Showing papers in "Journal of Research in Music Education in 1971"

Repetition as a Factor in the Development of Musical Preferences

Abstract: LDUCATIONAL THOUGHT in recent years has focused on the ways and means of teaching the most fundamental aspects of the m!ajor disciplines. Music education has responded by engaging in a serious and prolonged debate about the nature and value of music and the teaching of music. One view of the present position of music education in this debate is summarized by Bennett Reimer: "The most fundamental value of music is its ability to give aesthetic insights through a particular kind of experience of music: aesthetic experience. The primary function of music education, is therefore, to develop the ability of every child to have aesthetic experience in music.''l It is not difficult to find agreement with this viewpoint. Robertson, for example, states that the most important consideration in music education is the development of attitudes and appreciation: "It is not too far-reaching to assert that all music educaiion aims at developing an appreciation for musicraining for music a foothold in the student's life and broadening this foothold to the point that the student will continue to seek musical experiences and find valuable pleasure and aesthetic satisfaction in so doing."2 Educational psychology, too, has begun to-emphasize the attitudinal aspects of education, particularly in explaining such phenomena as the development of value judgments, aesthetic attitudes, and preferential responses. From Kingsley there is the assertion that "What one enjoys is determined in a large measure by training and experience. The attitude of appreciation and enjoyment is like other attitudes, developed through learning. The school can and should enrich the lives of its pupils by the cultivation of attitudes that predispose them toward appreciative response."3 While no one disagrees with the idea that training affects the type of listening response, the degree to which such training reinforces or

The Development and Experimental Application of Self-Instructional Practice Materials for Beginning Instrumentalists.

Abstract: LEARNING THAT PERTAINS TO THE STUDY of a musical instrument can be classified according to three major areas: knowledges, skills, and attitudes. Knowledges and skills leading to improvement of instrumental performance are the two kinds of learning actually taught; attiudes and values are not taught, though they are considered to be learned. However, teachers are aware that attitudes are necessary for motivation, and consciously influence attitudinal development through personal interaction with students. During the music lesson, the teacher uses either words or demonstration to communicate to the pupil the concept of a particular knowledge or skill. As he experiences the concept, the pupil attains a knowledgea process almost instantaneous in many cases. But the process of acquiring music skill, which may or may not begin with the concomitant concept, requires learning tllat continues beyond the concept. A skill must be learned in the actual execution. After practice, execution may come to coincide with concept. Ttie practice intervening between a student's learning the concept of a knowledge or skill and his ultimate execution of that knowledge or skill was a main concern of this study.1 In a private or class lesson, which comprises less than 10 percent of the total time a student devotes to instrumental study, he receives appraisal, correction, and new concepts. For the remaining 90 percent of the time, he must actually teach himself the performance skills and motor patterns needed to execute the concepts learned in Ilis lesson. Consequently, the application of knowledges and development of skills are dependent upon a child's capacity for patience, self-discipline, selfassessment, perseverance, and thoroughness. He may (1 ) practice too fast, sacrificing accuracy for speed; (2) spend most of his time practicing what he can already do well and avoid what is difficult; (3) repeat material without detecting or correcting mistakes; (4) not remember a musical concept correctly, thus practicing it incorrectly; or (5) not know how to approach a particular problem by himself. The toll of such faulty practice procedure is high. Musical growth

The Role of Musical Aptitude, Intelligence, and Academic Achievement in Predicting the Musical Attainment of Elementary Instrumental Music Students

Abstract: musical achievement generally agree that there are factors not measured by musical aptitude tests, that do influence musical achievement.1 Two of these, intelligence and academic achievement, are readily measured by reliable objective tests; however, the unique influences of musical aptitude, intelligence, and academic achievement have not yet been fully investigated. This study was conducted to examine the relative and combined power of three types of standardized test batteries to predict success in an elementary school instrumental music program. The tests used in the study were the Musical Aptitude Profile (MAP),2 the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test (IQ),3 and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS).4 The investigation was conducted in the schools of the Elk Grove Community School District, which serves several Chicago suburban communities. Approximately three weeks after school began in the fall, the MAP was administered to 709 fifth-grade children in thirteen elementary schools within the district. After the musical aptitude test was given, students desiring to participate in the school instrumental music program were enrolled. Neither the students nor their parents were informed of the MAP results, and no effort was made to encourage or discourage their participation in the program on the basis of their test scores. Intelligence and academic achievement scores were obtained for the ninety-one students who elected to study music.

Children's Duplication of Rhythmic Patterns

Abstract: 1HOUGH NUMEROUS INVESnGATORS have maintained that psychological processing involves rhythmic organization, research concerned explicitly with children's rhythmic skills is best characterized as scattered.l Most frequently, investigators have concentrated upon devising an apparatus that could measure rhythmic sensitivity re liably2 (Jersild and Bienstock), or upon training a superior sense of rhythm.3 Previous studies have revealed wide individual differences and considerable individual potential for improved rhythmic sensitivity. Yet, perhaps due to the emphasis on training and the difficulty of measurement, only one study includes an inventory of children's ability to duplicate rhythmic patterns. Stambak administered twenty-one patterns ranging from three to eight blows to subjects of different ages and recorded the number of blows that the average child at each age level could handle.4 Patterns were administered in order of apparent difEculty, and a ratio of 4:1 between long and short beats was used. If a subject missed four items in a row, the test was terminated. Stambak found that 3 to 4 blows could be handled by the six-year-old, 5 by the seven- or eight-year-old, 7 or 8 by the twelve-year-old. Six-year-olds averaged 9 errors in 21 problems, eight-year-olds averaged 51/2 errors, and twelve-year-olds averaged 3 errors. Unfortunately, Stambak's articles contain no statistical tests and no rationale for item selection, and are deficient in other methodological and reporting aspects as well. The present study, thoungh differing in particulars, is an independent attempt to validate Stambak's Endings, to provide specific norms, and to present a technique appropriate for assessment and training studies. Since rhyth1 U. Neisser, Cognitive Psychology (New York: Appleton-Century, 1967); and

Self-Instructional Drill Materials for Student Conductors.

Abstract: 1HIS STUDY WAS CONCERNED with the development and experimental testing of self-instructional drill materials aimed at the improvement of score-reading ability. For the purpose of this research score-reading ability was defined as skill in the detection and identification of pitch and rhythm errors in instrumental performance. This skill is deemed a necessary behavioral competence of teachers of instrumental music. These teachers are faced with the necessity of detecting and identifying errors during rehearsal class. Highly developed aural/visual skill, commonly referred to as score-reading ability can have positive effect on the judicious use of available teaching time. Efficient rehearsal procedures facilitate student learning through accurate music performance experience. There is presently no instructional method for the teaching of scorereading skill. Experience in aural music theory classes is very often unrelated to the aural discrimination skills needed by instrumental teachers. Rarely, if ever, are future teachers asked to detect and identify errors produced in a music texture involving various instruments. Aural skills are developed in ear training classes but there is little evidence of transfer to the problems that confront the conductor. Students are unable to synthesize existent skills and focus them in solving the rehearsal problems of the conductor-teacher. In order to develop scorereading skill, students must experience reality-oriented material in a carefully organized format. It was the purpose of this study to develop self-instructional materials that bring about a synthesis of aural/visual skills needed for accurate score reading. Specifically, the objectives were as follows:

A Pilot Study in the Use of a Vertically-Arranged Keyboard Instrument with the Uncertain Singer.

Abstract: SINGING SERVES AS A basic activity for music instruction in the elementary school.1 For this reason, music educators are continually searching for ways to help the child who has difficulty in singing. Andrews, Cockerille, McMillan, and Myers refer to the problem of the uncertain singer as lack of vocal coordination.2 The child who has not discovered the coordination required for singing will use the only vocal coordination he knows-the speaking coordination. If this is the case, the child may be able to recognize melodies but be unable to produce them vocally. The child who does not sing in tune may lack skill in pitch perception, the ability to discriminate between pitches of various levels.3 Closely related to pitch perception is tonal memory, which is also required in singing. In some cases, it is difficult to determine whether the uncertain singer cannot match pitches because he cannot hear them correctly, or because he cannot remember them long enough to sing them. There is also the possibility that vocal deficiency may be due to the child's lack of concentration. Hearing is not sufficient; the child must be actively engaged in listening if the mind is to interpret what the ear hears.4

Programed Instruction in Score Reading Skills

Abstract: undergraduate training, intended to develop aural-visual discrimination, centers around such basic musicianship courses as ear training and sightsinging. Although these traditional courses are considered fundamental to the development of score-reading abilities and aural-visual discrimination, the content and effectiveness of such courses have been challenged regarding their adequacy in developing these skills.1 An examination of the basic musicianship course content at the undergraduate level has been undertaken by the Contemporary Music Project.2 A report of the project notes that3 . a synthesis rarely occurs between courses within the general area of musicianship or between musicianship courses and professional studies. ... As a high school instrumental teacher, for example, his primary function will be that of a conductor, yet his main college training is not in conducting and other

An Examination of Musical Process as Related to Creative Thinking.

Abstract: VV;TH1N THE CONTEXT OF MUS1C in the elementary school, creativity is often thought of as an exercise in instant composing on the student's part, or as a proliferation of devices on the teacher's part to "make the medicine go down." However, in the wider context of the cultivation of human pcxtential, creativity is considered to be as much a mode of thought as the product of it. Further, since creative teaching ought perhaps to be defined as that which promotes creative thinking, the authors felt it might be desirable to try to develop in children, through the medium of music, traits associated with the creative individual. Music, like creativity, is a mode of thought in and of itself. This article is a report of a pilot study undertaken to determine the extent to which creative thinking might be influenced by certain musical experiences at the elementary school level. Research mrith respect to such a generalizing effect has been undertaken in several areas, and it is partly from such studies that the present one took its cue: Even's study of art,l Sommers' study of teaching methods,2 and Williams' study in the field of practice and reinforcement.3 Some support for the main hypothesis of the present study can also be derived from Simpson's study, to the effect that certain processes in creative thinking are in fact improved as a result of partiapation in conventional music programs at the high school level.4

The Effect of Musical and Extramusical Information upon Musical Preference.

Abstract: RECENT WRITINGS ON METHODS of teaching music listening urge an emphasis on the musical information inherent in a composition. The ideal approach, according to proponents of the aesthetic listening theory, includes a study of the elements of musical sounds and their formal organization, performance, and notation in each piece of music. Teaching this information can open the student's mind to the potential of aesthetic experience-the goal of music listening. Stress upon the extramusical elements of the listening experience is considered to be of little significance, if not actually detrimental. Disciples of this theory hold that the most profound aesthetic experience is possible only through contact with art music. They believe that the aesthetic experience is pleasurable and can be repeated with a resulting increase in the listener's preference for art music. Every theory, of course, is open to investigation within the structure of the institution where it finds application. Even educational theory should lead to eventual investigation, observation, and measurement in the classroom. This report attempts to test the applicability of elements of the aesthetic listening theory in the elementary school music listening program. A research design was developed to determine the effect of both musical and extramusical information on the preference for the first three movements of Bizet's Carmen Suite as arranged and conducted by Toscanini.1 The design was administered to the complete sixth grade of Scribner Road School in Penfield, New York. This population was divided into pilot and treatment groups. The pilot group received the musical information, and the treatment group the extramusical. An exhaustive review of the literature is generally impossible for the teacher doing on-the-job research. Further, while there are many articles on theory, it is difficult to locate reports of research findings that support the theory being considered here. With the exception of an article by Getz, listening research reports either were too general or

Computer-Assisted Music Instruction: A Look at the Potential

Abstract: IN RELATION TO THE HISTORY of music education, research in computer-assisted instruction is too new to have produced any definitive findings yet. But dramatic new opportunities in music instruction can be foreseen in some recent experiments. Although these experiments involve special equipment, the results suggest how computers in general can augment the resources of the music teacher. Given the same kind of planning that produces good music instruction by present methods, every music student can potentially be put in a learning situation guided by flexible give-and-take with a computer. The guidance can be much like that the student receives when he has the undivided attention of a private teacher. Individualized instruction is possible because the computer can give virtually undivided attention to many students at the same time. Students may work in private cubicles equipped with automatically controlled slide projectors, videotape units, audio tape players and recorders; they may also work at communicating typewriters that print out instructions and comments from the computer in response to what the students

An Analysis of Factors Related to Choral Teachers' Ability to Detect Pitch Errors While Reading the Score

Abstract: mine whether differences exist between undergraduate music majors preparing for teaching careers in music and experienced secondary level choral teachers in regard to their ability to detect pitch errors. The aim of this investigation was to obtain certain kinds of data that might serve as the basis for recommending changes in teacher education programs in terms of what could be emphasized, improved, or changed in order to develop pitch error detection more fully.

A Scale to Measure Attitudes Toward Music

Abstract: CURRENT LITERATURE in psychology, sociology, education, and political science indicates that attitudes and opinions are of great concern to the social scientist. Other indicators of the importance given attitudes are the government and business public relations agencies employed to convey a favorable public \"image.\" Why is a great amount of energy devoted to the study and creation of attitudes? Many studies indicate that attitudes correlate highly with behavior, and indeed, may cause behavior. Consequently, a knowledge of attitudes may provide insight into behavioral influences. This point has several ramifications for the educator: (a) the attitude toward learning and subject matter will influence learning; (b) attitude measurement will become as valuable as achievement measurement; and (c) awareness of attitudes will prove essential to teacher effectiveness. Music educators have become aware of the importance of attitudes. The Music Educators National Conference has appointed a director of public relations whose task is to generate favorable public opinion toward music education. Although music aptitude and achievement have been subject to considerable investigation, little research has been conducted in attitude formation.' This is the case even though the ostensible goal of nearly all music education, in both group and individual situations, is to engender appreciation of music. Thus, music educators engage in developing attitudes each day. Curriculum guides and methods books frequently list achievement of a positive student attitude as a primary educational objective. Achievement is usually the sole consideration, however, in measurement of educational outcomes of college courses. With adequate measurement, teachers could determine whether significant changes in attitudes resulted from specific methods of instruction. Teacher-devised and standardized texts are not always adequate, for they measure only in the cognitive domain. As Remmers points out, many achievement tests are limited to relatively simple skills and knowledge, which are not necessarily measures

Verbal Description of Aural Musical Stimuli

Abstract: Since listening is a highly personal phenomenon-one that cannot be directly observed-some behavior ought to be identified from which particular types of listening attainment might be inferred. For this study, it was determined that listening attainment could best be inferred from verbal descriptions of aural music stimuli. Although music educators appear to value the development of both listening skills and concomitant verbal-descriptive skills, there is some doubt whether music education really is developing students' competence in these areas. The possible existence of such a philosophical-operational discrepancy is substantiated in independent reviews of the pertinent literature by Deihl and Fluke.3 The assumption many music educators seem to make is that students will acquire these skills in any music activity, even if such learning is not expressed as a formal objective. The basic concern of this study, therefore, was to determine whether the development of verbal-descriptive skills with regard to aural musical stimuli was related to particular types of music experiences. Three basic objectives were formulated: (1) the development of a reliable test to measure certain verbal-descriptive skills at the high school level; (2) the investigation of high school students' attainment with respect to their ability to select appropriate descriptors for melodic, rhythmic, harmonic, timbre, textural, and dynamic aspects of aural 1 This article is based on the author's doctoral dissertation, Verbal Description of Aural Musical Stimuli: A Pilot Study of High School Students' Listening Attainment (The Ohio State University, 1969).

Using MAP Scores in the Instruction of Beginning Students in Instrumental Music

Abstract: Aptitude Profile, there is now available a test battery specifically designed \"to act as an objective aid in the evaluation of students' basic aptitude so that the teacher can better provide for individual needs and abilities.\"' Specifically, the test's author suggests that scores on the MAP can be used for the following educational purposes:2 1. To encourage musically talented students to participate in music

Computer-Assisted Instruction and Instrumental Music: Implications for Teaching and Research:

Abstract: how music should be taught, seemingly little is known empirically about how students learn music, particularly how they learn performance-a complexity of aural-cognitive concepts and psychomotor skills. Computerassisted instruction (CAI) offers the potential for meaningful research in a number of areas in music learning, including instrumental performance. With its capability of controlling presentation of material, coordinating aural and visual stimuli, branching to remedial or more advanced material, and printing detailed records of a student's course history, CAI appears a promising medium for controlling a number of troublesome variables in experimental research. In addition to experimental control, this new instructional system offers potential for more precise experimental replication. Even those few studies that have clearly suggested an optimal method cannot escape the problem of reproducibility. Combined with testing and diagnosis, CAI may suggest the kinds of presentations, sequences, and reinforcements most effective for certain kinds of learners. Further experimentation may eventually determine strategies and types of practice necessary to reach specified objectives of levels of performance.

Music in Ancient Israel

Abstract: The author has written a series of books within a book, in which he undertakes a critical reexamination of the vast body of literature dealing with Biblical music from earliest times to the beginning of the Christian Era and the period of the completion of the Talmud (c. 200-500 C.E.). Citing sources from a dozen languages, ancient and modern, the author introduces the reader to a huge assortment of comments, explanations, and speculations-many of these bizarre in the extreme-dealing with the identification and description of instruments mentioned in the Bible; the meaning of Hebrew musical terms; the role of women in ancient musical practice; social and professional organizations; and with the music itself, its origin, nature, and the uses to which it was put. Even the most fanciful theories are reconsidered as being possible aids in shedding new light on a subject still beset with many unsolved problems. (An example is the utterly ridiculous exposition of the word selah by E. Capel Cure, p. 153, which is developed into a Wagner-Strauss concept of modern program music!) For, as the author asserts, despite the \"numerous obsolete and seemingly illogical reasonings, as well as the outright errors and misconstructions . . . certain views may contain a degree of truth and . .. may yet turn out to be useful for a more adequate interpretation of some controversial points\" (pp. 13-14). Accordingly, he painstakingly weighs, juxtaposes, analyzes, and tries to evaluate the mass of data in order to arrive at some sort of logical conclusion; nevertheless, he is often compelled to fall back upon his own subjective hypotheses-often quite \"far out\" in themselves-thus weakening his own arguments. This is not a textbook; aside from some examples in notation of various shofar signals (pp. 353-359), and a brief attempt to delineate the character of Hebrew melos (which the author might well have expanded) (pp. 209-214), and some musical comparisons of the ancient Synagog and Church chants (already investigated more fully by many scholars), there is no theoretical material dealing with scales, modes, cantorial practices, or other related matters; the author wisely refrains from introducing material the authenticity and antiquity of which are still in dispute. The book constitutes a truly encyclopedic research effort, the magnitude of which may be gauged from the fact that the bibliography contains 538 entries, and the number of notes runs to 1,888! There are also 61 well-chosen illustrations, most of which are familiar to general students of ancient music history. The author lists every item in the Bible, including the Apocrypha, that might be construed as having reference to music, together with the aforementioned comments and his

Emergence and Development of Music Responses in Preschool Twins and Singletons: A Comparative Study:

Abstract: IN CONNECTION WITH a heightened and rapidly expanding interest in research relating to child developmentprimarily to behavior of very young children-the Florida State University Institute of Human Development launched a major research program with very young children in September 1960. The Institute began a multidisciplinary longitudinal research designed to study intensively not fewer than twenty pairs of preschool twins and an equal number of nontwins matched by age and sex. Investigations were planned in eight selected areas of development for a period of not less than five years. One of the areas selected for intensive study was musical expression in young children. A need was felt for examining the types of music responses that occur in preschool children, both twins and singletons. It was further felt that a study of the emergence and development of various types of musical responses in both groups would lead to a better understanding not only of the differences between twins' and singletons' responses, but also of the nature and expression of primitive music

MAT Music Achievement Tests 1 and 2

Abstract: The MAT Music Achievement Tests 1 and 2 represent another significant and scholarly contribution to the music education profession by Richard Colwell. Designed especially to measure and evaluate the skills and understandings of a well-balanced music program, MAT Music Achievement Tests 1 and 2 are designed to be used in elementary schools, grades three through five. The tests may be used effectively by either the classroom teacher or the music specialist. Colwell, in the interpretive manual, indicates that the tests do not measure \"musicianship or musicality,\" yet any student who does poorly on these tests, which rely heavily on auditory perception, \"is patently and positively not musical or a musician\" (p.

An Investigation of Relationships Between Personality Characteristics and Success in Instrumental Study

Abstract: -IHE SUITABILITY of a given musical instrument for any individual is of interest to music educators. Many variables are involved in a young student's choice of instrument. Parents influence their children to study an instrument in which they themselves are interested, or which they have in the household. Peer group leaders, by their choice of instruments, influence the choices of others in the group. A music educator, needing a certain instrument to complete his ensemble, may persuade a student to take it up. The mere availability of schoolowned instruments may be a decisive factor. Many students begin instrumental work but drop it after a short time. A goal of this project was to determine whether certain personality characteristics and vocational interests could be associated with persistence in instrumental study; significant findings in this area could aid in predicting success in instrumental study. A research grant from the University Research Council at Youngstown State University made possible the beginning of this exploratory study. Some data are available on the relationships between certain personality characteristics and achievement on a musical instrument. Garder's study of the characteristics of outstanding high school musicians employed the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey to discover that male music students, as compared with nonmusic students, showed a tendency to be less active, less emotionally stable, less objective, less adept in personal relations, and less masculine in interests.1 The female music students, as compared with nonmusic students, were less restrained, less objective, less friendly, and less adept at personal relations. The report by Buegel and Billing2 focused on differences in interest in music between sexes in both music and nonmusic groups. Using the 1 Clarence E. Garder, Jr., \"A Study of Characteristics of Outstanding High School Musicians,\" (doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas, 1953). 2 Herman Buegel and Patricia S. Billing, \"Inventoried Interests of Participants in Music Groups,\" Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 46, No. 1 (October 1952), pp. 141-146.

Patterns of Teacher-Student Interaction in Selected Junior High School General Music Classes.

Abstract: EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHERS GENERALLY agree that the direct systematic observation of teachers while they are engaged in the act of teaching is a fruitful means of identifying those behaviors that are desirable in teaching.l High priority is placed on classroom observation techniques as topics for research. While evidence indicates that systematic abservations of classroom discourse are productive research endeavors, the interactive behaviors of music classrooms have not been analyzed objectively through systematic observation. The analysis of those teacher-student interactive behavior patterns found in selected junior high school general music classrooms was the primary objective of this study. The principal means of collecting data was the Observation System for the Analysis of Classroom Instruction, a sixteen-category modiScation by John B. Hough of the Flanders Interaction Analysis

Affective Outcomes of Musical Education

Abstract: edited by Krathwohl and associates presents a scheme for the classification of affective educational outcomes.1 This model, according to the authors, may be of use both in improving the formulation of such objectives and in evaluating their attainment. Since affective outcomes are strongly emphasized in the teaching of music, it is interesting to explore the applicability of an affective taxonomy in this field.

Effects of a Concept Teaching Curriculum on Performance Achievement in Elementary School Beginning Bands

Abstract: rr 1HE CLASS SYSTEM of teaching instrumental music has been the basic form of instruction in most American schools for almost a half-century. Through this medium, bands and orchestras have enjoyed a phenomenal numerical growth. In recent years, however, emphasis has shifted to the quality of the music education experience, and both the form and content of that experience have been challenged.1 What is involved in the learning processes in instrumental music? While psychologists have worked for the past hundred years with learning theory, only during the past thirteen years have specialists in mathematics, science, and social studies readjusted theories of how their disciplines should be taught around fundamental concepts. Music educators also have begun to focus attention on learning processes, as attested by the six Research Training Programs conducted by MENC in 1969. What seems to be one of the difficulties in many present-day beginning instrumental classes is that a number of pupils do not see the major goals of their instruction. Either through the methods of their teachers or through the lack of insight on the pupils' own part, some of them seem to see musical learning as a series of unrelated specifics. As in any other form of learning, pupils who achieve in instrumental music seldom discontinue classes; dropouts are mostly nonachievers. If the goals of musical instruction were clearer, even those who achieve might do so at a higher level. The chief purpose of this research was to discover if an orientation toward instructional goals would be of value in teaching certain basic musical skills in beginning bands. It was proposed that if pupils were given a conceptual orientation to class objectives before they were exposed to the actual learning experiences, a difference in musical skill development and in understanding might result.

Solmization and Pitch Notation in Nineteenth-Century American School Music Textbooks.

Abstract: HE GREAT SWISS EDUCATOR Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) operated on the premise that the mind possesses latent and undeveloped faculties of reason, memory, and judgment, which unfold in accordance with eternal unchanging laws.' In addition to these mental faculties, Pestalozzi taught, man must command his physical faculties and feeling. The purpose of an education based on this kind of psychology was to provide training for the development of all the faculties. In music education, the teacher must help the child to exercise his mental and physical faculties and to form clear ideas of the variations of sound in his environment. He must also present appropriate song material for the development of feeling.2 The first official Pestalozzian music text, Pfeiffer and Nageli's Gesangbildungslehre nach Pestalozzischen Grundsitzen (1810), reflected the basic philosophy and psychology of Pestalozzi. The text included an emphasis on exercise for developing the physical faculties of musical imitation and perception, systematic procedure for teaching the exercises, separation of sense impressions (rhythm, melody, and dynamics were treated each in turn), slow instruction adapted to the gradual rate of natural human growth, and separation of exercise and song. The authors used numerals or letters to designate pitches and recommended singing with the neutral syllable la. To many on the continent, Pestalozzianism in music education meant using numbers to represent the degrees of the scale.3 Notation was simplified as traditional noteheads appeared first on a two-line staff and gradually on more complete staves as the children learned more notes and intervals.4 The Pestalozzian influence on American school music texts came about

Some Implications for Music Education in the Work of Jean Piaget

Abstract: J EAN PIAGET IS RECOGNIZED as one of today's leading developmental psychologists.' For more than forty years, he and his associates have been studying intellectual and perceptual development in children. A theory of intellectual development has evolved from this extensive research that, though still not fully refined, seems to have far-reaching implications for present-day education. Though trained as a biologist, Piaget's interest in epistemology and its relation to biology has led him to work almost exclusively in the field of developmental psychology since 1921. A list of his publications in this area is staggering.2 Piaget's interest in how a child thinks as opposed to what a child thinks has led him to develop a clinical method quite different from the usual standardized-test approach to child psychology. In general, his method follows these steps: (1) closely observing individual children in either a natural or a structured environment; (2) recording in detail the exact situation in which the child is placed, his actions, and his comments; (3) organizing and summarizing these observations; (4) forming conclusions based on the observations, and further structuring situations that allow closer observation of the specific thought pattern the experimenter thinks he has found; and (5) reporting the findings. The usual reams of statistics found in connection with most work in this area are conspicuous by their absence in Piaget's. This is so not because he cannot manipulate the statistical processes, but because he is interested in qualitative rather than quantitative information.

A Bibliography of Research on the Evaluation of Music Teacher Education Programs.

Abstract: s under either \"Music\" or \"Education\" classifications.1 Only those books, bulletins, and periodical articles are listed (without annotation) that appear the most likely to be useful. Preference was often given to the more recent publications when choices were made. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DISSERTATIONS CURRICULUM PROBLEMS IN MUSIC EDUCATION Bennett, Elmer Leslie. \"A Program for Vocal Majors in a Teacher Training Institution.\" Columbia University, 1966, Dissertation Abstracts, Vol. 27 (March 1967), 2908-A. As a result of his study, Bennett concludes that in the training of vocal majors in music education \"the emphasis should be upon broad musical development rather than specialized performance skill.\" There should be more concentration on the development of general musical understanding and less on attaining vocal technique in the individual student's early musical studies. For practice and drill activities to be meaningful, they should be as musical as possible and relevant to the compositions being studied. Also, \"the responsibility for teacher preparation in music rests with all the activities of the music curriculum of a teacher training institution.\" Lee, Cecil Loran. \"Developing Patterns of the Undergraduate Music Education Curriculum in the United States.\" Brigham Young University, 1966, Dissertation Abstracts, Vol. 27 (July 1966), 222-A-223-A. Lee mailed questionnaires to twenty-four teacher-training institutions selected by MENC and NASM for having made significant changes in their undergraduate music education curriculums during the ten-year period 1955-1965. As a result of his investigation he recommends that \"there should be: (1) greater stress placed upon correlation of related areas of learning; (2) correlation of the activities of performing groups and related areas such as music history and literature classes; (3) student performing experiences in both large and small choral and instrumental ensembles; (4) integration of instrumental and choral literature and certain aspects of theory such as sight-singing. Written for the MENC Commission on Teacher Education.

The Orchestral Composer's Point of View:

Abstract: versus achievement testing appear somewhat inconsistent. It is unfortunate that what a test measures may be confused with how it may be used. Possibly a test discussed as a measure of aptitude will appeal to a larger section of test users than would the same discussion used to describe mere achievement tests. It may seem a bit simplistic, however, to distinguish, as Colwell does, between musical aptitude as \"those qualities that are developed over a long period of time,\" and achievement as \"those that are measur-

The Computer and Bartok Research in America.

Abstract: One of his conclusions was the possibility that mechanical music would someday produce something original and valuable.1 Unquestionably Bart6k would have agreed that present-day machines, such as synthesizers and other computer-operated tonal sources, meet his prediction of originality. Value, however, has yet to be achieved, simply because we are in an age of infancy, of experimental pioneering such as Bart6k himself underwent when he began his studies of musical folklore during the first decade of this century. But if we take into consideration the outcomes of computational devices in terms of humanistic research, especially as they apply to musicology rather than music making, then Bart6k's prediction has been fully realized in both its aspects: the computer is highly original in its applications and invaluable as a research tool.

Mouth Air Pressure and Intensity Profiles of the Oboe.

Abstract: MUSICIANS KNOW THAT some musical wind instruments take more mouth air pressure to play than others,, and that notes of higher ffequency on some instruments take more air pressure than notes of lower frequency. It is also known that the higher notes of some wind instruments are not as loud as lower notes, and that adjacent notes on the same instrument may differ in loudness. The literature reveals that there has been little precise measurement of these factors by performers and teachers. Of the literature consulted, there was only one account of a measurement made of the correlation between mouth air pressure and loudness.1 The unwritten estimates of air pressure and loudness offered by performers and teachers are not only equally lacking, but are inaccurate in estimating mouth air pressure. A number of performers, including professionals, have made approximations of how much pressure is required to play wind instruments. Their estimates ranged from 20 to 90 pounds per square inch (psi). However, of those tested on a pressure gauge, none of them could produce more than 3.5 psi, and some produced less than 2.5 psi. These estimates did not differ from those of nonmusicians. It is interesting to note that neither the musician nor the nonmusician would say he could inflate an automobile tire, although such is implied in a mouth air pressure of 20 psi or more. Given the basic role of mouth air pressure in playing wind instruments, it seems strange that so little systematic knowledge can be found, and that SQ much discrepancy exists between belief and substantiated evidence. In view of this, it was decided that a study of mouth air pressure and of loudness would be conducted, as these two phenomena are related.2 Mouth air pressure was easily measured by means of a tube

The Place of Music in German Education Around 1600

Abstract: 1HE IDEA HANDED DOWN from Plato to the Renaissance that music was one of the best pedagogical disciplines, an ornament for learned men, and above all, a means to help youth serve school, church, and soaety, found wide practical application in the life of the school, in the active participation of the pupils in the church services, and in the task of providing music to the community on various kinds of festive occasions.l In addition, music was interrelated with the other subjects in various ways: with mathematics through the theoretical foundations of intervals and mensuration, with Latin through the language used in musical instruction, especially in the memorization of music rules in Latin with Greek quotations interspersed and through the majority of the texts set to music, with religion and philosophy through the subject matter of sacred music, the discussion of the origins and objectives of music, and the singing of sententiae, proverbs of moral content.2 Sannemann has shown the place of music in the quadrivium. In order to complete the picture, the interrelation of music with the whole program was added in brackets to his tabular summation. The resulting diagram demonstrates that music was indeed the element that bound the whole curriculum together:3 Sacra Doctrina