Disadvantaged Junior High School Students Compared with Norms of Seashore Measures

Abstract

The events of recent years have begun to emphasize the characteristics of large numbers of American people variously referred to as tlle lower socioeconomic group, culturally deprived, educationally deprived, underprivileged, disadvantaged, lower class, or socially disadvantaged. It was the aim of this research to oSer some reliability and validity data on the performance of disadvantaged junior high school students on music aptitude and ability tests.1 There is reason to believe that although musical environment and creativity are brought about by a variety of factors, there are certain basic psychophysical capacities that are of fundamental importance in musical success. Of course, such extramusical variables as home environment and socioeconomic level, which are not generally evaluated, also may be relevant in determining levels of music aptitude. Certain psychophysical capacities were defined and measured in a series of studies by Carl Seashore of the University of lowa, resulting in the instrument used in this study, The Seashore Measures of Musical Talent. The group of tests used primarily for prediction, referred to as aptitude tests, differ from achievement tests in that they do not presuppose training in a particular field, but purport to measure an individual's capacity to profit by instruction in that field. Thus, the measurement of aptitude rather than achievement is more suited to the comparison of the disadvantaged with the Seashore norm groups. The problem under consideration in the present study was a comparison of national norms and some validity data on The Seashore