Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2007 The Effect of Background Music and Song Texts on the Emotional Understanding of Children with Autism June Katagiri Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact
[email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC THE EFFECT OF BACKGROUND MUSIC AND SONG TEXTS ON THE EMOTIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM By JUNE KATAGIRI A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music Therapy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2007 The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of June Katagiri defended on September 28, 2007. ________________________________ Alice-Ann Darrow Professor Directing Thesis ________________________________ Clifford K. Madsen Committee Member _______________________________ Jayne M. Standley Committee Member Approved: ______________________________ Don Gibson, Dean, College of Music The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many individuals who assisted me throughout my thesis process. First of all, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Alice-Ann Darrow for her continual guidance and support throughout the thesis process. The amount of time she devoted to assisting me with editing and providing helpful suggestions was greatly appreciated. I have been inspired and encouraged with her great passion for music therapy and research. I would also like to thank Dr. Clifford Madsen and Dr. Jayne Standley for giving valuable lectures and serving on my thesis committee. My thanks also go to my friends who offered help for research, Lilya Shimabukuro for creating schematic drawings, Melita Belgrave, Yuka Fujioka, Tomoko Ikeda, and Mari Mifune for improvising on the piano, and Satoko Inoue for suggesting session materials.