Journal of Research in Music Education

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of age, sex and melodic/harmonic patterns on pitch-matching skills of children. Subjects were 128 talented singers, ages 8-11, equally divided among boys and girls, who sang 16 pitch-matching patterns; 4 patterns were melodic and 12 were harmonic. In 4 harmonic patterns, the upper tone was matched; in another 4, the lower tone was matched, and in the last set, the middle tone was matched. Two judges recorded correct/incorrect responses across 1,536 trials with 85% agreements. Results of a three-factor analysis of variance with repeated measures indicated no differences between age or sex groups and significant differences among pitch-matching tasks. More errors were made on matching the middle pitch of a chord than on any other trials. Singing the lower pitch of two tones was more difficult than matching the higher pitch of two tones or singing back a short melody. A task hierarchy for children's part-singing is suggested.

The purpose of this study was to investigate verbal behaviors of independent piano teachers in private lessons. Forty-seven lessons from 25 teachers were recorded on audiotape, scripted, and analyzed for time spent in teacher presentation, student participation, and teacher reinforcement. Frequencies were obtained for complete/correct, complete/incorrect, and incomplete teaching patterns observed.

Results indicated significant differences due to student age in presentation of musical information, teacher talk, teacher coaching, and student participation. Students perceived as “average” by teachers received significantly more directive comments than “better” students. Significant interactions were observed for verbal reinforcement by student and teacher experience. Teachers with more than 18.5 years of experience were more disapproving to students with more than 3.5 years of playing experience. Less-experienced teachers were more specific with approvals than their more-experienced colleagues. Frequencies of complete/correct patterns of teaching were significantly lower than other patterns observed.

The present study assessed the effects of tempo differences on listeners' ability to recognize previously heard rhythm phrases. The effect of audible beat on subjects' response accuracy also was examined. Three hundred twenty third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students and nonmusic-major undergraduates heard one of two versions of a 20-item paired-comparison test and indicated whether the second rhythm in each pair was the same or not the same as the first rhythm in the pair. In one test version, a second “voice” accompanied each rhythm at the rate of the steady beat. Rhythm performances at the rate of 100 beats per minute (bpm) were compared to performances at 50, 75, 125, and 150 bpm.

The mean number of correct responses for undergraduates was significantly higher than the corresponding means for the third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade subjects, which were not significantly different from one another. Response accuracy across all groups was affected significantly both by the comparison tempo and by the direction of tempo change between the first and second rhythms in the test item. The mean number of correct responses for items with a 50-bpm comparison tempo was significantly lower than the correct response means for items with 75-, 125-, and 150-bpm comparison tempos, which did not differ significantly from one another. Subjects were better able to identify paired rhythms as identical when the tempo of the second rhythm was the faster of the two examples in the pair than when the second example was the slower of the two examples. There were no differences in response accuracy attributable to the presence (or absence) of an audible steady beat in the stimulus, and there were no significant interactions between main effects.

Musical expression is often dependent upon accentuation, yet there is little research in the perception of dynamic accent in music and its relationship to intensity just noticeable differences (JNDs). This experiment estimated relationships among (a) accent limen (AL), (b) difference limen (DL), and (c) the ages of the nonmusician female subjects (N = 51). The AL was the intensity increment producing 80 % correct criteria in subjects' perceptions of single accented tones embedded xvithin seven-tone isochronous series. The unaccented tones were identical-timbre 87-dB(A) digitally produced snare drum sounds. The DL was the intensity difference in tone pairs that produced a 75% correct criterion. The relationship between AL and DL was not significant [F(1, 48) = 5.505, p = .197]. The relationship between AL and age was significant [F(1, 48) = 5.732, p = .021], suggesting that the amount of intensity change required for perception of intensity accentuation in musical set-I tings (especially by children) should be larger than the DL.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between world music preferences and multicultural attitudes of nonmusic-major undergraduate students. The World Music Preference Inventory (WMPI) and the Multicultural Attitude Inventory (MAI) were administered to 50 undergraduate nonmusic majors. Two scores were determined from the WMPI (composite preference and composite correct identification) for eight world music style categories: Africa, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Middle East, and Thailand. No significant correlations were found between the composite preference score and composite correct identification score. There was, however, a significant correlation between the composite preference score and the composite MAI score. Furthermore, significant correlations were found among the preference subscores of all style categories, indicating that subjects' preferences for the eight world musical style categories were similar. Analyses revealed that there was a significantly higher degree of preference for instrumental excerpts than for vocal excerpts.

A nationwide probability sample of elementary schools, high schools, and colleges and universities was contacted and asked to send programs from band and orchestra concerts over the past three decades. Players of instruments were coded for gender by means of their first names. Using the band or orchestra as the unit of analysis, we found that the mean proportion of females playing historically “male” instruments increased over the period, but so did the proportion of females playing historically “female” instruments. Partial correlation analysis holding overall proportion of females in the instrumental groups constant showed that the partial correlation between year and proportion female playing “female” instruments was significantly positive, and the partial correlation between year and proportion female playing “male” instruments was negative or zero. These results held for the high school and college level but not at the elementary level. Thus, we conclude that gender-based segregation has increased at the high school and college level, but we have no evidence that it has done so at the elementary level.

The purpose of the study was to investigate young children's abilities to discriminate between two chords played as the accompaniment of a melody and played alone with no melody. After receiving brief training in harmonic discrimination, 167 children ages 4 and 5 from four preschools were tested in their ability to discriminate between the chords “I” and “V6/5” in the song “En la Torre de una Iglesia” or between the chords “i” and “VII” in “Drunken Sailor.” ANOVAs with repeated measures were performed for age, school, order of stimulus presentation (within variable), and type of stimulus on children s scores for each song. Both analyses indicated that age, type of stimulus, and the interaction of these two variables affected children's performance in the test significantly. In addition, order of presentation was found to be a significant variable of children's scores for the song “Drunken Sailor.” Five-year-olds could detect harmonic changes in simple chord progressions, but were unable to do so when a melody was superimposed over the progression. Four-year-olds could not identify the chord changes of either stimuli.