Changes in Musical Attitudes, Opinions, and Knowledge of Music Appreciation Students

Abstract

In this study, the changes in musical attitudes, opinions, and knowledge of undergraduate students ( N = 135) enrolled in a music appreciation course were investigated. At the beginning and end of the 10-week course, students' attitudes toward composers were assessed by a free-recall survey on which the students were asked to list and rank-order their 10 favorite composers and to give information about recording ownership. Students then completed a test composed of excerpts about which they were asked their opinion and questions about their knowledge of era, composer, and title. Students exhibited a significant gain in knowledge about the works on the test ( p < .01); however, there was no significant difference in their opinions of these same works between the pretest and the I posttest ( p > .10). Students listed significantly more composers of the formal tradition on the attitude survey following the course ( p < .01). Moderate relationships were found between the gain in the number of formal composers listed on the attitude survey, recordings reportedly purchased ( p < .01), and grades earned ( p < .05).