Instrument Association Skills: Children in First and Second Grades

The purpose of this study was to investigate one aspect of music perception and music knowledge of children at the beginning of formal music training, and to compare the profiles of perception and knowledge of children at two levels of maturation and learning. Subjects were asked to listen to the sound of individual musical instruments and then to match the sound heard with one of the two instrument pictures displayed. Second graders scored significantly higher ( p < .001) than first graders in instrument association; rank orders of instruments according to association difficulty, however, were markedly similar between grades. These results support the opinion that children bring much music knowledge to their first music classes.