Infants' attention to synthesised baby music and original acoustic music

Abstract

The distinct music genre known as baby music is based on the premise that infants benefit from music ‘re-orchestrated for their little ears’ (‘Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes’. (2012). Retrieved December 11, 2012, from http://www.babyeinstein.com/en/products/product_explorer/theme/music/62350/Takealong_Tunes.html). We completed a study with 12- and 13-month-olds (n = 24) to explore infants' preferential attention to music engineered specifically for them and the original acoustic music upon which the baby versions were created. The results of an infant-controlled preference procedure showed that infants were equally attentive to both types of music. However, infants who listened to relatives playing instruments at home (n = 10) attended longer to the baby music version than to the original acoustic version, whereas the opposite was true for infants who did not have such opportunity. The results of the study raise questions regarding the need to re-orchestrate music intended for babies and alter the original instrumentations as set by the composers.

Keywords:

• infant
• timbre perception
• musical development
• early childhood listening

Notes on contributors

Carla H. Merkow is a master's degree candidate in music and human learning at The University of Texas at Austin. Her primary research area is the musical development of infants and young children. Prior to her graduate studies, she was a programme coordinator and instructor at MacPhail Center for Music, a non-profit community music school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is currently on the faculty of The University of Texas String Project. Carla holds a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Eugenia Costa-Giomi is a professor of music and human learning at The University of Texas at Austin. She has taught music to children in schools in Argentina, Mexico, the USA, and Canada. Her research focuses on children's musical development, and music cognition and perception. She has been a member of the editorial boards of research journals (Journal of Research in Music Education, Psychology of Music, Empirical Musicology Review, Musicae Scientia, College Music Society, Cuadernos de Investigación Educativo-Musical, Epistemus, and Enseñar Música) and the Chair of the Society for Research in Music Education (NAfME), the organiser of the 4th International Conference in Music Perception and Cognition and of the 12th International Symposium in Music Research and Behavior. She has four children who make and listen to music.