The Ability of Children Aged 7-10 to Structure Musical Improvisations

We started some years ago to investigate children's ability to use formal structures in their improvisations. In two previous studies, we chose to cover only the procedures involved in the beginning and ending. Now we are turning to the central structure of children's improvisations. The study reported here involved 132 children aged 7-10. A total of 792 pieces were analysed to identify different aspects of the organizational processes manifested by the children. The results of the analysis provide evidence of organizational procedures and a marked increase with age. Considering the children's lack of musical education and the medium-low socio-economic background of the sample who participated in this study, it is possible to infer that the organization of temporal materials can be learnt, when the cognitive mechanisms are ready, through exposure to and use of musical, or more general cultural products.