Re: effects of musical experience on pitch perception? (Robert Felty )

Subject: Re: effects of musical experience on pitch perception?
From:    Robert Felty  <robfelty@xxxxxxxx>
Date:    Mon, 17 Jul 2006 12:30:26 -0400

Rob,

I saw several presentations on  similar topics at MCWOP last year.  
You can find them titles and names in the program at:
http://www.ling.lsa.umich.edu/mcwop/index.php?content=program
and also download the abstracts.
I hope this is helpful

Robert Felty
University of Michigan

On Jul 15, 2006, at 12:04 AM, AUDITORY automatic digest system wrote:

> Date:    Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:26:16 -0400
> From:    "G. Robert Arrabito" <Robert.Arrabito@xxxxxxxx>
> Subject: effects of musical experience on pitch perception?
>
> Dear list,
>
> I am writing to get some input from the list that may help me
> interpret my data.  Specifically, I recently ran a study that
> investigated the effect of timbre on pitch perception for two groups
> of eight participants who had normal hearing: those who had formal
> experience playing a musical instrument (musicians), and those who
> had no formal experience playing a musical instrument
> (nonmusicians).  Prior to participation in the experimental session,
> each participant was given a detailed demonstration of pitch and
> timbre, and then was evaluated in a training session that screened to
> ensure that he/she understood these attributes.  A score of chance or
> better was required to proceed to the experimental session.  I note
> that 7/15 (46.67% of the musicians failed the training procedure and
> 22/30 (73.33%) of the nonmusicians failed the training procedure.  In
> analyzing my data, I found no statistical difference in performance
> between musicians and nonmusicians.  I am thus wondering whether this
> might be due to my training procedure or whether pitch/timbre is an
> inherent "skill" regardless of any formal musical experience.  (I
> acknowledge that studies have reported mixed outcomes on musical
> experience.)  Any comments or suggestions for recommended reading
> that would help me put things into perspective would be greatly  
> appreciated.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Rob
>
> --
> Robert Arrabito
> Defence R&D Canada - Toronto
> 1133 Sheppard Avenue West
> P.O. Box 2000
> Toronto, ON  M3M 3B9
> Canada