What makes a child musical? conceptions of musical ability in childhood

Figures & data

Table 1. Items of the Musical Child Questionnaire.

	MCQ Item			Component Loading
	A child between 3 and 6 years who is musically skilled …	M	SD	1	2	3	4
Component 1: Musical Communication (Cronbach's α = .94)
48	… can express him-/herself through sound.	3.22	1.01	.76
28	… can express emotions that a listener understands when singing or making music.	3.25	.98	.74
33	… brings several skills together: He/she has musical ideas and tries to implement them.	3.27	.93	.71
26	… perceives the basic mood or feelings conveyed by the music that he/she is listening to.	3.37	.94	.67
11	… is able to react to the mood of a melody.	3.55	.91	.66
44	… would rather express themselves through music than through other means.	2.79	.98	.65
49	… can listen carefully and react appropriately to music.	3.23	.91	.61
34	… is able to produce or reproduce music.	3.35	.98	.61
37	… listens while making music to see if it sounds as intended.	3.13	.98	.59
17	… appreciates different kinds of music.	3.31	.96	.57
40	… is motivated to make music, so that he/she becomes more and more skilled.	3.45	.92	.56
27	… can communicate with others through music by producing musical sounds, listening, improvising, dancing, and understanding music.	3.46	.92	.55
30	… can invent melodies or rhythms, either with his/her voice or a simple instrument.	3.51	.95	.52
16	… has an open mind with which he/she approaches and experiences all music.	3.58	.89	.51	.30
47	… can immerse him-/herself in sounds.	3.36	.97	.51
25	… plays music with feeling.	3.67	.90	.50	.34
10	… actively incorporates music into his/her world.	3.62	.89	.45	.38
8	… shows that he/she can capture patterns when dancing or making music.	3.53	.88	.43
13	… is able to react creatively, emotionally and intellectually when listening to a piece of music.	3.46	.93	.39
5	… has a good memory for patterns	3.35	.87	.38
12	… is able to move in synchrony with the music	3.61	.87	.38
Component 2: Enthusiasm and Motivation (Cronbach's α = .87)
43	… enjoys the occupation with music.	4.07	.79		.80
41	… has great enthusiasm for music.	4.06	.80		.75
38	… is interested in music.	4.01	.82		.70
14	… enjoys music in his/her life, either by making music or by listening to it.	4.04	.82		.67
15	… enjoys music and appreciates sounds.	3.93	.82		.58
39	… often has the desire to make music.	3.66	.88	.32	.56
45	… has a great affinity for music.	3.80	.86		.55		.38
29	… is motivated to make music together with others, so that they become a group - be it by singing, playing instruments together, or moving to the music of others.	3.69	.94		.50
32	… is creative when making music.	3.72	.87		.50
31	… likes to spontaneously produce music or musical sounds.	3.87	.81	.35	.48
46	A child is musical when music means something to him/her.	3.31	1.08		.33
Component 3: Analytical Understanding (Cronbach's α = .85)
21	… applies criteria to evaluate music.	3.49	1.19			.89
9	… can follow the structure of the music he/she listens to, and talk about it.	3.34	1.02			.77
19	… is aware of different aspects of music, so you can talk to him/her about it.	3.19	.98			.64
22	… is able to hear, compare and distinguish different types of music.	3.23	.98			.53
20	… likes listening to music and can describe it with words and gestures.	3.55	.91			.49
2	… can reproduce melodies well.	3.75	.90			.46	.41
18	… recognizes different types of music (e.g. children's songs, pop, classical music).	3.19	1.06			.38
42	… has a will of his/her own when making and enjoying music.	3.72	.90		.31	.35
36	… has a wide range of different skills.	3.44	.95		(.24)
Component 4: Musical Abilities (Cronbach's α = .85)
6	… has a good sense of timing and rhythm.	3.50	.90				.77
7	… has a feeling for the beat.	3.50	.92				.70
1	… has a musical ear, i.e. he/she recognizes melodies and tone progressions.	3.67	.90				.69
35	… is able to combine hearing and sound production.	3.70	.85				.44
4	… has good hearing ability, e.g. for melodies and rhythms.	3.65	.86				.42
23	… can sing a simple melody or rhythm or play it with an instrument.	3.62	.90				.40
24	… has good overall physical coordination.	3.26	.89				.34
3	… is able to internalize sound, pitch and rhythm.	3.59	.89				.34

Note. M = Mean. SD = Standard Deviation. The ten items with highest mean values are displayed in bold. Only component loadings above .3 are shown, one item did not have any loadings above .3, therefore the highest loading which occurred is shown in brackets.

Figure 1. Comparison of Category Means for child and adult musicality. Ratings for children in black, ratings for adults (from Hallam, 2010) in tan. All p-values are results of two-tailed t-tests. *** p < .001. ns = not significant.

Table 2. Fit indices of computed models.

	BIC	TLI	CFI	RMSEA	SRMR
6-component PCA	99212.03	.850	.858	.056	.057
3-component PCA	99931.18	.815	.823	.062	.057
4-component PCA	97207.80	.839	.847	.059	.059

Note. BIC = Bayesian Information Criterion. TLI = robust Tucker-Lewis Index. CFI = robust comparative fit index. RMSEA = robust root mean square error of approximation. SRMR = standardized root square residual.

Table 3. Mean ratings grouped by components.

	Means	SD	n	Explained variance
Musical Communication	3.38	.64	922	20%
Enthusiasm and Motivation	3.86	.58	922	12%
Analytical Understanding	3.43	.70	922	9%
Musical Abilities	3.55	.62	922	9%

Note. SD = Standard Deviation. n = number of participants.

Table 4. Items of the short scale of the Musical Child Questionnaire with component loadings.

MCQ Item		Component Loading
	A child between 3 and 6 years who is musically skilled …	1	2	3	4
Component 1: Musical Communication (Cronbach's α = .85)
48	… can express him-/herself through sound.	.86	.03	-.04	.03
28	… can express emotions that a listener understands when singing or making music.	.85	.03	.04	-.05
33	… brings several skills together: He/she has musical ideas and tries to implement them.	.77	.11	.01	.07
49	… can listen carefully and react appropriately to music.	.66	-.04	.11	.21
Component 2: Enthusiasm and Motivation (Cronbach's α = .82)
43	… enjoys the occupation with music.	.04	.90	-.04	-.05
38	… is interested in music.	.12	.85	.03	-.11
41	… has great enthusiasm for music.	.00	.81	.02	.09
14	… enjoys music in his/her life, either by making music or by listening to it.	-.16	.67	.08	.30
Component 3: Analytical Understanding (Cronbach's α = .81)
21	… applies criteria to evaluate music.	-.12	.05	.95	-.07
9	… can follow the structure of the music he/she listens to, and talk about it.	.08	-.04	.83	.07
19	… is aware of different aspects of music, so you can talk to him/her about it.	.19	.02	.63	.15
22	… is able to hear, compare and distinguish different types of music.	.38	.00	.54	.01
Component 4: Musical Abilities (Cronbach's α = .80)
6	… has a good sense of timing and rhythm.	.03	-.02	-.03	.90
7	… has a feeling for the beat.	.14	.00	-.04	.80
1	… has a musical ear, i.e. he/she recognizes melodies and tone progressions.	-.05	.09	.13	.77

Figure 2. Mean component scores by professional groups. Error bars: standard error of the mean.

Hallam, S. (2010). 21St century conceptions of musical ability. Psychology of Music, 38(3), 308–330. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735609351922

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