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The effect of ‘sad’ and ‘happy’ background music on the interpretation of a story in 5 to 6-year-old children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2006

Naomi Ziv  and
Maya Goshen
Naomi Ziv
Affiliation:
Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yizre'el, 4 Frug Street, Ramat-Gan, 52482, Israelnaomiziv@013.net
Maya Goshen
Affiliation:
Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yizre'el, 4 Frug Street, Ramat-Gan, 52482, Israelnaomiziv@013.net
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Abstract

Children hear music in the background of a large variety of situations and activities. Throughout development, they acquire knowledge both about the syntactical norms of tonal music, and about the relationship between musical form and emotion. Five to six-year-old children heard a story, with a background ‘happy’, ‘sad’ or no melody. Results show that background music affected children's interpretation of the story: ‘happy’ background music led to positive interpretations, whereas ‘sad’ background music led to more negative interpretations of the story. The effect of ‘happy’ music was stronger than that of ‘sad’ music. Implications for education are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , November 2006 , pp. 303 - 314
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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