The purpose of this study, grounded in near-transfer theory, was to investigate relationships among music sight-reading and tonal and rhythmic audiation, visual field articulation, spatial orientation and visualization, and achievement in math concepts and reading comprehension. A regression analysis with data from four high schools (N = 98) in the American Midwest yielded a 4–variable model that included reading comprehension, rhythmic audiation, visual field articulation, and spatial orientation, F = 21.26, p < 0.001, accounting for 48% of the variance on music sight-reading. The results support previous studies in music education, cognitive science, and neuroscience that have shown that music reading draws on a variety of cognitive skills that include reading comprehension, audiation, spatial-temporal reasoning and visual perception of patterns rather than individual notes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Boyle, J. (1970). The effect of prescribed rhythmical movements on the ability to read music at sight. Journal of Research in Music Education, 18, 307–308.
2.
Ciepluch, G. (1988). Sightreading achievement in instrumental music performance, learning gifts and academic achievement: A correlation study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
3.
Ekstrom, R., French, J., Harman, H., & Dermen, D. (1976). Kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests.Princeton: Educational Testing Service.
4.
Elliott, C. (1982). The relationships among instrumental sight-reading ability and seven selected predictor variables. Journal of Research in Music Education, 30, 5–14.
5.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind.New York: Basic Books.
6.
Gobert, J. (1994). Expertise in the comprehension of architectural plans. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, Ontario.
7.
Goolsby, T. (1989, April). Music reading as language reading or picture-viewing. Paper presented at the Southern Division conference of MENC: The National Association for Music Education, Nashville, TN.
8.
Goolsby, T. (1994). Profiles of processing: Eye-movements during sigh treading. Music Perception, 12, 97–123.
9.
Gordon, E. (1989). Advanced Measures of Music Audiation.Chicago: GIA Publications.
10.
Gromko, J., & Poorman, A. (1998). The effect of music training on preschoolers' spatial-temporal task performance. Journal of Research in Music Education, 46, 173–181.
11.
Gromko, J., & Russell, C. (2002). Relationships among young children's aural perception, listening condition, and accurate reading of graphic listening maps. Journal of Research in Music Education, 50, 333–342.
12.
Hetland, L. (2000). Learning to make music enhances spatial reasoning. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 34 (3–4), 179–238.
13.
Holzman, P. (1954). The relation of assimilation tendencies in visual, auditory, and kinesthetic time-error to cognitive attitudes of leveling and sharpening. Journal of Personality, 22, 375–394.
14.
Hoover, H., Dunbar, S., Frisbie, D., Oberley, K., Bray, G., Naylor, R., Lewis, J., Ordman, V., & Quails, A. (2003). The Iowa tests.Itasca, IL: Riverside Publishing.
15.
Kolers, P., Duchnicky, R., & Sundstroem, G. (1985). Size in the visual processing of faces and words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 11, 726–751.
16.
Lehmann, A., & Mc Arthur, V. (2002). Sight-reading. In R. Parncutt & Mc Pherson (Eds.), The science & psychology of music performance: Creative strategies for teaching and learning. New York: Oxford University Press.
17.
Mainwaring, J. (1951). Psychological factors in the teaching of music: Part II: Applied musicianship. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 21 (3), 199–213.
18.
Mc Pherson, G., & Gabrielsson, A. (2002). From sound to sign. In R. Parncutt & G. Mc Pherson (Eds.), The science & psychology of musk performance: Creative strategies for teaching and learning. New York: Oxford University Press.
19.
Palmer, M. (1976). Relative effectiveness of two approaches to rhythm reading for fourth-grade students. Journal of Research in Music Education, 24, 110–118.
20.
Rauscher, E., Shaw, G., Levine, L., Wright, E., Dennis, W., & Newcomb, R. (1997). Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spacial-temporal reasoning. Neurological Research, 19 (1), 2.
21.
Salomon, G., & Perkins, D. (1989). Rocky roads to transfer: Rethinking mechanisms of a neglected phenomenon. Educational Psychologist, 24, 113–142.
22.
Sergent, J., Zuck, E., Terriah, S., & Mac Donald, B. (1992). Distributed neural network underlying musical sight-reading and keyboard performance. Science, 257, 106–109.
23.
Sloboda, J. (1984). Experimental studies of music reading: A review. Music Perception, 2 (2), 222–236.
24.
Walker, R. (1992). Auditory-visual perception and musical behavior. In R. Colwell (Ed.), Handbook of research on music teaching and learning. New York: Schirmer Books.
25.
Waters, A., Underwood, G., & Findlay, J. (1997). Studying expertise in music reading: Use of a pattern-matching paradigm. Perception & Psychophysics, 59 (4), 477–488.
26.
Watkins, J., & Farnum, S. (1954). The Watkins-Farnum Performance Scale.Milwaukee: WI: Hal Leonard.
27.
Weerts, R. (1992). Research on the teaching of instrumental music. In R. Colwell (Ed.), Handbook of research on music teaching and learning. New York: Schirmer Books.
28.
Wolf, T. (1976). A cognitive model of musical sight-reading. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 5 (2), 143–171.
29.
Adderly, C. L., III. (1999). Preparation of future band directors relative to the National Standards—Goals 2000. Journal of Band Research, 35 (1), 63–73.
30.
Amchin, R. A. (1995). Creative musical response: The effects of teacher-student interaction on the improvisation abilities of fourth- and fifth-grade students (Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, 1995). Dissertation Abstracts International, 56 (08A), 3044.
31.
Atterbury, B. W., & Silcox, L. (1993). The effect of piano accompaniment on kindergartners' developmental singing ability. Journal of Research in Music Education, 41, 40–47.
32.
Azzara, C. D. (1993). Audiation-based improvisation techniques and elementary instrumental music students* music achievement. Journal of Research in Music Education, 41, 328–342.
33.
Azzara, C. D. (1999). An aural approach to improvisation. Music Educators Journal, 86 (3), 21–25.
34.
Consortium of National Arts Education Associations. (1994). National standards for arts education.Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference.
35.
English, W. H. (1985). The relative effectiveness of the amount of piano accompaniment in beginning strings class instruction (Doctoral dissertation, University of Houston, 1985). Dissertation Abstracts International, 46 (06A), 1550.
36.
Goetze, M., Cooper, N., & Brown, C. (1990). Recent research on singing in the general music classroom. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, no. 104, 16–37.
37.
Gordon, E. E. (1982). Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation.Chicago: G.I.A. Publications.
38.
Gordon, E. E. (1989). Audiation, music learning theory, music aptitude, and creativity. In J. W. Richmond (Ed.), The Proceedings of the Suncoast Music Education Forum on Creativity (pp. 75–89). Tampa, FL: The University of South Florida.
39.
Gordon, E. E. (1997). Learning sequences in music: Skill, content, and patterns.Chicago: G.I.A. Publications.
40.
Gordon, E. E. (2001). Test validity and curriculum development: Three longitudinal studies in music (GIA Monograph Series).Chicago: G.I.A. Publications.
41.
Gordon, E. E. (2003). Improvisation in the music classroom.Chicago: G.I.A. Publications.
42.
Hale, M. R. (1977). An experimental study of the comparative effectiveness of harmonic and melodic accompaniment in singing as it relates to the development of a sense of tonality. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, no. 53, 23–30.
43.
Jarjisian, C. S. (1983). Pitch pattern instruction and the singing achievement of young children. Psychology of Musk, 11 (1), 19–25.
44.
Jones, M. (1979). Using a vertical-keyboard instrument with the uncertain singer. Journal of Research in Music Education, 27, 173–184.
45.
Kalmer, M., & Balasko, G. (1987). “Musical mother tongue” and creativity in preschool children's melody improvisations. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, no. 91, 77–89.
46.
Lange, D. (2000). The effect of the use of text in music instruction on the tonal aptitude, tonal accuracy, and tonal understanding of kindergarten children (Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1999). Dissertation Abstracts International, 60 (10A), 3623.
47.
Levinowitz, L. M. (1989). An investigation of preschool children's comparative capability to sing songs with and without words. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Musk Education, no. 100, 14–19.
48.
Partchey, K. C. (1974). The effects of feedback, models, and repetition on the ability to improvise melodies (Doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1973). Dissertation Abstracts International, 35 (01 A), 240.
49.
Petzold, R. G. (1966). Auditory perceptions of musical sounds by children in the first six grades (Cooperative Research Project No. 1051).Washington, DC: Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
50.
Rutkowski, J. (1996). The effectiveness of individual/small-group singing on kindergartners' use of singing voice and developmental music aptitude. Journal of Research in Music Education, 44, 353–368.
51.
Wig, J. A. (1981). The effect of instruction in music composition strategies on middle school band students' ability to improvise melodies (Doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1980). Dissertation Abstracts International, 41 (10A), 3424.
