Musical Achievement Research Articles

A ‘New’ Music Education Program Field Experiments in the First and Fourth Grade of the Norwegian Comprehensive School

Abstract: Lillemyr, O. F. 1980. A ‘New’ Music Education Program. Field Experiments in the First and Fourth Grade of the Norwegian Comprehensive School. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 24,133‐156. Through two field experiments, pupils’ musical achievements resulting from a ‘new’ and the traditional music education program were investigated. The ‘new’ program was founded on a combination of the basic ideas of Carl Orff and Zoltan Kodaly. In first grade, 34 girls and 38 boys were taught by this program and 27 girls and 33 boys by the traditional type. In fourth grade, 15 girls and 29 boys were given the ‘new’ program and 12 girls and 26 boys the traditional type of program. A posttest‐only control group design was used as a general basis, supplemented by a factorial design for some of the problems and hypotheses. The analyses indicated significantly better musical achievements for pupils taught by the ‘new’ program than for pupils taught by a traditional type of program.

Relationship Between Creative Behavior in Music and Selected Variables as Measured in High School Students

The major intention of this study was to define music creativity and to develop procedures for measurement of music creativity that were sensitive to the music process. Three modes of creative behavior in music (composition, improvisation, and analysis) were identified and compared to selected variables. The sample consisted of 77 high school students who had participated in school music groups but who had had no systematic training in creative skills in music. Univariate and multivariate analyses of the data revealed that: (1) music achievement correlated significantly with all modes of creative behavior and was the single best predictor of each mode, (2) figural creativity correlated significantly with improvisation and analysis creativity and was a significant predictor when used with other variables, (3) verbal creativity was significantly correlated with analysis creativity but was shown not to be a good predictor when combined with other variables, (4) IQ and sex were significantly related to improvisation creativity but not to other modes, and (5) age, grade level, performance medium, and piano lesson background did not relate significantly with any of the modes.

Instrumental Music Instruction as a Contingency for Increased Reading Behavior

This study examined two related problems: (1) Does contingent music instruction act as reinforcement for reading behavior in the classroom? (2) What is the effect of contingent music instruction on music performance achievement levels? Fifty-four subjects were selected from all fourth grade students in two inner-city schools. Selection was based on music aptitude, interest in playing a band instrument, parental interest, and classroom teacher's recommendation. Students from one school, the experimental group, were at least one year delayed in reading achievement. The control group, from the other school was at or above grade level in reading. All subjects received music instruction daily, noncontingently, during the baseline phases. During the two treatment phases, experimental subjects received music instruction only if they met contingent individual daily criteria in reading. Control subjects' music instruction was always received noncontingently. Analyses of the reading achievement data revealed a significant difference between groups at pretest and no difference at posttest. Analyses of pretest and posttest music performance achievement revealed no significant differences between groups. Music instruction was found to be an effective reinforcer for increasing daily reading performance.

Effects of Certain Lateral Dominance Traits, Music Aptitude, and Sex Differences with Instrumental Music Achievement

The effects of music aptitude, sex, handedness, eyedness, and footedness on music achievement and executive skills of elementary instrumental music students was explored. Handedness was defined for the present study as the observed preferred hand used for a specific set of familiar tasks; eyedness refers to sighting dominance; and footedness was defined as the observed foot preferred to perform selected familiar tasks. A five-way multivariate analysis (2×2×3×2×3) was employed to analyze the data. No conclusive evidence was found to show that combinations of eye and limb dominance, sex differences, and music aptitude variables affect music achievement or executive skill variables. Only music aptitude levels when considered alone strongly affected tonal, rhythmic, and performance achievement

Relationship of Selected Factors in Trumpet Performance Adjudication Reliability

This study investigated the relationship between reliability of music performance, adjudication, judge performance ability, and judge nonperformance music achievement. Thirty-three recent music education graduates rated a series of trumpet performances. Individual judge reliability was calculated and applied music, music history, and music theory academic grades were collected for each of the subjects. In addition, a composite variable labeled “nonperformance music grade” was obtained by averaging each subject's music theory and music history grades. Results of statistical analyses showed: (1) no relationship between judge performing ability and judge reliability, (2) no relationship between judge performing ability and judge nonperformance music achievement, and (3) a statistically significant inverse relationship between judge reliability and judge nonperformance music achievement.

The Effect of Multiple Discrimination Training on Pitch-Matching Behaviors of Uncertain Singers

This study investigated the effect of multiple discrimination training on vocal pitch-matching and instrumental pitch-matching behaviors, and on the aural music achievement test scores of uncertain singers. Eighty fourth- and fifth-grade students served as the subjects. Multiple discrimination training is a paradigm for concept teaching, during which care is taken to insure that the responses to a concept are controlled by the essential characteristics of the concept rather than by the irrelevant characteristics. The specific multiple discrimination training given to two of the four treatment groups consisted of presenting concept instances in the form of five pitches used as criteria in the pretest while varying the irrelevant characteristics of duration, timbre, and intensity. The procedure for shaping remained constant for all four treatment groups. Each student was reinforced for successive approximations to the correct pitch. Results of this study show that multiple discrimination training, added to successive approximation techniques, is appropriate as a standard part of training for uncertain singers.

A Longitudinal Comparison of Four Music Achievement and Music Aptitude Tests

768 sixth-grade students enrolled in eight separate middle schools in the cities of Odessa, Henderson, and Gladewater, Texas, were given the Tonal Imagery and Rhythm Imagery tests from the Musical Aptitude Profile along with the complete Measures of Musical Abilities battery. After a year and a half of instrumental study, Music Achievement Test, Part 2 and Iowa Tests of Music Literacy, Level One were administered to all students remaining in the programs. Results of the study indicated the MAP Tonal Imagery was the most efficacious of the aptitude tests, while the ITML battery possessed the highest validity for measuring music achievement, based on teachers' subjective performance ratings. Interrelationships among certain achievement subtests were rather high, indicating that in some cases two subtests were measuring similar areas of achievement. Using these as a guide, it was possible to select a group of subtests from both the MAT and ITML batteries that were relatively unrelated and at the same time agreed satisfactorily with the teachers' professional judgments of their students.

Relative Effectiveness of Two Approaches to Rhythm Reading for Fourth-Grade Students

Fourth-grade classes from three elementary schools were used as subjects in this study. Two classes were given an experimental instruction program in rhythm reading based on the methods of Mary Helen Richards. Two other classes were given an experimental instruction program based on methods developed by Edwin Gordon. The remaining two classes were used as a control group. After the five-month instructional period, subjects' scores were compared on pre- and posttest measures of musical aptitude and rhythm reading achievement. Significant gains in overall rhythm reading were made by the aggregated experimental classes as compared to the control classes. Significant relationships between certain pre- and posttest scores on subtest of the measures also were found for experimental subjects. Although the Gordon approach appeared to be better than the Richards approach in the development of performance achievement, this result was not clearcut.

Relationship among Musical Aptitude and Musical Achievement Test Scores of Non-Select College Students Enrolled in a Music Fundamentals Course

Relationship among Musical Aptitude and Musical Achievement Test Scores of Non-Select College Students Enrolled in a Music Fundamentals Course

STRAUSS, ZWEIG AND GREGOR: UNPUBLISHED LETTERS

THE OPERAS composed by Richard Strauss between I 934 and 1940'Friedenstag', 'Daphne' and 'Die Liebe der Danae'-works written in a Nazi-dominated Europe, have never established themselves upon the international stage. The severity and reserve with which they were greeted after the war set a critical pattern which has persisted up to the present day. It is commonly assumed that Strauss suffered a creative decline of a major order during these years. While it is quite possible that the personal and political upheavals of the thirties and forties had a detrimental effect upon his ability to concentrate, one must at the same time admit that 'Capriccio', appearing only two years after 'Danae' and subject to the same external pressures, is generally considered to have avoided the pitfalls of its immediate predecessors. It must be apparent, however, that in spite of the inconsistencies of these seldom-performed works we may learn from them a great deal about the composer, both as a man and as an artist. It is important to establish the fact that these operas are numbered among the least satisfactory of Strauss's musical achievements, for with the same glibness that it pronounces upon his lapses of inspiration at this time does critical opinion burden their librettist-Joseph Gregor-with a sizable proportion of the blame for their failure. To attempt a detailed defence of Gregor would be an idle task, for there can be little doubt that he was unequal to the challenge which faced him: that of emulating the sensitivity and elegance of Hugo von Hofmannsthal and the intuitive genius of his friend Stefan Zweig. Of the three personalities around which this correspondence revolves, Gregor is the least known, both to scholars and general public alike. Born in Czernowitz, the capital of what was then Bukovina, his talents led him early to Vienna where he studied music, philosophy and the techniques of theatre production-the latter under Max Reinhardt, who subsequently invited him to Munich and to the Deutsche Theater in Berlin. It seems probable that it was through his association with Reinhardt that he came into contact with Hofmannsthal, who later wrote a preface for his mammoth 'Denkmaler des Theaters' (1926-30). In a letter to Zweig dated 28 November 193 I 1 Gregor implies strongly that his relationship with the great Austrian poet was much more than casual in its nature:

Use of Standardized Tests of Musical Aptitude with University Freshmen Music Majors

This investigation compared the reliabilities, intercorrelations, and appropriateness of use of three standardized music tests when administered to entering university freshman music majors. The three tests compared were Aliferis Music Achievement Test, Musical Aptitude Profile, and Iowa Tests of Music Literacy, Levels 5 and 6. All tests functioned with adequate reliability. Intercorrelations within and among tests revealed some overlapping between achievement tests, but little relationship with aptitude test content. Each test is basically multidimensional. It was concluded that a wide range of information could best be obtained by administering the Musical Aptitude Profile, and a music achievement test with suitable content. Although the Aliferis Test was the only one of the three tests originally designed for entering college music majors, the Musical Aptitude Test and the Iowa Test of Musical Literacy may also be appropriately employed.

Investigation of the Relationships Between Music Perception and Music Performance

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the levels of music perception and music performance attained by selected high school bands. The following variables were selected by analysis to determine the extent of their contribution to the relationships: music perception, music performance, music aptitude, ensemble experience, socioeconomic status, amount of instruction in music history and music theory, academic achievement, band literature performed, students' major instruments, amount of directors' teaching experience, and directors' educational backgrounds. The contest ratings earned by the selected bands were considered measures of music performance. Standardized tests used in the study were the Schimke Test of Music Perception, Drake Musical Aptitude Tests, and various academic achievement batteries. The data were submitted to a multiple regression and correlation analysis and analysis of variance. The various analyses of the data indicated that significant relationships existed between music perception and each of the following variables: music aptitude, academic achievement, ensemble experience,- and music history and music theory instruction. Nonsignificant results were found between music perception and the following: literature ratings, directors' backgrounds, socioeconomic status, music performance, and students' major instruments.

The Symphonies of Roger Sessions

Recently a composer was told by a knowledgeable critic that no one writes symphonies any more, to which he replied: ‘Yes, I know; so I call mine something else.’ Roger Sessions has not done this. His eight symphonies, which span the years from 1927 to the present, are worthy of the name, and give undeniable evidence that reports of the genre's demise have been premature. In originality and scope of expression, and in the mastery with which large-scale symphonic thinking is reconciled with a post-tonal idiom, the cycle that begins with the Second Symphony (1946) deserves to be counted among the outstanding musical achievements of the past 25 years.

The Role of Musical Aptitude, Intelligence, and Academic Achievement in Predicting the Musical Attainment of Elementary Instrumental Music Students

The Role of Musical Aptitude, Intelligence, and Academic Achievement in Predicting the Musical Attainment of Elementary Instrumental Music Students

Musical Achievement: Difficulties and Directions in Evaluation

Musical Achievement: Difficulties and Directions in Evaluation

MAT Music Achievement Tests 1 and 2

MAT Music Achievement Tests 1 and 2

First-Year Results of a Five-Year Longitudinal Study of the Musical Achievement of Culturally Disadvantaged Students

First-Year Results of a Five-Year Longitudinal Study of the Musical Achievement of Culturally Disadvantaged Students

Musical Achievement and the Self-Concept

An examination of recent literature on music education in the primary schools reveals that among the reasons given for a child's not singing in tune, hence, underachieving in music, are emotional and psychological blocks. The vast amount of writing and research on untuned singers has been on remedial measures to help the student sing in tune.1 Causative factors have received little emphasis. Remedial measures stress further musical training, thus assuming that the primary cause of a person's not being able to sing in tune is lack of musical training or ability.

Elementary Music Achievement Test

Elementary Music Achievement Test

The Musical Achievement of Culturally Deprived and Advantaged Children: A Comparative Study at the Elementary Level

The Musical Achievement of Culturally Deprived and Advantaged Children: A Comparative Study at the Elementary Level