Effects of Music Education: Implications from a Review of Research

Abstract

FEW PRO8TFMS in the field of music would seem to offer more potential for fruitful and challenging research than that of evaluating the effects of music education. At almost every point in the process of teaching and learning about music, accurate information concerning the results being obtained could keep the process free from wasted effort and insure that masimum benefits were being gained. Decisions as to proper methods of teaching, materials to be employed, types of experiences to be stressed and curricula to be developed, all could be made intelligently and accurately if based on clear-cut knowledge of how the teaching-learning process actually affects the learner. Especially when attempting to formulate a new program in music education would it seem to be of ntal importance that information about effects of teaching be kept in mind. If research shows that objectives are more likely to be fulfilled in one way rather than another, the program builder must know this and must develop his program on the basis of such knowledge. Enough research has been done in the area of evaluation of music education to allow some judgments to be made as to how much we can look to such studies for accurate information and authoritative guidance. This article will examine selected research projects on effects of music education and will point out some of the weaknesses in the present state of research in this area.l It will be suggested that some limitations of research on effects of music education are transient ones which can be overcome by better research methods but it will also be suggested that the nature of the problems involved in measuring the more significant effects of musical education is such that one can seriously question whether quantitative research can be expected to offer more than fragmented knowledge or limited insights. There are two levels at which effects of music teaching can be measured. The first level is concerned with measures of achievement of particular aspects of musical learning. Studies at this level are often based on short-term epperimental or controlled situations, or in some cases they collect and interpret data from tests with little or no attempt to control the makeup of the population tested. Such studies can be characterized as final exam measurements in that they involve a limited span of time elapsed in the learning process and usually are confined to measuring a limited range of effects.