Abstract
In this study, two experiments which related to communication of emotional intention through music played by young children were conducted. In the first experiment 20 kindergarten children played a percussion instrument, the tambourine, improvisationally to induce listeners to feel ‘happiness’, ‘anger’, and ‘sadness’. Their performances were analyzed in terms of the performance length, number of beats, sound level, interval of beats, the rhythm patterns and so on. As a result, it was found that the intended emotions influenced the sound level and the interval of beats. The sound level of ‘anger’ was significantly higher than that of ‘happiness’ or ‘sadness’. The interval of beats in ‘anger’ tended to be shorter than that in ‘sadness’. On the other hand, it was found that emotions did not systematically influence the rhythm patterns. In the second experiment 31 university students were presented the performances of the first experiment and judged those intended emotions. The results revealed that the rates of correct responses for the three intended emotions ranged from 44% to 51%. These rates were all significantly higher than the chance level.
