Enhancing Musical Intelligence among Primary School Students with Whistling Song Activity Packages : Behavioral and EEG Study

Abstract

The aims of this research were to design a set of whistle-blowing activities to enhance the musical intelligence of primary school students, and then to study the results of using them as an activity package to enhance musical intelligence. The subjects were 120 students in Grade 5. They were randomly assigned to the experimental group (Practice whistling as music) and the comparison group (Practice the flute), 60 students per group. Research instruments included the whistle-blowing activity package, musical intelligence test, and an EEG machine. Data were analyzed by using one-way ANOVA. The results were as follows: 1) The whistle-blowing activity package consisted of two sets of activities, 20 practice sessions, 45 minutes a day for 20 days. 2) After the experiment, the group that practiced whistling as music and the group practicing flute had an increase in intelligence scores of music at the statistical significance level of .05; no gender differences were detected when male and female results were compared. 3) Concerning the electroencephalogram study, differences were found after training at theta frequency at the right frontal F4 electrode site, at alpha frequency at the left frontal F3 electrode site, and also at the right antero-fronto-central FC6, F8 and AF4 electrode sites in the group that practiced whistling as music, while the flute group did not show differences in brainwaves, when compared to before-training conditions. 4) After training, differences in theta frequency were found between groups at the right frontal F4 electrode site and at the alpha frequency at the left frontal F7 electrode site and at the right frontal F4 electrode site.