Charles P. Schmidt

Gender presentation: Perceptual and acoustical analysesof voice

This study investigated the perceptual and acoustical characteristics of vocal presentation in both the masculine and the feminine modes by the same group of male subjects. Listeners (N = 88) evaluated 22 voice samples by using 18 semantic differential scales and 57 adjectives. The 22 voice samples were provided by 11 biologically male speakers, who described themselves as heterosexual crossdressers. Each speaker read a standard passage under controlled conditions. In one reading, they demonstrated their typical masculine voice and in the other they spoke in their feminine voice. Acoustical analyses included mean fundamental frequency, frequency range, overall passage duration, and duration of a sample of stressed vowels. Results indicated that listeners heard significant differences between masculine and feminine presentations across the 11 speakers and the 18 semantic differential scales. Masculine-feminine and high-low pitch were the most salient scales in the perceptual judgments. Acoustical analyses indicated wide variation according to speaker and condition. Clinical applications are provided.

Motivation Orientations, Academic Achievement, and Career Goals of Undergraduate Music Education Majors:

This study is an examination of motivation orientations (mastery, intrinsic, cooperative, individual, competition, ego, approach success, avoid failure, hypercompetition, personal development competition) and musical self-concept in relation to measures of academic achievement and career goals of preservice music teachers. The research questions addressed (a) relations among motivation and self-concept variables and their underlying factors, and (b) relations between the motivation and self-concept variables and academic achievement, class level, sex, and immediate and long-term career goals. Participants were 148 undergraduate music education majors from three American universities. A survey was administered to measure the motivation constructs and to gather information concerning academic achievement, demographic variables, and career goals. Of the subjects surveyed, 69. 4 % reported public school teaching as an immediate career goal, and 49.3 % reported it as a long-term goal. Significantly greater numbers of women (62.7%) than men (3 7.3 %) indicated public school teaching as the long term goal. Means for self concept in music dif fered by university, while means for motivation and frequencies for career goals did not. Factor analysis revealed five factors: Competitive/Ego, Achieve Success/Avoid Failure, Cooperative vs. Individual, Intrinsic/Mastery, and Personal Development Competition. Significant but low correlations were found between Personal Development Competition and class level. Motivation and self-concept variables were not correlated with academic achievement variables and generally did not differ by sex or class level. Differences in motivation and musical self-concept by immediate and long-term career goal categories were nonsignificant.

An Investigation of the Relationships Among Music Audiation, Musical Creativity, and Cognitive Style

The purpose of this study was to investigate achievement in convergent and divergent musical tasks as a function of the cognitive style dimension of reflectionlimpulsivity. The effect of gender and its interaction with the cognitive style variable were also examined. A random sample of 47 second graders was screened according to reflective/impulsive cognitive style resulting in a final N of 34. Variables were operationalized through the following measures: Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA), Measure of Creative Thinking in Music (MCTM), and Matching Familiar Figures (MFF). Data were analyzed through Pearson Product-Moment correlations and analysis of variance procedures. Results indicated that (a) reflectionlimpulsivity was significantly related to PMMA Tonal scores (it was not found to be significantly related to PMMA Rhythm or the MCTM), (b) PMMA Rhythm was significantly negatively related to two dimensions of the MCTM, and (c) there was a significant difference for sex on three of four dimensions of the MCTM. The magnitude of the relationships may indicate practical significance.

Cited Quantitative Research Articles in Music Education Research Journals, 1975–1990: A Content Analysis of Selected Studies

In this article, we identified those studies that were cited most often in research articles published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Psychology of Music, the Journal of Music Therapy, Contributions to Music Education, and the Missouri Journal of Research in Music Education between 1975 and 1990. Sampling was limited to citations within descriptive or experimental studies (N = 922) that were data-based. A content analysis of the 26 most cited studies was conducted, and the articles were classified according to populations studied and central variables used. Results indicated that primary dependent variable categories included music preference, student on-task/off-task behavior, perception and/or performance of tempo, vocal performance, pitch accuracy/intonation, melodic or rhythmic perception, teacher approval-disapproval behavior, student attitudes, and evaluation of teaching/instruction. The most frequent independent variables used across the 26 studies included musical stimulus characteristics (e.g., tempo, style), teacher behaviors (e.g., approval-disapproval, eye contact), instructional methods, and subject characteristics (e.g., grade level, training/experience).

Applied Music Teaching Behavior as a Function of Selected Personality Variables.

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships among applied music teaching behaviors and personality variables measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Subjects (N = 43) were college-level applied music instructors in the areas of woodwinds, brass, strings, voice, and keyboard. The following teacher behaviors were examined as dependent variables: (a) approvals, (b) disapprovals, (c) reinforcement rate, (d) teacher talk, (e) teacher models, (f) teacher questions, and (g) pace. Multivariate tests of significance indicated that the main effects of extraversion/introversion (EI) and sensing/intuition (SN) were statistically significant, while thinking/feeling (TF) and judging/perceiving (JP) were nonsignificant. EI × JP was the sole significant two-way interaction effect. Univariate F tests indicated significant differences between (a) E and I subgroups on reinforcement rate and approvals and (b) S and N subgroups on rate of reinforcement, approvals, teacher models, and pace. A significant EI × JP interaction effect was found for rate of reinforcement, approvals, and pace.

Documenting laryngeal change following prolonged loud reading: A videostroboscopic study

This study investigated the effects of prolonged loud reading on trained and untrained subjects. Subjects were eight young women singers, and eight young women with limited musical experience. Each subject underwent videostroboscopic examination prior to and following 1 h of prolonged loud reading. The pretest and posttest videotaped samples were randomized and presented to three experienced judges, who evaluated various aspects of laryngeal appearance and vibratory characteristics. Analyses of group data revealed that untrained subjects showed a small but significant increase in amplitude of vocal fold excursion following the experimental task. No significant differences were noted in the trained singer group. When individual variation was analyzed, it was found that most subjects did not show many changes from pretest to posttest. It was concluded that a l-h loud-reading task was not sufficient to induce notable laryngeal alterations.

The Relationship among Aspects of Cognitive Style and Language-Bound/Language-Optional Perception to Musicians' Performance in Aural Discrimination Tasks

To address the problem of individual differences in musical-aural skills, this study examined the predictor variables of field dependence/field independence, reflection/impulsivity, and language-optional/language-bound perception. A random sample of 75 college freshman music majors served as subjects in the study. Variables were operationalized through tests of Group Embedded Figures, Matching Familiar Figures, Temporal Order Discrimination, Fusion, and Aural Skills. Data were analyzed through multiple regression and analysis of variance procedures. The major findings of the study indicated that (1) measures of Temporal Order Discrimination, Group Embedded Figures, Fusion, and Matching Familiar Figures are statistically significant predictors of achievement in aural skills; (2) the relationship of reflection/impulsivity to achievement in aural skills appears to be negligible; and (3) the variance attributable to language-bound/language-optional and field dependence/field independence indicates the possible practical significance of these variables for aural skills instruction.

Field-Dependence/Independence, Movement-Based Instruction and Fourth Graders' Achievement in Selected Musical Tasks

The purpose of this study was 1) to examine the effect of psychomotor activities on achievement in temporal discrimination tasks; and, 2) to examine the interaction of this treatment with the cognitive style variable of field dependence/independence (FDI). A one-group pre-test-posttest design was utilized in the study. An intact class (n = 29) of normal fourth graders received eighteen class sessions in which musical concepts pertaining to tempo, meter and rhythm were reinforced through activities involving a psychomotor response. FDI was measured by means of the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT); subjects were classified as field dependent (FD) or field independent (FI) on the basis of a median split of the GEFT. The following standardized tests were used as both pre- and posttests; 1) Music Aptitude Profile (MAP)-Meter; 2) MAP-Tempo; and 3) Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation (IMMA)-Rhythm. Data were analyzed through repeated measures ANOVA procedures. Results indicated that pre- to posttest differences for IMMA-Rhythm and MAP-Meter and interactions with FDI were non-significant. For MAP-Tempo, the pre- to posttest difference and the interaction effect for FDI were statistically significant, with the interaction effect accounting for 15% of the variance.

Intensity range as a function of task and training

Summary This study examined intensity range as a function of elicitation task (reading and automatic speech sequences), musical training, and the interaction between task and musical training in 31 college students. The results indicated significant differences in loudness range by experiental task. Intensity range for the descending automatic sequence was significantly greater than that for the ascending and reading tasks. While the overall effect of musical training was nonsignificant, there was a significant interaction between task and training, with musicians having a significantly greater mean range on the ascending task. A comparison between ascending and descending tasks indicated a significant mean difference between lower limits and no significant mean difference between upper limits. The range for the reading probe was located approximately in the middle of the total available intensity range.

Reexamination of Relations between the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Field Dependence-Independence:

The Group Embedded Figures Test and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator were administered to 210 undergraduate and graduate students. Bivariate relations between the embedded figures test and the Indicator scales of Extraversion-Introversion (EI), Thinking-Feeling (TF), and Judgment-Perception (JP) were nonsignificant while the relation between scores on embedded figures and Sensing-Intuition (SN) was statistically significant. ESFP, ISFJ, and ESFJ types were significantly more field-dependent than the INFP and ENTP types.