Affective responses are at the core of musical thinking: they form the basis for meaning and value in music, and provide motivation for future musical experiences. Therefore, the development of musical affect in children is a primary concern for music education, as are the methods most effective and convenient for measuring this development. This article examines the history, use, and structure of verbal response methodologies to study children's affective reactions to music, describes the conceptual and philosophical framework underlying the use of verbal data to assess cognition in the arts, presents music education research that adopts this framework, and offers suggestions for future directions in music education research.
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