Predicting Choral Achievement Through Use of Musicality and Intelligence Scores

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Evaluating the potential and the progress of vocal pupils is a major problem of choral directors in the secondary schools. Of equal importance is the assessment of the musical ability and attitudes of those pupils who participate in performing groups. Evaluating potential and assessing musical ability and attitudes are necessary in order to group pupils according to ability and to maintain the high standards set for choral groups. The function of the choral director is to place better pupils in select choirs often designated as the performing or concert choirs. Judgment is based on individual auditions and teacher observation of pupil progress during the school year. Pupils new to the choral department at Granby High School in Norfolk, Virginia, through transfer or schedule change, do not have an opportunity to audition. They are assigned to nonselect choirs by the guidance counselors. The chorus teacher observed that the pupils in these choirs who exhibited superior ability and interest frequently missed the challenge they would have had in a select choir. On the other end of the spectrum, some pupils assigned to choir were unable or unwilling to show musical accomplishment. They often denied they had an interest in singing or that they had chosen choir as an elective. Pupils of limited ability were placed in situations where they could not do as well as the rest of the class. These misplaced pupils were unable to contribute to the joint effort of the class and often became behavior problems, hurting group morale and wasting valuable rehearsal time. This study explored the possibility of using musicality and intelligence test scores to predict the potential success of pupils in