Music Dictation Research Articles

The use of an interactive whiteboard in solfeggio teaching

This paper explores the application of digital technology, that is, interactive whiteboards, in solfeggio lessons. Digital technology, such as computers and interactive whiteboards, is gradually becoming part of the classroom, both in general education and music schools. In addition to traditional teaching tools (blackboard, chalk/markers, piano, and printed textbooks), computer programs and web applications can be beneficial complements to solfeggio lessons. The music classroom for teaching solfeggio is a great place where interactive whiteboards can be integrated. However, to effectively implement any form of digital technology in solfeggio, the teacher must be competent, IT-literate, know basic musical terms in English, and be receptive to the modern possibilities offered by technology. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the possibility of using an interactive whiteboard in solfeggio teaching. Employing a descriptive methodology, the study entailed the application of the interactive whiteboard for certain classroom activities while covering topics in solfeggio such as intonation, music dictation, and theoretical musical concepts. The research revealed that the interactive whiteboard can primarily function as a conventional whiteboard without its multimedia capabilities, allowing the written content to be preserved. In addition, interactive whiteboards have numerous advantages when utilized for singing musical examples, writing musical dictations, and practicing theoretical musical content.

The effect of collective sight-singing before melodic dictation: A pilot study

Sight-singing and musical dictation are considered as complementary activities by different Ear Training pedagogues but, surprisingly, studies conducted with participants working individually were not able to find benefits of singing associated with dictation taking. This pilot study aims at observing the effect of a sight-singing, performed collectively before melodic dictation, on dictation results. We carried out an experimental study involving 54 students from three universities, who were tested in situations emulating Ear Training classes. The experimental group performed a collective sight-singing before the dictation, and the control group remained silent during the activity. Statistical analyses demonstrated that the experimental group had a significantly better performance on dictation than the control group, showing new data in relation to previous researches, that did not observe contributions of sight-singing related to dictation taking. We believe that collective sight-singing promotes cooperation between students, leading to better performance on reading than individual activities, thus improving dictation results. Although our pilot study counted on a small number of participants, remaining the necessity of future research expanding this one, it points to the potential benefits that collective activities could bring to the often-individualized instruction in Ear Training classes.

The analysis of the perception of prospective music teachers on musical dictation through methaphors

The field of musical hearing education is among the most significant areas due to its importance in prospective music teachers’ learning experiences. This is because musical hearing has an effect the success on all other areas of musical education. It is important to determine the prospective music teachers’ evaluation on studies of dictation writing for its direct effect on many courses in their occupational training and musical development. There are studies working on different perceptions on different concepts of individuals by using metaphors in the context of educational sciences and in different levels of education. In literature review, it is found out that less research made, which are using metaphors as data collection tool in music education field than the other education fields. For that reason, in this research it is deem suitable to get benefit from using metaphors of prospective music teachers’ perceptions on musical dictation writing. The working group of this research consists of 93 students which are studying Dokuz Eylul University Buca Faculty of Education Music Education Department in the 2018-2019 educational year. The data of this research has been collected with a fill in the blanks form like “dictation writing is like ....…. Because …… ”. Data collected analyzed by using content analysis. In the content analysis stage, 11 data excluded. Finding results shows that 82 prospective music teachers have produced 70 metaphors on dictation writing. Prospective music teachers produced metaphors on dictation writing categorized in 9, which are (19,51%) giving happiness, (19,51%) needs attention, (13,41%) analysis, (9,76%) caused mixed emotions, (8,54%) concreting, (8,54%) difficulty, (8,54%) needs effort, (7,32%) developing, and (4,88%) troublesome. It is found out that prospective teachers used metaphors like puzzle / crossword / puzzle solving (f=12), playing strategy game on computer (f=4) and solving math problems (f=4). Abstract Müziksel işitme eğitimi, müzik öğretmeni adaylarının öğrenim yaşantılarında önem derecesine göre ilk sıralarda yer alabilecek bir alandır. Çünkü müziksel işitme, müzik eğitiminin diğer tüm alanlarında başarıyı etkileyebilecek bir yere sahiptir. Mesleki eğitimlerinde aldıkları birçok derse etki etmesi ve müziksel gelişimlerini doğrudan etkilemesi sebebiyle müzik öğretmeni adaylarının müziksel işitme becerilerinin geliştirilmesinde büyük yer tutan dikte yazma çalışmalarını nasıl değerlendirdiklerinin belirlenmesi önem arz etmektedir. Eğitim bilimleri disiplini çerçevesinde eğitimin çeşitli kademelerinde bireylerin çeşitli kavramlara yönelik algılarının metaforlar aracılığıyla incelendiği çalışmalara rastlanmaktadır. Gerçekleştirilen literatür taramasında müzik eğitimi alanında metaforların veri toplama aracı olarak kullanıldığı araştırmaların sayısının, eğitimin diğer alanlarına göre daha az olduğu görülmüştür. Bu sebeple bu araştırmada müzik öğretmeni adaylarının müziksel dikte yazmaya yönelik algılarının belirlenmesinde metaforlardan faydalanılması uygun görülmüştür. Bu araştırmanın çalışma grubunu 2018-2019 öğretim yılında Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Buca Eğitim Fakültesi Müzik Eğitimi Anabilim Dalı’nda öğrenim gören 93 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmanın verileri “dikte yazmak ....… gibidir. Çünkü …… ” şeklinde boşluklar bırakılmış bir form ile toplanmıştır. Toplanan verilerin çözümlenmesinde içerik analizinden faydalanılmıştır. Analiz aşamasında 11 veri kapsam dışında bırakılmıştır. Araştırma sonuçları 82 müzik öğretmeni adayının dikte yazmaya ilişkin toplam 70 metafor ürettiğini göstermektedir. Müzik öğretmeni adaylarının dikte yazmaya ilişkin ürettikleri metaforlar mutluluk veren (%19,51), dikkat gerektiren (%19,51), çözümleme (%13,41), karışık duygulara yol açan (%9,76), somutlaştırma (%8,54), zorluk (%8,54), emek ve çaba isteyen (%8,54), gelişim sağlayan (%7,32), sıkıntı veren (%4,88) olmak üzere toplam 9 kategoride toplanmıştır. Öğretmen adaylarının en sık bilmece/bulmaca/bulmaca çözmek (f=12), bilgisayarda strateji oyunu oynamak (f=4) ve matematik problemi çözmek (f=4) metaforlarını kullandıkları görülmektedir.

Peyk-i Safâ saz semaisi’nin klasik kemençe ve viyolonsel ile icrası bağlamında incelenmesi

Klasik kemence; Klasik Turk Muzigi’nde 18. yuzyildan bugune kadar kullanilmis ve halen kullanilmaya devam etmektedir. Viyolonsel ise; 19. yuzyilda Osmanli’nin Batililasma Hareketleri ile beraber Klasik Turk Muzigi’ndeki yerini almistir. Bu calismada, uc telli klasik kemence icracisi Derya Turkan ve viyolonsel icracisi Ugur Isik tarafindan Petraki Tiryaki’ye ait olan Peyk-i Safâ saz semaisinin gorsel-isitsel kayitlari tespit edilmis, saz semaisinin diktesi yapilmis, icra sirasinda yapmis olduklari nota disi suslemeler ve kullanmis olduklari artikulâsyon ogeleri incelenmis, bu inceleme sonucunda icralar susleme ve artikulâsyon ogeleri basliklari altinda kategorize edilmis ve bulgulara donusturulmustur. Yapilan dikte analizi sonucunda; Derya Turkan ve Ugur Isik’in Peyk-i Safâ saz semaisini “bolahenk nisfiye” akordunda icra ettikleri gorulmustur. Her iki icracinin da glissando, trill, gruppetto, mordan ve carpma gibi teknikleri kendi icra usluplari icerisinde etkili bir bicimde kullandigi tespit edilmistir.

NATURE AND THE SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLYPHONIC HEARING

Polyphonic hearing is a component of musical hearing. Polyphonic hearing implies the ability to perceive a simultaneous motion of two or more separate voices within the general sound fabric of a musical piece. Polyphonic hearing can be developed like all other sides of musical hearing. The development of polyphonic hearing can be enhanced by different work forms at the lessons in sol-fa: intoning, analysis by ear, many-voiced music dictation. The development of different sides of musical hearing during the process of work on solfeggio is really essential for a future musician-professional. Research aim: to determine the specific features of polyphonic hearing and characterize its developmental stages.On the basis of long pedagogical experience, this paper reveals the specificity of polyphonic hearing, identifies and characterizes its developmental stages in the process of work on sol-fa.

4. Assessment Typologies Used Within the Discipline Theory, Solfeggio, Musical Dictation

Abstract Assessment is a distinct stage within the teaching process, aiming to measure the level of the knowledge, skills and competences acquired within a given time frame. The discipline Theory, Solfeggio, Musical Dictation involves a synthesis between the theoretical and the practical side of the matter, and, as a result, it uses specific assessment tools for each side. Modern assessment methods involve personalized systems based on the diversification of types of docimological tests, quizzes, practical tests, etc. In this study we will present a series of personal contributions referring to the contents specific to the discipline Theory, Solfeggio, Musical Dictation taught at university.

Savremeni pristupi u ruskoj instruktivnoj literaturi za početnu nastavu solfeđa

The Russian instructional literature for the initial teaching of solfeggio, brings a turning point in relation to the presentation of teaching material in the literature of the 20th century, where the main goal - the development of musical hearing was achieved through auditory analysis and music dictation. Studies have shown that in the 21st century pupils there is a decrease in psychophysical activities, a decline in motivation and a lack of interest. That's exactly what influenced most Russian authors to opt for a different concept of content exposure, where the primary place was played by a music game in three basic sights: play-story, play -role and competition. Significant place was given to didactic illustrations that contribute to the memory and understanding of concepts from music theory. A new approach is also seen in the presence of the story of music, which is the starting point for the creation of an associative music base. In them, the connection of content is realized through various forms of work (melodic, improvisation, piano accompaniment). Standard areas of teaching solfeggio, such as music dictation, rhythm and music theory, are still present in the manuals, but the transformation has been made in the realization and organization of teaching material. The methodological approach of the Russian authors, the concept based on the principle of 'lesson-play', the presentation of teaching materials based on colorful ideas, enabled the preservation of the continuity of traditional solfeggio teaching and made the manuals more attractive and more acceptable to modern generations.

Evaluation of musical language in grownup students: Design and validation of a scale

Musical language organizes general musical training in conservatories and music schools, becoming an attractive, active and dynamic way of learning music, often including rhythmic, body and game activities, and didactic elements such as songs, dance and musical listening. In the case of adult learners, teaching musical language must adapt to psychosocial characteristics of this group. This paper aims to design, validate and apply an instrument shaped as a rubric to evaluate musical language performance in a sample of adult students, based on specific analysis of documents. Scale contains 21 activities that evaluate four skills. The results confirm that there are four main items that would explain most of the academic achievement in musical language in adults: to recognize melodic and harmonic intervals, internalizing tempo, musical dictation and vocal creation, with preparation. Likewise, the results allow to raise a teaching methodology that combines perceptive, corporal, symbolic and communicative aspects in this subject, updating and consolidating the present orientation that teaching has gradually taken.

Factors Influencing Technology Use in Aural Skills Lessons

In North America, aural skills (as) are usually taught to children during the instrumental music lessons. While learning musical dictation and sight-singing can be difficult for some learners, the use of appropriate technological tools could facilitate the process. However, the use of information and communication technologies (ict) by music teachers in aural skills instruction to children have not been documented. An online survey was conducted in the Province of Quebec (Canada) in order to answer the following questions: 1) To what extent do instrumental music teachers useictwhen teachingasto children between 6 and 12 years old?; 2) Are the teachers’ socio-demographic characteristics,astraining and perception ofasteaching linked to the use and the frequency of use ofict? The results show that the use ofictto teachasis still relatively uncommon. Furthermore, it would be negatively correlated with age, competence felt during training and perceived competence to teachas. Finally, it appears that a smaller proportion of piano teachers and women useict, or use them less often. A better understanding of the teachers’ perception of technology could help develop more adapted resources.

A POLYPHONIC DICTATION AS A FORM OF WORK ON HARMONIOUS HEARING

Harmonious hearing is one kind of musical hearing that manifests itself in relation to a simultaneous sounding of consonances (a complex of sounds of different pitch) and mutual relationships between consonances.
 
 A polyphonic music dictation is one of the most important and complicated forms of work for the development of harmonious hearing during sol-fa classes at a higher education establishment. The skill of remembering a polyphonic dictation and quickly fixing the heard music involves an organic combination of listening to separate sounds and to the harmonious vertical of sounds, as well as their functional interaction, which promotes the development of musical thinking in general.
 
 The given research is concerned with the comparison of the methodological recommendations for fixing polyphonic dictations, as well as with working out the algorithm of the polyphonic dictation notation.
 
 Research aim: to study the principles of a polyphonic dictation and specificity of its notation.
 
 Work on a polyphonic dictation implies an organic combination of hearing separate voices and the harmonious vertical, comprehending each moment of sounding and their functional-logical interconnection.

La diversidad tímbrica en el dictado musical a dos voces como estrategia para superar las dificultades de transcripción

El dictado musical, la escucha y posterior transcripcion de fragmentos musicales, es el ejercicio mas frecuentemente empleado en la formacion y evaluacion de las competencias auditivas de los alumnos, en particular en la asignatura de Lenguaje Musical en conservatorios y escuelas de musica. El piano es el instrumento mas utilizado en esta actividad, que suele presentar importantes dificultades para los alumnos. La investigacion realizada tuvo como objetivo principal estudiar hasta que punto la dificultad de transcribir dictados a dos voces podia verse afectada por los timbres escogidos para ejecutar las melodias. En el estudio participaron 57 alumnos y 50 alumnas de segundo curso de Ensenanzas Profesionales de conservatorios profesionales de musica de Madrid. Se compusieron dictados a dos voces especificamente para la investigacion, de los cuales se selecciono un conjunto de cinco por un grupo de expertos. Los dictados seleccionados se grabaron empleando cinco combinaciones de instrumentos distintas: piano, trompeta y trombon, trompeta y violoncello, violin y trombon, y violin y violoncello. Ademas, se elaboro un cuestionario para recoger informacion en torno a la experiencia previa de los participantes en la realizacion de dictados. Los alumnos participantes, divididos en cinco grupos, realizaron los mismos dictados, pero interpretados con combinaciones timbricas diferentes segun el grupo asignado. Los resultados muestran que los estudiantes obtienen mejores puntuaciones cuando los dictados que transcriben son ejecutados con instrumentos de timbres contrastantes. Las conclusiones revelan que la utilizacion de instrumentos distintos al piano podria ser una estrategia idonea para iniciar el trabajo de dictados a varias voces.

The influence of timbre of string instruments and piano on successful transcription of one-part and multi-part melodic dictation at musical studies

The paper analyses the influence and contribution of tone colour (timbre) of various musical instruments on successful notation of one-part and multi-part melodic dictation in solfeggio teaching during musical studies. An experimental pilot research tested the impact of tone colour of the most prevalent teaching tools - the piano, on the one hand, and the timbre of string instruments on the other - on the accuracy of identification of tone pitches, and therefore the accuracy of transcribing musical dictation. The research was based on the experiment with parallel groups on a sample of eighteen students of the second and fourth year of Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac. The students were divided into two groups - control and experimental group in each generation. The pilot research results prove that the use of timbre of string instruments provides greater accuracy of solving tests - writing multi-part (two-part and three-part) melodic dictation.

The examination of the performance motion and emotional valence by a pianist

Until now, we examined the performance motion by the snare drum. Particularly, we analyzed an association between emotion and motion using motion capture. We analyzed total of six emotions [tenderness, happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and non-emotion from Juslin (2001)]. The analysis method averaged the performance motion of six emotions. We named the method as “Motion Averaging Method (MAM).” We calculated the difference of the each emotion by the MAM and revealed the characteristic of motion. From the result, we achieved results in snare drum motion. Therefore, in this study, we considered the association between emotion and motion in the keyboard. The subject was a professional pianist. A musical piece was an etude of the music dictation. Motion capture system is the MAC 3D System of Motion Analysis Corp., which is an optical motion capture system. The measurement marker bonded 33 points to the upper body. As a result, we understood the difference in emotional valence by the center of gravity of the head, an arm, the body, and the hand. Particularly, the non-emotion was move less than other five emotions. Then, we were able to express an association between five emotions of Juslin and motion as a figure.

The Use of Audio Interpretive Materials in the Development of Tuneful Ear

The report is devoted to the one of the contemporary ways in the development of tuneful ear related to intensive use of varied audio interpretive materials during musical classes. Sound of “Live music” imparts new sense to such conventional forms of ear training as rhythm dictation, musical dictation, harmonic analysis. It makes possible to train timbral ear, to improve attention, reaction speed, memory as well as noticeably widens musical horizon of pupils. This method has been widely used in France since the end of the 20th century therefore the article looks closely into one of the French encased set. Analysis of French edition proves that this experience should be popularized amidst Latvian music teachers too and analogical edition can be created on the basis of Latvian music.

Comparative study of the performances of greek adolescents in dictée

Music dictation (dictée) constitutes one of the most difficult challenges in the teaching of music and a source of disappointment for the students. Their errors, during this lesson, may be fundamental to our research. The goal of this paper is to observe, describe and analyse the errors made during the recording of melodies of western European and tropical Greek demotic music (traditional cosmopolitan melodies). These errors indicate proof and a means of analysis of the mental procedures which are inextricably connected to the teaching of music. By analysing these errors we will attempt to discover the causes which provoke difficulties and are inextricably connected to notes, intervals, scales, drops and rhythmic values. The statistical sample of the students (36 students) is a representative of the two different teaching methods (traditional and Kodaly) in an environment of a specific musical culture (Greek).

Absolute pitch correlates with high performance on musical dictation

Absolute pitch (AP)--the ability to name a musical note in the absence of a reference note--is a rare ability whose relevance to musical proficiency has so far been unclear. Sixty trained musicians--thirty who self-reported AP and thirty with equivalent age of onset and duration of musical training--were administered a test for AP and also a musical dictation test not requiring AP. Performance on both types of test were highly correlated (r=.81, p<.001). When subjects were divided into three groups based on their performance on the AP test, highly significant differences between the groups emerged. Those who clearly possessed AP showed remarkably high performance on the musical dictation test, the scores of those without AP varied widely, and the performance of the intermediate group of borderline AP possessors fell between that of clear AP possessors and clear nonpossessors. The findings support the hypothesis that AP is associated with proficiency in performing other musical tasks, and run counter to the claim that it confers a disadvantage in the processing of relative pitch.

Improving Dictation as an Aural-Skills Instructional Tool

Many high schools in the U.S. offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses in music theory for students wishing to study music at the college level.' Others devote part of the music curriculum to theory and aural-skills instruction, but do not offer AP courses. In either case, high school theory and aural-skills courses typically strive to cover all, or part, of the material presented in first-semester college theory and aural-skills courses. Music dictation is a mainstay in most college aural-skills classes, and the College Board advocates including dictation in AP music theory courses. This raises an important question: is giving prospective college music majors a head start with dictation in high school the best way to help them develop the listening skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond? At first glance, the answer would seem to be a resounding yes. However, dictation's effectiveness as a tool for developing listening skills varies considerably, depending on how dictation exercises are constructed and implemented. This article will examine some traditional dictation practices, identify perceptual skills required to listen to music critically, and offer strategies for acquiring and integrating broader listening skills that will more directly develop students' critical listening and musicianship.

Working Memory in Music: A Theoretical Model

Many psychologists have accepted a dual memory system with separate short-and long-term storage components. More recently, the concept of working memory, where short-term memory is composed of both storage and processing segments, has been considered. Baddeley (1990) proposes a model for working memory that includes a central executive controller along with two slave systems: the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketch pad. The model allows for both storage and manipulation of information. However, this model does not seem to account adequately for musical memory (Clarke, 1993). Through a review of relevant literature, a new model is proposed in which an additional slave system is added to the Baddeley model to account for musical information. Consideration of this kind of cognitive processing is important in understanding the significant demands placed on working memory in such activities as taking music dictation, where there would be a tradeoff between storage and processing functions.

The MIDI Sequencer/Sound Module as a Critical Listening Device

Traditional playback media do not permit students to tailor the playback of music examples to any significant degree. This lack of adaptability has made it very inconvenient for students to listen critically to brief music examples assigned for close aural study. A recently-introduced piece of MIDI hardware called a sequencer/sound module offers many possibilities for instructors to design software to support college-level courses requiring traditional music analysis and critical listening. This hardware was originally introduced to support performance instruction to allow students to capture their performances and hear them played back. However, the sophistication of these units makes them valuable for supporting more complex instructional applications. This article describes three applications where use of the sequencer/sound module was extended to support three non-performance learning activities: music dictation, harmonic error detection, and aural comparisons of historical tuning systems. Each application was used by music majors at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Using Connectionist Models to Explore Complex Musical Patterns

Music teachers often ask their classes to take musical dictation. The teacher commonly plays a short excerpt, perhaps a phrase from a Bach chorale, and then the students attempt to translate the various pitches and durations into the symbols of standard musical notation. Each resulting symbol can be judged true or false, right or wrong. Music teachers also ask their classes to analyze the musical syntax of phrases from Bach chorales. The resulting answers will likely have varying shades of truth or falsity. Students can have legitimate differences of opinion about how to interpret ambiguous musical events or events that have one meaning in prospect and a second in retrospect. And not only students differ in their assessments of complex musical patterns. Acknowledged experts in eighteenth-century music are known to disagree about how, in a given phrase, the chords, rhythms, contours, melodies, textures, timbres, and counterpoint all interact. Connectionist models offer elegant ways of dealing with multidimensional complexity of the type found in polyphonic, harmonically oriented music. One can, for example, define a musical event as an input pattern of activation that is then transformed by a network of interconnected processing units into an output pattern of activation representing an interpretation of the event. Models that allow for learning often require an explicit teacher prepared to state unambiguously whether, and to what degree, the output pattern is in error (Rumelhart, Hinton, and Williams 1986; Werbos 1988). For relatively low-level musical tasks, like the transcription problem described above, this requirement poses no serious obstacle; but for higher-level tasks, the notion of an explicit teacher becomes problematical. One wonders, for example, if anyone would be comfortable in claiming that one interpretation of a musical phrase is only 69 percent as true as another? An alternative class of connectionist models