Music therapy students' recognition of popular song repertoire for geriatric clients

Abstract

Previous research has found that music therapists, who work with geriatric clients in singing activities, indicated they know and use 3 times more popular or popular style music (songs from musicals) than folk songs. The purposes of the current study were to determine music therapy majors' recognition of popular songs and songs from musicals by asking whether they: (a) had heard the songs before, (b) could "name the tune" of each song, and (c) list the decade each song was composed. Results showed that students had previously heard many of the songs; however, this was not an indication of whether they could name the song title or the decade in which it was composed. Additionally, percentage data indicated that My Favorite Things and You Are My Sunshine were the most heard/recognized songs, Over the Rainbow was the most correctly named song title, and Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue was the song most correctly identified by decade. Further results and discussion are included.