Jayne M. Standley

Demonstration and Recognition of High and Low Contrasts in Teacher Intensity.

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher intensity, the global attributes of enthusiasm combined with an astute sense of timing in relation to classroom management and effective subject presentation and delivery. The authors also tried to ascertain whether high and low contrasts in teacher intensity could be taught to and then demonstrated by prospective music education student teachers (n = 20) and whether other music education majors untrained in the concept of intensity could recognize these contrasts (freshmen, n = 23; seniors, n = 22; and graduate students, n = 29). Results of the study indicated that intensity as a concept could be operationally defined, easily taught to prospective student teachers, ably demonstrated, and recognized with an extremely high degree of reliability across levels of sophistication within the music education major.

Music therapy research in the NICU: an updated meta-analysis.

Purpose: To provide an overview of developmental and medical benefits of music therapy for preterm infants. Design: Meta-analysis. Sample: Empirical music studies with preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Main Outcome: Evidence-based NICU music therapy (NICU-MT) was highly beneficial with an overall large significant effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.82). Effects because of music were consistently in a positive direction. Results: Results of the current analysis replicated findings of a prior meta-analysis and included extended use of music.1 Benefits were greatest for live music therapy (MT) and for use early in the infant’s NICU stay (birth weight <1,000 g, birth postmenstrual age <28 weeks). Results justify strong consideration for the inclusion of the following evidence-based NICU-MT protocols in best practice standards for NICU treatment of preterm infants: music listening for pacification, music reinforcement of sucking, and music pacification as the basis for multilayered, multimodal stimulation.

A Meta-Analysis on the Effects of Music as Reinforcement for Education/Therapy Objectives.

This meta-analysis evaluated 208 variables derived from 98 studies incorporating I music as a contingency for education and therapeutic objectives. Variables were converted to effect sizes (ES) via statistical formulae and compared for determination of characteristics affecting reinforcement value of music. The overall benefits attributable to contingent music were almost three standard deviations greater than control/baseline conditions (ES= 2.90). Results demonstrate that contingent music was more effective than contingent nonmusic stimuli used in these studies and more effective than continuous music. Pairing other stimuli such as food, approval, or visual stimulation with the music decreased its effectiveness as a reinforcer. Uniquely, music functioned as a reinforcer and simultaneously as subject matter, and there was evidence of generalized benefit to other academic and social behaviors that were measured but were not contingently reinforced with music.

An Observation Procedure to Differentiate Teaching Experience and Expertise in Music Education

One hundred fifty music teachers and students were asked to simultaneously observe, analyze, and write extemporaneously about 20 videotaped excerpts of live music situations. Subjects were divided on the basis of their expertise and experience into five groups of 30 people each: freshmen, juniors, novices, experienced teachers, and experts. Responses were analyzed with differential points being given for accurate factual and inferential statements. Individual scores ranged from 17 to 205 points. Group means were widely differentiated and increased systematically as experience and expertise increased, and all differences between groups were significant except between the freshmen and juniors. A two-way ANOVA revealed that the difference in scores between experienced and expert teachers was not due solely to years of experience.

Does Music Instruction Help Children Learn to Read? Evidence of a Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis of 30 studies using a variety of music interventions to affect reading skills resulted in a moderately strong, significant, overall effect size of d = .32. When music activities incorporate specific reading skills matched to the needs of identified children (d = .44) or contingent music is used to reinforce reading behavior (d = .66), benefits are large. The music activities that pair alphabet recognition with phonetic patterns, incorporate word segmentation and sound blending skills, and promote rapid decoding skills are effective in enhancing reading instruction and require little transfer to the assessment methodology. Benefits are greater when the special music reading activities are added to an existing music education curriculum than when replacing it. All schedules of intervention are equally effective regardless of whether daily, intense, short-term, or weekly periodic intervention spread across the school year.

Productivity and Eminence in Music Research.

This study examined the three primary journals for research in music education and therapy: The Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME), the Council for Research in Music Education Bulletin (CRME), and the Journal of Music Therapy (JMT). The purpose of the investigation was to identify the most prolific scholars in music research as determined by number of articles published; to identify the most productive institutions of this type of music research as determined by author affiliations; and to identify music scholars of research eminence as determined by citation rates in these three journals. All data were quantified twice by two independent researchers for purposes of reliability. Tabulations resulted in rank ordering of individuals and author affiliations as in categories above.

Musical Development and Learning Characteristics of Students A Compilation of Key Points From the Research Literature Organized by Age

Development involves progressive changes in knowledge and abilities that occur across the life span. Current research on musical abilities suggests that the development of skills necessary for musicality begins in utero and continues through adulthood. Many of these skills, such as the ability to carry a tune, move in time to music, and respond emotionally to music, progress as part of normal cognitive maturation and development. Others, such as explicit musical knowledge and musical performance, require in-depth learning and practice for future musical development to occur. This article provides a compilation of key musical developmental milestones and learning characteristics from prebirth through adolescence gathered from the research literature. A brief summary of relevant information is provided, as well as charts outlining specific points from the literature.

Enhancing Literacy in the Second Grade: Five Related Studies Using the Register Music/Reading Curriculum.

The purpose of these five related studies was to ascertain the effects of a music curriculum designed to enhance reading skills of second-grade students. The dependent variables were subtest scores on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test administered pre and post the music/reading intervention. Results showed that the total test gain scores of children receiving the music/reading curriculum were somewhat higher than those for control conditions in four of the five studies, but not significantly so. At the second site, gain scores were basically the same. All sites informally observed teacher and pupil enthusiasm for the music for reading curriculum. Though postreading scores were statistically equivalent among groups, it should be noted that in most sites, the music/reading curriculum time replaced reading instruction time. The value of this project is that it demonstrates the general benefits of music as a viable methodology for teaching reading skills at a comparable level while promoting enjoyment in an important academic area.

Pre and Perinatal Growth and Development: Implications of Music Benefits for Premature Infants:

This article summarizes the current scientific knowledge on foetal and newborn neurological development and related research on beneficial uses of music with the premature infant. As technology and science advance, the survival rate of earlier and earlier premature birth increases with long-term implications for these children having impaired neurological development, delayed growth, and need for special education. Research in the neonatal intensive care unit has focused on uses of music to reduce stress, to promote homeostasis and weight gain, to reinforce non-nutritive sucking, to enhance developmental maturation, and to shorten length of hospitalization. Further, it is theorized that music benefits documented for full term newborns may also apply to the premature infant, i.e., lullabies promote language development; familiar music is recognized, reinforcing, and comforting; and infants orient to and avidly attend to music more so than other auditory stimuli. This burgeoning area of research provides exciting possibilities for the practice of music therapy in the neonatal intensive care unit and for music education in early childhood.

Efficacy of music therapy for premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit: a meta-analysis

This meta-analysis on 30 studies conducted over the last 20 years showed an overall large, significant effect size (Cohens d=.82, p<.000). All benefits of music therapy (MT) supplementing standard medical treatment compared to standard medical treatment alone were in a positive direction. Results were differentiated by dependent variable, gestational age at birth, birth weight and gender. Music protocols were most beneficial for infants born between 28 and 35 gestational weeks and weighing less than 1500 g at birth. Premature females responded with greater benefit to MT (d=.91) than did males (d=.59). In the most recent study with randomized controlled trials contrasting music based multi-modal stimulation (MMS) versus the no contact control condition, female MT infants were discharged an average of 15.7 days sooner than control females. Male infants receiving MMS were discharged an average of 8.2 days sooner than control males. Live MT provided by a Board Certified Music Therapist (U.S. professional designation) was more effective than recorded music. Research based MT protocols included music listening to facilitate calming after painful stimuli or for masking ambient noise in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, lullaby singing to maintain homeostasis during systematic layering of MMS for neurologic enhancement, and music for reinforcing non-nutritive sucking that transferred to improved feeding skill and endurance. Homogeneity of findings suggests that evidence-based music therapy techniques have clinically important benefits for premature infants.