Some survey results

After emailing my survey to all of the parents that I could, I began to get some data back.  Here are some completed surveys:

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 1. Before your baby was born, did you use headphones on your (or your partner's) belly or use other deliberate amplification in order to share music with your unborn child? (Y/N): no

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> 2. If Yes, what kind of music did you play?  (If No, skip to question #3):
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> 2a.  Was this music that you normally listen to on your own? (Y/N):
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> 2b.  Was this music that you bought from a baby section of a retail store or music store? (Y/N):
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> 2c.  If Yes, from what store did you primarily purchase your music that you shared?
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> 2d.  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's aptitude for or enjoyment of music? (Y/N):
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> 2e:  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's overall intelligence?  (Y/N):
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> 2f:  Were there other reasons why you shared music with your unborn child?  (Y/N):
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> 2g:  If Yes, what were your other reasons?
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> 3.  After your child was born, did you deliberately share music with your child? (Y/N): yes
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> 4.  If Yes, what kind of music did you play?  (If No, skip to question #5) oldies
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> 4a.  Was this music that you normally listen to on your own?  (Y/N): yes
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> 4b.  Was this music that you bought from a baby section of a retail store or music store?  (Y/N): no

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> 4c:  If Yes, from what store did you primarily purchase your music that you shared?
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> 4d.  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's aptitude for or enjoyment of music? (Y/N): yea
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> 4e.  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's overall intelligence?  (Y/N): yes
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> 4f.  Were there other reasons why you shared music with your child?  (Y/N): yes
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> 4g:  If Yes, what were your other reasons? Learn to dance and enjoyment
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> 5.  Do you consider yourself to be a musician?  (Y/N): no
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> 6.  Do you wish your child to become a musician?  (Y/N): no

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Learning to dance; interesting!  Here's another:

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1. Before your baby was born, did you use headphones on your (or your partner's) belly or use other deliberate amplification in order to share music with your unborn child? (Y/N):

Y ( I think what I did counts)

2. If Yes, what kind of music did you play?  (If No, skip to question #3):

I played guitar and keyboard frequently at work, and the guitar/keyboard  was against/near my belly. I sang and played rock, 50's popular, folk, jazz and country music. I also sang in the car with the radio turned up on the drive home from work, aware that the baby could hear it

2a.  Was this music that you normally listen to on your own? (Y/N):

Y, some of it

2b.  Was this music that you bought from a baby section of a retail store or music store? (Y/N):

N

2c.  If Yes, from what store did you primarily purchase your music that you shared?

2d.  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's aptitude for or enjoyment of music? (Y/N):

Y

2e:  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's overall intelligence?  (Y/N):

Y

2f:  Were there other reasons why you shared music with your unborn child?  (Y/N):

Y

2g:  If Yes, what were your other reasons?

Bonding, and I want my child to have an appreciation for music and to start her early in her journey toward being a musician, if she chooses to do so, by developing a musical ear.

3.  After your child was born, did you deliberately share music with your child? (Y/N):

Y

4.  If Yes, what kind of music did you play?  (If No, skip to question #5)

Soothing piano music, live and recorded: new age, classical, soft rock, jazz

4a.  Was this music that you normally listen to on your own?  (Y/N):

Y

4b.  Was this music that you bought from a baby section of a retail store or music store?  (Y/N):

N

4c:  If Yes, from what store did you primarily purchase your music that you shared?

4d.  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's aptitude for or enjoyment of music? (Y/N):

Y

4e.  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's overall intelligence?  (Y/N):

Y

4f.  Were there other reasons why you shared music with your child?  (Y/N):

Y

4g:  If Yes, what were your other reasons?

Enjoyment, soothing grumpy baby, bonding

5.  Do you consider yourself to be a musician?  (Y/N):

Y

6.  Do you wish your child to become a musician?  (Y/N):

Y

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These survey responses have some similarities, but they are quite different.  To me, this suggests a couple of pre-conclusions; most pointedly, that those who consider themselves to be musicians take a more active role in sharing music with their unborn children and infants.  Also, I am starting to conclude that some of my survey was well thought-out, and some, not so much.  Looks like no one deliberately goes to the baby store to buy music specifically created or compiled for the purpose of sharing with babies.

I must say that I find myself frequenting baby stores quite often as of late.  Every time that I do, the impulse-buying section at the checkout lanes have some new music for babies, with the intent of taking this phenomenon to some new level.  Check this out:

Every time I leave the store, I'm wondering what I'll see next.  Here's what WAS next:

OK, so these Rockabye Baby people clearly were into rock.  But what does this stuff sound like?

Those poor babies!  What's with the damn vibraphone melody?  And what about Led Zeppelin?

Ouch!  And mind you, these compilations are front-and-center in giant baby retail outlets such as BuyBuy Baby, Babies R Us, Target, etc.  And is rock the only genre besmirched?  Of course not!

I'll stop myself here.  Well maybe one more:

I especially enjoyed the frog sounds.  I wonder why the melodies are almost exclusively played by bell-like instruments.

When my son was in the womb, I alternated between calm music like Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings:

And intense music, like Holst's The Planets:

More survey results soon!

New Project- Music in the Nursery

Following some wise advice from Ben, I had decided to switch gears entirely and scrap the organ music project in favor of a more flexible topic, especially in light of my difficulty in balancing my workload with family.  My new topic is music in the nursery; specifically, the level of activity and intent in including or excluding music in their baby's environment.

I recollected the music that I shared with my two-year-old son when he was an infant, and also what I've shared with my three-week-old daughter.  I had remembered my father telling me that he had put headphones on my mother's belly when I was in the womb, and thought about what I might do.  After researching the subject a bit on the net, I came to the conclusion that headphones weren't necessary in order for an unborn child to experience music, especially considering the dynamic capabilities of my own monitor speakers that I use for music production in my home studio.

Not with the intent of forcing my children's tastes to conform to my own, I played a fairly wide variety of musical styles (or at least as wide of variety that my own music library could afford).  I had also heard of some neurological research studies in which it was found that infants who were exposed to Baroque and Classical music performed better in school, drawing a connection between certain aspects of music (like a steady tempo, even rhythm, and fluid consonance) and neurological development.

I considered some more common trends in music and parenting, and created a survey by which to establish a base of information.  Here is the survey that I developed:

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Hi!  I'm researching music in the nursery (and/or music and babies in general), and I put together a questionnaire that will be fun to answer for you, and really useful for my research purposes.  Your responses will always be anonymous, and I will share with you the collected information that I put together for my presentation to my class.

Some questions are Yes/No, and some are fill-in-the-blank. If you have more that one child, answer each question for one child's experience. Here goes!

1. Before your baby was born, did you use headphones on your (or your partner's) belly or use other deliberate amplification in order to share music with your unborn child? (Y/N):

2. If Yes, what kind of music did you play?  (If No, skip to question #3):

2a.  Was this music that you normally listen to on your own? (Y/N):

2b.  Was this music that you bought from a baby section of a retail store or music store? (Y/N):

2c.  If Yes, from what store did you primarily purchase your music that you shared?

2d.  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's aptitude for or enjoyment of music? (Y/N):

2e:  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's overall intelligence?  (Y/N):

2f:  Were there other reasons why you shared music with your unborn child?  (Y/N):

2g:  If Yes, what were your other reasons?

3.  After your child was born, did you deliberately share music with your child? (Y/N):

4.  If Yes, what kind of music did you play?  (If No, skip to question #5)

4a.  Was this music that you normally listen to on your own?  (Y/N):

4b.  Was this music that you bought from a baby section of a retail store or music store?  (Y/N):

4c:  If Yes, from what store did you primarily purchase your music that you shared?

4d.  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's aptitude for or enjoyment of music? (Y/N):

4e.  Do you think that your sharing this music has contributed to or will contribute to your child's overall intelligence?  (Y/N):

4f.  Were there other reasons why you shared music with your child?  (Y/N):

4g:  If Yes, what were your other reasons?

5.  Do you consider yourself to be a musician?  (Y/N):

6.  Do you wish your child to become a musician?  (Y/N):

Please provide any comments you may have not addressed in the questions above:

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I thought this survey to have enough depth by which I could distill some interesting and useful information, without bombarding my interlocutors with too many questions.