ERIC Number: EJ1367099
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Jul
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: EISSN-1939-0599
Tiny Dancers: Effects of Musical Familiarity and Tempo on Children's Free Dancing
Developmental Psychology, v58 n7 p1277-1285 Jul 2022
Around the world, musical engagement frequently involves movement. Most adults easily clap or sway to a wide range of tempos, even without formal musical training. The link between movement and music emerges early--young infants move more rhythmically to music than speech, but do not reliably align their movements to the beat. Laboratory work encouraging specific motor patterns (e.g., drumming, tapping) demonstrates that toddlers and young children's movements are affected by music in a rudimentary way, such that they move faster to faster rhythms (tempo flexibility). In the present study, we developed and implemented a novel home recording method to investigate how musical familiarity and tempo affect children's naturalistic free-dance movements. Caregivers made home recordings of their children's responses to an experimenter-created playlist (N = 83, age range = 1.25 to 3.91 years, M[subscript age] = 2.39 years, SD = 0.74 years; 41 girls, 42 boys; 75% of household incomes > $90 000 CAD). Children listened to 1-min excerpts of their favorite music and unfamiliar, genre-matched music, each played at 90, 120, and 150 bpm (pitch constant; order randomized). Children moved faster to faster music and demonstrated tempo flexibility for both favorite and unfamiliar music. Favorite music encouraged more smiling across tempo conditions than unfamiliar music, as well as more dancing in the slowest tempo condition. Results demonstrate that young children's self-selected movements are affected by musical tempo and familiarity. We also demonstrate the usefulness of a naturalistic home recording method for assessing early auditory-motor integration.
Descriptors: Music Activities, Familiarity, Motion, Dance, Preschool Children, Toddlers, Foreign Countries, Novelty (Stimulus Dimension), Psychological Patterns
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada; United Kingdom; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A