The effects of complex music experience on the mental representation of music

Background: With connectionist theories as the background, this study suggests that musical memory depends on the complexity of musical experiences. It is argued that children who engage in musical activities, which favour varied participation and multiple encoding, tend to preserve stronger images of music than they would do in less complex or more focused activities. Aims: The study is concerned with the effects of complex musical experiences on the strength and organisation of the mental representation of music. The analysis is focused on the context of listening to recorded music in the classroom, with particular regard to strategies of listening through participation. Method: An experiment compares two listening conditions with different levels of complexity: (a) listening to recorded music and (b) listening and playing rhythms along with recorded music. After the treatment, both groups are tested on the identification of excerpts from the musical piece. Results: As shown by the results of a t-test used to compare the score means of both groups (t = 8.79; p < .01), the experimental group identifies more excerpts with statistical significance. Conclusions: The experiment suggests that complex situations where children have to attend to several tasks tend to favour a differentiated mental representation, which has positive effects on musical memory, both in strength and organisation.