The Cognition of Grouping Structure in Real-time Listening of Music. A GTTM-based Empirical Research on 6 and 8-year-old Children

The aims of the present study are: a) to investigate how children of average ages 6 and 8 segment a musical piece during real-time listening, b) to compare children’s indicated segment boundaries with boundaries obtained by the segmentation of the piece by adults (musicians and nonmusicians), and c) to compare the adults’ and children’s segmentation profiles to the structural boundaries predicted in a previous study by a full analysis of the piece according to the principles of GTTM. 70 children participated in the empirical study, of average age 6 and 8 (n =35 individuals for each Grade), as well as 50 adults (25 musicians and 25 nonmusicians). The performed boundaries were placed into two categories, depending on whether or not they were predicted by the analysis of the piece using the Generative Theory of Tonal Music (GTTM). Participants indicated a maximum of 38 segment boundaries. 16 corresponded to the boundaries predicted by the analysis of the piece with the use of GTTM, and 22 were not. The deviations in the range of values obtained from the 38 segment boundaries are also justified by the theory's principle of hierarchy, by the GS and TSR preference rules, and by the idiomatic features of the selected piece. The results suggest that even by the age of 6, children can perceive the grouping structure of a piece in accordance to the general laws expressed by the GTTM and by the age of 8 year-old children are almost perfect ‘experienced listeners’ of their musical culture, in accordance to the