Patricia J. Flowers

Pitch-Pattern Accuracy, Tonality, and Vocal Range in Preschool Children's Singing

The purpose of this study was to assess young childrens abilities to echo short pitch patterns in relation to maintenance of a tonal center in self-chosen and taught songs. Additional considerations were (1) age differences in ability to maintain a tonality and echo pitch patterns; (2) accuracy of vocal reproduction in echoing pitch patterns; (3) age differences in use of vocal range; and (4) size of vocal range used for different singing tasks. Ninety-three preschool children, aged 3-5, were individually tested in singing a self-chosen song, singing a taught song, and echoing 20 short pitch patterns. Children more accurately echoed melodic contours than correct pitches or intervals. A low positive correlation was found between ability to echo pitches or contours and maintenance of a tonal center in singing. Children consistently used larger vocal ranges in echoing pitch patterns than in singing songs.

Piano Lessons of Beginning Students Who Persist or Drop Out Teacher Behavior, Student Behavior, and Lesson Progress

The purpose of this study was to identify behavioral differences between children who dropped out of piano lessons and those who continued for 3 years. Two videotaped first-year lessons of 14 pairs of piano students were systematically observed to record the duration or frequency of occurrence of selected student and teacher behaviors. Students in each pair took lessons with the same teacher and had comparable initial levels of pianistic ability and achievement. One child in the pair continued the piano lessons for 3 years, whereas the other child dropped out during the first or second year of lessons. In general, dropouts elicited verbal cues and tended to seek approval from the teachers more often than did the more persevering students. On the other hand, they received fewer actual approvals from the teachers, tended to accomplish the goals set by the teachers less often during the lessons, and obtained lower marks in the end-of-year piano exam than did their matched peers. The results of independent analyses performed for students who dropped out during the first and second year of lessons suggest that behavioral differences related to achievement may help identify late dropouts, but not early dropouts. March 18, 2005 October 4, 2005

Attention, Preference, and Identity in Music Listening by Middle School Students of Different Linguistic Backgrounds

Monolingual (English) and bilingual (English, Spanish) sixth-grade students (N = 60) from two urban school settings in the United States listened to three versions of the same song (English, Spanish, and instrumental). While listening to each example, students tapped a computer touch pad every time they became distracted from the music. After listening, students described the nature of their distractions, and rated each song version for preference and identity. Finally, students were asked to describe the reason for their preference decisions. Analysis revealed no significant difference between monolingual and bilingual students in the number of self-reported distractions. However, there were significant differences by song version, with fewer reported distractions for the instrumental version. Qualitative and quantitative differences in distractions were noted between monolingual and bilingual students. There was a significant positive correlation between identity and preference. Bilingual students preferred and identified most closely with the Spanish version; monolingual students preferred and identified most closely with the instrumental version.

Pedagogical techniques and student outcomes in applied instrumental lessons taught by experienced and pre-service American music teachers.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of teacher experience on student progress and performance quality in an introductory applied lesson. Nine experienced teachers and 15 pre-service teachers taught an adult beginner to play ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ on a wind instrument. The lessons were videotaped for subsequent analysis of teaching behaviors and performance achievement. Following instruction, a random sample of teachers was interviewed about their perceptions of the lesson. A panel of adjudicators rated final pupil performances. No significant difference was found between pupils taught by experienced and pre-service teachers in the quality of their final performance. Systematic observation of the videotaped lessons showed that participant teachers provided relatively frequent and highly positive reinforcement during the lessons. Pupils of experienced teachers talked significantly more during the lessons than did pupils of pre-service teachers. Pre-service teachers modeled significantly more on their instruments than did experienced teachers.

The Match between Music Excerpts and Written Descriptions by Fifth and Sixth Graders

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of instruction in writing about music on descriptions of music excerpts. Fifth and sixth graders received 4 days of instruction in music description focusing on metaphor and emotion, analytic music elements, and temporal language. Then, they wrote brief descriptions of six excerpts that were counterbalanced for instrumentation and style. Their descriptions were compared to those of students who did not receive instruction. There were no significant differences between children receiving and not receiving instruction within each grade level, except that the taught fifth graders mentioned significantly more musical elements than did fifth graders who did not receive instruction. There were no significant differences within grade levels in the rate at which expert readers matched descriptions to the original music excerpt, but sixth graders significantly outperformed the fifth graders. When excerpts were not correctly matched, they were usually misassigned to the excerpt with the same instrumentation, corroborating the priority of naming instruments in music description tasks.

Self-Reported Distractions of Middle School Students in Listening to Music and Prose.

One hundred eighteen middle school students from three different settings listened individually to a music excerpt and a prose excerpt that were each 3.5 minutes long. As they listened, they clicked a computer touchpad whenever they were distracted either by thoughts or external events, then refocused on the holistic listening task. After listening to each selection, they rated it on enjoyment and familiarity. Students self-reported significantly more distractions during the music (1.60 per minute) than the prose excerpt (1.11 per minute), but they rated the music significantly higher on enjoyment. Fewer distractions were reported at the beginning and ending of the excerpts, and there was a significant relationship between number of distractions across the two different types of listening. It was thought that the computerized tracking of distractions functioned to maintain attentiveness in this sustained listening task.

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.

Talking about Music: Interviews with Disabled and Nondisabled Children

The purpose of this study was to describe, categorize, and compare data concerning music preferences, experiences, and skills obtained from interviews with 228 students labeled “disabled” (n = 73) or “nondisabled” (n = 155). A structured assessment interview was used by university student proctors to collect information from the students in four age-groups. Students identified by their respective schools as eligible for special education services constituted the group labeled “disabled.” Questions developed for the interview focused on listening preferences and experiences, musical instrument preferences and performance, and singing and clapping (steady beat) performance. Following procedures consistent with naturalistic inquiry, audiotapes and transcriptions of the interviews were content-analyzed, and categories were developed from the responses. Perhaps the most notable outcome of this study is the similarity of responses between students with disabilities and their nondisabled peers. Results are discussed specific to music curriculum development, the integrated music classroom, and peer/teacher acceptance.

Matching Verbal Description to Music Excerpt: The Use of Language by Blind and Sighted Children

Forty-one sighted and 17 blind children listened individually to six short music excerpts and described them orally. Each childs descriptions were recorded, transcribed, and randomly ordered. Then, a panel of 10 music teachers attempted to assign each description to its intended excerpt. Teachers were able to match description to excerpt with about the same degree of accuracy for blind and sighted children. Descriptions were more easily matched at successive grade levels. Analysis of types of language used showed that sighted children remained consistent in number of musical elements described across age-groups; however, blind students increased substantially in their descriptions of musical elements at each successive level (kindergarten, primary, upper elementary). Sighted children used significantly more metaphors and emotional descriptors than did blind children. The use of temporal language increased with age, particularly among the blind students, but there were no statistical differences due to visual ability in the present study.

What Was That?—Talking About What We Hear in Music

We listen to music in many different ways, depending on context, style, and state of mind. Listening is arguably the most ubiquitous form of music engagement, inescapable in nearly every aspect of life—from insipid to annoying to sublime—encompassing background music, mood-enhancing music, and music that demands our full focus of attention. Listening is like breathing or eating: most people partake without direct instruction. But just as fitness experts have suggestions on how to breathe more efficiently, and nutritionists have principles on how to eat well, so do music educators have guidelines about how to listen effectively, to get the most out of the music, and to focus attention for maximum musical impact. It is true that our brains and our culture do much of the work for us. Infants are born with the ability to make fine auditory discriminations useful for survival, communication, and learning. Most babies babble in response to vocalizations made by their parents, but they do not attempt to imitate sounds made by the dishwasher. They come to know the music that surrounds them as “our” music and everything else as “other.” The ability to hear, perceive, discriminate, respond, and communicate in sound is well developed by the time a child reaches school age. Simultaneously, most young children learn to understand at least one language and to speak it. Like with music, this is accomplished “by ear,” resulting from numerous direct and incidental learning experiences. And finally, while music and language may represent different domains, there is surely a degree of interdependence as children learn nouns, verbs, pronouns, possessives, and modifiers, and apply them to their world of sound as well as everything else. By the time children enter the school years, they know about 5,000 words (Chall, 1987), they have watched and heard numerous hours of television and videos, listened to tapes and CDs in the car and in the nursery, and participated in structured or unstructured musical activities such as dancing, singing, and playing with sounds. Entering kindergarten, they bring an astute ear, a culturally informed mind, a functional vocabulary, and opinions about how music should go. Then, we play C8 and C1 on the piano and ask them which is “high” and which is “low,” and when they fail to respond, we surmise that they haven’t formed a concept of pitch. Or, at least we used to make that assumption. This paper will address music description and its role in music listening. The title of the paper, “What Was That?—Talking About What We Hear in Music,” is, in fact, a summary of its content: What was that? is a question you might ask when you just missed something. Both hearing acuity and paying attention are relevant prerequisites that are often assumed in music listening instruction. 1.