AIRS Annual Report Year 1 Sub-Theme 1.3: AIRS Test Battery

Submitted by Dr. Annabel Cohen (April 1 2009 – March 31, 2010).

Name of investigator(s) and affiliation

• Mayumi Adachi – Psychology, Hokkaido, Japan (also 1.2)
• Annabel Cohen – UPEI, Charlottetown and Team Leader 1.3
• Simone Dalla Bella – Psychology, Poland (also 1.1)   
• Simone Falk – Germany
• Mike Forrester – University of Kent, UK
• Helga Guðmundsdóttir – Music Education,  Iceland (also 2.1)
• Nathalie Henrich – France  (also 1.1, 1.2 and 2.3)
• Esther Mang – Hong Kong Baptist University (also 2.1)
• Anick LeMarche – AIRS Post-doc until end of August
• Psyche Loui – Harvard Medical School & BIDMC (also 3.3)
• Jaan Ross – Music, Estonia
• Gottfried Schlaug – Harvard Medical School and BIDMC (mainly 3.3 – health)
• Rena Sharon – Music, UBC, Vancouver (also 3.3, and 1.2)
• Stefanie Stadler Elmer – Psychology, Zurich,  Switzerland
• Christine Tsang – Psychology, London Ontario (also 1.1 – Team Leader)
• Jennifer Sullivan – Psychology,  St. FX Antigonish, NS (also 2.3)
• Coralie Vincent – Laboratory of Phonology and Phonetics, CNRS, Paris (also Digital Library)

AIRS Milestones for Year 1

AIRS Milestones for Year 2 with Year 3 and 4 continuing

Goals of AIRS addressed

Team meetings were held at the Inaugural meeting in PEI and by teleconference on  December 16th.   The teleconference led to discussion of each of the 11 components of the battery.  It was decided that each needed special discussion beginning at the 2nd AIRS Annual Meeting  (Seattle, August 22nd, 2010) and extended during a free time at the  immediately following ICMPC (tentatively, Wed., August 25th)  in order to finalize a common protocol to be used  starting September 2010.  At present those from 1.3 to attend the 2nd Annual meeting are:  Mayumi Adachi, Simone Dalla Bella, Simone Falk, Helga Guðmundsdóttir, Jaan Ross, Rena Sharon, Stefanie Stadler Elmer, Christine Tsang, Jennifer Sullivan, and Annabel Cohen  as well as several students such as Madhu Raju.   Note: although Psyche Loui cannot attend in Seattle, she is visiting UPEI as a keynote for the AIRS regional conference August 12th and will provide feedback on the battery at that time, to be passed on to the Seattle meeting.

UPEI  had initiated the work on the battery as a proof of concept prior to submission of the AIRS proposal and this work continued.  The first data included tests of 4 children of ages 3, 5, and 7 years  and university students with and without music training. Each were tested  5 times at monthly intervals producing approximately 100 video recorded sessions.  In addition 4 older adults (age 70 – 81 years) and 6 persons with Alzheimer’s disease were tested each twice with one exception. This first protocol used a piano model.    In September 2009 an  new study entailed 8 North American students and 8 Chinese students, and another study began with 8 4 -5 year olds and 8 University students tested once.  In the laboratory of Jenny Sullivan at St. Francis Xavier University,  6 3-year olds and 6 4-year olds were tested each twice.  The second protocol used a vocal model  (Lisa McLellan, summer intern 2009).  Some additional preliminary work was carried out in Estonia (Jaan Ross/ Marju Raju). A thesis was completed by Lisa McLellan at Bates comparing use of her own live singing versus a recording of her voice.  She learned that the recording was more effective than expected.   Subsequently,  groundwork in Poland (Simone Dalla Bella) is being established. Note: From April  - August,  Anick Lamarche in the position of AIRS PDF at UPEI  has been working on the test battery in regard to standards for audiovideo recording protocol.  She has also tutored 4 visiting undergraduate students on the AIRS test battery, measurement using Stefanie-Stadler Elmer’s technique and she herself has used Praat. She will also create an improved vocal model with child, male, and female voice.  However, as this activity occurred during Year 2, it is not detailed further here.

Student funding of $6000 obtained for year 1 (smallest amount of all sub-themes) was used to establish the foundation for the battery and assist doctoral thesis work if possible and was distributed to UPEI and Estonia for this purpose.  Funding for students in Year 2 of $15000 was obtained for distribution to students in Boston US, Estonia, Iceland, Japan, Switzerland, Poland, St. FX, UK, UPEI, and lesser amounts to Kenya, Canada, China, Brazil (in conjunction with 3.1).

Contribution to AIRS goals over the past year(s) of the project  - distinguishing incremental (would only occur with AIRS funding or initiative) vs would occur anyway*

Refereed Publications and Book Chapters/ Conference Proceedings in a Book

Presentations

Presentations in Year 1 were by the UPEI made at the AIRS inaugural meeting, Canadian Acoustical Association (Oct. 2009, Niagara-on-the-lake symposium on Theme 1), Canadian Conference on the Arts (Dec., 2009, Toronto), Educating the Creative Mind (March, Kean College, 2010, Conference organized by Lily Chen-Hafteck).

Presentations in Year 2 were made by the UPEI group at the Canadian Developmental Psychology Conference (May, 2010 Ottawa, with Mary Gick, and Jennifer Sullivan), Canadian Psychological Association (June, 2010, organized symposium on music and psychology), and the Canadian Society for Brain Behaviour & Cognitive Science (June, 2010, Halifax, with Lexy McIver, Anick Lamarche, presenter Anick Lamarche), by Simone Dalla Bella at a Symposium on Language and Music at Middlesex University (as reported by Michael Forrester), and by Jennifer Sullivan at the AIRS Workshop, August 2010.

Honours theses

• Jenna Coady – UPEI 2009
• Marsha Lanna – UPEI 2009
• Emily Gallant – UPEI 2009
• Lisa McLellan – Bates College 2009
• Lexy McIver – UPEI 2010
• One student from St. Francis Xavier, 2010

Project Description (based on summary for the Policy and Planning Committee & AIRS Milestone document)

This sub-theme focuses on the gross assessment of development of singing  leading to a comprehensive model of singing acquisition taking individual, culture, and universals into account. An 11-element test battery was developed at UPEI by Annabel Cohen in conjunction with 2 honours students (Marsha Lannan, Jenna Coady), and with a third (Emily Gallant) the battery was piloted in longitudinal and age cross-sectional designs. In 2009  two further honours theses at 2 universities commenced, and a doctoral student in Estonia will begin work with Jaan Ross and Stefanie Stadler Elmer (Zurich). An aim is to connect with 3.1 Cross-cultural understanding in order to obtain data on singing development in the four contrasting countries (Canada, Brazil, Kenya, China) in which attitudes to non-native persons is to be improved through song and cultural sharing. We expect to use a new algorithmic process of doctoral student Johanna Devaney (McGill) to increase the efficiency of pitch analysis.

Information will be shared virtually  (via a digital library, and web-site) across cultural and academic background, and career stage within and across countries Students will be provided enormous opportunities to be in contact with peers, experts, and cultural contexts, and to learn about analysis of singing, and the workings of a digital repository.

One challenge is the overwhelming richness of the data. Another is to finalize the protocol and to develop specific training protocol so as to "really" start collecting data.

The constituency aims to collect the data across ages, cultures, and time, and to take advantage of the temporal and global scope of the grant. Theme 1.3 will populate the digital library with examples of the components of the test battery from longitudinal and cross-sectional studies. Within Theme 1, there should be discussion with 1.1 which will be conducting more refined tests than 1.3;  there should be  discussion with 1.2 which will be conducting focused research on the audiovideo relations in singing. The data from 1.3 should reveal constraints on natural song acquisition as discovered by 2.1, should show effects of training (2.2), and provide a foundation for what can be learned through singing (2.3). 1.3 will inform 3.1 in regard to what aspects of singing style may be resilient and what level of song complexity is appropriate for teaching songs of non-native cultures.

The opportunity of a 7 year grant (including 1st year pilot) enables collection of longitudinal, cross-cultural data  and exploring mental health status, and role of musical training. Collaborators from many cultures and continents, with access to open-source teleconferencing  an interactive web-site. digital repository and associated staff supporting it at UPEI and McGill maximizes progress.

Student(s) involved, their level of degree and home university

Students in Year 1 were:

• Lexy McIver – Honours Psychology, UPEI
• Honours Psychology, St. Francis Xavier
• Alison Lawlor – Special Studies, UPEI – admitted to Speech Pathology Masters, U of T
• Emily Bradley – Special Studies, UPEI – admitted to Speech Pathology Masters, Dalhousie University
• Marju Raju – doctoral student, Estonia – under supervision of Jaan Ross and Stefanie Stadler-Elmer

Students involved (Year 2, 2010):

• St. FX
• Kristin MacDonald,  undergraduate UPEI
• Martha Lannan,  Masters Level graduate student Dalhousie/former UPEI honours student
• Anick Lamarche, PDF AIRS  April – August 2010
• Michal Michalski, Poland
• Ruth Reveal, visiting summer student from Georgia, USA (which provided course credit for Psy 412)
• Kamille LaRosa, visiting summer intern,  University Michigan (which provided scholarship)
• Lauren Mitchell, visiting summer intern, Kalamazoo College (which provided scholarship)
• Kuori Agaki, visiting summer intern, Kalamazoo College

Students to be involved as of September 2010

•   St. Francis Xavier, Antigonish Nova Scotia
•  Marju Raju, Estonia,
• Iceland
•  Ayumi Sasaki, and Saya Ando (sophomores) Japan
• Switzerland
• Poland
• UK
• UPEI
• Kenya
• Canada
• China
• Brazil

Expected scholarly outcomes

Outcomes

The test battery will provide a wealth of data in a neglected area that will provide the foundation for a model or models of singing acquisition, the foundation for scholarly work in singing. As well this work will contribute to understanding of human development and language development, and form the basis for appreciating what is possible in regard to sharing culture through singing, or teaching through singing.

Contribution to Digital Library

Audiovisual sessions – components 1 – 11 from administration of the battery.

Deliverables

Showing Estimated total for 3.5 years and number produced in Year 1.