds in terms of their highness and lowness) (Arom, 2000; Patel, 2008). In Western music theory, the interval of an octave – given by two frequencies related by the ratio of 2:1 – is subdivided into 12 pitch categories or semitones that are the basis for various scales. The most usual scales are the diatonic (major, minor) and pentatonic scale. The names of the notes of the major scale are c, d, e, f, g, a, b, or in terms of relative (or French solfège) names (of Italian origin) do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti. Children’s songs are typically composed in a major scale (Stadler Elmer, 2002). Within the diatonic scales, one note – the tonic – defines the key of the scale. All other pitch categories relate to the tonic and have different functions. As mentioned previously, most melodies of folk songs and of children’s songs end on the tonic. Unlike fixed pitch instruments like the piano, the voice (and some instruments, e.g., string instruments) allows for

pitch production along a pitch continuum and the possibility, therefore, of creating pitch patterns and melodies within the entire pitch continuum of the vocal range without restrictions to fixed pitch categories. Even in performances of professional singers, perceived pitches may deviate from the categories given by the notation (e.g., Seashore, 1938). The deviations remain unnoticed or are perceived within tolerated category boundaries (cf. e.g., Siegel & Siegel, 1977; Vurma & Ross, 2006). The pitch categories and metric, isochronous temporal pulses are the basic material from which can be formed an infinite number of melodies. According to the ethnomusicologist Nettl (2000) the most simple and widespread music ”consists of songs that have a short phrase repeated several or many times, with minor variations, using three or four pitches within a range of a fifth” (p. 469). This kind of melodic structure is found in children’s games and ditties and in many recordings of ancient rituals in European folk cultures.

5 . a h y p o t h e t i c a l d e v e l o p m e n ta l sequence of singing As in other developmental domains, the organisation of musical and vocal actions and thoughts changes with some regularity across the early lifespan at least, and researchers would like to be able to characterize these changes. Two necessary – but not sufficient – conditions for developmental progress in singing are a functional voice and functional hearing. Both allow activities such as modifying vocal utterances and participation in socio-cultural events related to music and singing including social guidance. The participation in social interactions entails feelings of belonging together by virtue of the experiences of shared attention, mutual expectancies, and joint vocalisations. Vocalizations are a prototype of a low psychological function that is the basis for generalizing and internalizing affective states (Valsiner, 2005). To investigate the emergence of novelty – here in vocalizations – implies focusing on the changing qualities in the individual’s behavioral organisation. The following hypothetical description of the 9


developmental course of singing takes the form of subsequent stages. The concept of stages is fraught with misunderstandings. The stages are neither a theory themselves, nor are they related to chronological age or to the Western tonal system. They are a heuristic to describe the sequence or chronological order in which new qualities emerge in the child’s behavioral organisation. The analysis of singing as a process entailing consecutive vocal productions in the form of learning a new song or inventing new ones – rather than as a single event – reveals the mental strategies underlying the vocal organisation. This developmental sequence represents a synthesis of previous studies, and it is the current result of theoretical considerations as outlined above. It attempts to summarize our current knowledge in a hypothetical manner and sketches the process of how children grow up in their culture and adapt to conventions related to singing and music. To date, seven stages are conceptualised, which are subdivided into three large phases: the preconventional, conventional, and post-conventional phase. The assumption is that the child acquires the conventional rules of the surrounding culture; that is, she or he gradually gains understanding of the basic units and the rules for reconstructing existing musics or for constructing new ones. The stages allow for interpreting a person’s musical or singing behavior in terms of developmentally relevant criteria such as emerging consciousness about structural and functional aspects of musics and songs, growing control about actions and thoughts, increasing differentiation and integration, and growing de-contextualisation.

Stage 1: Beginning co-evolution of innate expressive pre-dispositions with the social environment The newborn infant is able to hear, to vocalise, to execute motor movements, and to start coordinating these processes and actions. Vocalisation serves to express and elicit affection and emotion. The infant is highly susceptible and adaptable to sounds directed to her by parent‘s intuitive use of “motherese” (e.g., Fernald & Kuhl, 1987). “Musical” features such as melody or prosody and repeated rhythmic patterns are characteristic of 10

the communication with infants (e.g., Dissanayake, 2000, 2008; M. Papoušek, 1994, 1996; Trevarthen, 1999, 2008). They are a source for joyful exchange. The universal presence of specific features of intuitive parenting, for example, the musical aspects of the voice, suggests some innate pre-dispositions in both parents and infants (Papoušek & Papoušek, 1987). The infant’s extensive exploration of the vocal potential (alone or in dialogue) represents an original form of playing. Infant-parent dialogues show a high incidence of reciprocal imitative sequences including vocal patterns (M. Papoušek, 1996), hence a high rate of repetitions and variations. Infants are sensitive to temporal features in the multimodal sensory information provided by mothers, and they are able to organise and coordinate their behaviors selectively (Longhi, 2009).

Stage 2: Deferred imitation, emergent rituals, and extended vocal play Vocal dialogues (infant-parent) promote simultaneously the infant‘s pre-linguistic and pre-musical communicative competence (e.g., M. Papoušek, 1996). Repeated experiences of similar sound patterns and rules established between parent and infant yield some kind of intimate “rituals” that are based on mutually expected interactions and shared affective experiences. Often, prosodic features cannot be distinguished from melodic ones. Established rules also concern turn-taking and simultaneous matching of vocal sounds. Kessen, Levine, and Wendrich (1979) reported that three to six month-old infants are able to match vocally single pitches. Reciprocal imitation of vocal patterns is a basic activity in early parent-infant dialogues. In the infant’s monologues, delayed or deferred imitation of previous vocal patterns can be observed. They reveal an increasing integration of vocal patterns that had previously occurred in dialogues, and vice versa, patterns of vocal play are transferred to dialogues. Such observations identify deferred imitations that indicate emergent mental representations of the sensori-motor structures (singing). In recent years, the early beginnings of musical and singing development have been described and conceptualised by various authors (e.g., Dissanayake, 2000,

Human Singing

2008; Tafuri, 2008; Trevarthen, 1999, 2008; Welch, 2006).

Stage 3: Intentions to produce singing- or speechlike vocalizations The beginning of the intention either to produce more singing-like or more speech-like vocalizations marks a differentiation between the two modes (Stadler Elmer, 2003). Such intentions may be identified when the child changes from one mode to the other. He or she uses vocal patterns to express generalized feelings that are related to a more playful and ritualized vocalizing mode or to a more serious mode for satisfying basic needs and for referential cooperation. The more singing-like vocal patterns are observable as glissandi-like or continuously gliding pitches or sustained pitches, repetitions and variations of melodic patterns, accompanied by regular body movements or by regularly moving an object, supporting a regular timing, and a relaxed or playful mood. The more language-specific prosodic patterns, for example, asking, complaining, or initiating contact, have short vowels and a smaller pitch range than the singing-like mode. By changing occasionally between the two vocal modes, the child externalizes the intention to create meanings by using characteristics of one or the other cultural system. As observers, knowledge about contextual and cultural specific habits in the child’s environment is necessary for identifying or interpreting the child’s vocal patterns and expressed intentions. Also, the child’s body positions and movements provide crucial cues to identify the child’s musical or verbal-communicative intentions. Often, adults are not sensitive to an infant’s pre-musical utterances and tend to interpret vocalizations primarily as pre-speech utterances.

Stage 4: Sensori-motor strategy: auditory-vocal coordination to produce song fragments or entire songs The sensory-motor strategy denotes one aspect of the child’s early singing that has the following characteristics: The child has the ability to imitate melody fragments or entire songs with amazing

accuracy by coordinating hearing and vocalization, possibly orienting on the signal’s absolute pitch level but not in the sense of pitch categories. Already the infant shows precursors of this vocal ability by matching pitches or other single and selected features (e.g., Kessen et al., 1979; Papoušek & Papoušek, 1989). But the child at this stage imitates larger units. The child may join in singing accurately by adapting pitches, syllables, and timing to another person‘s singing. When sung alone, fragments or entire standard songs may also sound reasonably clear. Deviations from conventional rules do not concern the melody, the rhythm or the lyrics per se, but rather structural aspects: the child may omit or replace elements in low positions of the hierarchical organisation, may omit or replace unfamiliar phonemes or words, may simplify or omit temporal features, or may omit or replace fragments of the melody and lyrics (e.g., Stadler Elmer, 2002, 2006; Stadler Elmer & Engelberger, 2008). While concentrating on coordinating listening with vocalising, the child may thereby focus the overall temporal framework, melody, or the meaning of the lyrics. This sensori-motor strategy, as we call it, does not yet include either mental concepts meeting conventional musical and linguistic rules or meaning to guide and monitor the singing structure. Thus, attention may be paid to less important sound features at the expense of culturally relevant ones. At this pre-conventional stage, it is hardly predictable what a child selects to express. Still, for her, certain events are easier to grasp, for example, familiar patterns, small units with repetitive syllables and notes, and cues at hierarchically favorable positions (beginning, ending (rhymes), metrical weights, accents) in comparison to long and rich variations in the lyrics, the melody, or their timing (Stadler Elmer, 2002). The sensori-motor strategy yields productions that include accurate parts but also the child’s lack of understanding of conventional rules (e.g., tonal relations) and linguistic and musical concepts. For example, breathing may occur at any time the child wishes. Thus, the rule that breathing should take place between phrases would be violated (Stadler Elmer, 2002, child Andy). Although the building blocks or units of one’s own singing are not yet 11


understood, the ability to co-ordinate listening and vocalising makes possible joint and solo singing in some fashion, even for songs with lyrics in a foreign language. This type of imitative performance is typical for this stage. Metaphorically, it may be compared to the function of a tape recorder. The child fixes sound in memory like a die, said Roman Jakobson (1968) about the same phenomenon in children’s speaking. Outcomes of this strategy are easily overestimated (a child prodigy) or underestimated, with accurate song singing mistakenly expected later. Apart from imitation, the child at this stage may extensively exert vocal play with amazing stamina, integrate and vary imitated features from previously sung songs, accompany invented stories with singing, and create a rich and unconventional variety of sound patterns. Figure 2 shows an extract of the analysis of a spontaneous song production by a girl at age one

year and eight months (for more details see Stadler Elmer, 2012). The girl’s production lasted 133 s. During this time, she was rocking on a wooden horse and she sang her abbreviated version. She repeated phrases A and B1 nine times, but omitted B2 and A’ (see Fig. 1). She did not omit elements at the lower hierarchical levels of notes or syllables. Whereas the melody clearly shows her musical intentions to sing that particular song, the articulations of the syllables or the word formation is far more difficult for her.

Stage 5: Generalising examples, idiosyncratic song repertoire and idiosyncratic singing rules Often, songs form parts of rituals and thus connote a particular place, mood, people, or other peculiarities. Children first learn examples, rather than general rules, but then discover rules through

Figure 2: Excerpt of spontaneous song singing (Stadler Elmer, 2012). The x-axis represents time (in secs); the y-axis represents the pitch continuum with notes of the C major scale identified (“H3” refers to note B3, in accordance with European note-naming convention). The narrow solid line shows the melody of the model song (Hopp, Hopp, Hopp) represented in Figure 1 (transposed here to the key used by the caretaker presenting the song to the child). The large dots connected with dot-and-dashed lines represent the child’s singing. Pitch production is shown either by dots with beginning and ending glissandi or by lines, all positioned according to pitch and time. This data, based on acoustic analysis, results from two computer programmes, a pitch analyzer and a notation viewer (see Elmer, 1994; Stadler Elmer & Elmer, 2000).

12

Human Singing

examples. An orientation to examples is observable when she replaces a new song partly by familiar song components. While learning a song, at this stage, the child combines the sensori-motor strategy of the previous stage with adopting already acquired exemplary patterns. She has not yet integrated general song singing rules. Pre-conventional singing structures may concern all song components: the lyrics, melody, and their timing. Unclear articulation, neologisms, omissions, incompatible semantics, repetitive melodic parts, levelling out metric and melodic nuances, reducing interval sizes, etc. are characteristic (e.g., Davies, 1986, 1992; Moog, 1968; Stadler Elmer, 2002). Invented and spontaneous songs show particularly well that she uses both idiosyncratic and inconsistent rules. At this stage, conventional rules of song singing are largely ignored or are inconsistently changed according to highly subjective criteria. The emergence of some stable and generalized patterns – for instance, phrase repetition, ending on the tonic – marks the beginning of conventionalized singing.

Stage 6: Conventional rules on song singing are implicitly integrated The growing repertoire of songs provides the opportunity for generalising from exemplary songs and distinguishing general from idiosyncratic rules. General rules can and do therefore emerge and are applied across various singing contexts, including invented songs. Conventions such as isometric verses (i.e., verses with the same meter), rhymes, endings on the tonic note, tonal structures within melodies, larger and complex organised phrases, stable key due to stable pitches, are implicitly integrated into singing. Pre-conventional features such as neologisms, micro-intervals, glissandi, key instabilities etc. diminish. The conventions are not consciously reflected, but rather they are normative, and rules described as “accurate-inaccurate” are implicitly known and used to control singing (Stadler Elmer & Hammer, 2001). The child starts to understand that singing is a socially shared activity guided by conventions. Growing self-control starts inhibiting spontaneous, playful and (pre-conventional) creative singing. Taste and preferences start to be

influenced by the social (sub-) group and contribute to building a personal and social identity.

Stage 7: Beginning reflection of actions, means, symbols, and concepts Previously implicit structural knowledge manifested in song singing and music making becomes subject to conscious reflection. Failure and success in musical activities cause thinking about how the means used yield certain outcomes. The reflection of actions and the growing awareness of biographical chances and cultural rules give way to post-conventional thinking and creative handling of symbolic means. Generalized affective patterns become recognized, and singing and music making are deliberately used as tools to create ways of feeling or manipulating intrapersonal and interpersonal moods and affective states. Cultural symbols are increasingly used in various ways to create and reproduce musics (e.g., songs) and to participate as a member of a socio-cultural group. The person begins to conceptualize and understand cultural domains – such as music, language, poetry, art, etc. – as a means for psychological distancing and as abbreviated and hyper-generalized affective semiotic fields (Branco & Valsiner, 2010; Valsiner, 2005) that form aesthetic experiences (Valsiner, 2008).

6. c o n c lu s i o n s Independent of the theoretical background applied to singing and its development, there are some inevitable axiomatic statements to take into account: r Human beings organize sounds and thereby construct and use signs to regulate both interpersonal and intrapersonal psychological processes. r Singing as the earliest and universal musical expression in development originates in affective states of playfulness and is of profound socio-cultural nature. r The study of the development of singing requires a general or even universalistic view. So far, the Western tonal system served as the main 13


standard to describe musical activities. The rich varieties of music cultures and multi-cultural environments inspire new ideas on development and new research strategies. Music making is rooted in repetitive and varied playing with sounds, all irrational, but structured and full of affective and symbolic meanings for the creators sharing these experiences. Research questions, therefore, must focus on how individuals participate in such cultural practices of music and meaning making processes; how they adopt and use conventions of their environment as cultural tools for regulating emotions; how they learn to structure and control their actions, thoughts and affective states; how singing and music making externalize mental and affective states; and how cultural traditions are transmitted and changed. The present research domain particularly needs agreement on terminologies to describe conventionalized and un-conventionalized singing, and reliable methods to analyse the structure of this expressive behaviour. Only detailed and reliable descriptions allow studying the strategies a person uses while organising the relevant parameters. It is not only through single and quantitative parameters that will help understand how children develop, but also needed is the analysis of a complex action and its organisation within a cultural setting including social guidance. A culturally sensitive micro-genetic method – as proposed by Stadler Elmer and Elmer (2000) – includes the social and cultural context, and analyzes singing at an acoustic level yielding a configuration of pitches, pitch qualities, syllables, and timing. The stable, unstable, and varied parts in subsequent events reveal the singer’s habitual and newly emergent strategies. Such methodology provides descriptions of singing events as complex organisations unfolding in time. These make it possible to gain access to the intentions and mental processes of the creator, and allow applications to other cultural music systems, and in bi-cultural and multicultural contexts. As a universal activity, singing and its development is a vast and interdisciplinary research area that is not yet well established. It concerns an irrational and playful human domain 14

of making sense with the most immediate and powerful bodily expression. At the intersection between biology (nature) and culture, there is still much to discover.

r efer ences Arom, S. (1991). African polyphony and polyrhythm: Musical structure and methodology. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Arom, S. (2000). Prolegomena to a biomusicology. In N. L. Wallin, B. Merker, & S. Brown (Eds.), The origins of music (pp. 27–29). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Baroni, M., Dalmonte, R., & Jacoboni, C. (1995). The concept of hierarchy: A theoretical approach. In E. Tarasti (Ed.), Musical signification. Essays in the semiotic theory and analysis of music (pp. 325–334). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Baumann, D. (1998). Können wir unseren Ohren trauen? Hörerfahrung und Messresultate müssen sich ergänzen [Can we trust our hearing? Hearing experience and acoustic measures need to be supplemented]. Schweizer Musikzeitung, 1, 1–9. Bergeson, T. R., & Trehub, S. (1999). Mothers’ singing to infants and preschool children. Infant Behavior & Development, 22, 51–64. Bernstein, L. (1976). The unanswered question. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Bertalanffy, L. von (1933). Modern theories of development: An introduction to theoretical biology. New York: Harper. Branco, A. U., & Valsiner, J. (2010). Towards cultural psychology of affective processes: Semiotic regulation of dynamic fields. Estudios de Psicología, 3, 243–251. Brown, S. (2000). The “musilanguage” model of music evolution. In N. L. Wallin, B. Merker, & S. Brown (Eds.), The origins of music (pp. 271–300). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Cassirer, E. (1948). An essay on man: An introduction to a philosophy of human culture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Davidson, L. (1985). Tonal structures of children’s early songs. Music Perception, 2, 361–374. Davidson, L. (1994). Songsinging by young and old: A developmental approach to music. In R. Aiello (Ed.), Musical Perceptions (pp. 99–130). New York: Oxford University Press. Davies, C. V. (1986). Say it till a song comes. British Journal of Music Education, 3, 279–293. Davies, C. V. (1992). Listen to my song: A study of songs invented by children aged 5 to 7 years. British Journal of Music Education, 9, 19–48.

Human Singing de l’Etoile, S. K. (2006). Infant behavioral responses to infant-directed singing and other maternal interactions. Infant Behavior & Development, 29, 456–470. Dissanayake, E. (2000). Antecedents of the temporal arts in early mother-infant interaction. In N. L. Wallin, B. Merker, & S. Brown (Eds.), The origins of music (pp. 389–410). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Dissanayake, E. (2008). If music is the food of love, what about survival and reproductive success? Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue, 169–195. Dowling, W. J. (1984). Development of musical schemata in children’s spontaneous singing. In W. R. Crozier & A. J. Chapman (Eds.), Cognitive processes in the perception of art (pp. 145–162). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers. Elmer, F. J. (1994). Musical Micro Analysis Tools: A suite of tools (written in Java™) for analyzing musical and pre-musical vocal productions in the research field of singing [Computer software]. Available at http:// mmatools.sourceforge.net/ Falk, S. (2009). Musik und Sprachprosodie: Kindgerichtetes Singen im frühen Spracherwerb. Language, context, and cognition: Vol. 9. Berlin: de Gruyter. Fernald, A., & Kuhl, P. (1987). Acoustic determinants of infant preference for motherese speech. Infant Behavior & Development, 10, 279–293. Fischer, A. (2009). Prosodic organization in the babbling of German-learning infants between the age of six and twelve months (Doctoral dissertation, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany). Fulin, A. (1974). Etude des intervalles et des céllules mélodiques dans l’émission vocale des enfants [A study on intervals and melodic motives in children’s vocalization]. Sciences de l’Art, 9(1-2), 99–113. Geissmann, T. (2000). Gibbon songs and human music from an evolutionary perspective. In N. L. Wallin, B. Merker, & S. Brown (Eds.), The origins of music (pp. 103–123). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Hargreaves, D. J. (1986). The developmental psychology of music. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Hetzer, H. (1995). Entwicklung des Spielens. In H. Hetzer, E. Todt, I. Seiffge-Krenke, & R. Arbinger (Eds.), Uni-Taschenbücher: Vol. 935. Angewandte Entwicklungspsychologie des Kindes- und Jugendalters (3rd ed., pp. 77–103). Heidelberg, Germany: Quelle & Meyer (orig. 1979). Huizinga, J. (1980). Homo ludens. A study of the play-element in culture. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul (orig. 1938). Imberty, M. (2000). The question of innate competencies in musical communication. In N. L. Wallin, B. Merker, & S. Brown (Eds.), The origins of music (pp. 449–462). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Jakobson, R. (1968). Child language, aphasia and phonological universals. The Hague: Mouton (orig. 1944). Joyner, D. R. (1969). The monotone problem. Journal of Research in Music Education, 17, 115–124. Jusczyk, P. W. (1997). The discovery of spoken language. Language, speech, and communication. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Kelley, L., & Sutton-Smith, B. (1987). A study of infant musical productivity. In J. C. Peery, I. Weiss Peery, & T. W. Draper (Eds.), Music and child development (pp. 35–53). New York: Springer. Kessen, W., Levine, J., & Wendrich, K. A. (1979). The imitation of pitch in infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 2, 93–99. Klusen, E. (1970). Melodische Fragen vorschulischer Musikerziehung unter dem besonderen Aspekt der musikalischen Völkerkunde [Questions on melody in pre-school music education from an ethnomusicological perspective]. In S. AbelStruth (Ed.), Musikalischer Beginn in Kindergarten und Vorschule [Musical beginning in Kindergarten and pre-school] (pp. 49–58). Kassel, Germany: Bärenreiter. Knepler, G. (1977). Geschichte als Weg zum Musikverständnis [History as pathway to understand music]. Leipzig, Germany: Reclam. Kube, G. (1958). Kind und Musik [Child and music]. München, Germany: Kösel. Langer, S. K. (1942). Philosophy in a new key. A study on the symbolism of reason, rite, and art. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Lecanuet, J.-P. (1996). Prenatal auditory experience. In I. Deliège & J. Sloboda (Eds.), Musical beginnings. Origins and development of musical competence (pp. 3–34). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lerdahl, F. (2001). Tonal pitch space. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lerdahl, F., & Jackendoff, R. S. (1983). A generative theory of tonal music. The MIT Press series on cognitive theory and mental representation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Longhi, E. (2009). “Songese”: Maternal structuring of musical interaction with infants. Psychology of Music, 37, 195–213. Luhmann, N. (1998). Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft [The society’s society]. Frankfurt, Germany: Suhrkamp. Mampe, B., Friederici, A. D., Christophe, A., & Wermke, K. (2009). Newborns’ cry melody is shaped by their native laguage. Current Biology, 19, 1994–1997. Masataka, N. (2003). The onset of language. Cambridge studies in cognitive and perceptual development. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Maturana, H., & Varela F. (1987). The tree of knowledge: The biological roots of human understanding. Boston, MA: New Science Library.

15

Stefanie Stadler Elmer McKernon, P. E. (1979). The development of first songs in young children. In D. Wolf (Ed.), New directions for child development (pp. 43–58). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc. McMullen, E., & Saffran, J. R. (2004). Music and language: A developmental comparison. Music Perception, 21, 289–311. Metzler, F. (1961). Zur musikalischen Entwicklung des Grundschulkindes [The musical development of the primary school child]. In E. Kraus (Ed.), Musik und Bildung in unserer Zeit (pp. 86–101). Mainz, Germany: Schott. Metzler, F. (1962). Strukturen kindlicher Melodik [Structures in children’s melodies]. Psychologische Beiträge, 7, 218–284. Meyer, L. B. (1956). Emotion and meaning in music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Mithen, S. J. (2005). The singing neanderthals: The origins of music, language, mind and body. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Molino, J. (2000). Toward an evolutionary theory of music and language. In N. L. Wallin, B. Merker, & S. Brown (Eds.), The origins of music (pp. 165–176). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Moog, H. (1968). Das Musikerleben des vorschulpflichtigen Kindes [The pre-school child’s musical experience]. Mainz, Germany: Schott. Moog, H. (1976). The development of musical experience in children of pre-school age. Psychology of Music, 4(2), 38–45. Nattiez, J. J. (1977). Under what conditions can one speak of the universals of music? The World of Music, 19, 92–105. Nestele, A. (1930). Die musikalische Produktion im Kindesalter. Leipzig, Germany: Barth. Nettl, B. (2000). An ethnomusicologist comtemplates universals in musical sound and musical culture. In N. L. Wallin, B. Merker, & S. Brown (Eds.), The origins of music (pp. 463–472). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Papoušek, H. (1996). Musicality in infancy research: Biological and cultural origins of early musicality. In I. Deliège & J. Sloboda (Eds.), Musical beginnings. Origins and development of musical competence (pp. 37–55). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Papoušek, H. (1997). Anfang und Bedeutung der menschlichen Musikalität [Origin and significance of human musicality]. In H. Keller (Ed.), Handbuch der Kleinkindforschung [Handbook of early child research] (pp. 565–585). Bern, Switzerland: Huber. Papoušek, H. (2001). Signalling in early social interaction and communication. In A. F. Kalverboer (Ed.), Handbook of brain and behaviour in human development (pp. 883–900). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

16

Papoušek, H., & Papoušek, M. (1987). Intuitive parenting: A dialectic counterpart to the infant’s integrative competence. In J. D. Osofsky (Ed.), Handbook of infant development (2nd ed., pp. 669–720). New York: Wiley. Papoušek, M. (1994). Vom ersten Schrei zum ersten Wort. Vorsprachliche Kommunikation zwischen Mutter und Kind als Schrittmacher der Sprachentwicklung [From the frist cry to the first word. Preverbal communication between mother and child as pacemaker of language development]. Bern, Switzerland: Huber. Papoušek, M. (1996). Intuitive parenting: a hidden source of musical stimulation in infancy. In I. Deliège & J. Sloboda (Eds.), Musical beginnings. Origins and development of musical competence (pp. 88–112). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Papoušek, M., & Papoušek, H. (1981). Musical elements in the infant’s vocalization: Their significance for communication, cognition, and creativity. Advances in Infancy Research, 1, 163–224. Papoušek, M., & Papoušek, H. (1989). Forms and functions of vocal matching in precanonical mother-infant interactions. First Language, 9, 137–158. Patel, A. D. (2008). Music, language, and the brain. New York: Oxford University Press. Piaget, J. (1974). Biology and knowledge. An essay on the relations between organic regulations and cognitive processes. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Ries, N. L. (1987). An analysis of the characteristics of infant-child singing expressions: Replication report. Canadian Journal of Research in Music Education, 29, 5–20. Roederer, J. G. (1973). Introduction to the physics and psychophysics of music. Heidelberg, Germany: Science Library. Rousseau, J.-J. (1781). Essai sur l’origine des langues, où il est parlé de la mélodie, et de l’imitation musicale. Retrieved from http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/ Rousseau_jj/essai_origine_des_langues/essai_ origine_langues.html Rutkowsky, J. (1997). The nature of children’s singing voices: Characteristics and assessment. In B. A. Roberts (Ed.), The Phenomenon of Singing (pp. 201–209). St. John’s, NF: Memorial University Press. Saner, H. (1993). Macht und Ohnmacht der Symbole [Power and inefficiency of symbols]. Basel, Switzerland: Lenos. Schünemann, G. (1929). Singen und Sprechen in den ersten Lebensjahren [Singing and speaking during the first years of life]. Musikpflege im Kindergarten, (Leipzig), 8–18. Schünemann, G. (1930). Musikerziehung [Music education]. Leipzig, Germany: Kistener & Siegel.

Human Singing Schwan, W. (1955). Zur Entwicklung der „Musikalität“ im vorschulpflichtigen Alter [The development of “musicality” in pre-school age]. Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Martin-Luther-Universität HalleWittenberg, 4(2), 265–274. Seashore, C. E. (1938). Psychology of music. New York: McGraw-Hill. Siegel, J. A., & Siegel W. (1977). Categorical perception of tonal intervals: Musicians can’t tell sharp from flat. Perception & Psychophysics, 21, 399–407. Stadler Elmer, S. (1996). Die Entwicklung des Singens: Eine kritische Diskussion der Beschreibungs- und Erklärungsansätze [Development of singing: A review on methods and theories]. Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 28(3), 189–209. Stadler Elmer, S. (1998). A Piagetian perspective on singing development. Jahrbuch der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Musikpsychologie, 13, 108-125. Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe. Stadler Elmer, S. (2000). Spiel und Nachahmung Über die Entwicklung der elementaren musikalischen Aktivitäten [Play and imitation – The development of elementary musical activities]. Aarau, Switzerland: HSB Nepomuk. Stadler Elmer, S. (2002). Kinder singen Lieder – Über den Prozess der Kultivierung des vokalen Ausdrucks [Children’s song singing – The process of cultivating vocal expression]. Münster, Germany: Waxmann. Stadler Elmer, S. (2003, August). Preverbal and premusical communication - pathways into music and language. Paper presented at the European Conference on Developmental Psychology, Milano, Italy. Stadler Elmer, S. (2004). „Wo man singt, da lass dich ruhig nieder …“ Erziehung und Verführung durch Lieder [Title of a German song – Education and seduction by songs]. In K. Schärer (Ed.), Königswege, Labyrinthe, Sackgassen. Über Formen und Methoden des Denkens, Handelns und Gestaltens [Royal routes, labyrinths, impasses. Forms and methods of thinking, acting, and creating] (pp. 215–233). Zürich, Switzerland: Chronos. Stadler Elmer, S. (2006). Vocal creativity: How to analyse children’s song making processes and its developmental qualities. In M. Baroni et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, 22-26 August 2006 (pp. 1732–1739). Bologna, Italy: ICMPC. Stadler Elmer, S. (2012). Structural aspects of early song singing. In A. Baldassare (Ed.), Music – Space – Chord – Image. Festschrift for Dorothea Baumann‘s 65th birthday (pp. 765-782). Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang Verlag.

Stadler Elmer, S., & Elmer, F.-J. (2000). A new method for analyzing and representing singing. Psychology of Music, 28, 23-42. Stadler Elmer, S., & Engelberger, L. (2008). Growing up in a bi-cultural context: Organizing language and music. Proceedings of the 2nd European conference on the Developmental Psychology of Music (ECDPM). London, Sept. 10-12. Stadler Elmer, S., & Hammer, S. (2001). Sprachmelodische Erfindungen einer 9-jährigen. [Song inventions by a 9-year-old]. Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 33(3), 138-156. Stern, D. N. (1995). The motherhood constellation: A unified view of parent-infant psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books. Tafuri, J. (2008). Infant musicality: New research for educators and parents. SEMPRE studies in the psychology of music. Farnham, Surrey, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate. Tomasello, M. (2008). Origins of human communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Trevarthen, C. (1999-2000). Musicality and the intrinsic motive pulse: Evidence from human psychobiology and infant communication. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue, 155–215. Trevarthen, C. (2008). The musical art of infant conversation: Narrating in the time of sympathetic experience, without rational interpretation, before words. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue, 15–46. Valsiner, J. (2003). Culture and human development: An introduction (Reprinted). London: Sage. Valsiner, J. (2005). Affektive Entwicklung im kulturellen Kontext. [Affective development in cultural context] In J. B. Asendorpf (Ed.), Enzyklopädie der Psychologie, Entwicklungspsychologie, Soziale, emotionale und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung [Encyclopedia of psychology, developmental psychology, social, emotional, and personality development] (pp. 677–728). Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe. Valsiner, J. (2008). Ornamented worlds and textures of feeling: The power of abundance. Critical Social Studies, 1, 67–78. Vaneechoutte, M., & Skoyles, J. R. (1998). The memetic origin of language: Modern humans as musical primates. Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 2, 84-117. Retrieved from http://cfpm.org/jom-emit/1998/vol2/index.html Vihman, M. M. (1996). Phonological development: The origins of language in the child. Applied language studies. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Vurma, A., & Ross, J. (2006). Production and perception of musical intervals. Music Perception, 23, 331–344. Vygotsky, L. S. (1971). Psychology of Art. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (russ. orig. 1925).

17

Stefanie Stadler Elmer Walker, E. (1927). Das musikalische Erlebnis und seine Entwicklung [Musical experience and its development]. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. Welch, G. F. (1979). Poor pitch singing: A review of the literature. Psychology of Music, 7(1), 50–58. Welch, G. F. (1986). A developmental view of children’s singing. British Journal of Music Education, 3, 295–303. Welch, G. F. (1998). Early childhood musical development. Research Studies in Music Education, 11, 27–41. Welch, G. F. (2006). Singing and vocal development. In G. E. McPherson (Ed.), The child as musician (pp. 311–329). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Welch, G. F., Sergeant, D. C., & White, P. J. (1998). The role of linguistic dominance in the acquisition of song. Research Studies in Music Education, 10, 67–73. Wermke, K., & Mende, W. (2009). Musical elements in human infants’ cries: In the beginning is the melody. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue, 151–153. Werner, H. (1917). Die melodische Erfindung im frühen Kindesalter [Melodic invention in early childhood]. Wien, Germany: Bericht der Kaiserlichen Akademie, 182. Yeni-Komshian, G. H., Kavanagh, J. F., & Ferguson, C. A. (Eds.). (1980). Child phonology, Vol. 1: Production. New York: Academic Press.

biogr aphy Stefanie Stadler Elmer is Lecturer of Psychology at the University of Zurich (UZH) and Head of Music Research at the Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences, Zurich, Switzerland. She received her PhD from the University of Bern Stefanie Stadler Elmer and her Habilitation from the University of Zurich. Important book publications are: Spiel und Nachahmung (Play and Imitation, 2000); Kinder

18

singen Lieder (Children Sing Songs, 2002). Her main interests in research and teaching concern the development of music and language, song singing, and methods to foster early development in these domains. She is involved in several research projects at national and international levels, e.g., as a collaborator in AIRS (Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing), supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and UMSIC (Usability of Music for the Social Inclusion of Children), an interdisciplinary project funded by the EU.