David J. Hargreaves examines the cognitive and social mechanisms that govern how individuals acquire musical skills from infancy through adulthood. He synthesizes research on childhood singing, melodic perception, and the mastery of harmonic structures using established psychological frameworks. The text specifically analyzes how pre-schoolers progress through rhythmic development and how school-age children internalize tonality. Beyond raw technique, the work details the evolution of aesthetic appreciation and the cultural factors that shape personal musical taste and creative expression within various social contexts.
Music educators and researchers read this book to find a theoretical basis for their teaching methods. It provides a structured overview of how children perceive and organize sound at different ages, offering a scientific perspective on the learning process. Readers gain an understanding of the relationship between general cognitive growth and specific musical performance. By the end, the reader possesses a framework for evaluating musical curricula based on empirical findings regarding how the human mind processes and creates music over time.
Deep; a demanding read.
Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1986
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- ISBN
- 9780521314152
- Language
- EN
