Submitted by:

MARY THERESE A. DISINI-PITOGO

THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSIC

Edited by: David J. Hargreaves and Adrian C. North

A book report submitted to: Prof. Leticia G. del Valle in partial fulfillment for the requirements in ME 210

Social psychology emphasizes the interaction between the social world

and the human being, and so the social psychologists view of music education

is likely to focus on the influence that teachers and learners have upon each

others behavior and attitudes. A number of social psychological factors affect

what teachers are able to accomplish and what students might achieve in music

education.

The social contexts in which people create, perform, perceive, understand

and react to music have been neglected by psychologists. This book provides

an authoritative, up to date and comprehensive guide to the social psychology

of music. After an opening review chapter, the remaining fourteen chapters are

divided into 6 parts. These deal with individual differences (personality and

gender); social groups and situations (small group processes and experimental

aesthetics); social and cultural influences (historiometric analysis,

ethnomusicology and musical tastes and society); developmental issues

(musical taste in adolescence, and the life-span development of musical skill);

musicianship (performance and performance anxiety); and real world

applications (clinical and therapeutic uses of music, consumer behavior and

music education). Several of these chapters are ground-breaking reviews of

new subject areas. Aside from psychologists and music educators, the book will

also appeal to musicians, musicologists, sociologists, educators,

communication researchers, broadcasters and commercial organizations.

Jane W. Davidson focuses only on one tradition and exploration on the

socio-psychological musical performance, which is under the Western classical

set-up. Though, she invites researches and investigations on other music

cultural traditions and the wide array of different genres as performed by

musicians and instrumentalists.

Historical practices of a performer should know periods in music to be able

to perform, interpret and express in the same manner the musical

characteristics of a given period. But there is a tension between the past

structuring the present and the present structuring interpretations of the past.

There is a debate on the authenticity/proper or correct way of how to play

perhaps a mordent or trill of a Bach piece. The emergence of cultural values and

practices has changed, and is now an interaction between the past, present and

the use of new technology as a whole. The past still has a strong influence to

the present time. Techniques which were traditionally past, while playing a

sonata are legacies which have become firmly established, becoming an integral

part of the contemporary period.

Performance etiquette comes from traditional practices and ritual

experience. When attending Art music, one must be dressed in specific formal

attire and is expected to behave properly, fit for the occasion. While attending a

rock concert, one can dress informally, and can shout, clap loudly or even sing

along with the performer. Social etiquette operates in two directions: formal

and informal. Performance etiquette stems down to a socio-cultural issue,

coming from the influence of small groups.

Teacher and student relationship is interesting to point that aside from the

influence of the teacher on a student because of good teaching and

motivational skills, musical instrument learning is individual basis or one-on

one, making it more personal. This means that a personal relationship makes a

good factor in the learning process. Musical skill acquisition is a collaborative

work and social achievement between teacher and pupil, alongside with

parents, siblings and peers which were discussed earlier.

Cottrells (1972) learned evaluation hypothesis provides an account

representative of the current belief on social facilitation. It suggests that

facilitation occurs when other people are positively appraised. If other people

are negatively appraised, the effects on performance can be quite destructive.

These can have direct effects on levels of physiological arousal.

a. Group Function

1. The string quartet in order for a group to function, there should

be a sense of affiliation according to Douglas (1993). The string

quartet is a cohesive group. It should have a common connection

to the musical score. Interdependence is necessary and closeness

depends on the trust and respect of each individuals boundaries.

The problem arises when each member of the quartet interprets

the piece individually, conflicting opinions and views from other

members this giving rise to disagreement.

There should be healthy musical discussions, giving ample time for each

member to suggest or contribute to the delivery of the performance. A leader

should act in behalf of the group, always thinking of the common good and not

as a one-sided entity.

The orchestra is examined as social units. There are three elements that

serve as a function in an ensemble:

a. Group members need to be able to meet the challenges

of the tasks.

b. Individual activity needs to be directed towards

achieving group goals.

c. Leader facilitative, directive and democratic. Needs to be

open to the possibility of accepting alternative markings

from the orchestra members.

The possibility for every individual to be heard seems vital for

empowerment and motivational reasons reveals, a careful balance between

individual needs and group needs. There is hierarchy of positions. The audience

means individuals coming together to watch a performance, having no formal

knowledge of one another functions also as a group. In Art music in general,

the audience group function seems to be one which confines itself to absolute

social conformity.

There is a unified behavior as a group/audience, according to (Diener

1979; Zimbardo 1970). But there are is also a tendency of psychological de-

individuation leading to both pro-and anti-social behavior.

There are distinctive verbal and non-verbal skills which enable the

communication and coordination of musical ideas. Performers good verbal

and non-verbal communications between co-performers during rehearsal

period is essential in order to produce an agreed style of interpretation.

Rehearsals are occasions to learn the score and plan the coordination of timing,

as well as establish general expressive features of the music. Body movements

are effective during performance proper.

There are four categories by Ekman and Friesen (1969):

a. Adaptors not speech-related but concern in self-

stimulation

b. Regulators movements which systematize the back and

forth speaking and listening in conversations.

c. Illustrators punctuate speech and trace ideas

d. Emblems non-verbal symbols with direct speech

translators.

Aside from these, research of Davidson shows that specific movements

reveal much of the performers expressive interpretation of the musical

structure. For co-performers, the gesture of the performer may mean that it

provides an understanding and sharing of musical intentions.

The body movements of a performer inform the audience about his

musical intention. Experienced listeners are able to detect many subtle

expressive changes like in timing or in dynamics. The presence of an audience

in a live performance has some sort of a role in shaping the body movements

used.

Communication is a two way process: performers pick up information

from the audience and the audience is likely to pick up information from the

performer as well.

There can be no such thing as genderless culture: 'One's social sexual

identity, or gender, is a very central concept in music, linked with interaction

between the sexes' (Ellen Koskoff). This is linked with projection: the girls (or

married women) are much more violent and hot-tempered than the men. The

maledictory songs against unfaithful lovers are addressed in far greater number

to men than women' (Bartok).

Women need to validate different experience from that of the

authoritative speaking subject of the male singer. As forms of cultural

expression that are largely outside the authoritative discourse, songs contribute

to the articulation of a consciousness of group identity, with the related

concepts of solidarity and struggle. Among certain peoples, women's culture

differs from that of men in writing (Japan), speaking and singing (Jews; Kikuyu;

native Australians). Excluded from everyday power, women are also often

associated with the supernatural. Here in the Philippines we have the Babaylans.

Tragic perspective in music: 'To [peasant women] pain and mishap

present a far wider range of possibilities that gladness and enjoyment: their

imagination is almost barren of images that feed desire and hope' (George Eliot,

Silas Marner). Without exception, marriage is presented negatively and critically

from the seventeenth century broadside to the rock lyric.

There is a large body of evidence of singing by working women as a

group. The fullest documentation is for women in the textile industry. As early

as the 1530s, Miles Coverdale was complaining of the low nature of the songs

sung by spinners and washerwomen. In 'Jack of Newbury', licensed in 1597,

Thomas Deloney describes two hundred women singing like nightingales as

they worked in a spinning room. And when a collection of women's songs was

being assembled in the 1970s, it was found that there were 'more good

contemporary songs on [the subject of work] than on any of the others' not

just the old subjects of housework and childcare but women as engineers and

bus drivers. The songs can be said to be largely functional in that they fulfill a

group need, whether expressed or not, to articulate shared concerns. With

respect to the work itself, they define its distinctive identity, and then question

the permanence of its characteristic formations. Such songs do not assert

traditional values but help to subvert them.

Women in music are still prisoners of their sexual roles: for example, an

ageing female rock star is almost an impossibility. Tina Turner is the shining

exception, but she is black: someone already on the margins through being

black, gay or diverging from the norm in some other way can bend the limits'

(Ellen Koskoff).

I have centered my reaction paper particularly in women, because until

now, they are still stereotyped as being inferior and thought to be weak. It was

historically coming from way back Adam and Eves time that women are subject

to the domineering power of men. Today there are increasing number of

women artists, composers, and instrumentalists playing a much wider range of

instruments. However, despite the increase opportunities and achievement of

women in music, men continue to have more prominent roles and status in the

music field. The reason for this is the phenomenon on gender stereotypes in

music. It refers to a range of physical, psychological and social characteristics

considered to be typical of males and females in a particular culture or social

group (ONeill). But this stereotype casting does not accurately reflect the actual

behavior of males and females in the real world. All cultures differentiate the

roles of females and males up to some extent.

In conclusion, research has demonstrated that gender stereotyped

associations are influential in the preferences towards, and selection of,

instruments by two sexes. Gender stereotyped beliefs reinforce the idea that

particular types of music, instruments, genres, or occupations are masculine

or feminine, influencing gender differences in education, experience,

opportunity, and even levels of aspirations. There is evidence, shown through

research and studies that external and self-imposed restrictions are limiting the

range of not only musical instruments but even the preference in the repertoire

and music genre a performing artist selects or chooses, thereby limiting their

musical experience, participation or their musical knowledge, thus limiting also

their opportunities for an extensive musical growth and career. It is then that I

say that choices in musical instruments, career, and even the choice of genre

you would like to listen do not brand you as a typical feminine or masculine.

There is a wide array in-store, a vast selection of your personal preferences

which eventually would satisfy and content you without the labeling it as for

males or females only.

Previous research in the development of musical taste has provided evidence

for the existence of critical time windows and age-related changes in attitudes

towards different musical styles. In general, the musical preferences of

elementary school children younger than 10 years of age are less stable than

those of teenagers (Gembris, 2002: 496). Greer et al. (1973, 1974), initiated the

investigations into the listening preferences of school children.

The authors found strong preferences for rock music in upper elementary

(2nd grade and higher), middle school, and junior high age groups. LeBlanc

(1979) conducted a study to investigate the music preferences of 278 fifth

grade students (age: 1011 years) by means of a sound questionnaire with

examples from six musical styles, and LeBlanc and Cote (1983) observed a

partiality for fast traditional jazz examples (mean tempo=211 bpm) in fifth and

sixth grade students. In a survey study, Hargreaves et al. (1995) found a

significant age-related decline in liking for most of the 12 musical style

categories in 1112 and 1516-year-old secondary school students. Girls

expressed a significantly lower level of dislike for serious styles than did boys.

Some support for the age-related openness to unconventional musical styles

was found in the extensive study by LeBlanc et al. (1996): the music preferences

of 2,262 listeners from grade 1 up to adults with an age range of 6 91 years of

age were measured by means of a sound questionnaire containing 18 examples

from classical music, traditional jazz and rock music.

The authors found a decline in preference for art music, jazz and rock

from grade 1 to 6, followed by an increase up to the high school years.

Surprisingly, the preference for art music increased in grades 5 and 13.

However, rock was the favorite musical style overall followed by art music and

jazz. The assumption that there is a critical time window characterized by an

increased sensitivity to outside influences on musical taste is supported by

various studies. For example, Hargreaves (1987) found age-related changes in

liking for unfamiliar melodies with a significant decrease from age 45 to age

67. In a later study Hargreaves (1995) investigated the effects of age, gender

and musical training on preference ratings for 12 musical style categories in

1112 and 1516-year-old school pupils finding a general decline in the

enjoyment of music between the two age groups, particularly apparent in forms

of art music. He also observed a gender-related effect: Girls appreciated a

wider range of styles than did boys, especially in art music. In a longitudinal

study of the development of musical preferences and listening habits during

the years of adolescence (1117 years of age), Behne (1997a) found that

listening styles (e.g. compensating, concentrated and emotional attitudes in

music listening) change with age. As Behne (2007) summarized in a survey

study, age is the most important predictor for musical preference.

In the early 1980s, Hargreaves (1982a, 1982b) began a series of studies

on aesthetic reactions to music in different groups of children from 7 to 15

years of age. The author assumed that there are significant age-related

changes in the usage of specific response categories and coined the term

open-earedness hypothesis: . . . younger children may be more open-eared

to forms of music regarded by adults as unconventional; their responses may

show less evidence of acculturation to normative standards of good taste than

those of older subjects (Hargreaves, 1982b: 51). In psychological terms, it is

assumed that age (younger vs. older) and musical style (familiar vs. unfamiliar)

are the independent variables, and the observed aesthetic response is the

dependent variable. In his studies, the author found significant age-related

effects in responses to a sound questionnaire that were characterized by an

increased sensitivity to stylistic categories of music, such as the labeling of

music as pop, folk or jazz. Although the author (Hargreaves, 1982b) did not

directly ask for liking, he concluded that the less frequent categorization

indicates the existence of an aesthetic openness in 78-year-olds. In the

1990s, the concept of open-earedness was used by LeBlanc (1991) to suggest

that (a) younger children are more open-eared, (b) open-earedness declines as

the child enters adolescence, (c) open-earedness redevelops as the listener

matures from adolescence to young adulthood and (d) open-earedness declines

as the listener matures into old age (see also LeBlanc et al., 1996). A recently

published survey of studies on age-dependent changes in musical taste by

Hargreaves et al. (2006) gives general support for LeBlancs generalizations.

Due to the educational ramifications of the general question as to how musical

preferences can be modified (Finnas, 1989), the open-earedness hypothesis

remains significant.

However, we have to bear in mind that some of the previous studies show

a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of an open-earedness effect. For

example, LeBlanc et al. (1996) observed a decrease in liking for art music, jazz

and rock music from grades 1 to 6, but the authors did not differentiate

between familiar and unfamiliar musical styles in their data analysis. Thus, no

conclusions on open-earedness in the sense of Hargreaves hypothesis can be

drawn from their data. The first empirical evidence for an open-earedness

effect was found in an explorative study by Gembris and Schellberg (2003). The

authors investigated preference judgments of elementary school children for

music of four different styles (classical, ethnic, avant-garde, pop), but authors

did not use the terms conventional and unconventional music. A sound

questionnaire and an iconographic rating scale (smiley scale) were used for the

measurement of preference. Classical, avant-garde and ethnic music were

classified as unconventional and popular music as conventional.

Authors found an increase in disliking for classical (unconventional)

music from grade 1 to 4 (710 years) and a constant level of liking for

conventional (popular) music. The ratings for avant-garde and ethnic music

remained constant from grades 1 to 3 (in the scale vicinity of liking) and

moved to the direction of disliking in grade 4. However, the authors used non-

parametric statistical methods for data analysis with statistical tests of

preference differences for each musical example. These comparisons between

experimental conditions do not permit drawing conclusions on the interaction

between different age levels only.

Finally, the question of how to measure aesthetic reactions to music

remains open. Like Abeles and Chung (1996: 326), we also differentiate

between preference and taste responses to music. Abeles and Chung proposed

that preference is characterized by a short-term commitment, whereas taste is

a relatively stable evaluation behavior. Due to the young age of our sample

subjects, our study is concerned with music preference and the respective

aesthetic reactions. The measurement of aesthetic reactions follows the

definition of Scherer (2005: 703): Aesthetic reactions are operated as

evaluative judgments in the sense of liking or disliking [. . .], produced by

encountering attractive or aversive stimuli.

As Hargreaves et al. (2006) argued, style sensitivity to music of different

genres develops during childhood. This sensitivity includes the dimension of

liking. Thus preference ratings reflect an increasing awareness for differences

between musical styles. Consequently, style sensitivity is mainly relevant for

music within a musical idiom, such as tonal music. For example, in a

comparison of cover versions of the Beatles songs performed in different

musical styles, North and Hargreaves (1997) found that liking for the excerpts

was more associated with ratings for musical style than for the pieces

themselves. Against this background, we can assume significant differences in

preference judgments between different genres of conventional music. It is

interesting that the concepts of open-earedness and style sensitivity are

discussed independent of each other in Hargreaves et al. (2006). Studies

reviewed in their essay with relevance for style sensitivity are related to the

background of conventional music, and popular music is separated from

classical music. On the other hand, the concept of open-earedness is reserved

for unconventional music, such as avant-garde or computer music. In other

words, we can assume an open-earedness for unconventional music in

elementary school even while popular music becomes the favorite musical style

at the same age within the idiom of conventional music. Additionally, as

Hargreaves et al. (2003: 155) point out, we have to be aware that childrens

developing sensitivity to musical styles also has to take into account the social

context in which stylistic perception and evaluation occur. For example, music

also serves the function of forming individual and collective musical identities,

and as Bourdieu (2007) revealed, when considering phases of adolescence,

music also functions to create social distinction in society. Finally, we have to

think about the method of measurement for the development of open-

earedness. For instance, it could be that rating methods based on a like-dislike

scale as used in previous studies and ours are only adequate for the

measurement of musical preferences within a musical idiom but not between

different (and maybe unfamiliar) idioms. Thus, we would like to propose

additional dependent scales, such as familiarity, interestingness, or

associative exploration (curiosity behavior) for the rating of open-earedness in

unconventional music.

A critical point is the influence of the students subjective experiences on

the ratings given. In the current study as well as in all previous studies, the

students received explicit explanations about how to use the rating dimension.

Of course, this is necessary in order to guarantee reasonable answers. Students

were also informed about the polarities of the rating scale. However, the

method of explicit explanation of the rating scale can be problematic in that

subjects could possibly rate the music based not only on their subjectively

perceived liking but also make a social judgment. For example, students might

think they are supposed to give positive ratings for all of the music because

they assume that the teacher likes this kind of music. Such theories could

explain why none of the musical stimuli exceeded the neutral mid-scale level to

reach a clear level of rejection.

Therefore, we cannot be certain whether or not elementary school

children would on average rate a musical stimulus between the scale points of

liking and a neutral mid-scale position. Any solution to this problem needs to

be sure that preference ratings are not influenced by the subjective

expectations of the students. Thus, a dependent variable must be found that

measures musical preference without allowing the subjects to know the real

intention of the procedure. We presume that this method is the prerequisite in

order to measure the entire bandwidth from the maximum liking to maximum

disliking. This will be one of the tasks for future experiments in the field of

musical preferences.

This review of social psychological research on music education has

taken a broad perspective. Schools nowadays become a complex social

environment in which teachings, learning and other interactions take place.

Perhaps the most important question raised by these studies concerns what

kinds of research can be considered to be integral to the social psychology of

music education. Research on music teaching and learning should deal with

social psychological concepts such as attitudes and preferences, motivations,

teacher expectations, attribution styles, competencies, identities, and

institutions. Music education therefore takes place within interpersonal and

institutional settings, and research in social psychology should be able to

contribute to a better understanding of these settings.

In conclusion, this book implies that a more sophisticated and specialized

form of social psychology is needed in music education, and its application is

long overdue. Problems encountered in music teaching, performing and other

related problems should be of interest to social psychologists. There should be

a multi-disciplinary approach since research in music sociology, music

anthropology, and music psychology as well as aesthetic philosophies of music

can broaden the social psychological research on music education.