No abstract

Music as an effective self-regulative tool for emotions and behavioural adaptation for adolescents might enhance emotion-related skills when applied as a therapeutic school intervention. This study investigated Rap & Sing Music Therapy in a school-based programme, to support self-regulative abilities for well-being. One-hundred-and-ninety adolescents in grade 8 of a public school in the Netherlands were randomly assigned to an experimental group involving Rap & Sing Music Therapy or a control group. Both interventions were applied to six classes once a week during four months. Measurements at baseline and again after four months provided outcome data of adolescents’ psychological well-being, self-description, self-esteem and emotion regulation. Significant differences between groups on the SDQ teacher test indicated a stabilized Rap & Sing Music Therapy group, as opposed to increased problems in the control group (p = .001; ηp2 = .132). Total problem scores of all tests indicated significant improvements in the Rap & Sing Music Therapy group. The RCT results imply overall benefits of Rap & Sing Music Therapy in a school setting. There were improved effects on all measures – as they are in line with school interventions of motivational engagement in behavioural, emotional and social themes – a promising result.

By common assumption, the first step in processing a tonal melody consists in setting up the appropriate metrical and harmonic frames required for the mental representation of the sequence of tones. Focusing on the generation of a harmonic frame, this study aims (a) to discover the factors that facilitate or interfere with the development of a harmonic interpretation, and (b) to test the hypothesis that goodness ratings of tone sequences largely depend on whether the listener succeeds in creating a suitable harmonic interpretation. In two experiments, listeners rated the melodic goodness of selected sequences of 10 and 13 tones and indicated which individual tones seemed not to fit. Results indicate that goodness ratings (a) are higher the more common the induced harmonic progression, (b) are strongly affected by the occurrence and position of nonchord tones: sequences without nonchord tones were rated highest, sequences with anchoring nonchord tones intermediately, and nonanchoring nonchord tones lowest. The explanation offered is compared with predictions derived from other theories, which leads to the conclusion that when a tone sequence is perceived as a melody, it is represented in terms of its underlying harmony, in which exact pitch-height characteristics play a minor role.

To gain a better understanding of the processes by which human listeners construct musical percepts within the Western tonal system, we conducted two experiments in which the perception of brief tone series was studied. The tone series consisted of (fragments from) different orderings of the collection C 4 E 4 F 4 G 4 B 4 and were preceded by two chords to induce a key. Two different tasks were used: (1) rating the melodic "goodness" of the tone series and (2) playing a few tones that complete the tone series. In Experiment 1, tone series of different lengths were presented in blocks. In Experiments 2a and 2b, increasing fragments of tone series were presented to examine the development of musical percepts. The majority of the data can be explained by two perceptual mechanisms: chord recognition and anchoring. Chord recognition is the mechanism that describes a series of tones in terms of a chord, a mental unit stored in long-term memory. Anchoring is the mechanism by which a tone is linked to a tone occurring later in the series. The paradigm appears to be a powerful tool for tracing perceptual mechanisms at work in the on-line processing of music.

The growing risk of the development of problem behaviors in adolescents (ages 10–15) requires effective methods for prevention, supporting self-regulative capacities. Music listening as an effective self-regulative tool for emotions and behavioral adaptation for adolescents and youth is widely studied. However, music therapy enhancing the development of emotion regulation skills in schools is rare. The application of rap in clinical cases of music therapy appears to have a beneficial regulative effect on this population. The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of RapMusicTherapy (RMT) in a non-clinical, school-based program to support self-regulative abilities for well-being and to reduce the risk of low grades attributable to troubled mental health at an early stage. All adolescents in Grade 8 of a public school will be invited to participate, and randomly assigned, either to RMT or to regular classes. RMT will be applied once a week during 4 months. After obtaining written informed consent by parents, measurements will take place at baseline (start of study), after 4 months (end of RMT) and again after 4 months without RMT (follow-up). Primary outcome data include measures of psychological well-being, emotion regulation, self-esteem, self-description, language development, executive functioning and the rest–activity rhythm. Secondary outcome data consist of subjective experiences of participants, collected in follow-up interviews with experimental group respondents. RMT is developed for application in school-based settings. This is the first study to focus on RMT as an intervention for emotion regulation in order to evaluate the effects of rap on the self-regulative capacities of adolescents, in support of their well-being. This study protocol aims to outline the method and procedures involved, and to increase attention and awareness of the potential for collaborations involving music, therapy and education for future investigations.