en., J. Mus. Ther., 25, pgs. 73-84.
(14) Kalmar, M. (1982). The effects of music education based
on Kodaly's directives in nursery school children: From a psychologist's
point of view. Psychol. Music., Spec. Issue, pgs. 63-68.
Music relies on memory. What is the nature of this memory? Researchers in both cognitive science and behavioral neuroscience are actively engaged in a major debate about memory. They are particularly concerned with the growing multiplicity of forms of memory. How many are there? How do they differ from each other? Two of the generally accepted types are "declarative" and "procedural" memory. In a moment, we will consider their relevance for music. But first, some definitions are needed.
"Declarative" refers to memories that can be consciously recalled and stated. The contents of declarative memory seem to be largely life episodes, i.e., recall of a specific occasion, like your first date, what you had for dinner yesterday, etc. or facts, e.g. the capital of France. Declarative memories are acquired rapidly; generally, they don't require much repetition of the experience to become fairly strong. In fact, highly emotional events need be experienced only once to leave a life-time declarative memory. Each reader can probably think of such a personal experience.
"Procedural" refers to things learned that are not accessible to this type of recall or report. Such memories do not have as their contents specific experiences but rather things learned and stored that are more implicit than explicit. Examples are how to ride a bike, how to recognize a letter of the alphabet, etc. Put another way, motor and perceptual skills are classified as procedural memories. This type of memory requires repetition, takes a long time to learn well and becomes part of one's capabilities. Information in the procedural memory system becomes automatic, that is it is used to process sensory information and make highly practiced movements unconsciously and without distracting us from attending to other things.
This distinction is one which has a great deal of evidence to back it. Whether or not these terms and the forms of memory they purportedly encapsulate ultimately stand the test of time, it is clear that procedural and declarative memory are relatively independent. For example, damage to the medial temporal lobe of the brain can prevent new declarative memories from being formed but leave procedural memories intact. Thus, such a patient can fail to recognize the doctors he sees everyday for years. At the same time, he can learn perceptual and motor skills (e.g., mirror drawing) at a normal rate over days of practice, while denying that he has ever seen or done the task before!(1)
What does this have to do with music? W. Jay Dowling, a prolific and highly respected music researcher believes this distinction has important consequences for music and this essay attempts to summarize some of his findings and views.(2)
In music education, learning the fact that the key of G has one sharp engages the declarative memory system. In contrast, learning to play the G scale well involves procedural memory. Practicing is largely a sensory-motor skill and merely thinking about learning to play can't substitute for the real thing. So both forms of memory are engaged in music instruction. However, Dowling points out that there is a more subtle, yet vital, aspect of procedural memory in music than practicing an instrument. He refers to the implicit mental schema that people acquire merely by being exposed to Western tonal music. Thus, hearing such music actually programs the brain to have a tonal framework within which musical sounds are automatically referred and processed.
Dowling gives an example. "Hearing the dominant chord in a particular context sets up a readiness to process the tonic chord more efficiently when it occurs. ... knowledge is represented implicitly rather than explicitly. The listener does not say to himself "Oh, there is a dominant and now I bet there will be a tonic. The listener's experience is one of hearing a dominan