A Comparison of Verbal Instruction and Nonverbal Teacher-Student Modeling in Instrumental Ensembles

This study concerns the comparative effectiveness of verbal instruction and modeling instruction in instrumental music classrooms. The primary hypothesis maintains that modeling is more effective than verbal instruction. Four middle school band classes (N = 128), two taught for 10 weeks with verbal instruction and two with modeling instruction, were pretested and posttested for ear-to-hand skills, kinesthetic response skills, and music discrimination skills. Students in the two classes receiving modeling instruction achieved significantly higher scores on tests of ear-to-hand skills and kinesthetic skills than did those in the two classes receiving verbal instruction, although those in the modeling classes did not achieve significantly different scores in a test of general music discrimination skills. These findings suggest that the use of modeling strategies and devices such as melodic echoes and rhythmic movement to music can lead to increased ear-to-hand skills and kinesthetic response skills.