rr 1HE CLASS SYSTEM of teaching instrumental music has been the basic form of instruction in most American schools for almost a half-century. Through this medium, bands and orchestras have enjoyed a phenomenal numerical growth. In recent years, however, emphasis has shifted to the quality of the music education experience, and both the form and content of that experience have been challenged.1 What is involved in the learning processes in instrumental music? While psychologists have worked for the past hundred years with learning theory, only during the past thirteen years have specialists in mathematics, science, and social studies readjusted theories of how their disciplines should be taught around fundamental concepts. Music educators also have begun to focus attention on learning processes, as attested by the six Research Training Programs conducted by MENC in 1969. What seems to be one of the difficulties in many present-day beginning instrumental classes is that a number of pupils do not see the major goals of their instruction. Either through the methods of their teachers or through the lack of insight on the pupils' own part, some of them seem to see musical learning as a series of unrelated specifics. As in any other form of learning, pupils who achieve in instrumental music seldom discontinue classes; dropouts are mostly nonachievers. If the goals of musical instruction were clearer, even those who achieve might do so at a higher level. The chief purpose of this research was to discover if an orientation toward instructional goals would be of value in teaching certain basic musical skills in beginning bands. It was proposed that if pupils were given a conceptual orientation to class objectives before they were exposed to the actual learning experiences, a difference in musical skill development and in understanding might result.