Instrument Association Skills: Children in First and Second Grades

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate one aspect of music perception and music knowledge of children at the beginning of formal music training, and to compare the profiles of perception and knowledge of children at two levels of maturation and learning. Subjects were asked to listen to the sound of individual musical instruments and then to match the sound heard with one of the two instrument pictures displayed. Second graders scored significantly higher (p < .001) than first graders in instrument association; rank orders of instruments according to association difficulty, however, were markedly similar between grades. These results support the opinion that children bring much music knowledge to their first music classes.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abeles, H. F. , & Porter, S. Y. The sex-stereotyping of musical instruments. Journal of Research in Music Education, 1978, 26, 65–75.

Bernier, J. J. , & Stafford, R. E. The relationship of musical instrument preference to timbre discrimination. Journal of Research in Music Education, 1972, 20, 283–285.

Froelich, R. W. Programmed instruction in the development of aural discrimination of musical instrument timbres by college students (Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 1970). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1971, 31, 3580A–3581A. (University Microfilms No. 70-26, 284)

Fullard, W. G., Jr. Operant training of aural musical discriminations with preschool children. Journal of Research in Music Education, 1967, 15, 201–209.

Greenberg, M. , & Huddleston, D. R. A program for developing aural discrimination of instrumental tone colors using a videosonic teaching machine. Journal of Research in Music Education, 1971, 19, 51–61.

Jetter, J. T. A systematic approach to aural-visual identification instruction in music for young children. Journal of Research in Music Education, 1977, 25, 21–31.

Jetter, J. T. An instructional model for teaching identification and naming of music phenomena to preschool children. Journal of Research in Music Education, 1978, 26, 97–110.

Kersey, R. E. Effects of an exploratory program in instrumental music on the aural perception of instrumental timbre. Journal of Research in Music Education, 1966, 14, 303–308.

Krueger, V. R. The development and evaluation of a self-instructional program for teaching recognition of selected music timbres at the elementary level (Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California, 1974). > Dissertation Abstracts International, 1974, 35, 3039-A. (University Microfilms No. 74-26, 033)

10.

Levy, H. The efficacy of non-reading programmed instruction in aiding the socially disadvantaged fourth-grade student to discriminate between selected instrumental timbres (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, 1973). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1974, 35, 240-A. (University Microfilms No. 75-3130)

11.

Loucks, D. G. The development of an intrument to measure instrumental timbre concepts of four-year-old and five-year-old children: A feasibility study (Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 1974). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1975, 35, 5448-A. (University Microfilms No. 75-3130)

12.

Schultz, S. W. A study of children' s ability to respond to elements of music (Doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University, 1969). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1970, 30, 3047-A. (University Microfilms No. 70-154)

13.

Truax, B. S. Development of a verbal technique for identifying children' s musical concepts of instrumental timbre (Doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1971). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1972, 32, 6482-A. (University Microfilms No. 72-13, 945)