Does the message matter? The effect of song type on infants’ pitch preferences for lullabies and playsongs

Tsang, Christine D.; Conrad, Nicole J.

doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2009.11.006

Cited by 30 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…When one could not be identified, we used "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"* as the default lullaby. The multiple studies in NICU music therapy suggesting "therapeutic lullabies" or a defined applied pitch range "higher" or "lower" for singing seem random, 46 and investigations of the most scientific literature implies by methodologic design that the sounds and music be neither high nor low voices but rather *"Twinkle" is a melody that is well known to parents of all cultures in the United States and is the basis for familiar infant folk themes such as "A,B,C" and "Ba Ba Black Sheep." It is based on a perfect 5th and has a small melodic range and repetitive patterns, with a simplified structure easily sung by "nonmusician" adults.…”

Section: Patientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Music Therapy on Vital Signs, Feeding, and Sleep in Premature Infants

Loewy¹,

Stewart²,

Dassler³

et al. 2013

Pediatrics

342

347

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Recorded music, parent voices, and sung lullabies have been shown to increase oxygen saturation, nonnutritive sucking, and weight gain in premature infants.WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: Parent-preferred melodies and entrained live rhythm and breath sounds can enhance quiet alert and sleep states, suck response, and oxygen saturation in premature infants and significantly reduce fear and anxiety perception in parents. abstract OBJECTIVES: Recorded music risks overstimulation in NICUs. The live elements of music such as rhythm, breath, and parent-preferred lullabies may affect physiologic function (eg, heart and respiratory rates, O 2 saturation levels, and activity levels) and developmental function (eg, sleep, feeding behavior, and weight gain) in premature infants. METHODS:A randomized clinical multisite trial of 272 premature infants aged $32 weeks with respiratory distress syndrome, clinical sepsis, and/or SGA (small for gestational age) served as their own controls in 11 NICUs. Infants received 3 interventions per week within a 2-week period, when data of physiologic and developmental domains were collected before, during, and after the interventions or no interventions and daily during a 2-week period.RESULTS: Three live music interventions showed changes in heart rate interactive with time. Lower heart rates occurred during the lullaby (P , .001) and rhythm intervention (P = .04). Sucking behavior showed differences with rhythm sound interventions (P = .03). Entrained breath sounds rendered lower heart rates after the intervention (P = .04) and differences in sleep patterns (P , .001). Caloric intake (P = .01) and sucking behavior (P = .02) were higher with parent-preferred lullabies. Music decreased parental stress perception (P , .001). CONCLUSIONS:The informed, intentional therapeutic use of live sound and parent-preferred lullabies applied by a certified music therapist can influence cardiac and respiratory function. Entrained with a premature infant' s observed vital signs, sound and lullaby may improve feeding behaviors and sucking patterns and may increase prolonged periods of quiet-alert states. Parent-preferred lullabies, sung live, can enhance bonding, thus decreasing the stress parents associate with premature infant care.

show abstract

Section: Patientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Music Therapy on Vital Signs, Feeding, and Sleep in Premature Infants

Loewy¹,

Stewart²,

Dassler³

et al. 2013

Pediatrics

342

347

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although young infants do not show a consistent preference for emotionally concordant music-face displays (Nawrot, 2003), Flom and colleagues have demonstrated that infants at 5 months could reliably discriminate happy and sad musical excerpts (Flom, Gentile & Pick, 2008;Flom & Pick, 2012). It has also been shown that 6-to 7-month-olds prefer high-pitched playsongs with a fast tempo and a low-pitched version of lullabies (Conrad, Walsh, Allen & Tsang, 2011;Tsang & Conrad, 2010;Volkova, Trehub & Schellenberg, 2006). This context-dependent preference for pitch and tempo indicates infants' sensitivity to some of the contrastive cues used in music to communicate emotions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional experience in music fosters 18‐month‐olds' emotion–action understanding: a training study

Siu

Cheung

2015

Developmental Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We examine whether emotional experiences induced via music-making promote infants' use of emotional cues to predict others' action. Fifteen-month-olds were randomly assigned to participate in interactive emotion training either with or without musical engagement for three months. Both groups were then re-tested with two violation-of-expectation paradigms respectively assessing their sensitivity to some expressive features in music and understanding of the link between emotion and behaviour in simple action sequences. The infants who had participated in music, but not those who had not, were surprised by music-face inconsistent displays and were able to interpret an agent's action as guided by her expressed emotion. The findings suggest a privileged role of musical experience in prompting infants to form emotional representations, which support their understanding of the association between affective states and action.

show abstract

“…In tests of 6 and 7 month old infants using head turning as a measure of preference it was demonstrated that unfamiliar lullabies were preferred when sung at a lower pitch and unfamiliar playsongs were preferred when sung at a higher pitch (Tsang and Conrad 2010). Previous research showed infants preferred lower pitched renditions of unfamiliar lullabies (Volkova et al 2006).…”

Section: Edwards 2011mentioning

confidence: 94%

Music Therapy and Parent–Infant Bonding

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Does the message matter? The effect of song type on infants’ pitch preferences for lullabies and playsongs

Cited by 30 publications

References 17 publications

The Effects of Music Therapy on Vital Signs, Feeding, and Sleep in Premature Infants

The Effects of Music Therapy on Vital Signs, Feeding, and Sleep in Premature Infants

Emotional experience in music fosters 18‐month‐olds' emotion–action understanding: a training study

Music Therapy and Parent–Infant Bonding

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About