Developmental changes in the identification of mood in music

Abstract

The aim of this research was to compare the identification of mood in music by children (aged from 3--14 years) and adults. Previous research on adult subjects suggested that key and tempo were critical in conveying happy and sad moods: a major key and fast tempo conveyed happiness, a minor key and slow tempo sadness. In this research an attempt was made to compare the relative importance of key and tempo in establishing the musical mood. Eight pieces of music were selected for use in the experiments in four of these key and tempo were complementary, (i.e. two in a major key at a fast tempo, and two in a minor key at a slow tempo) and in the other four pieces of music, key and tempo were opposed. The 154 subjects under 12 years of age were tested individually and heard four pieces of music each. The 108 older children and adults were tested in groups and heard all eight pieces of music. Each subject was required to indicate whether each piece of music was happy or sad.

The results of this research showed that the majority of subjects in all the age groups tested, from the three year olds to the adults, agreed in their identification of the moods of the music played to them. Music written in a major key at a fast tempo was judged to be happy, and music written in a minor key at a slow tempo was judged to be sad. Of the two variables, key and tempo, the tempo of the music was found to have a greater effect in setting the mood for all the age groups. In the children between 7 and 13 years of age, the greater effectiveness of tempo was seen to be at its maximum.