Familiar Songs and Spacial Abilities

Reprinted with permission from "The Parent's Guide: Getting the Most; Out Of Your Child's Band or Orchestral Experience" published by The; Selmer Company.
: Singing Familiar Songs is Found to
Use Spatial Abilities; Singing appears to be much more than just a fun thing to do; it; seemingly uses a person's spatial intelligence. Researchers in the United; States and New Zealand report in [a 1997] issue [vol. 24, No. 2] of the; English scientific journal "The Psychology of Music" that the simple act; of singing changes the way the brain "thinks" about music. These; findings come on the heels of recent reports showing that piano playing; increases the spatial ability of children. Now it seems that singing uses; the same mental skills.; Spatial intelligence is that aspect of our intelligence that allows; us to make judgments about the three-dimensional world in which we; live. A football player catching a pass relies on spatial intelligence to; judge the trajectory of the ball. An architect uses it to visualize what a; building will look like when it is completed. We all use it every time we; drive a car and have to judge the distance to the car in front of us.; Advanced math courses require good spatial intelligence.; The report tells of a fairly complex experiment that was conducted; to determine how the human brain thinks about music while singing.; The experiment counted on the brain's natural desire to group things; together. For example, if a person goes to the grocery store but forgets; his or her list, he or she will to try to remember what was on the list. The; most common way would be to remember the items according to some; logical groups; say dairy products, meat products, and cleaning products.; Another way would be to remember by menu; if they were having hot; dogs for lunch they would remember hot dogs, buns, baked beans,; mustard and ketchup and then go on to the next meal that is planned.; If you watched this person in the grocery store you could tell how; they had things grouped in their head by the paths they took around the; store. This same logic was used with the singing experiment.; Drs. Robert Cutietta from the University of Arizona and Gregory; Booth from the University of Auckland taught college students to sing; many melodies by hearing and singing them over and over for five; weeks. The melodies were deliberately written to be very similar to each; another. It soon became obvious that the students were grouping the; songs in order to remember them. [However, the students] grouped them; according to a very abstract aspect of music - the shape of the melody -; even though there were many other more obvious ways they could have; been grouped. Melodies with similar patterns of notes going up and; down were grouped together by the students. This happened even though; they had never seen the music for the songs and did not know they were; supposed to group them.; Thus, the students were converting the sounds into an image in their; heads. This image was actually a picture of what the melody would look; like if it were somehow projected on a piece of paper. Interestingly,; trained musicians and non-musicians did it exactly the same way; showing that it is probably a basic way the brain works, not something; that is learned.; These findings help answer a fundamental question about music.; Researchers have long wondered why a person can recognize a song; when it is played in different keys. For example, if "Happy Birthday" is; played in two different keys, the two versions could have no actual notes; in common. Yet almost everyone, regardless of musical training, will; recognize it as the same song. It has long been suspected that the brain; remembers music by the "shape". This research supports that idea.; These findings also add support to music programs for children in; elementary school. Music classes, filled with singing, are often; considered fluff by many school administrators. Now it seems this fun; activity is actually developing a child's spatial ability: an ability; important in everything from driving a car to advanced math.; Reference: Robert Cutietta & Gregory Booth. The Influence of; Metre, Mode, Interval Type, and Contour in Repeated Melodic Free-Recall. The; Psychology of Music, vol. 24, No 2. Pages: 222-236.; Source: http://faculty.washington.edu/demorest/News13-1.html