The Effects of Listening Instructions and Cognitive Style on Music Appreciation

Abstract

The effects of several different listening instructions on music appreciation were examined with two types of music and among subjects with different cognitive styles—right versus left hemisphere preference. Before listening to a selection of programmatic music, 60 subjects were divided into three instructional groups: pay attention, form free mental images, or follow a story program. With a selection of absolute music, 48 subjects were divided into four instructional groups: pay attention, form free mental images, follow an abstract verbal program, or follow a concrete analytical program. Following the music, subjects rated their attention, enjoyment, and understanding of the music. A recognition test of both selections was conducted one week later. Imagery instructions were found to lead to greatest enjoyment of both selections, while the story program led to greatest understanding of the programmatic music; the abstract and concrete analytical programs did not improve any aspect of appreciation of the absolute music. Cognitive style interacted with instructions. Imagery was more beneficial for right hemisphere subjects and the analytical program benefited left hemisphere subjects more. The results indicate that no single type of program or instruction can enhance all aspects of music appreciation in all people.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aronoff, F. W. (1969). Music and young children. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

Barlow, H. , & Morgenstern, S. (1975). A dictionary of musical themes. (p. 419). New York: Crown Publishers.

Bever, T. G. , & Chiarello, R. J. (1974). Cerebral dominance in musicians and nonmusicians. Science, 185, 537–539.

Bogen, J. E. , DeZure, R. , Tenhouten, W. D. , & Marsh, J. F. (1972). The other side of the brain IV: The A/P ratio. Bulletin of the Los Angeles Neurological Society, 37, 49–61.

Bogen, J. E. , & Gorden, H. W. (1971). Musical tests for functional lateralization with intracarotid amobarital. Nature, 230, 524–525.

Bradley, I. (1972). Effect on student musical preference of a listening program in contemporary music. Journal of Research in Music Education, 20, 344–353.

Bradshaw, J. L. , & Nettleton, N. C. (1981). The nature of hemispheric specialization in man. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 4, 51–91.

Chislett, W. A. (1969). Schubert, the “unfinished” symphony [Record jacket]. Angel S-36609.

Cross, M. , & Ewen, D. , (Eds.) (1962). Encyclopedia of the great composers and their music. New York: Doubleday.

10.

Dabbs, J. M. (1980). Left-right differences in cerebral blood flow and cognition. Psychophysiology, 17, 548–551.

11.

Damon, K. F. (1933). Program notes for the listener to music. New York: Freybourg.

12.

Delis, D. , Fleer, J. , & Kerr, N. H. (1978). Memory of music. Perception and Psychophysics, 23, 215–218.

13.

Fitzpatrick, J. (1968). The development and evaluation of a curriculum in music listening skills on the seventh grade level. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Iowa, Iowa City.

14.

Grout, D. J. (1980). A history of Western music. New York: W. W. Norton.

15.

Gur, R. E. , Gur, R. C. , & Marshalek, B. (1975). Classroom seating and functional brain assymetry. Journal of Educational Psychology, 67, 151–153.

16.

Haack, P. A. (1969). A study in the development of music listening skills of secondary school students. Journal of Research in Music Education, 17, 193–201.

17.

Hare, R. Y. (1959). The pedagogical principles of music appreciation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Iowa, Iowa City.

18.

Hartshorn, W. C. (1958). The role of listening. In W. C. Hartshorn (Ed.), Basic concepts in music education (pp. 261–291). Chicago: Chicago University Press.

19.

Hoffer, C. R. (1984). A concise introduction to music listening. California: Wadsworth.

20.

Hufstader, R. A. (1977). An investigation of a learning sequence of music listening skills. Journal of Research in Music Education, 25, 184–196.

21.

Kamien, R. (1984). Music, an appreciation. New York: McGraw-Hill.

22.

Keston, M. J. (1954). An experimental evaluation of the efficacy of two methods of teaching music appreciation. Journal of Experimental Education, 22, 215–226.

23.

Krugman, H. E. (1943). Affective responses as a function of familiarity. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 38, 388–392.

24.

McElwain, J. (1979). The effect of spontaneous and analytical listening on the evoked cortical activity in the left and right hemispheres of musicians and non-musicians. Journal of Music Therapy, 16, 180–189.

25.

Mintzberg, H. (1976). Planning on the left side and managing on the right. Harvard Business Review, 54, 49–58.

26.

Pepinsky, M. (1959). Sixth-grade children's attitudes toward music of Gluck, Haydn, Mozart and toward other music. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington.

27.

Petzold, R. G. (1963). The development of auditory perception of musical sounds by children in the first six grades. Journal of Research in Music Education, 11, 21–43.

28.

Prince, W. F. (1972). A paradigm for research on music listening. Journal of Research in Music Education, 20, 445–455.

29.

Reese, S. (1976). How do your ideas about music affect your teaching? Music Educators Journal, 62, no. 6, 84–88.

30.

Simons, G. M. (1976). A criterion-referenced test of fundamental music listening skills. Child Study Journal, 6, 223–234.

31.

Torrance, E. P. , Reynolds, C. R. , Riegel, T. , & Ball, O. (1977). Your style of learning and thinking, Forms A and B. The Gifted Child Quarterly, 21, 563–573.

32.

Zenhausern, R. (1978). Imagery, cerebral dominance, and style of thinking: A unified field model. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 12, 381–384.

33.

Zimmerman, M. P. (1971). Musical characteristics of children. Washington, DC: Music Educators National Conference.