Wendy L. Sims

Music Style Preferences of Different Age Listeners

We measured the music preference opinions of 2,262 listeners for examples of art musk, traditional jazz, and rock. Our subjects were enrolled in Grades 1 through college, and we also tested adults who were not college students. Participants ranged in age from 6 to 91 years. We found that music preference means for the different styles were comparatively similar across grade levels, and when style subtest scores were pooled to make a general index of music preference, a characteristic pattern of responding across grade levels emerged. Listeners in Grade 1 had a high level of preference, but preference levels then declined to a low point at Grade 6. From that point, preference steadily rose into the high school years, reaching its highest point at college level. Preference declined again for our adult group, which included a good representation of senior citizens. However, adult preference was higher than that of any other grade levels except Grade 1 and college.

The Effect of High Versus Low Teacher Affect and Passive Versus Active Student Activity During Music Listening on Preschool Children's Attention, Piece Preference, Time Spent Listening, and Piece Recognition:

This study was designed to examine the effects of high versus low non-verbal teacher affect and active versus passive student activities during music listening on preschool childrens attention, paired-comparison piece preference, time spent listening, and piece recognition. Three-through five-year-old subjects (N = 94) participated in four small-group listening lessons and subsequent individual posttests. Through the use of a modified multiple baseline design, each of four treatment conditions, representing different sequences of instructional events, was replicated three times. All lessons were videotaped on a split screen showing both teacher and students. Data obtained through observation of the videotaped lessons indicated that high teacher affect was associated with higher levels of group attending behavior than was low affect, and active listening activities elicited similar or higher on-task behavior than passive activities. No significant effects concerning teacher affect during listening or piece familiarity were found in analyses of posttest piece preferences, time spent listening, or piece recognition, although some differences between older and younger children were evident.

Relationship between Humor Perceived in Music and Preferences of Different-Age Listeners

The purpose of this study was to measure the relationship between humor perceived in music and the self reported music preference opinions of subjects representing four different age levels. We administered a listening test composed of humorous and nonhumorous song excerpts in three popular music styles to 445 subjects in Michigan, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. Male and female listeners in Grades 3, 7, and 11 as well as college undergraduates participated in the study. Perception of humor was largely a function of age, with younger listeners perceiving significantly more humor than older ones until age levels began to approach adulthood in the upper grades. Higher levels of perceived humor were significantly associated with higher levels of preference. Listener age exerted a distinct influence on overall preference scores, which were highest with the youngest listeners, were lower in the middle age-groups, and rose again at the college level. Listener gender was influential in the case of some music examples.

Effects of Free versus Directed Listening on Duration of Individual Music Listening by Prekindergarten Children

Preschool childrens listening time responses to free versus directed listening activities were compared. For the free condition, children were instructed just to “listen as long as you would like.” The directed condition was a written task designed to focus attention on specific aspects of the music and give children something concrete to do while listening — again, for as long as the children chose to participate. Children listened individually with headphones, as one of the free-choice activities available in their preschool classroom. Each child listened to two classical music examples under both conditions. As a group, children did not listen significantly longer when presented with a specific task to complete while listening. Childrens listening times varied widely from one another, including some children who listened longer than might generally be expected for this age. October 28, 2004 January 3, 2005.

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.

Nurturing the Expressive Arts.

Abstract He scribbles, he looks at what he has done and feels a warm flow of creation. Only a short time ago the paper was blank, and now in front of him is something he alone has made, something that did not exist in the world before.—From Rhoda Kellogg, California Teacher, Researcher and Writer

Help Wanted: Music Education Positions in Higher Education, 2007-2008

The purpose of this study was to document and describe the characteristics of college and university music education positions that were available and advertised during the 2007-2008 school year. Information for all jobs listed in the Chronicle of Higher Education and/or the College Music Society’s Music Vacancy List (N = 112) was compiled with respect to a number of variables, including where the notice was placed, job title, rank and tenure status, geographic location, applicant requirements, and job responsibilities. Data were compared with results of studies from the 1980s and 1990s. Results are informative for individuals seeking faculty positions, for college and university faculty preparing graduate students who will be applying for faculty positions, and for administrators developing criteria and responsibilities for open positions and writing the position vacancy announcements.

Facilitating Interaction among Preservice Teachers in Music and Visual Arts: A Project Evaluation.

n some respects, these may be the best of times and the worst of times for arts education in this country.◊ The worst, in that politicians have attacked national funding for the arts and have questioned the role of the arts in national and state education goals. The best, in that arts educators at the national and state levels have learned to work together systematically and effectively as advocates for the arts and arts education. There is no better example of this than the National Standards for Arts Education (Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, 1994), the result of a major collaborative effort among arts education organizations. While our national arts education organizations have developed strong working relationships, it has been our experience that this does not necessarily characterize the present relationships among arts teachers in the schools. We believe that these relationships are of significant value because they facilitate collaboration on curriculum development and implementation, advance the development of school and community support for arts programs, and encourage experienced arts teachers to serve as mentors for less experienced teachers. This is particularly true in small schools or districts, where many arts teachers begin their careers and where there may be only one music and one art teacher. Achieving the national standards in music and art, which specify that K–12 students should understand relationships and connections among the fine arts and among the arts and disciplines outside the arts (Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, 1994), will be directly related to the ability of arts teachers to identify with each other and to work together. As Fowler (1996) points out in a list of what arts teachers should know, “People who teach the arts need literacy in all of [the art forms], not the tunnel vision that is the rule. When they are blinded by their specialism and suffocated by their isolation, arts teachers sacrifice their impact” (p. 172). Although arts education faculty members on our campus work closely together, our music and visual arts education curricula have provided no opportunities for our students to interact. (We do not have dance or theater education programs). This seems common of arts teacher preparation programs and, indeed, of teacher education programs in general (Winitzky, Sheridan, Crow, Welch, & Kennedy, 1995). If our students are to work together as colleagues in school settings, this process must begin during their teacher preparation program. The possibility that teacher learning may be enhanced by building stronger alliances between education programs and between colleagues in allied fields within the university has been identified as an unresolved teacher education issue within the context of the Arts Education Research Agenda for the Future (National Endowment for the Arts & U.S. Department of Education, 1994). The concept of integrating the arts in the school curriculum has become a popular topic in the last decade, and there exists a small, yet growing, body of related literature (Bresler, 1995; Gratto, 1997; Haack, 1970, 1982; McGowan, 1988; Morin & Stinner, 1998). No relationships among preservice or in-service arts teachers, however. Perhaps this reflects the recency of the need for coalition-building among arts education organizations, as well as the renewed focus on the fine arts as a content area in national education goals and standards projects. We speculated that with intervention during the undergraduate years, it might be possible to begin I

Analysis of Publication Decisions for Journal of Research in Music Education Manuscripts (2009–2014)

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics of manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME) representing various research methodologies. A database was compiled comprising all manuscripts that received a publication decision from February 2009 through March 2014 (N = 506). Only submissions that went through the complete review process (n = 423) were analyzed and included quantitative, qualitative, historical, and mixed methods research. The proportions of the 125 articles accepted for publication during this timeframe by research methodology category included 29.39% of the quantitative submissions and 27.41% of the qualitative submissions. Quantitative research represented 65.95% of submissions and 66.40% of acceptances, and qualitative represented 29.39% of submissions and 27.20% of acceptances. Historical studies and mixed methods studies each accounted for very small proportions of submissions and acceptances. Comparisons of the summative judgments that reviewers provided for the quantitative and qualitative articles when recommending against acceptance also were examined and found to be comparable. Data indicate that publications decisions were not systematically related to research methodology.

The Role of the Dissertation in Music Education Doctoral Programs.

This survey study was designed to determine attributes of, and attitudes toward, the doctoral dissertation. Of particular interest was music education faculty awareness and implementation of project-based dissertations as alternatives to traditional dissertations. Respondents, music education program heads at doctoral granting institutions (N = 46, 85% return), agreed strongly that the dissertation should make a contribution to knowledge and that the outcome of doctoral programs should be skilled researchers, but indicated that less than half of recent graduates published a research or practitioner article based on the dissertation. Only eight participants responded that their students had an option for completing their doctoral dissertation in any format other than the traditional dissertation. Only 53% of respondents were familiar with the project-based doctoral dissertation, which may explain the relatively neutral responses to questions related to the appropriateness of this format. Faculty were only moderately interested in the format, but almost all estimated stronger interest on the part of their doctoral students.