FALL–WINTER 2006 VOLUME 25, NUMBER 1

APPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH IN MUSIC EDUCATION

C O N T E N T S
Comm ents from the Editor
Ruth V . Brittin
3
SPECIAL TOPICS DIVISION
Sounds in the Silence: Research on Music and Deafness
Alice-A nn Darrow
5

Skill Developm ent in Rhythm Perception and Performan ce: A Review o f Literature
James L . Reifinger Jr.
15

INSTRUMENTAL DIVISION
Including Composition in Middle School Band: Effects on Achievement, Performance, and Attitude
Patricia E. Riley
28

Socioeconomic Status and Instrumental Music: What Does the Research Say
about the Relationship and Its Implications?
Daniel J. Albert
39

CHORAL DIVISION
Changes in Choral Student Perceptions of the Music Contest Experience
Rick A . Stamer
46

Reflection on Practice: A Study of Five Choral Educators’ Reflective Journeys

Marla Ann Butke
57

Teaching Strategies Related to Successful Sight-Singing in Kentucky Choral Ensembles

Eva Floyd and Kelly D. Bradley
70

ELEMENTARY DIVISION
Enga ging Elem entary-Age C hildren with O pera
Frederick Burrack and Carla Maltas
82

Ann ounc em ents

90
 Editor
Ruth V. Brittin
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA

Choral Division
Mary Kennedy
Un iversity of Victoria, British Colum bia

Martha Miller
Foot of Ten Elementary School, Duncansville, PA

Elementary Division
Dennis Siebenaler
California State University–Fullerton

Nancy S. Rasmussen
MEN C Sta ff Walworth Elementary School, Walworth, WI

Executive Director General Music Division

John J. Mahlmann Cynthia M. Colwell
University of Kansas, Lawrence
Deputy Executive Director
Michael Blakeslee Carlos A bril
Northwe stern U niversity, Evanston, IL
Director of Publications
Frances Ponick Instrumental Division
Colleen Conway
Manag ing Editor University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Dorothy Wagener
Evelyn Orman
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
UPDATE: Applications of Research in Music Education (ISSN 8755-
Special Topics Division
1233) is published twice yearly by MENC: The National
John M. Geringer
Association for Music Education, 1806 Robert Fulton Drive,
Reston, VA 20191-4348. Copyright © 2006 by MENC. Readers Florida State University, Tallahassee
may make one copy of any article in this journal for personal
use. Published by the School of Music of the University of Susan Tarnowski
South Carolina from 1982 to 1989. College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, MN

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 Comments from the Editor

It’s autumn and time for an update on Update: Applications of Research in Music Education. These
comments address five areas:
• Thanks to our editors who have just completed six years of terrific service
• A welcome to our new editors
• News on the health of our journal
• Ways to improve access to Update
• Introducing our new authors
Our sincere appreciation goes to John Geringer, Nancy Rasmussen, and Patricia Costa-Kim,
who have spent countless hours reading submissions, giving advice, and helping authors develop the
very best research papers possible. What will they possibly do with all that extra time (chuckle,
chuckle)? We will miss them on the board but look forward to new collaborations and research with
them in the future.
We eagerly start a six-year partnership with Martha Miller (elementary practitioner), Abby
Butler (choral practitioner), and Alice-Ann Darrow (special topics researcher). Update is unusual in
its specific mission to bridge research and “real world” practice; we balance the editorial board to
represent both perspectives. A look at the editors’ institutions shows they come from different parts
of the country and bring different teaching and research strengths. I am sure you will enjoy the fruits
of their experience.
So how is Update faring overall? Here are highlights of my report to the Society for Research
in Music Education in Salt Lake City, spring 2006. In my last biennial report (fall 2004), I
summarized our move from hard-copy publication to online publication. There had been concern
Update would wither with this change; however, the news two years ago was promising. The
number of submissions was stable and the publication ratio (acceptances to submissions) was a little
higher than usual but acceptable at 42%. We were very pleased, two years ago, to learn that MENC
would leave the journal issues on its Web site for perpetuity. That issue of access had been a point
of concern; after all, authors do not want to send their material if their future readers cannot easily
access it! MENC’s decision to continuously display previous issues was a major turning point, and
we thank the leadership for this vision.
Now to the last biennium. Submissions didn’t just remain stable, they increased. From April
2004–April 2006, there were 57 submissions. Submissions for the previous three biennia were (going
back in time) 45, 46, and 52. So we broke through to an all-time high! Our publication ratio was the
most conservative ever (30% rate for 2004–2006, compared to 42%, 33%, and 37% before,
respectively). This is a healthy publication rate that indicates the journal’s maturity and stability
within the new format.
Over the last two years, we had more special-topics papers than papers in other categories,
which is customary. In 2004–2006, there were a few more choral papers than usual (which is
fantastic, since that category tends to be a bit underrepresented compared to instrumental and
elementary papers). General music, particularly at the secondary level, is an area in which we could
use more papers. Overall, special-topics papers have made up almost half (43%) of the papers
published since the tracking of this data (beginning in 1989). Elementary (18%) and instrumental
(16%) are followed by general music (12%) and choral (11%) categories. Of course, the categories
themselves are a bit arbitrary, since a topic may apply to more than one area. However, this gives us
a glimpse of the journal overall.

UP DAT E, F all-W inter 2006, 3

 Regarding type of research, Update is unusual in that it publishes literature reviews, and these
make up almost half (42%) of the publications over the last 18 years. Descriptive (36%) and
experimental (16%) papers are customary. However, over the long term, seldom do we receive
historical, philosophical, or qualitative submissions, thus the publications are lower for these
categories (1 or 2% each). It was exciting to receive more papers in these categories during the last
biennium, and I look forward to publishing more.
In Salt Lake City we discussed the issue of access, in regard to libraries, electronic
subscriptions, and the yearbook. Some institutional libraries prefer hard-copy purchases, and some
prefer online subscriptions to journals. This depends on their amount of shelf space, the culture of
the institution, and the funding available. Some have more money for buying books, others more for
online subscriptions, for example. University teachers, please check with your library and see if 1)
they subscribe to Update through an electronic subscription service, or 2) they have funds to
purchase the journal in hard copy. In the former case, readers at your university can access Update
through the library server without an MENC membership number. In the second case, the library
can purchase Update via the yearbook, which is published once per year. MENC plans to keep
publishing the yearbooks precisely because some libraries prefer this approach (as do some
individuals).
This issue itself is a microcosm of my comments thus far. We lead off with the invited
lecture to SRME at the national convention. Update customarily publishes this paper in the
fall–winter issue. Alice-Ann Darrow’s paper is doubly exciting because it reveals some of the
possibilities with online publication. By following the links in Alice-Ann’s paper, we can enjoy the
flavor of her presentation in Salt Lake City. As you explore her work, please note the rigor of her
research, over the years and within the paper itself.
Our second special-topics paper is a literature review on rhythm development by James
Reifinger. James focuses on perception and performance, so the findings are applicable to a number
of music settings. Whether your interest lies with older or younger students, vocal or instrumental
music, you can find interesting insights for your teaching here.
Our first instrumental study explores the use of composition with a middle school band
(National Standards, anyone?). Patricia Riley gives us plenty of food for thought on how to build a
strong instrumental program. Next, Daniel Albert challenges beliefs and stereotypes as he explores
socioeconomic status and instrumental music. It is refreshing to read an up-to-date literature review
on this topic, in order to sift through the actual research.
And now three choral studies. Rick Stamer brings us a descriptive study on the contest
experience for choral students. Marla Butke offers a qualitative look at choral educators’ reflective
journals, and Eva Floyd and Kelly Bradley collaborate to investigate sight-singing strategies. What a
treat … a veritable cornucopia of choral papers!
Finally, Frederick Burrack and Carla Maltas investigate how to engage elementary children in
opera. This paper obviously overlaps the elementary, general music, and choral areas of
specialization. Yet again we see the richness of research. While it can be useful to divide and
categorize, it is also important to find the overlaps between areas.
So on that course, let’s go sample some of this research. Bon appetit!

Ruth V. Brittin
Editor, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education
E-mail: rbrittin@pacific.edu

UP DAT E, F all-W inter 2006, 4

 Sounds in the Silence: Research on
Music and Deafness

Alice-Ann Darrow
Irwin Cooper Professor of Music Therapy and Music Education at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
E-mail: aadarrow@mailer.fsu.edu

This article is based on the Invited Researcher presentation given at the MENC National
Biennial In-Service Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 2006. Included in the article are
hyperlinks to audiovisual materials; these illustrations range in size from photographs of
several hundred kilobytes (KB) to video clips of over 30 megabytes (MB).

efore starting, I thought I might first ex-
B plain something about the title of this
presentation, “Sounds in the Silence: Research
on Music and Deafness,” as the first part might
be a bit misleading, and the term deafness in the
second part is often misunderstood. The term
deaf does not mean “without hearing,” but
rather, “a loss severe enough that hearing
alone cannot be used for the purpose of pro-
cessing speech.” The term Deaf with a capital
“D” signifies those people who share a lan-
guage (American Sign Language) and a culture.
In reality, very few persons are totally without
hearing. Most people who are considered deaf
are able to use their residual hearing to listen
to music. Due to its typical range of frequen-
cies and intensity, music is generally far more
accessible than speech to those with a hearing
loss.
The reason I explain the terminology first
is because over the years, the topic of music
and deafness has prompted numerous ques-
tions, occasional skepticism, frequent bewil-
derment, and considerable good-natured
ribbing—much of that ribbing from my friend
and former University of Kansas colleague John
Grashel, who never let me say the word “deaf”
without responding, “What?” And I, being oh-so-
slow to catch on, always dutifully repeated what I
had just said—much to his delight.
I thought I would start this presentation
by sharing how I developed this particular
research interest, and then share with you a
few studies that were particularly meaningful
to me, and why I believe they are perhaps
important to music education.
Early Awareness of Hearing Loss
My interest in deafness came from
several sources, and it came long before my
interest in music. My first awareness of hear-
ing loss came very early. My father and most
of his 10 siblings had hereditary hearing loss.
My father’s hearing aids were not the subtle
inner-ear aids that we see today; he wore the
old-fashioned body aid that was quite obvious.
I was able to determine what sounds my
father valued by observing when he chose to
wear his hearing aids. He always wore them
to listen to the minister’s sermons on Sundays
and to listen to music, but not always to
listen to my mother—much to her frustration.
As a child, I wondered what he heard when
he listened to music, and it was this curiosity
that led to a number of early studies.
Looking back, I realize that my father
was often isolated in social situations—even
at the dinner table, as evidenced by frequent
comments he made that were totally unrelated
to the table conversation—and more disturb-

UP DAT E, F all-W inter 2006, 5

ing, he evidently felt the isolation and would
periodically withdraw from social contact,
when typically he was one of the friendliest
and most outgoing men I have ever known. It
was not until graduate school that I fully un-
derstood the impact of hearing loss on inter-
personal communication. For my father’s
sake, I wish I had understood much earlier
how isolating it can be to have a hearing loss.
Helen Keller, the well-known author and
poet who was both deaf and blind, was asked
once if she could have either her hearing or
her sight, which she would choose. Most peo-
ple, when asked this question, say they would
choose their sight; however, Keller replied
that she would choose her hearing. I could
not find the exact source, but I remember her
quote to be “blindness is an environmental
disability that keeps you from things, whereas
deafness is a communication disability that
keeps you from people—a far greater loss.”
Communicating with the Deaf
My father didn’t sign, but once, after
seeing me sign with some of my students, he
asked me to teach him some signs. One of the
signs I taught him was the sign for “I love
you.” Later that year for my birthday, he sent
me a mahogany carving he had made of a
hand. He had remembered the sign for “I love
you.” In the years since, the carving has had a
special place on the shelf in my office, and it
remains a symbol of why I love what I do.
My next exposure to deafness was my
childhood friend Marcella, who went to the
Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St.
Augustine, Florida. She and her mother, along
with many extended family members, lived
down the street from my house. She was
home only during the summers, and I have no
memory of how we actually met. I also have
no idea how we actually communicated, but I
suspect my first experiences with nonverbal
communication were with Marcella. We were
playing dress-up one day and I wore a
cousin’s old flower-girl dress from a wedding.
UP DAT E, F all-W inter 2006, 6
Marcella signed something to me, and her
mother relayed that she had said, “Your dress
is beautiful.” I remember thinking the sign
for “beautiful” was in fact—beautiful. It was
the first sign I ever learned, and I have re-
membered it from that day forward.
Early the next summer, thinking Marcella
would be home from St. Augustine, I went to
her house, eager to show her some signs I
had learned from a book I had found in the
school library. After knocking on the door, I
found out that she and her mother had moved,
much to my disappointment. I often think of
Marcella, especially when I use the sign “beau-
tiful.” I would love to tell her about my profes-
sional interests, and discuss with her my experi-
ences in working with children who are deaf.
One of my most profound experiences
related to deafness came my freshman year in
college, and it came quite unexpectedly. I
went to Ruby Diamond Auditorium on the
Florida State University (FSU) campus to see
the movie The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (Screen
Arts Production, 1968). At the time, I was
unaware of the acclaimed novel on which the
movie is based. My giddy girlfriends and I
were expecting a romantic movie. Instead, it
was the story of John Singer, a man who was
deaf and communicated only through sign.
With his silent kindness, he actively reached
out to others in his small community—the
town drunk, a racist doctor, a lonely young
girl at the house where he boarded. His kind-
ness was not returned; instead, he was dis-
missed or openly shunned. At the end of the
movie, and with no warning, his isolation
becomes too much and he takes his own life.
My friends and I walked back to our dorm
without saying a word to each other. The
sound of the gunshot stayed with me for
days, and the message of the movie has re-
mained ever since. Once again, I was re-
minded of the isolation that many people
experience as a result of their hearing loss.
Years later, I included an excerpt from
this movie in one of the studies I will talk
about later. In this study, I found that deaf
and hearing persons typically have very
different views of this movie, particularly in
regard to the scene in the excerpt. Persons
who are deaf are often offended by the pity
this scene provokes regarding the nature of
deafness, as well as the misleading notion that
most persons considered deaf cannot hear
well enough to recognize when music has
stopped.
After graduation with my degrees in mu-
sic therapy and music education, my music
therapy internship and my teaching position
in the Dade County Schools were my first
experiences actually working with children
who were deaf. My internship in music ther-
apy was at the Sunland Training Center in
Miami, Florida. There I met Marion Maharry,
a teacher of the deaf, and a CODA—Child of
Deaf Adults. Her first language had been
American Sign Language, and she had learned
little English before starting school. I was
totally taken with exploring the musicality of
her students, as well as the signs she used to
teach them. After completing my internship, I
began teaching in the Dade County Schools in
Miami. My school, Auburndale Elementary,
housed one of the district’s deaf education
programs. With my students, I was able to
continue to explore the relationship between
music and hearing loss.
Research Interests Begin
While I loved teaching music to students
who were deaf, it never occurred to me to do
my thesis research on this topic. At the time I
went back to school to get my master’s de-
gree, I was still a fairly serious pianist. Some-
how I developed the notion that I wanted to
do my research on motor learning and its rela-
tionship to piano performance. Robert
Sanders was a professor at FSU at the time,
and one of the leading researchers in the field
of motor learning. Eager to begin work on my
thesis, I read just about everything he wrote,
spent time in his motor learning lab, and
UP DAT E, F all-W inter 2006, 7
signed up for classes he was going to teach
the next semester. One day, quite by chance,
I mentioned to Clifford Madsen, my thesis
adviser, that I wasn’t finding the research in
motor learning as compelling as I had
thought it would be. He looked at me and
asked, “Why are you into all this motor learn-
ing business anyway? You love deaf kids.” I
was into motor learning because it seemed
like a more sophisticated research topic than
deafness. Fortunately, I understood his point:
go with your passion. And I am glad I did,
because to this day, anything I read on deaf-
ness—especially as it relates to music
perception—continues to be a source of
great fascination for me.
My first idea for research on music and
deafness came from my clinical experiences,
where it seemed to me that my deaf students
were able to replicate complex rhythms as
well as my hearing students. Once again,
though, Clifford Madsen stopped me short
when he said, “Back up. What do we even
know about their ability to replicate a steady
beat?” And so that became my thesis topic
(Darrow, 1979). In the years since, I have
said to many a thesis advisee, “Back up….”
My doctoral dissertation research on
rhythmic responsiveness in normal and
hearing-impaired children (Darrow, 1984)
allowed me to draw upon my minor, which
was in speech and hearing. The perception,
interpretation, and performance of sound
comprise the basis for both speech and mu-
sic. Auditory perception of speech and music
involves the ability to distinguish between
different sounds, their pitches, durations,
intensities, timbres, and the ways in which
these sounds change over time. Even the
simplest sounds in speech and music contain
many common properties, though identified
by different names. In music, reference is
made to intonation, tempo, accent, and
rhythm; speech counterparts are inflection,
rate, stress, and duration. I was interested in
exploring the relationship between deaf chil-
dren’s perception of rhythm in music and in
speech. This excerpt is one of my favorite
subjects taking the Test of Rhythmic Respon-
siveness (Kaplan, 1977). Watch his face and
you’ll see why he was one of my favorite sub-
jects. From this research, I found a relation-
ship between subjects’ ability to perceive
rhythm in music and in speech, thereby pro-
viding implications for both speech therapy
and music education.
Studying Music and Deafness
At the time I did my thesis and disserta-
tion, there were very few studies or articles
related to music and deafness, though the very
first article on the topic was published in
1848. The late George Heller, music educa-
tion historian and a colleague of mine at the
University of Kansas in Lawrence, suggested
we do a historical study on the authors of this
initial article (Darrow & Heller, 1985). It was
my first foray into historical research and I
was fortunate to do this study with George. A
quote from these early authors, David Ely
Bartlett and William Wolcott Turner, is one
that I still use today:
In estimating the pleasure that can be de-
rived from music, it must not be forgotten
that the sensation or perception of sound
is not the whole of pleasure produced by
music. A considerable part of this plea-
sure results from the rhythmical character
of the movement, which can be perceived
by the sense of sight alone to a consider-
able extent, and yet more perfectly with
sight and feeling together. Another ave-
nue of pleasure to the deaf from music …
is the pleasurable effect of vibrations
gently exciting the nerves. What benefit is
ever derived from teaching music? It is a
source of intellectual gratification. It is a
means of intellectual cultivation. (Turner
& Bartlett, 1848, p. 6)
At a time when public school music instruc-
tion for hearing children was only a decade
UP DAT E, F all-W inter 2006, 8
old, these authors considered music to be a
basic subject for children who were deaf.
This article (Turner & Bartlett, 1848)
was published in the American Annals of the
Deaf and Dumb—a term that is not used to-
day. In the 20 years since my thesis and dis-
sertation, my own terminology has changed. I
used the term hearing impaired in the title of
those and other earlier studies. During the
Deaf Pride movement of the 1980s, deaf be-
came the term of choice for people within the
deaf culture—a term that signifies a linguistic
cultural minority. The term hearing impaired
is now viewed by those within the culture as
signifying someone who is defective or bro-
ken.
Along with George Heller, an early col-
laborator was Kate Gfeller (Gfeller on left,
Darrow on right) at the University of Iowa in
Iowa City. We have presented together at a
number of MENC conferences and at nearly
every American Music Therapy Association
conference over the past 23 years. While we
both have an interest in music and deafness
(Darrow & Gfeller, 1991) our clinical work
has taken different paths, and thus, our indi-
vidual research emphases. Kate has been
concerned with those individuals who lost
their hearing later in life—many of whom use
cochlear implants—and thus identify with the
hearing culture. Because of my work at the
Kansas School for the Deaf, my clinical em-
phasis has been with children and adults who
are congenitally deaf and who identify with
the deaf culture.
In the beginning, I was concerned with
what my students heard when they listened to
music—their auditory perception of music.
This curiosity guided much of my early
research. As I became better acquainted with
deaf culture and developed an increasing
respect for it, I became less interested in what
my students heard and more interested what
they thought about music, how they used
music in their lives—their social perception
of music.
Attitudes of the Deaf toward Music
While I am obviously not a member of
deaf culture, I am committed to conveying the
perspectives of those who are. In 1989, I did a
review of the literature on music and the deaf
and could not find anything written by deaf
authors, or anything that even conveyed the
opinions and attitudes of the deaf about mu-
sic. Everything had been written from the
hearing person’s perspective on music and
deafness. This finding prompted the study on
“The Role of Music in Deaf Culture,” pub-
lished in the Journal of Research in Music Educa-
tion (Darrow, 1993). In this study, I surveyed a
stratified random sample of deaf persons
from across the United States as to the role of
music in their lives. My questionnaire was
based on Merriam’s 10 major functions of
music: the use of music for emotional expres-
sion, aesthetic enjoyment, ritual purposes, to
prompt physical activity, and so on (Merriam,
1964). The findings were both inspiring and
disheartening. In regard to music class, sub-
jects in my study responded:
• “I loved music class because I could
express myself.”
• “I loved music class because it was
fun!”
• “I hated music class because I was
punished for not sounding right.”
• “I hated music class because I felt
stupid.” (Darrow, 1993, p. 108)
Another respondent added the following
comments to the questionnaire:
Enjoying a song is a long process and I’ve
basically stayed with the same music for
many years because it is familiar. To learn
a song, I sit with the lyric sheet and listen
for when the words begin and try to
match voice with lyrics. After several rep-
etitions, I can pick up the timing and an-
ticipate the words to be able to sign along
with the music as if hearing it well. I enjoy
UP DAT E, F all-W inter 2006, 9
singing voice—but it is not very pleasing
to the ear so I only do this in the shower,
or when alone, or when with Deaf or
very close hearing friends. Similarly, I
enjoy guitar, not for the sound, but for
the challenge of strumming and changing
chords—and usually play when alone.
(Darrow, 1993, p. 107)
In this one short quote, we learn several
important points about teaching music to
children who are deaf: the importance of
using repetition, familiar music, and visual
cues; being nonjudgmental about the voices
of these children; and how the physical
aspects of playing instruments can enhance
their experience of music.
One subject stated a strong opinion on
why deaf individuals should not be required
to attend music classes:
Damn it, I can’t hear. Why should I talk
about music? Even music itself is a com-
plete mystery to me! People seem to be
intrigued by all kinds of music, so it must
be something. Too bad I’m deaf. You
shouldn’t be sending out questionnaires
like this. It’s a ridiculous waste of the uni-
versity’s money. Be more sensitive and
find time to do better things than this
quiz. You know a deaf person can’t hear
music! (Darrow, 1993, p. 109)
That comment hurt, but other comments
were more encouraging:
Everyone has their own values, and some
[deaf] people do love music, even if they
can’t hear much of it. What they get they
appreciate. I personally do feel that way.
And so they [hearing people] look at me
and wonder how I can enjoy music. I
don’t know. How do you explain that? It
is a very individual thing. (Darrow, 1993,
p. 109)
Deaf Culture in the Media
Another study that was particularly
meaningful to me was completed during a
sabbatical at Gallaudet University in Washing-
ton, DC, the only university for the deaf in
the world. This study was concerned with the
media’s portrayal of persons who are deaf and
their relationship to music, and with deaf and
hearing college students’ impressions of these
portrayals (Darrow & Loomis, 1999). Histori-
cally, the media have played an important role
in the way we perceive persons with disabili-
ties. Literature, television, and movies, in par-
ticular, have not always been kind or accurate
in their portrayal of individuals who are deaf.
Deaf characters have been portrayed as
dimwitted and helpless (Johnny Belinda, 1948);
animal-like (The Miracle Worker, 1962); bitter
and rebellious (Bridge to Silence, 1989; Children of
a Lesser God, 1986); or pitiable (The Heart Is a
Lonely Hunter, 1968). The impetus for pity has
often been another character’s contemplation
of a life without music (Children of a Lesser
God; The Heart is a Lonely Hunter; Voices, 1979).
Scriptwriters, like most hearing people, are
apparently intrigued by the notion of a world
without music; hence, the topic has appeared
frequently in movies with characters who are
deaf.
In this media study, again designed to
capture the deaf person’s perspective
regarding music, we compiled media clips
from movies and television and showed them
to college students, both deaf and hearing.
Figure 1 gives synopses of scenes we used
from the films The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and
Children of a Lesser God, while figure 2
describes a scene from an episode of the
television program A Different World (1991)
that includes a rap about deafness.

Figure 1. Synopses of Scenes in Media Study Movie Excerpts

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968)

A deaf man is speech-reading a young hearing girl as she attempts to
describe the sound of the music playing on the phonograph. They both
begin to conduct the music. The record stops and the man, not hearing the
music, continues to conduct. The girl awkwardly informs the man that “the
music is over now.” Pertinent lines spoken by the young girl: “Oh, I wish I
could make you hear!” and “I wish you had something like music.”

Children of a Lesser God (1986)

A hearing man and deaf woman are obviously in a relationship. The man lies
down to listen to Bach, then feels guilty because the woman can’t also enjoy
the music, so he turns it off. Later, the woman asks him to “explain music” to
her. Pertinent line spoken by the man: “I can’t enjoy it [the music] because
you can’t enjoy it.” Pertinent line spoken by the woman: “Don’t feel sorry for
me [because I can’t hear music].”

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 10

 Figure 2. Description of a Rap about Deafness from a Television Program

Episode “A Word in Edgewise” from A Different World (1991)

In front of a cheering crowd of college classmates, a young deaf man interprets a
rap into sign as a hearing friend speaks it. The rap begins, “I was born hard-of-
hearing, And that wasn’t cool, They thought I was stupid, ’Cause I didn’t talk in
school.” In the rap, the student gives advice for attracting women, such as “Lesson
number three, Learn how to listen, Read their lips, And they’ll be thinkin’ about
kissin.’” Everyone joins in for the refrain, “I can’t hear you, Louder!” Pertinent line
in the scene spoken by a hearing classmate, “How do you live without music?”
Pertinent line spoken by the deaf student, “What do you mean? I’m a rapper!”

After viewing the excerpts, students were interviewed individually and a content analysis done
of their responses to these video clips. The differing views of deaf and hearing subjects are illustrated
in these interview excerpts. Figure 3 gives an interpretation of comments by the two deaf students in
the video.

Figure 3. Interpretation of Comments Signed by Deaf Students in Interviews

Student 1
The man who did rap, that was good. It made a strong impression.
Hearing people wonder how a deaf person hears music. We are connected
to the music by feeling the vibrations. You can see it was a very inspiring
performance. It was exciting to see the socialization, too. So hearing people
ask, “You can hear music?” Sure, we connect to the music because we can
feel it, and image it in our minds.

Student 2
OK, the dancing rapper . . . that was wonderful. Wonderful. I can’t
describe that one. There are no words to describe it. It was a different
perspective. The deaf man was dancing with the music and all the hearing
people were watching him. You could see he felt and followed the music. I
liked that one. It showed that deaf people are equal. We are on an equal
level with hearing people. I also enjoyed the socialization that was involved.

As educators, we should remember the media are not always accurate in their portrayal of
persons with disabilities, and yet they have incredible power to influence our perception of
others—particularly those with whom we have little contact.

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 11

 Investigating the influence of the media
has also involved examining what appears in
print. Again, these findings have been both
inspiring and disheartening. Here are a few
examples. In one example, the majority of
respondents to a survey in Deaf Life (“Should
contestants in Deaf-sponsored pageants,”
1992) felt that Miss Deaf America contestants
should not use music as their talent, a senti-
ment that caused one winner to forfeit her
title (“Miss Deaf California resigns,” 1992).
Yet another example illustrates the pride that
some students who are deaf feel when they
perform (“British deaf band,” 1991).
However, no piece of print news has ever
captured my attention like the headlines,
“Stop the music! Deaf activist disrupts inter-
preters’ conference, declares signed songs
inappropriate for deaf” (“Stop the music!”,
1992). Apparently she was correct, since a
majority of respondents to another survey in
Deaf Life agreed with her (“Do you feel com-
fortable,” 1993). This finding was a bit dis-
couraging, because according to a study Kate
and I completed in 1991 (Darrow & Gfeller),
song signing is the primary activity that music
educators do with their students who have a
hearing loss. And sadly, it is an activity that
I have been known to engage in upon occasion.
Signing Song Lyrics
Perhaps I can share with you a bit of the deaf
person’s perspective on the issue of signing
songs. Without all the melodic and rhythmic
context of songs, persons with a severe-to-
profound hearing loss are often left with mostly
lyrics, so if you think about it, it is not too diffi-
cult to understand why they might not always
enjoy signed songs. I quote humorist Dave Barry:
I have, in my twenty years as a newspaper
columnist, written about many vitally im-
portant issues—politics, the economy,
foreign policy, mutant constipated worms,
etc.—and none of these topics has ever
stirred up so much passion in the readers
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 12
as the issue of bad songs. People were
stopping me on the street, grabbing me by
the shirt, and, with cold fury in their eyes,
saying things like: “You know that song
about piña coladas? I HATE THAT
SONG! I HATE IT!!” (Barry, 2000, p. 5)
In another column he writes, “When rock
’n roll composers are in a hurry to finish songs
… they sometimes make up some of the words.
Take for example the words to the 1960s hit,
‘Sittin’ in La La’:
Sittin’ in la la, waitin’ for my ya ya,
Uh huh, uh huh,
Sittin’ in la la, waitin’ for my ya ya,
Uh huh, uh huh.” (Barry, 1985, p. 171)
Barry continued, “Another example is
‘Land of Thousand Dances,’ whose composer
evidently got called away to an urgent appoint-
ment after he had written only two words:
I said na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na.” (Barry, 1985, p. 171)
A song that is not so exciting to see signed. As
far as the deaf are concerned, the philosopher,
Voltaire, probably had it right: “Anything too
stupid to be said is sung.” (Moneur, n.d.)
Meaning in Music for the Deaf
No study has brought me more joy than
“Conversations with Deaf Children about Mu-
sic” (Darrow, 2000). These data have been
great fun to collect, as you can see from this
excerpt from Peter, a junior high school band
student in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. I am now
in the process of collecting data from musicians
who have a hearing loss. Eliana is a music teach-
er in Wichita, Kansas. After asking her to tell
me about her background in music, I asked her
if she would sing for me.
In looking back over my own research on
music and deafness and that of others, it ap-
pears that most of our perception studies have
dealt with these children’s ability to perceive
the various elements of music—such as pitch,
rhythm, timbre, and so on. I could find no
studies that dealt with their perception of
extramusical meaning in music. Therefore, my
most recent studies have been concerned with
the effect of hearing loss on children’s ability
to perceive emotion and imagery in music
(Darrow, 2006).
From these studies, it appears that the
perception of referential meaning in music is
dependent upon three factors: children’s abil-
ity to aurally discriminate musical detail; their
ability to then mentally organize what has
been discriminated; and—what is perhaps
most consequential to their perception of ref-
erential meaning in music—their life experi-
ences, which are often different from those of
their typical hearing peers. Some children with
hearing loss do have the capacity to decode
referential meaning in music, such as imagery
and emotion. Music educators, however, must
be mindful of their students’ individual hear-
ing characteristics, and most importantly, the
unique way in which hearing loss impacts their
daily life, and then adapt accordingly.
When I put the bibliography together for
this session, I realized it has been nearly 30
years since I completed research for my mas-
ter’s thesis on beat reproduction. That seems
impossible. Music and deafness has not been
my only area of research, and given the low
incidence of the disability and consequently
the frequent difficulty in acquiring a viable
number of subjects, it is probably fortunate
for my academic promotions and tenure that
it wasn’t my only area of interest; nevertheless,
it has certainly been the research topic for
which I’ve had the most passion. I have al-
ways enjoyed research, a tribute to my men-
tors who modeled the joy of seeking answers
to questions, and then applying those answers
to practice.
And were it not for that joy, none of us
would be able to endure the endless red tape
of IRBs, as well as the university, school dis-
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 13
trict, principal, parent and participant permis-
sions we must first acquire before doing much
of our research in music education. Fortunately,
those of us in SRME apparently enjoy what we
do. Thank you for letting me share some of the
work that has brought me such great joy over
the past 25-plus years.
References
Barry, D. (1985). Bad Habits. Garden City, NY:
Doubleday.
Barry, D. (2000). Book of Bad Songs. Kansas
City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing.
Bender, C., & Spink, J. C. (Producers), &
Haines, R. (Director). (1986). Children of a
Lesser God [Motion picture]. United States:
Paramount Pictures.
Berenbeim, G. (Writer), & Allen, D. (Director).
(1991, February 21). A word in edgewise
[Television series episode]. In D. Allen
(Producer), A different world. Studio City,
CA: Carsey-Werner.
British deaf band tour in North America.
(1991, February). Silent News, p. 5.
Coe, F. (Producer), & Penn, A. (Director).
(1962). The Miracle Worker [Motion picture].
United States: United Artists.
Darrow, A. A. (1979). The beat reproduction
response of subjects with normal and
impaired hearing: An empirical comparison.
Journal of Music Therapy, 16(2), 6–11.
Darrow, A. A. (1984). A comparison of
rhythmic responsiveness in normal and
hearing impaired children and an investi-
gation of the relationship of rhythmic
responsiveness to the suprasegmental
aspects of speech perception. Journal of
Music Therapy, 21(2), 48–66.
Darrow, A. A. (1993). The role of music in
deaf culture: Implications for music
educators. Journal of Research in Music
Education, 41(2), 93–110. (Some of the
participant quotes used in this presenta-
tion were cited as excerpts in the discussion
section of the 1993 article, but are quoted
here in full from the original data.)
Darrow, A. A. (2000, November). Conversations
with deaf children about music. Paper presented
at the meeting of the American Music
Therapy Association, St. Louis, MO.
Darrow, A. A. (2006). The role of music in
deaf culture: Deaf students’ perception of
emotion in music. Journal of Music Therapy
43(1), 2–15.
Darrow, A. A., & Gfeller, K. (1991). A study
of public school music programs main-
streaming hearing impaired students.
Journal of Music Therapy, 28(1), 23–39.
Darrow, A. A., & Heller, G. N. (1985). Early
advocates of music education for the
hearing impaired: William Wolcott Turner
and David Ely Barlett. Journal of Research in
Music Education, 33(4), 269–279.
Darrow, A. A., & Loomis, D. M. (1999).
Music and deaf culture: Images from the
media and their interpretation by deaf and
hearing students. Journal of Music Therapy,
36(2), 88–109.
Do you feel comfortable having hearing
people signing songs to deaf audience?
(1993, July). Deaf Life, p. 60.
Kaplan, P. B. (1977). A criterion-referenced
comparison of rhythmic responsiveness in normal
and educable mentally retarded children.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Uni-
versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Hickox, S. B. (Producer), & Arthur, K.
(Director). (1999). Bridge to Silence [Motion
picture made for television]. United States:
Vic Video.
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 14
Merriam, A. (1964). The anthropology of music.
Evanston, IL: Northwestern University
Press.
Michael Moneur’s (Cynical) Quotations. (n.d.).
Retrieved August 30, 2006, from
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/
912.html.
Miss Deaf California resigns over piano-
playing ban. (1992, January). Silent News,
p. 2. (Reprinted from San Jose Mercury
News, October 30, 1991).
Screen Arts Production (Producer), & Miller,
R. E. (Director). (1968). The Heart Is a
Lonely Hunter [Motion picture]. United
States: Warner Brothers.
Should contestants in Deaf-sponsored
pageants be allowed to sing or play music
as part of their talent routines? (1992,
December). Deaf Life, p. 34.
Stop the music! Deaf activist disrupts inter-
preters’ conference, declares signed songs
inappropriate for deaf. (1992, December).
Silent News, p. 1.
Turner, W. W., & Bartlett, D. E. (October
1848). Music among the deaf and dumb.
American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb 2,
1–6.
Wald, J. (Producer), & Negulesco, J. (Director).
(1948). Johnny Belinda [Motion picture].
United States: Warner Brothers.
Wizzan, J. (Producer), & Markowitz, R.
(Director). (1979). Voices [Motion picture].
United States: MGM.
 Skill Development in Rhythm Perception and
Performance: A Review of Literature
James L. Reifinger, Jr.
Assistant professor in the music department at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
E-mail: reifinger@ulm.edu
usic educators continually seek the most
M effective and efficient methods to teach
musical skills such as rhythm perception and
performance. Researchers have examined the
emergence of rhythm perceptual and perfor-
mance skills and have investigated specific
aspects of these skills. Their findings may help
in crafting the most productive instructional
approaches for various developmental stages.
This article reviews studies on rhythm percep-
tion and performance published primarily
within the last 15 years and includes some
important historical studies to provide a more
complete description of current knowledge.
Organized developmentally, this review
examines the development of rhythmic skills
first in infants and preschoolers, then most
extensively in school-age children. Skill devel-
opment in infants and preschoolers is consid-
ered only briefly because the main interest for
music educators is school-aged children. Im-
plications for instructional practices are con-
sidered. Studies with adults are not included
unless they are relevant to rhythmic develop-
ment in children.
Infants
Perception
Because human hearing usually begins
during the sixth month of prenatal life, music
perception occurs before birth. Fetuses begin
responding to sounds outside the womb as
early as their 24th week of development, and
by the 28th week they present consistent re-
sponses to sounds (Birnholz & Benacerraf,
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 15
1983). Newborns’ hearing thresholds are 15 to
30 decibels higher than adults, but by 6 months
of age, the threshold is only 10 to 15 decibels
higher (Olsho, Koch, Carter, Halpin, & Spet-
ner, 1988). Two tones are perceived as not
sounding simultaneously at thresholds of 11
milliseconds apart for 6- to 12-month-old in-
fants and at 5.6 milliseconds apart for 5-year-
old children, compared to 5.2 milliseconds
apart for adults (Trehub, Schneider, & Hen-
derson, 1995). With simple three- and four-note
patterns, infants as young as 7 months can dis-
criminate tempo and rhythm changes and can
detect rhythm changes despite changes in fre-
quency or tempo (Trehub & Thorpe, 1989).
Performance
Recent research has investigated the
effects of early exposure to music on musical
performance. A longitudinal investigation by
Tafuri and Villa (2002) uniquely involved both
the prenatal and postnatal stages. Fetuses in
an experimental group experienced music 3 to
4 months before birth, because their mothers
received music lessons weekly and sang and
listened to music daily. Fetuses in a control
group did not receive any special prenatal
music stimulation because their mothers did
not participate in any music lessons.
After birth, the infants’ vocalizations
were recorded at 2, 4, 6, and 8 months, and
the mothers notated in diaries additional in-
formation about vocalizations and music re-
sponses. The recordings of 18 infants in the
experimental group revealed a large percent-
age of ascending and descending glissandos as
well as distinguishable intervals. These infants
produced rhythms of different durations two-
thirds of the time at the age of 2 months and
almost 100% of the time as they got older.
Recordings of 10 infants in the control group
revealed no vocalizations from 7, only brief
sounds from 1, and a few vocalizations from
2. Additional studies conducted with infants
are needed and may be helpful in determining
when specific musical behaviors develop in
the earliest stages of life (Ilari, 2002).
In a landmark study involving 500 chil-
dren, Moog (1976) observed that children’s
first responses to music were through move-
ment around the age of 6 months. Moog re-
ported that movements often involved the
entire body and were described as rhythmical
because of their repetitiveness, but did not
synchronize with the musical sounds. After
age 1, movement responses decreased, but
variety increased. Around 18 months, 10% of
children began to match movements to the
music’s rhythm for short periods. Moog also
observed that shortly after children were able
to make movement responses to music, they
began to make vocal responses, referred to as
musical babble. The first babbling songs lacked
rhythmic structure. As these songs improved,
range of pitch widened, but rhythm remained
limited and simplistic. Durations were mainly
a 1:2 ratio, with the shorter value used most
often. Rarely were three or four different du-
rations used. Rests frequently occurred be-
tween phrases, but seemed to be of unspecific
duration.
Between the age of 1 and 2 years, chil-
dren began to imitate songs. Moog (1976)
found that children first produced words, then
rhythm, and then pitch. About 16% of the
children, however, began imitating rhythm
and pitch without words and began including
words between ages 2 and 3. By age 2½,
about 22% of children “sang” just words and
rhythm; but by age 3, 80% imitated words,
rhythm, and pitch. About 50% of 3-year-olds
imitated entire songs. This would indicate
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 16
that, while the ability to sing and to move
rhythmically to music begins to emerge before
the age of 2 years, the ability to coordinate
words, rhythm, and pitch in singing doesn’t
begin to emerge until around the age of 2½
years.
Preschoolers
With preschoolers, several researchers’
observations can be compared. Moog (1976)
found that, between 3 and 5½ years of age,
about 50% of children continued to make
spontaneous movement responses to music,
but the variety of movement decreased. Be-
tween ages 4 and 6, movements increasingly
matched the rhythm of the music and coordi-
nated with the music for longer periods.
Dances and singing games replaced spontane-
ous repetitive movements for the most part by
age 6. Sims (1985) found that 3- to 5-year-
olds’ rhythmic movement increased with age.
Movements were rhythmical 22.49% of the
time with 3-year-olds, 61.97% with 4-year-
olds, and 73.86% with 5-year-olds. Rhythmic
movements corresponded to the beat almost
three times as often with the 5-year-olds as
with the 3- and 4-year-olds, indicating that
most children become competent in moving
rhythmically to music between the third and
fifth years of life.
One of the first rhythmic tasks children
are taught is beat keeping, which is often prac-
ticed by clapping, tapping, and marching.
Rainbow (1981) assessed 3- and 4-year-old
children’s ability to keep a steady beat and to
echo rhythmic patterns. To perform beats or
rhythms, a vocal response mode was the easi-
est for 3-year olds, 50% of whom could suc-
cessfully perform the tasks. Only 10–14%
were successful when clapping and tapping.
Marching to the beat and echo-clapping a
rhythmic pattern without vocalization were
the most difficult tasks. Vocal responses were
performed successfully by 70–90% of 4-year-
olds. Only 40–60% of these children could
keep a steady beat by clapping or using rhythm
sticks, and 30–40% could echo rhythm pat-
terns by clapping. Marching to the beat was
still very difficult and was performed success-
fully by only 18–20% of the 4-year-old children.
While children need to practice gross-motor
skills, the use of vocal responses may be the
most effective way to ensure success when
beat and rhythm performance skills are first
emerging.
Insight into possible cognitive and motor
influences on beat-keeping skills in children
may be provided by a study with adults that
examined various modes used to keep a steady
beat. Aschersleben and Prinz (1995) observed
that, when tapping a steady beat, there is a
tendency to tap 20–50 milliseconds early.
Aschersleben and Prinz (1995) use the Paillard-
Fraise Hypothesis (as cited in Aschersleben &
Prinz, 1995) to account for this negative asyn-
chrony. According to this hypothesis, the
brain synchronizes taps with clicks by super-
imposing two types of sensory codes: the au-
ditory code (click) and the kinesthetic code
(tap). The processing time for these two codes
differs; it takes longer for the sensory informa-
tion to travel from the fingers to the brain
when tapping than to travel from the ears to
the brain when listening to clicks. For synchroni-
zation to occur in the brain, the tap has to be
performed before the click by the amount of
time by which the processing of the two codes
differs. Also supported by this theory, a signif-
icantly larger negative asynchrony occurred
when using the foot than when using the
hand. When considering the side of the body
used or whether one or both limbs were used,
no difference in performance was observed.
School-Age Children
Beat
Beat-keeping ability differs by age and
experience level. Upitis (1987) found a signifi-
cant difference in beat-keeping ability by age
with 7- to 12-year-olds. Children with some
musical training were significantly better at
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 17
beat keeping than untrained children. Drake,
Jones, and Baruch (2000) examined beat per-
formance with children ages 4, 6, 8, and 10,
and with adults. Within each group, participants
were classified as nonmusicians or musicians
based on whether or not they received music
lessons and played an instrument almost every
day. The participants were asked to tap regularly
at their most comfortable rate, which revealed
a significant decrease in spontaneous-tapping
rate with maturity. Musicians tapped at signifi-
cantly slower rates than the nonmusicians. For
nonmusicians the rate of tapping per minute
was 156 for 4-year-olds, 155 for 6-year-olds,
132 for 8-year-olds, 125 for 10-year-olds, and
96 for adults. For musicians the rate of tap-
ping was 116 for 6-year-olds, 107 for 8-year-
olds, 98 for 10-year-olds, and 94 for adults.
Forced rates of tapping were used to deter-
mine minimum and maximum tapping speeds.
Age was a significant factor; faster maximum
speeds could be produced with increased age.
Musical training did not affect how fast partic-
ipants could tap, but did have a significant
effect on how slowly they could tap; musicians
were able to tap more slowly.
Another performance task examined par-
ticipants’ ability to tap in synchrony with sev-
eral types of stimuli: Ravel’s Bolero; an iso-
chronous sequence (a pattern using only one
note value); and a repeated 4-beat rhythm
pattern of varying notes. Synchronizing ability
improved significantly with age and was sig-
nificantly better for musicians than for non-
musicians. Age interacted significantly with
stimulus type; younger children synchronized
with the isochronous sequence better than
with the rhythm pattern, whereas, by the time
children were age 10, performance on both
stimuli was similar. It seems that the ability to
synchronize with rhythmic patterns emerges
later. In all groups, synchronizing was best with
Bolero. The researchers posit that children may
have an implicit ability to synchronize with
real music. Synchronizing to patterns, whether
isochronous or rhythmic sequences, requires
analytical skills to be applied outside the con-
text of actual music—a feat that may be be-
yond the capabilities of very young children.
Metric Accents
Including accents with rhythms can affect
children’s ability to perceive and perform
rhythms. To assess whether accents help,
Gérard and Drake (1990) conducted a series
of four experiments. In the first of the series,
5- to 8-year-old children listened to pairs of
rhythm patterns and discriminated whether
the two patterns were the same or different.
Three pairs of patterns were used: (1) the first
pair used a slightly different rhythm but the
same accents as in the second pattern; (2) the
second pair used identical rhythms in both
patterns with accents in only one of the
patterns; (3) a third pair incorporated both
rhythm and accent differences found in the
second pattern.
The pair with identical rhythms and ac-
cent differences was not identified as different
by a significant number of students at any
grade level. It was unclear whether the chil-
dren heard the accents but still considered the
rhythms as being the same. The pair with dif-
ferent rhythms was identified as different by a
significant number of 6- and 8-year-olds. The
pair with different rhythms and with accent
differences was identified as different by a
significant number of children at all age levels,
which indicates that accents enhanced the chil-
dren’s ability to discriminate. When one pat-
tern in a pair was isochronous, correctly iden-
tifying the patterns as different was easier, and
this capacity increased with age. Pairs of pat-
terns using a dotted quarter note (representing
a 1:3 ratio between the short and the long
durations) were the most difficult to recognize
as identical by all children.
A second experiment investigated the
effects of accents on 6- to 8-year-olds’ ability
to perform as well as discriminate accented
beat patterns. The five beat-patterns used dif-
fered only in the way accents were incorpo-
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 18
rated to produce the effect of the following
meters: 2/4; 3/4; 4/4; 6/8; and a pattern de-
void of accents. In a discrimination task using
all possible pairings, the children identified two
patterns as the same or different. In a produc-
tion task, the children played each pattern six
times on a drum. Both tasks were conducted
at different tempos: fast, medium, and slow.
The ability to discriminate accent differ-
ences was high and improved significantly
with age; 69% of 6-year-olds, 78% of 7-year-
olds, and 83% of 8-years-olds detected meter
differences. Comparisons of accented patterns
to the unaccented pattern was easier than
comparisons of two accented patterns, except
when comparing binary with triple meter,
which was the easiest. Discriminating differ-
ences was easiest at a fast tempo. The data
suggested that the children heard 6/8 as triple
meter. The ability to correctly produce accents
increased significantly with age: 31% of first
graders, 43% of second graders, and 50% of
third graders performed the accents correctly.
Reproducing the pattern devoid of accents did
not differ significantly by age. Contrary to the
discrimination task, performance at the fast
tempo was significantly poorer. The research-
ers concluded that by age 6, children can dis-
criminate different beat patterns created by
accents if their attention does not have to
focus on other aspects of rhythmic structure.
It is not until age 7, however, that children
develop sufficient motor control to reproduce
accents in patterns.
To test this conclusion, investigators used
a third experiment that examined the effects
of training on 5- and 6-year-olds’ ability to pro-
duce accents in patterns. In general, giving chil-
dren instruction to tap loud and soft notes on a
woodblock resulted in all taps being louder. Less
than half the children produced accent differ-
ences and only a few could produce them cor-
rectly. Some patterns had more than one note
on the accented beat, possibly making them
more difficult to perform because both accent
and multiple notes had to be produced.
 A fourth experiment examined the 5- and
6-year-old children’s ability to clap the beat
while listening to Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of
the Sugar-Plum Fairy.” Errors in synchroniza-
tion most often occurred in places where the
music incorporated expressive dynamic varia-
tions and where phrases began or ended. It
was concluded that music’s expressive dynamic
structure may cause children to lose track of
metric structure or may obscure accents.
Syncopation and Acceleration
The ability to synchronize to beats that
are steady, accelerating, and syncopated based
on age, gender, and phase (in-phase—tapping
at the same time as metronome ticks; anti-
phase—tapping between ticks) has been in-
vestigated. Volman and Geuze (2000) had
children ages 7, 9, and 11 tap their index fin-
gers while listening to a metronome. In steady-
state trials, the tempo remained at M.M. = 60.
In scaled-frequency trials, the first 12 beats
were at M.M. = 60; then the tempo gradually
increased to M.M. = 180. In steady-state trials
a significant difference in performance oc-
curred between all age groups; older students
tapped with less variability than younger stu-
dents. In scaled-frequency trials, a significant
difference occurred between the 7- and the
11-year-olds in ability to remain synchronized;
older students were able to synchronize as the
tempo increased. Performance by phase-type
was also significantly different; in-phase tap-
ping was more accurate than anti-phase tapping.
Rhythmic Patterns
Rhythmic patterns are frequently used in
rhythm instruction and assessment. Aspects
making patterns more complex, and therefore
more difficult to reproduce, were assessed by
Drake and Gérard (1989). Children age 5 and
7 heard a pattern twice and then reproduced it
on a drum. Simple patterns used taps on the
beat, and subdivision, and multiples of the
beat.
Complex patterns included dotted notes
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 19
in addition to subdivision and multiples of the
beat. Arrhythmic patterns were also used, in
which temporal intervals were shortened or
lengthened so that rhythms did not conform
to regular subdivisions. The children repro-
duced simple rhythms significantly more accu-
rately than they did complex rhythms. Rhyth-
mic patterns were reproduced significantly
more accurately than arrhythmic patterns; the
closer the arrhythmic model resembled regular
subdivisions, the easier it was to reproduce.
When performing arrhythmic patterns, chil-
dren tended to distort them toward regular
subdivisions. Performance on simple rhythmic
patterns improved significantly by age. Pattern
length, varying from three to seven elements,
had little effect on performance. The number
of pulses in patterns, varying from three to six,
did affect performance; more pulses resulted
in poorer performance on both the rhythmic
and the arrhythmic patterns.
The effect of the inclusion of accents in
rhythm patterns on performance has been
examined. Drake (1993) had 5- and 7-year-
olds and adult nonmusicians and musicians
perform four-beat rhythm patterns. Patterns
consisted of binary or ternary subdivisions and
simple or complex rhythms. Simple patterns
used two different note values in 1:2 (binary)
or 1:3 (ternary) temporal ratios; complex pat-
terns used three different note values, includ-
ing 1:4 (binary) or 2:3 (ternary) temporal ra-
tios. Also, all patterns were heard both with
and without intensity accents.
Results indicated that 7-year-olds per-
formed significantly better than 5-year-olds,
but the adult nonmusicians were not statisti-
cally different from the 7-year-olds, implying
that acculturation alone does not improve
rhythm performance after the age of 7. Pre-
senting patterns with accents resulted in sig-
nificantly more accurate reproduction. An
interaction between accent use and type of
subdivision indicated that, when including
accents, greater improvement occurred with
ternary subdivisions. An interaction between
accent use and group indicated that, when
including accents, greater improvements oc-
curred with 7-year-olds and adult nonmusicians.
All groups produced patterns with symmetri-
cal halves significantly more accurately. Binary
patterns with only two durational values were
easiest to perform. Binary subdivision patterns
were significantly easier to reproduce than
ternary subdivision patterns. Simple patterns
were significantly easier to reproduce than
complex patterns. A significant interaction
between subdivision type and pattern com-
plexity indicated that differences by complexity
were greater with binary subdivision patterns.
Pattern Presentation and Response Modes
Rhythm patterns can be presented and
performed in various modes. The different
response modes of clapping, stepping, and
chanting the neutral syllable loo with children
in grades K, 1, 2, and 3 were examined
(Schleuter & Schleuter, 1985). Rhythm pat-
terns used subdivisions of duple or triple. Re-
sults indicated that there was a significant in-
teraction between response mode and grade
level; for grade K, performance was signifi-
cantly more accurate when chanting. For
grades 1 and 2, performance was significantly
more accurate when chanting or clapping,
with no significant difference between these
two modes. For grade 3, performance was
significantly more accurate when clapping.
These findings are consistent with the findings
on preferred modes of beat-keeping with pre-
school children (Moog, 1976; Rainbow, 1981).
Responding by clapping improved signifi-
cantly at each successive grade level. Chanting
improved significantly at each grade level ex-
cept between grades 1 and 2. Stepping im-
proved significantly at each grade level except
between grades K and 1. It was reported that
girls performed significantly better than boys.
The effect of presentation mode on
pattern performance has been examined
using four different modes to present
rhythms: (1) R—on a woodblock; (2)
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 20
RM—along with a melody sung on la; (3)
RV—along with spoken words; or (4)
RVM—along with sung words, integrating the
rhythmic, verbal, and melodic clues (Gérard
and Auxiette, 1988). Five-year-olds heard
patterns in one of these modes and responded
by clapping. Half the children had engaged in
weekly music classes and were therefore
labeled musicians. Performance differed
significantly based on presentation condition;
RVM presentations resulted in better perform-
ance than just R presentations for musicians and
nonmusicians. A significant interaction occurred
between presentation condition and training;
musicians performed better if patterns were
presented with a melody, but not if they were
presented with words. Nonmusicians performed
better if patterns were presented with words,
but not if they were presented with a melody.
These results may indicate that the type of
support that is most helpful depends on a
child’s level of experience. A multimode
presentation such as the RVM condition does
not result in decreased performance and may
be a way of addressing different ability levels
in the classroom.
A follow-up experiment examined differ-
ent response modes in addition to different
presentation modes and further examined the
effect of words (Gérard & Auxiette, 1992).
Five-year-old musicians and nonmusicians
were presented patterns in three modes: (1)
tapped on a woodblock; (2) tapped along with
a congruent sentence; (3) tapped along with
an incongruent sentence created by changing
words in a congruent sentence. The response
mode was identical to the presentation mode.
Results indicated no difference in perfor-
mance accuracy between the musicians and
the nonmusicians in any mode. No difference
in accuracy occurred between just tapping or
tapping along with congruent sentences in
either group. Performance in both groups
deteriorated significantly when using incon-
gruent sentences. The musicians synchronized
words with taps significantly more accurately
than the nonmusicians when using congruent
sentences, but not when using incongruent
sentences. The poorer performance when
using an incongruent sentence may have
occurred because the children had to increase
their concentration on performing the words,
thereby reducing their ability to attend to the
rhythm.
To follow up, a second experiment exam-
ined the synchronization of words to rhythm.
All the children heard rhythm patterns pro-
duced in three different modes: (1) electronic
beeps (produced by pressing a button); (2)
chanted syllables ta and ti; and (3) electronic
beeps and chanted syllables together. Children
reproduced the patterns in four trials using the
same response mode as the presentation
mode. Musicians performed more accurately
with the syllables, and nonmusicians per-
formed more accurately with the beeps. When
reproducing rhythms with beeps only,
nonmusicians performed significantly better
than musicians. The two groups did not differ
when using syllables, or when using both
beeps and syllables. Both groups improved in
performance over the four trials in the beep
condition and the syllable condition. In the
combined beep-and-syllable condition, the
musicians’ performance improved over re-
peated trials, but the nonmusicians’ perfor-
mance did not improve. The beep was produced
first in most cases. Compared to nonmusicians,
musicians produced the beep before the sylla-
ble significantly more frequently, and they
anticipated the beeps more markedly by sepa-
rating them from the syllables by a signifi-
cantly longer time period.
The effect of a visual presentation mode
with second- and sixth-grade students has
been examined (Shehan, 1987). Patterns were
presented in four modes: (1) produced on a
woodblock; (2) chanted with syllables; (3) pro-
duced on a woodblock and presented with the
notation, which was removed when the stu-
dent performed; and (4) chanted with syllables
and presented with the notation. Participants
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 21
heard all four presentation modes but always
performed the pattern on a woodblock. The
number of trials needed to perform the pat-
tern correctly was recorded, with the maxi-
mum set at 10. The mode of presentation
significantly affected performance; without
the visual aid, more trials by students in both
grades were needed to perform patterns accu-
rately. With the modes that did not include
the visual, the use of the rhythm syllables re-
sulted in a significantly better performance.
The difference between the grades was also
significant; second graders required more than
twice as many trials to perform patterns accu-
rately.
The effect of aural, visual, auditory, kines-
thetic, and combinations of these presentation
modalities has also been examined. In the
kinesthetic mode used by Persellin (1992),
students silently felt the patterns via pats on
their forearms. Because the multimodal pre-
sentation did not result in significantly lower
scores, the researcher suggests that multimod-
al presentations may be beneficial as a way of
accommodating the variety of learning-style
preferences of children in a classroom.
During pattern instruction, it may be ben-
eficial to provide opportunities to respond
individually in addition to responding with the
group. Levinowitz and Scheetz (1998) found
that, following a 4-month instructional period,
third graders who had been given solo response
opportunities during instruction were better
sight readers of new patterns than their peers,
who had only responded as part of a group.
Rhythmic Literacy
Invented notation has been used as a
means of examining children’s cognitive un-
derstanding of rhythm (Bamberger, 1980;
Upitis, 1987; Smith, Cuddy, & Upitis, 1994).
In studies using invented notation, partici-
pants are often asked to make a drawing to
help them remember what the pattern sound-
ed like. Bamberger (1980) identified two dis-
tinct types of drawings made by fourth-grade
children: (1) figural—representations of sounds
into phrases or figures; and (2) metric—
representations of the duration of sounds. In
figural drawings, groupings are determined by
a change in pace between sounds; thus two
short sounds followed by a long sound are all
represented by the same symbol in one group
because the pace does not change until after
the third sound. The time between the group-
ings may not be represented, becoming in-
stead a gap between figures. In metric draw-
ings, which more closely resemble musical
notation, the underlying metric—the beat—is
mentally compared to, and coordinated with, a
rhythm to construct the drawing. Bamberger
observed that children and adults with musical
training tended to construct metric drawings,
while those without training tended to con-
struct figural drawings.
In another experiment involving 186 chil-
dren ages 4 through 12, Bamberger (1980)
asked children to add numbers to their draw-
ings. The numbers resulted in some drawings
of a transitional type with graphics represent-
ing durations and numbers representing
groupings. A developmental taxonomy
emerged in which the drawings of the youn-
gest children seemed to focus on the continu-
ous motion of clapping. The drawings in the
next level of sophistication seemed to place
more attention on the separate and discrete
claps, thus allowing the identification of
groupings or figures with sounds classified
according to their function within the figure.
When a child was able to move the focus
away from figural boundaries and superim-
pose a metric onto the pattern, a metric draw-
ing could be constructed.
Upitis (1987) taught 7- to 12-year-old
musicians and nonmusicians to read and
perform from both types of drawings. As a
result, they learned to draw both types, but
figural drawings remained the most common
type drawn and were the easiest for children
to read. Musicians were better able than
nonmusicians to read both figural and metric
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 22
drawings. Children with greater aural and
motor skills in rhythm were better than their
less-skilled peers at reading the metric drawings.
The children with musical training were also
significantly more likely to make a switch
from figural drawing to metric drawing after
some practice. Upitis noted that if rhythms
were difficult to encode metrically, children
were able to encode them figurally. It is
therefore suggested that teachers not just
emphasize metric aspects when teaching
rhythm concepts. Children may understand
more readily the formal metric aspect by
building on their comprehension of figural
structure.
Smith, Cuddy, and Upitis (1994) caution
that figural understanding should not be con-
sidered a lower level of rhythmic understand-
ing that precedes metric understanding. They
conclude that figural drawers possess metric
skills and that rhythmic understanding in-
volves both figural and metric components.
They further suggest that possibly a prefer-
ence for metric notation is imposed as a result
of musical training. The results of this study
may be difficult to interpret, however, because
four classifications of drawings were identi-
fied: metric, figural, counting, and ambiguous.
Over half the children were identified as am-
biguous drawers. This study corroborated
findings of other studies: patterns in duple
meter were performed more accurately than
those in triple; unsyncopated patterns were
performed more accurately than syncopated
ones; and patterns with two different dura-
tions were performed more accurately than
those with three or more durations.
Rhythm syllables can serve as an interme-
diate step allowing the oral coding of sounds
before trying to notate them, and providing an
aid when trying to read and perform from
notation. Colley (1987) examined the effects
of different syllable systems on second- and
third-grade children’s ability to read, write,
and perform rhythm patterns. Three groups
each used different syllabic systems: (1)
Kodály—ta, ti, etc., corresponding to note
durations; (2) Gordon—du, de, etc., corre-
sponding to metrical placements of notes; and
(3) Word—using novel words in which the
syllables and natural accents corresponded
with that of note groupings. The children
were assessed on three tasks: (1) a recognition
task in which the children heard a pattern
played on a drum, and then selected the cor-
rect notation from three choices; (2) a dicta-
tion task in which the children heard a pattern
and then wrote it in traditional notation; and
(3) a performance task in which the children
clapped a pattern while reading it in traditional
notation.
Results showed that, on the recognition
task, both the Gordon and the Word groups
scored significantly better than the Kodály
group, but the Gordon and the Word groups
were not significantly different from each
other. On the dictation task, the Word group
performed significantly better than did either
the Gordon or the Kodály group, and the
Gordon group performed significantly better
than the Kodály group did. On the perfor-
mance task, the Word group performed signif-
icantly better than the Gordon and the Kodály
groups, but there was no significant difference
between the latter groups.
There are other factors that may have a
bearing on these results and should be consid-
ered. The Kodály group scored significantly
below the other groups on a pretest. Both the
Gordon and Kodály methodologies were fol-
lowed only with regard to type of syllable
used, not in accordance with prescribed pre-
sentation rates or sequence of material.
Gérard and Auxiette (1992) found that incon-
gruent sentences significantly reduced rhythm
pattern performance accuracy of 5-year-olds,
while congruent sentences did not. A similar
effect could be occurring in this study where,
without long-term practice, the children may
experience the nonsense syllables of Kodály
and Gordon as more incongruous than the
familiar words. Also, Gérard and Auxiette
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 23
(1988) found that additional supports help
children, but the type of support that is help-
ful depends on the child’s level of experience.
Summary
The ability to perceive and perform a
beat is the most fundamental rhythmic skill.
This skill can emerge after the age of 1½ years
(Moog, 1976), but most children become
competent between the ages of 3 and 5 (Sims,
1985). Young children produce vocal re-
sponses more easily than movement responses.
As a result, 3-year-olds find it easiest to pro-
duce a steady beat vocally rather than by clap-
ping, tapping, or marching (Rainbow, 1981).
By age 4, only 40–60% of children can keep a
steady beat by clapping or tapping, and only
18–20% can keep it by marching (Rainbow,
1981). Synchronizing to the beat with the foot
is more difficult than with the hand, even for
adults (Aschersleben & Prinz, 1995).
Younger children prefer faster tempos
than adults do (Drake, Jones, & Baruch,
2000), which needs to be kept in mind when
selecting music to use in instruction with chil-
dren. Children and adults find it easiest to tap
the beat along with actual music that marks
higher and lower hierarchical levels of meter
simultaneously. Younger children find tapping
the beat along with an isochronous sequence
easier than tapping the beat along with rhythm
patterns (Drake, Jones, & Baruch, 2000).
Therefore, after children can keep a beat, first
along with music, and then along with an
isochronous sequence, they can be challenged
to keep a beat while listening to rhythm pat-
terns. The ability to perform a steady beat
improves with age and training (Drake, Jones,
& Baruch, 2000; Upitis, 1987; Volman &
Geuze, 2000). Older students can be chal-
lenged to synchronize to faster tempos, to
accelerating tempos, and to offbeats (Volman
& Geuze, 2000).
When learning rhythm patterns, 4-year-
olds find it easiest to reproduce patterns vo-
cally, and only 30–40% of 4-year-olds can
echo patterns accurately by clapping (Rain-
bow, 1981). Vocal response via chanting con-
tinues to be the easiest response mode for
kindergartners. In Grades 1 and 2, children are
equally successful at echoing patterns by
chanting or clapping. By Grade 3, clapping
becomes the easiest response mode. The step-
ping of patterns begins to improve in Grade 1
(Schleuter & Schleuter, 1985). Although the
ability to perform rhythm patterns can im-
prove to a degree even without instruction
between the ages of 5 and 7, improvement is
not believed to occur after age 7 without train-
ing (Drake, 1993; Smith, Cuddy, & Upitis,
1994). Opportunities for solo responding dur-
ing instruction can improve performance
(Levinowitz & Scheetz, 1998).
The level of difficulty in performing
rhythm patterns varies based on pattern char-
acteristics. Simple patterns with binary subdi-
visions are easiest and can be learned by accul-
turation (Drake, 1993). The more the notes
within a pattern occur on the beat, the easier
that pattern is to perform (Drake & Gérard,
1989). Binary subdivisions are easier than ter-
nary (Drake, 1993). Duple-meter patterns are
easier to perform than triple-meter patterns
(Smith, Cuddy, & Upitis, 1994; Upitis, 1987).
Patterns that use 1:3 ratios are more difficult
to discriminate (Gérard & Drake, 1990).
Unsynco-pated patterns are easier to perform
than syncopated patterns (Smith, Cuddy, &
Upitis, 1994). Patterns that use two different
durational values are easier to perform than
those that use three or more durational values
(Drake, 1993; Smith, Cuddy, & Upitis, 1994).
Performance of patterns is affected more by
the number of pulses—i.e., the pattern
length—than by the number of elements in
the pattern (Drake & Gérard, 1989). Same or
different discrimination of patterns is easier at
fast and slow rather than medium tempos, but
pattern performance is easier at moderate and
slow tempos (Gérard & Drake, 1990).
Mode of pattern presentation affects per-
formance: melodic cues along with rhythm
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 24
patterns help children who have had training;
word cues along with rhythm patterns help
children without training (Gérard & Auxiette,
1988, 1992). Multimodal presentations do not
decrease performance accuracy and may be an
effective way to address multiple learning
styles in a classroom (Gérard & Auxiette,
1988; Persellin, 1992; Petzold, 1963). Using
syllables along with the sound of the rhythm
improves the ability to memorize and perform
patterns. Students as young as second grade
learn to accurately perform patterns more
quickly when reading musical notation
(Shehan, 1987).
Accents create metrical divisions that
allow rhythm patterns to be cognitively orga-
nized in larger units. Including accents helps
children as young as 5 to discriminate pat-
terns. The ability to discriminate meter is high
in first grade (69%) and improves with age
(Gérard & Drake, 1990). The ability to dis-
criminate meter, however, is greatest when no
other aspect of the rhythmic structure dis-
tracts attention (Gérard & Drake, 1990). This
would indicate that instruction in meter dis-
crimination should begin before first grade.
Music used in initial instruction should be as
void of rhythmic complexity as possible. Us-
ing musical examples of increasing rhythmic
complexity can be a way of continuing to
challenge students.
Using accents when presenting patterns
improves children’s ability to perform them,
especially when patterns use ternary subdivi-
sions (Drake, 1993). Having children include
accents when performing patterns, however,
hinders performance (Gérard & Drake, 1990).
Both rhythm production and accent produc-
tion require considerable attention in young
children; they can concentrate on one or the
other, but not on both. The ability to produce
accents improves with age (31% in first grade,
43% in second, and 50% in third). Even with
practice, most 6-year-olds cannot produce
accents correctly. By age 7, children have suf-
ficient motor control to produce accents.
When modeling patterns for children, teachers
should include metric accents whenever possi-
ble, but children shouldn’t be required to per-
form accents until second grade.
Having students draw their own repre-
sentations of rhythm patterns can provide a
window into their cognition (Bamberger,
1980). Students who draw only figural-type
representations rather than metric-type repre-
sentations of rhythm patterns may not be at-
tending to the metric aspects. Teachers should
not focus exclusively on metric aspects of
rhythm (Smith, Cuddy, & Upitis, 1994; Upitis,
1987). Some students may not yet have a met-
ric understanding of rhythm internally, in
which case they would not understand the use
of formal metric representation such as nota-
tion. Teaching students to read both types of
drawings may help them to focus on different
aspects of the rhythm and may facilitate the
perception of meter. It is possible that rhythms
of a higher difficulty level may be initially un-
derstood on a figural level. Future researchers
should examine a possible relationship be-
tween the type of visual representation that
children can understand and the aural aspects,
such as accents and rhythmic complexity, that
they are able to perceive.
Findings on gender differences have
yielded conflicting results. While one study
revealed that girls performed rhythm patterns
better than boys in Grades 1, 2, and 3
(Schleuter & Schleuter, 1985), the results of
other studies have shown no gender differ-
ences in rhythmic abilities (Petzold, 1963;
Smith, Cuddy, & Upitis, 1994; Volman &
Geuze, 2000).
Implications and Conclusions
Individuals acquire and improve rhythmic
skills in three possible ways: (1) maturation;
(2) acculturation; and (3) active learning. With
regard to maturation, it has been found that
most musical skills stabilize during childhood
and do not continue to develop without
further training. While beat and rhythm per-
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 25
formance may improve somewhat with the
development of motor skills as a result of
maturation, this improvement will be limited
without further training and practice. It is cru-
cial that music education experiences foster
the further development of rhythmic skills.
These findings from research should be con-
sidered in order to plan the most effective
learning experiences.
With regard to acculturation, music edu-
cators generally agree that it is important to
begin music education as early in a child’s life
as possible. Many children, however, grow up
in situations where opportunities to experi-
ence music are limited. Studies documenting
the benefit of early musical experiences should
encourage parents, caregivers, and educators
to provide children with more opportunities
for musical experiences early in life. The influ-
ence of particular types of musical content
indigenous to a specific culture or develop-
mental stage also needs to be considered in
relation to rhythmic learning. Early exposure
to the types of music found in certain cultures,
such as polyrhythms and syncopations found
in traditional music of West Africa, for exam-
ple, may give those children a greater predilec-
tion for developing rhythmic ability. Early
exposure to music intended for particular de-
velopmental stages may impact a child’s ability
to interact more readily with musical sounds.
To be most effective, rhythmic experiences
need to be perceived by the listener as musical
events rather than merely as intellectual or
motor exercises. Affective responses that ac-
company such musical events are vital to the
learning process and may affect perception
and performance abilities.
With regard to active learning, research
should be used to inform teachers in their
efforts to structure musical learning activities
that have the greatest potential to develop and
improve rhythmic skills in children. Many
recent findings on children’s perceptual and
performance abilities in rhythm, however,
have not been applied in instructional settings.
 If educational practices in music are to
improve, ways of incorporating these findings
in instructional programs need to be devised
and assessed empirically. While some ap-
proaches or strategies may be more difficult to
use initially, their continued application with
children may yield results that are more bene-
ficial in the long term. Researchers might con-
sider using longitudinal studies conducted in
the context of instruction, and which accu-
rately adhere to the prescribed scope and se-
quence of a specific methodology. Longitudi-
nal studies in applied settings, integrating the
findings from basic research, may be impor-
tant for designing the most effective rhythm
instruction strategies to use with children.
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 Including Composition in Middle School Band:
Effects on Achievement, Performance, and Attitude
Patricia E. Riley
Assistant professor of music education at the University of Vermont in Burlington.
E-mail: patricia.riley@uvm.edu
ncluding music composition as a tool in
I music instruction seems to be a topic of
interest to music educators. Prominent music
education leaders have asserted the impor-
tance of music composition as one of several
components of music learning. Reimer (1989)
states that there are three ways through which
people can experience music: performing,
listening, and composing. Paynter and Aston
(1970) write that “more often than not, school
music has concentrated on the skills of
performance. . . . Performance is an essential
musical activity; but it is not the whole of
music” (p. 5). Similarly, the Consortium of
National Arts Education Associations (1994)
identifies performing music, creating music,
and responding to music as the “fundamental
music processes in which humans engage”
(p. 26). The National Standards for Arts
Education (Arts Education Associations, 1994)
includes music composition as one of nine
content standards, stating that among other
activities, students should be “composing and
arranging music within specified guidelines”
(p. 43).
Numerous articles about including
composition in music classes have been
published in the MENC periodicals Music
Educators Journal and Teaching Music. These
articles include Brophy (1996), Goins (2003),
Hickey (2001), Hickey and Webster (2001),
Kaschub (1997a), Priest (2002), Reese (2001),
Rudaitis (1994a, 1994b, 1995), Stambaugh
(2003), and Wilson (2001).
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 28
Related Literature
Research related to music composition
has been conducted in elementary school
general music, junior high school general
music, middle school instrumental music, and
college music fundamentals classes. In the
studies, music composition activities were
included in experimental-group treatments
and not included in control-group treatments.
Elementary School General Music Classes
Boehm (1999) investigated whether a
teaching approach consisting of music com-
position using invented notation activities
would have a different effect on children’s
music creativity and music achievement than
would a more traditional teaching approach
not consisting of music composition. Boehm
reported no statistically significant difference
between the two groups’ scores on measures
of music creativity and music achievement,
although scores of students from both groups
improved during the treatment period. Boehm
concluded that both teaching approaches are
effective.
Oare (1994) studied whether music com-
position and improvisation experiences would
have an effect on music learning, or on attitude
toward music and music class. There was sta-
tistically significant improvement in music
learning from pretest to posttest for both
groups, although no statistically significant
difference in music learning was reported be-
tween the groups. A statistically significant
difference was reported on the attitude ques-
tionnaire in the fourth grade, with the control
group scoring higher. Oare concluded that
including music composition and improvisa-
tion activities in fourth- and fifth-grade gen-
eral music classes has little effect on music
learning or on attitude toward music and mu-
sic class.
Wolfe (1971) examined the effect on mu-
sic comprehension and attitude toward music
of adding music composition to music theory,
listening, and singing activities. He concluded
that fifth-grade children’s aural music compre-
hension is not increased as a result of instruc-
tion that includes the study of music composi-
tion, music theory, listening, and singing; but
visual music comprehension and attitude to-
ward music are increased.
Junior High General Music Classes
Madsen (1977) researched whether cre-
ative music experiences—including perform-
ing, composing, and conducting—would have
an effect on student music accomplishment,
attitude, or creativity different from more tra-
ditional music activities, including following a
textbook and performing. He reported statisti-
cally significant differences in tests of music
accomplishment, attitude, and creativity, with
the experimental group scoring higher than
the control group on all three tests. The ex-
perimental group achieved statistically signifi-
cant gains in all three areas, while the control
group achieved statistically significant gains
only in the area of music accomplishment.
Madsen concluded that seventh-grade students
in general music classes who participate in
creative music activities including performing,
listening, composing, and conducting are
more positively affected in the areas of music
accomplishment, attitude, and creativity than
are seventh-grade students in general music
classes who participate in traditional music
experiences limited to following a textbook,
listening to music, and performing music.
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 29
Stevens (1981) investigated the effect of
music composition activities using the
American popular music genre on attitude and
music knowledge of inner-city students, and
reported that there was a statistically
significant gain in both student attitude and
knowledge as a result of the activities.
Middle School Instrumental Music Classes
Priest (1997), Robison (1974), and Whit-
ener (1983) studied middle school students in
instrumental music classes to determine the
effects of music composition activities. Priest
(1997) examined the effects of an instructional
approach to teaching beginning instrumental
music that used music composition, listening,
and performance activities. The control group
experienced instruction based mainly on per-
formance techniques, while the experimental
group experienced instruction in which the
children analyzed and described music, com-
posed and improvised, performed by ear, and
performed by reading traditional notation.
Priest found that children in the experimental
group demonstrated growth in understanding
of music structure through description and
analysis of music they listened to, and through
music composition and improvisation. Chil-
dren in the experimental group demonstrated
more growth than did children in the control
groups on some music performance skills, but
less growth on others. There were few differ-
ences in attitude toward music and instrumen-
tal music instruction.
Robison (1974) investigated children’s
music achievement and interest in beginning
wind instrument classes. Children in both the
experimental and control groups were taught
with normal instructional methods and proce-
dures; however, children in the experimental
group were also encouraged to compose mu-
sic in an unstructured manner. They were
given complete freedom to choose the type
and length of their compositions, with the
only stipulations that they submit six composi-
tions and play them for the music educator.
Statistically significant differences were re-
ported in the areas of symbols and terms, rec-
ognition of melodies, and in total scores of the
musical accomplishment measure; in pitch
discrimination and total scores of the music
achievement measure; and on the music per-
formance and musical interest measures, all
favoring the experimental group. Robison
concluded that music composition activities
positively affect music achievement and inter-
est in fifth-grade beginning wind instrument
classes.
Whitener (1983) researched music
achievement and performance skills. The ex-
perimental group was instructed using a com-
prehensive musicianship approach that in-
cluded performing, analyzing, and composing.
The control group was instructed with a per-
formance approach. Statistically significant
differences were reported between the experi-
mental and control groups—in favor of the
experimental group—on music achievement
tests that measured interval and auditory-
visual discrimination. Whitener concluded that
music analysis and composition can be taught
to beginning instrumentalists in conjunction
with music performance skills without a loss
of performance ability, and with some in-
crease in music sensitivity.
College Music Fundamentals Classes
Dodson (1980) compared two ap-
proaches for teaching basic music skills and
concepts to nonmusic majors at the college
level. The control group performed and au-
rally analyzed folk and traditional music. The
experimental group composed, performed,
and aurally analyzed their original music. A
statistically significant difference in a self-con-
fidence rating was reported between the
scores of the groups, with the experimental
group achieving higher scores. Dodson con-
cluded that college-age nonmusic majors who
compose, aurally analyze, and perform music
demonstrate more self-confidence in music
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 30
concepts and skills than those who perform
and aurally analyze music but do not compose.
Two approaches to teaching keyboard
performance skills to college elementary
education students were compared by Madachy
(1978). The control group was instructed
using a programmed textbook, while the
experimental group was instructed using
researcher-prepared lessons based on student
improvisation and creation of original music.
A statistically significant difference between
the groups was reported in a test of keyboard
performance skills, with the experimental
group scoring higher. Combined student
attitude gains from pretest to posttest slightly
favored the experimental group. Madachy
concluded that a method of teaching music
fundamentals based on improvisation and
creation of original music is more effective
than a method using a programmed textbook.
McClellan (1977) investigated whether, in
addition to two lectures each week on material
in the course textbook, two sessions of cre-
ative music activities including composition
and improvisation would have a different ef-
fect on student music achievement, music
learning attitude, and creative music skills than
two sessions of music performance and listen-
ing activities. Working with two sections of a
college elective music fundamentals course for
nonmusic majors, he found a statistically sig-
nificant difference between the groups in cre-
ative music skills, with the experimental group
demonstrating higher skill levels. McClellan
concluded that college-age nonmusic majors
who participate in creative music experiences
do not demonstrate different levels of music
achievement or music-learning attitude from
those who do not participate in creative music
experiences, although those who participate do
demonstrate higher levels of music creativity.
Method
Research comparing different methods of
music instruction and the effects of music
composition on various combinations of mu-
sic achievement, performance, and attitude
toward music and music learning has origi-
nated from a variety of grade levels and
music-class settings. (Little research specifi-
cally investigated differences for middle
school nonbeginning band classes.)
This research examines the effects of two
instructional approaches on the individual
music achievement, performance, and attitude
of students in middle school band classes.
One approach consists of music performance
and listening, and the other consists of music
composition, performance, and listening. The
study compared individual music achieve-
ment, performance, and attitude of seventh-
and eighth-grade students in middle school
band classes. Students (N = 38) were wind
and percussionists with playing experience of
2–50 months and a mean of 33.57 months.
Students were randomly assigned to either an
experimental (n = 20) or a control (n = 18)
group, with seventh- and eighth-grade stu-
dents equally divided between the two groups.
The experimental and control groups
received instruction separately for 40 minutes,
two times each week for 13 weeks. The re-
searcher was also the students’ regular band
teacher, who instructed both groups during
the treatment period. A pretest-posttest design
was used. Just prior to the treatment period,
the Music Achievement Tests 1 and 2 (MAT)
(Colwell, 1968), the Watkins-Farnum Perfor-
mance Scale (1954), and the researcher-devel-
oped Instrumental Music Attitude Inventory
were administered. The MAT measured indi-
vidual music achievement and tested students’
discrimination for pitch, interval, meter,
major-minor mode, tonal center, and auditory-
visual information. The Watkins-Farnum Per-
formance Scale, a test where students sight-
read music of increasing difficulty, measured
individual music performance. The Instru-
mental Music Attitude Inventory, a Likert-
style survey, measured attitude toward music
and instrumental music learning.
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 31
During the treatment period, students in
the control group received instruction in per-
formance skills and engaged in music listening
activities but did not participate in any music
composition activities. The music elements of
tone quality, pitch, tonality, melody, harmony,
dynamics, rhythm, meter, tempo, articulation,
phrasing, and balance were addressed. Atten-
tion was paid to both individual and group
performance. Music listening materials con-
sisted of researcher-selected recordings, and
performance materials consisted of published
band arrangements. Classes started with a
listening activity, followed by performance
activities consisting of a major or minor scale,
a short sight-reading exercise, and the pub-
lished band arrangements.
The experimental group received instruc-
tion in performance skills and engaged in lis-
tening activities, as described above, for ap-
proximately one-half of each class period. The
other half was devoted to researcher-compiled
and researcher-adapted music composition
activities. These activities were based on or
patterned after those suggested by music edu-
cators who have published journal articles or
books on this topic, including Dodson (1991),
Hickey (1997), Hinckley and Shull (1996),
Kaschub (1997b), and Wiggins (1990).
As suggested by Dodson (1991) and
Hickey (1997), composition activities included
students working with templates. There were
13 templates used throughout the treatment
period. Beginning templates consisted of a
staff, clef sign, meter signature, key signature,
measures, and bar lines. Students completed
the templates by filling in combinations of
note values, pitches, dynamics, tempos, and
articulations. Parameters were provided for
each element of music to be used. Sometimes
pitches were provided for the first or last
notes of the exercises. Some templates in-
cluded sections that were already filled in with
notes along with sections having blank mea-
sures for students to complete. More ad-
vanced templates also required students to fill
in meter signatures or key signatures. Students
composed music to be played on their
instruments.
In some composition activities, the re-
searcher used the compositional strategy
called SCAMPER, “an acronym for substitute,
combine, adapt or add, minify (diminution) or
magnify (augmentation), put to other uses
(other instruments), eliminate, and reserve or
rearrange” (Hickey, 1997, p. 19). Individual
and combined components of SCAMPER
were used as the basis for activities. Sections
of students’ performance music and listening
examples that exemplified SCAMPER strate-
gies were analyzed. As suggested by Kaschub
(1997b), activities that included students as
composers or conductors were also used. In
the “vocaphone exercise” (Kaschub, 1997b, p.
30), students were each assigned to play a spe-
cific scale pitch, and the composer/conductor
pointed to different students, indicating pitch
and duration. According to Kaschub, “this
exercise allows students to immediately ma-
nipulate sounds and create melodies while
developing an inner sense of the pitch rela-
tionships within a scale” (1997b, p. 30). A
similar activity, the “expressive elements exer-
cise” (Kaschub, 1997b, p. 31), is described in
the sample lesson plan in the Appendix.
An activity developed by Hinckley and
Schull (1996) used students’ phone numbers
as the basis for composition, with each digit
in the phone number correlated to a scale
pitch. Group composition activities were also
used, as well as a culminating activity in which
students composed 16-measure pieces they
notated using music notation software in the
school’s computer lab.
A limited amount of improvisation was
used preliminarily to prepare students for the
composition activities. Students improvised
using clapping, which reinforced new rhythms
and meters. The researcher or a group of stu-
dents provided ostinato rhythms or accompa-
niment notes or chords, while a small group
of students or individuals clapped improvisa-
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 32
tions. Activities using student band instru-
ments included rhythmic improvisation, dur-
ing which most of the students played a
whole-note scale, and a small group or indi-
vidual students improvised rhythmically using
shorter note values. Melodic improvisation
activities included most of the students play-
ing whole-note chords, while individual stu-
dents or a small group improvised melodically
using notes within given parameters.
Listening examples, scales, sight-reading,
and composition activities were chosen for
each class period based on the musical ele-
ment(s) and concept(s) addressed in the per-
formance music for that day. (See the sample
lesson plan for the experimental group in the
Appendix.) All activities were piloted by the
9th- through 12th-grade band at the school
prior to use with the experimental group in
this study. To document instruction, every
class during the treatment period was re-
corded on videotape. Immediately following
the treatment period, students were again test-
ed using the MAT Tests 1 and 2 (Colwell,
1968), the Watkins-Farnum Performance
Scale (1954), and the Instrumental Music Atti-
tude Inventory.
Results
Differences between music achievement
pretest and posttest scores and music
performance pretest and posttest scores were
analyzed and compared for the experimental
group and the control group using analysis of
variance (ANOVA). The ANOVA was also
used to compare differences between the
experimental and control groups on the
measures. The probability level of .05 was
used to determine statistical significance.
Attitude toward music and instrumental music
learning was compared from pretest to
posttest using percentages of students who
answered using each of the responses on the
Likert-type scale.
Music achievement was measured using
the Music Achievement Tests 1 and 2 (MAT),
(Colwell, 1968). Test 1 measured pitch dis-
crimination (Part 1), interval discrimination
(Part 2), and meter discrimination (Part 3).
Test 2 measured major-minor mode discrimi-
nation (Part 1), feeling for tonal center (Part
2), and auditory-visual discrimination (Part 3).
Statistically significant gains from pretest
to posttest were achieved by both the experi-
mental and control groups in the areas of
pitch discrimination (p < .005), meter discrim-
ination (p < .000), and on the total scores of
the MAT Test 1 (p < .000). Statistically signifi-
cant gains from pretest to posttest were not
achieved by the experimental or control group
in the area of interval discrimination. There
were no statistically significant differences
between the groups in the areas of pitch dis-
crimination, interval discrimination, meter
discrimination, or total scores of the MAT
Test 1.
Statistically significant gains from pretest
to posttest were achieved by both the experi-
mental and control groups in the area of
major-minor mode discrimination (p < .015),
and on the total scores of the MAT Test 2 (p
< .027). Statistically significant gains from
pretest to posttest were not achieved by the
experimental or control group in the area of
feeling for tonal center, or in the area of
auditory-visual discrimination. There were no
statistically significant differences between the
groups in the areas of major-minor mode dis-
crimination, feeling for tonal center, auditory-
visual discrimination, or total scores of the
MAT Test 2.
Music performance was measured using
the Watkins-Farnum Performance Scale
(1954). Three music educators with experience
in using the Watkins-Farnum Performance
Scale served as judges. Interjudge reliability
was determined using Cronbach’s alpha. The
interjudge reliability rating was .97 for the
pretests and .99 for the posttests. This high
interjudge reliability rating indicates that the
three judges were very similar to each other in
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 33
grading this test. The ANOVA was calculated
using the average of the three judges’ scores.
Statistically significant gains from pretest
to posttest were achieved by both the experi-
mental and control groups on the Watkins-
Farnum Performance Scale (p < .000), but
there was no statistically significant difference
between the groups.
The researcher-developed Instrumental
Music Attitude Inventory measured attitude
toward music and instrumental music learning.
Seven of the statements on the Instrumental
Music Attitude Inventory have been selected
as representative of student attitude toward
music and instrumental music learning for
reporting and discussion. They are: (1) “I like
band class”; (2) “I like learning about different
kinds of music by listening to recordings in
band class”; (3) “It is important to have op-
portunities to listen to and perform music”;
(4) “I like to experiment with changing tem-
pos, dynamics, and/or articulations for ex-
pressive purposes”; (5) “I would like to meet a
famous composer”; (6) “Being creative (mak-
ing up your own music) is not a trait that mu-
sicians should have”; (7) “I have learned a lot
about music in band class this year.” Students
answered using the responses: strongly agree,
agree, don’t know, disagree, or strongly dis-
agree. Table 1 shows the experimental and
control group pretest and posttest percentages
of students who answered using each response.
The experimental group responded more favor-
ably to the attitude statements from pretest to
posttest than did the control group.
Discussion
In the area of individual student music
achievement, the experimental and control
groups both experienced statistically signifi-
cant gains from pretest to posttest on the total
scores of the MAT Test 1, on the total scores
of the MAT Test 2, and in the specific areas
of pitch discrimination, meter discrimination,
and major-minor mode discrimination. The
differences between the gains of the groups
however, were not statistically significant.
These findings are similar to those of
Whitener (1983) and Robison (1974), although
Whitener and Robison reported some statisti-
cally significant differences between the gains
of the groups in their studies. This difference
in results may have been due to the difference
in length of treatment periods and instruc-
tional time during the treatment periods. The
treatment period in the Whitener study was 24
weeks, with classes meeting for 50 minutes
five times each week; the Robison study was
34 weeks with children meeting for one indi-
vidual lesson and one class lesson each week,
both of unreported length; and in the current
research it was 13 weeks with classes meeting
for 40 minutes two times each week. The in-
creased amount of instructional time each
week in the Whitener study, as well as the
increased number of weeks in the Robison
and Whitener studies, may account for the
statistically significant differences reported in
those studies, compared with differences that
were not statistically significant in the current
research. Had the treatment period been lon-
ger in this research, perhaps statistically signif-
icant differences between the experimental
and control groups would have been demon-
strated in the area of music achievement.
In the area of individual student instru-
mental music performance, the experimental
and control groups both experienced statisti-
cally significant gains from pretest to posttest
on the Watkins-Farnum Performance Scale.
The difference between the gains of the
groups, however, was not statistically signifi-
cant.
These findings are also similar to those of
Whitener (1983) and Robison (1974), although
Robison reported a statistically significant
difference between the gains of the groups in
his study. Again, the difference in results may
have been due to a difference in length of
treatment. The increased number of weeks
during the treatment period in the Robison
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 34
study may account for the statistically signifi-
cant difference reported, compared with dif-
ferences that were not statistically significant
in the Whitener study and in the current re-
search. Had the treatment period been longer
in this research, perhaps a statistically signifi-
cant difference between the groups would
have been demonstrated in the area of individ-
ual student instrumental music performance.
In the area of student attitude toward
music and instrumental music learning, the
experimental group responded more favorably
from pretest to posttest than did the control
group to the Instrumental Music Attitude In-
ventory statements. This suggests that the
students enjoyed the addition of music com-
position activities to music performance and
listening activities in their band classes.
Experimenter bias may be a validity issue
in the present study, since the design included
the researcher as the teacher. In future studies,
researchers could avoid this potential problem
by using teachers other than themselves.
Conclusions and Implications for
Music Education
In this study, students who engaged in
music composition activities and students who
did not engage in music composition activities
both experienced gains in individual music
achievement as well as gains in individual in-
strumental music performance. The statisti-
cally significant gains from pretest to posttest
are an indicated that individual music achieve-
ment and individual instrumental music per-
formance were affected favorably both by an
approach to teaching middle school band
classes that included music performance and
listening, and by an approach that included
music performance, listening, and composi-
tion. The gains were demonstrated by both
the experimental and control groups on the
total scores of the MAT Test 1, on the total
scores of the MAT Test 2, and in the specific
areas of pitch discrimination, meter discrimi-
nation, and major-minor mode discrimination,
and on the Watkins-Farnum Performance
Scale.
Given that students who engaged in mu-
sic composition activities and students who
did not engage in music composition activities
both experienced gains in individual music
achievement and gains in individual instru-
mental music performance, it seems that an
approach to teaching middle school band
classes that includes music performance, lis-
tening, and composition is effective. In this
study, students who performed, listened to,
and composed music spent approximately
one-half as much time on music performance
activities as students who performed and lis-
tened to music, yet these students experienced
the same improvement in individual student
instrumental music performance. Based on the
results of this research, it seems that spending
more time on music performance with no
additional gains in individual student instru-
mental music performance may not be in our
students’ best interest.
These results, in addition to the more
favorable responses from pretest to posttest
of the experimental group on the Instrumental
Music Attitude Inventory, seem to support the
implementation of the music performance,
listening, and composition content standards
of the National Standards for Music Educa-
tion. Curricula for middle school band classes
that include performing, listening, and com-
posing may facilitate increased achievement
and performance skills, and encourage more
favorable attitudes toward music and music
learning. Including music composition activi-
ties in middle school band classes appears to
be an effective approach to teaching music.
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 Table 1. Comparison of Experimental Group and Control Group
Instrumental Music Attitude Inventory Pretest and Posttest Response Percentages

Strongly agree Agree Don't Know Disagree Strongly

Disagree
Group Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post

1. “I like band class”

Experimental 5 5 60 50 20 20 10 15 5 10
Control 16.7 0.0 33.3 27.8 33.3 50.0 16.7 16.7 0.0 5.6
2. “I like learning by listening”
Experimental 10 5 40 50 15 20 30 10 5 15
Control 5.6 0.0 38.9 16.7 33.3 22.2 22.2 33.3 0.0 27.8
3. “Important to have opportunities”
Experimental 30 15 40 45 15 30 10 5 5 5
Control 22.2 16.7 61.1 50.0 11.1 22.2 5.6 0.0 0.0 11.1
4. “I like to experiment…for expressive purposes”
Experimental 0 0 40 35 30 20 20 25 10 20
Control 22.2 11.1 22.2 16.7 33.3 27.8 16.7 27.8 5.6 16.7
5. “I would like to meet a famous composer”
Experimental 40 40 30 45 15 5 10 10 5 0
Control 11.1 11.1 33.3 22.2 33.3 27.8 11.1 16.7 11.1 22.2
6. “Being creative . . . not a trait musicians should have”
Experimental 5 5 15 5 10 20 30 35 40 36
Control 0.0 11.1 5.6 0.0 11.1 16.7 27.8 33.3 55.6 38.9
7. “I have learned a lot about music”
Experimental 25 10 45 65 15 20 10 0 5 5
Control 16.7 11.1 44.4 44.4 33.3 38.9 0.0 0.0 5.6 5.6

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 37

 Appendix. Experimental Group—Lesson Plan No. 6

Performance piece Tchaikovsky: “Trepak” from The Nutcracker Suite, arranged by

Lavender

Listening piece Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, performed by the Israel Philharmonic

Orchestra

Listening purpose To hear another piece written by Tchaikovsky

Warm-up scale E-flat major concert scale

Sight-reading Alfred’s Basic Band Method, Book 2, Teacher’s Manual–Unit 2, Number 1,

Performance/
composition concept(s)
Items on blackboard
p. 6
Staccato, slur, tenuto, presto, moderato, adagio, piano, forte,
mezzoforte
The musical markings for staccato, slur, tenuto
The words presto, moderato, adagio
The abbreviations p, f, mf

Measures to be worked on Entire piece

Composition activity “Expressive Elements Exercise”

• Review the meaning of staccato, slur, tenuto, presto, moderato, adagio, p, f, mf

• Divide students into two groups with 1 or 2 students assigned to play each step of the E-flat
major scale: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, and do. Each group has a conductor, who points at the
students designated to play the scale steps, indicating pitch, duration, tempo, articulation, and
dynamics. Each of the two conductors is given a slip of paper containing the name of one tempo
marking, one dynamic marking, and one articulation (Group 1: moderato, piano, staccato; Group
2: adagio, forte, tenuto). As they compose a melody, they are choosing the pitches and durations
they think sound good together.

• Instruct conductors to start and end their compositions on do. The two groups rehearse their
compositions separately and then perform for each other. The nonperforming group tries to
guess the tempo, dynamic level, and articulation that the performing group is demonstrating.

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 38

 Socioeconomic Status and Instrumental Music:
What Does the Research Say about the
Relationship and Its Implications?
Daniel J. Albert
Music educator in the Longmeadow (MA) Public Schools.
E-mail: djajr@comcast.net
ocioeconomic status (SES), as defined by
S Bornstein and Bradley (2003), is “the rel-
ative position of individuals, families, or
groups in stratified social systems where
some societal values (e.g., occupational pres-
tige, education) are not uniformly distrib-
uted” (p. 2). Kozol (1991) argued that SES is
a factor that influences teaching and sub-
stantiated his thoughts by describing the
dismal conditions and equipment of low-
SES schools he visited. In those schools,
teachers often had low expectations and
standards for minority students, a finding
supported by Ogbu (1974). Kozol concluded
that the public often does not acknowledge
the inequalities in education that so many
students suffer and stated that “none of the
national reports I saw made even passing
reference to inequality or segregation. Low
reading scores, high dropout rates, poor
motivation—symptomatic matters seem to
dominate the discussion” (p. 3).
Kozol’s findings could have implications
for instrumental music. Monetary invest-
ments necessary to participate in an instru-
mental music program include obtaining and
maintaining an instrument and purchasing
supplies such as reeds, oil, strings, and sheet
music. Low-SES parents may value school
activities such as instrumental music pro-
grams, but the associated costs may prohibit
their children from participating.
If SES influences one’s choice to partic-
ipate in a school activity, then the quality of
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 39
teaching for that activity may be influenced
by SES as well, as Kozol (1991) and Ogbu
(1974) suggest. However, does this influence
also extend to instrumental music instruc-
tion? A review of the published literature can
assist practitioners in becoming more aware
of the possible influences of SES on instru-
mental music programs. The purpose of this
article is to review the published literature
addressing recruitment, retention, and partic-
ipation in instrumental music; student atti-
tudes toward music; and school support for
instrumental music. At the end, the article
offers recommendations for teaching prac-
tice and future research in these areas.
SES Research in Instrumental Music
Recruitment, Retention, and Participation
McCarthy (1980) studied student
performance achievement and retention by
examining the influence of individualized
and group ensemble instruction and student
demographic characteristics on two mea-
sures of music reading and dropout for one
school year. Participants were urban fifth-
and sixth-grade beginning instrumental
music students (N = 1,199) in a northern
U.S. industrial city. Teachers (N = 10) met
with their students once a week for small-
group or individual practice. Subjects were
classified as low-SES students if, according
to a map, they lived in a low-SES neighbor-
hood. Forty-three percent of the subjects
were classified as low-SES students.
McCarthy found that SES was a significant
predictor of retention; those students with
higher SES tended to participate in instru-
mental programs longer than those having
lower SES.
Klinedinst (1991) examined the ability
of selected factors, including SES, academic
competency, and musical aptitude, to predict
retention of beginning instrumentalists (N =
205) in an upper-middle-class district. In
September 1988, all classroom music teach-
ers (N = 4) rated their students’ potential for
success in instrumental music by considering
musical achievement and nonperformance
indicators such as interest in music. In April
1989, student achievement was measured
using three researcher-composed études
based on material covered during the year.
Three anonymous adjudicators independ-
ently rated each student’s performance. SES
was found to be a valid and significant pre-
dictor of student retention and a better pre-
dictor of retention than measures of aca-
demic competency or musical aptitude. Still
playing instruments in April were 155 stu-
dents (76%), while 50 students (24%) had
discontinued study. Klinedinst acknowl-
edged that other factors besides SES might
have affected retention, including teacher
personality and teaching style, student atti-
tude toward music, self-concept in music,
and family musical background.
Brandstrom and Wiklund (1996) exam-
ined the influence of SES on Swedish mu-
nicipal music school (MMS) students’ choic-
es of musical activities. The basic principles
of the MMS1 were democracy and equality;
parental social status did not determine
whether a child would receive a music edu-
cation. This study was conducted in a city of
40,000, where the music school had 1,000
pupils and 25 teachers. Sixth graders (N =
384) who were currently studying, who had
studied instrumental music, or who never
studied music at all in the municipal music
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 40
school system were interviewed. They were
asked questions regarding music preferences,
music performance in leisure, the educa-
tional background of the parents, instrument
choices, group music studies, parents’ play-
ing, and their future plans. A child’s SES was
determined by SES of his or her family. The
researchers found that the educational back-
ground of the parents seemed to exert an
important influence on a child’s participation
in the municipal music school system; the
more educated the parents, the more their
children attended.
In addition, Brandstrom and Wiklund
noticed that it was twice as common for
children of higher-level employees and uni-
versity graduates (of higher SES) to study
music than children of parents with a
working-class background (of lower SES). It
was noted that low-SES students from rural
areas commonly studied music at the MMS,
possibly due to the influence of music in
parish activities, implying that religious insti-
tutions may influence rural students to seek
formal music instruction.
One of the purposes of Corenblum and
Marshall’s study (1998) was to predict
students’ intentions to participate in instru-
mental music based on their family’s SES.
Ninth-grade students (N = 253) from seven
schools in Winnipeg, Canada, completed a
questionnaire about their perception of their
parents’ and band directors’ attitudes toward
their band program. The questionnaire was
developed to assess student attitudes toward
the band program and their perceptions of
the attitudes of their parents, band teachers,
and school toward the band program. Stu-
dents also indicated whether they intended
to take band the following year. Responses
were submitted to a principal-component
factor analysis. A family’s SES was assessed
using answers to questions about each par-
ent’s occupation and number of musical
instruments owned or rented by the family.
More than 40% of participants, however,
failed or refused to answer questions about
parental occupation. Using the answers to
the instrument questions as measures of SES
level, Corenblum and Marshall found that
SES predicted perceived parental support.
Students then perceived this support as
being either positive (and they participated
in band the following school year) or nega-
tive (and they did not participate in band the
following school year). Thus, perceived pa-
rental support predicted by SES also pre-
dicted student participation in the instru-
mental music program.
Phillips (2003) explored instrumental
music participation in sixth through eighth
graders (N = 2,180) in relation to home mu-
sical environment and SES. SES was deter-
mined using federal free and reduced-price
lunch records. Results indicated that high-
SES students reported significantly richer
musical home environments than low-SES
students. Phillips stated that “students of
high SES may have greater exposure to mu-
sical activities in the home because it is likely
that families of these students can better
afford them” (p. 92). Phillips went on to
comment that “lower SES students may not
be able to afford registration fees, instru-
ment rentals, private lessons, and other costs
associated with participation in a school mu-
sic ensemble” (p. 115). Phillips acknowl-
edged that minimal differences in music atti-
tude exist among SES levels.
The research discussed above suggests
that SES affects recruitment and retention of
instrumental music students. SES possibly
influences length of participation in an in-
strumental music program. An instrumental
music program’s participation rate and over-
all quality may be negatively influenced if
located in a low-SES area. Conversely, a
high-SES area may be more likely to contain
a high-quality instrumental music program
with a high participation rate. Research also
suggests that parents’ SES may influence
household musical exposure and the child’s
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 41
participation in an instrumental music pro-
gram. A relationship may exist between pa-
rental occupation, parental attitude toward
participation in instrumental music, and
child participation in instrumental music.
This research suggests that parents may be
consciously or unconsciously influencing
their child’s decision to participate in instru-
mental music.
Student Attitudes toward Music
A pair of researchers endeavored to
determine if music aptitude, self-esteem, and
SES had any significant relationship to stu-
dent attitudes toward music. As part of their
study, Bowman and VanderArk (1982) ad-
ministered a battery of tests to randomly
selected fourth- through sixth-grade students
(N = 132) in two midwestern elementary
schools during regularly scheduled general
music classes. These general music classes
contained both students who participated in
elementary band and students who did not
participate. To assess music attitude, the
researchers administered Nolin’s (1973) Mu-
sical Attitude Inventory. Results determined
that a significant relationship existed be-
tween self-esteem, SES, and student atti-
tudes toward music. Band students had high-
er music attitude, aptitude, and SES than
nonband students. This suggests that stu-
dents with more positive attitudes toward
music are from high-SES households and are
more likely to participate in instrumental
music ensembles. Students who participated
in band also had significantly higher music
aptitude than nonband students. Self-esteem
scores were the same for both groups.
Nierman and Veak (1997) designed an
experimental study to examine the effect of
aptitude, instrumental method, and SES on
fourth-grade students’ (N = 531) attitudes
toward playing an instrument. SES for an
entire school was based on the percentage of
students of that particular school who quali-
fied for free or reduced-price lunches. With-
in each of the three SES groupings—high-
SES, middle-SES, and low-SES—three
schools were selected at random to partici-
pate in the study. Of the three schools in
each SES grouping, one school was assigned
to the experimental group that was to receive
recorder instruction, one school received a
demonstration program of instruction using
videotapes and live student demonstrations,
and one school received no instruction in in-
strumental music. Many of the high-SES stu-
dents who played recorder for the duration of
the study expressed an interest in playing an
instrument the following year.
The authors concluded that high-SES
students may benefit from hands-on recruit-
ing strategies, such as playing recorder, based
upon their possible exposure to video games
and craft experiences. Many high-SES and
middle-SES students, however, decided not
to join band, perhaps due to a lengthy time
gap between recruiting and actual study. The
relationship between aptitude and attitude
was nonsignificant. There were no signifi-
cant differences among treatment groups in
the lower-SES schools. The middle-SES
schools’ control group had a more positive
musical attitude score, suggesting that fac-
tors outside the school, such as the influence
of parents, friends, and siblings, may influ-
ence students’ attitudes toward music.
In the study mentioned earlier, Phillips
(2003) examined attitudes toward music in
sixth through eighth graders (N = 2,180) in
relation to SES and home musical environ-
ment. SES was determined using federal free
and reduced-price lunch records. Results
suggested that a positive correlation may
exist between a family’s SES level and its
home musical environment that may affect
children’s attitudes toward music. Low-SES
families with poor home musical environ-
ments may experience “a lack of comfort
with musical activities, a lack of familiarity
with musical genres, and a lack of interest in
musical experiences” (p. 110), possibly creat-
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 42
ing less positive attitudes toward music in
children. Phillips acknowledged that al-
though differences in music attitude by SES
level exist, the differences are quite small and
inconsistent across grade levels, implying
that “socioeconomic status may not be
strongly related to music attitudes” (p. 106).
These studies suggest that socioeco-
nomic status may not be as strongly related
to music attitude as it is to recruitment and
retention. Bowman and VanderArk (1982),
as well as Nierman and Veak (1997), be-
lieved that a relationship exists between SES,
attitude toward music, and participation in
instrumental music. Phillips (2003) acknowl-
edged that minimal differences in music atti-
tude exist among SES levels. Nierman and
Veak noted that kinesthetic experiences,
such as playing video games or participating
in craft activities, may positively influence
the effectiveness of hands-on recruiting
strategies. This information may support
those who believe that using recorder or
“instrument petting zoos” (assemblies that
allow students to touch and play instru-
ments) are effective recruiting strategies.
Nierman and Veak’s study also supports the
belief that recruitment efforts and com-
mencement of instrument study should be
closely sequenced to prevent attrition. Fur-
ther research in this area could be helpful in
designing recruitment strategies for instru-
mental music educators.
School Support for Instrumental Music
Although instrumental music teachers
direct learning activities, administrators and
school districts create school support for
instrumental music programs by deciding
what resources will be allocated for them.
School support may be a factor in determin-
ing an instrumental music program’s quality
and accessibility. Two studies address the
possible influences of SES on school sup-
port for instrumental music.
Smith (1997) endeavored to determine a
relationship between access to string instruc-
tion and SES of school districts. String pro-
gram data was collected for all 50 states
from state departments of education and
state music education associations. School-
district socioeconomic rankings and size
were obtained from the Market Data Re-
trieval School Directories, 1994–1995 (Mar-
ket Data Retrieval, 1995), using the percent-
age of school-age children in families falling
below the U.S. Census poverty line to deter-
mine the socioeconomic ranking of each
district. Out of the total sample of 14,183
districts that offered string instruction, ap-
proximately 64% had average SES, 32% had
high SES, and 4% had low SES. In Smith’s
opinion, these results show that “inequity of
access exists among the socioeconomic lev-
els” (p. 661). SES of a district was identified
as the most important predictor of existence
of string programs at the elementary school
level and among the most important predic-
tor variables of existence of string programs
at the middle and high school levels. Possible
causes of this relationship were not discussed.
An additional purpose of Corenblum
and Marshall’s (1998) study was to determine
if the relationship between SES and per-
ceived school support of the band program
predicted instrumental teachers’ attitudes
toward the band program. In turn, these
attitudes may influence student attitudes and
intentions about participation in instrumen-
tal music. Results indicated that SES pre-
dicted perceived school support, which in-
fluenced student attitudes and intention of
participation. A decrease in participation can
affect the instrumental music program and
its status in the community, affecting school
support.
These studies suggest that SES may
influence the establishment and perception
of an instrumental music program. Smith’s
(1997) study demonstrated the inequality
possibly caused by the influences of SES.
Students living in a low-SES area may have
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 43
less access to an instrumental music program
than students living in high-SES areas. SES
also influenced perceived school support
and student intention of participation, thus
affecting school support. These findings
further demonstrate that SES may possibly
influence a child’s opportunity to participate
in instrumental music.
Recommendations for Teaching
Practice
In light of these findings, here are some
suggestions for addressing the inequities of
different SES areas. Phillips (2003)
commented that “lower SES students may
not be able to afford registration fees, instru-
ment rentals, private lessons, and other costs
associated with participation in a school mu-
sic ensemble” (p. 115). To address this con-
cern, a district may lend instruments to those
families who cannot afford to rent or buy
them. A district may also hold an “instru-
ment roundup night” for community mem-
bers to make tax-deductible donations of
instruments.
Music education organizations may
sponsor regional or all-state ensemble pro-
grams to enrich school music programs. Of-
ten, these organizations charge audition and
participation fees that could be waived for
financially needy students to encourage their
participation. Additionally, a school district’s
music booster organization can make stu-
dent financial support one of its main objec-
tives and help pay students’ participation fees
with funds from concerts or fund-raisers.
Corenblum and Marshall (1998) sug-
gested that SES might influence the estab-
lishment of a music program and the school
system’s perception of an instrumental music
program, possibly affecting program funding
and administrative support. Without proper
funding and administrative support, the
probability of creating a musically rich envi-
ronment is unlikely. Parents, as taxpayers
and major stakeholders in their children’s
education, can be very influential in deciding
what activities their tax dollars should fund.
School support continues to be an important
area for music educators, who must enlist
parental assistance in communicating the
need for music education to administrators.
Research also suggests that SES is a
significant predictor of retention—those
students with higher SES tended to partici-
pate in instrumental programs longer than
those with lower SES. Districts and music
teachers must think of creative strategies to
increase the retention rate of low-SES stu-
dents. These strategies could include creating a
parent support group that carpools students to
rehearsals and holds fund drives throughout
the year to support financially needy students.
Music educators do not have direct con-
trol of a family’s SES. We do have control
over our classrooms and we have a role in
helping students realize their potential.
Imaginative thinking and partnership forma-
tion may be crucial to overcoming possible
SES influences on instrumental music.
Recommendations for Future
Research
A relationship may exist between paren-
tal occupation, parental attitude toward in-
strumental music participation, and child
participation in instrumental music. Additional
study could determine whether a correlation
exists between occupation and music study
of those who graduated from low- and
middle-SES districts. Other research might
determine if a correlation exists between the
environment in which a parent was raised
and the parent’s attitude toward instrumental
music participation. Admittedly, however,
data-collection restrictions—such as re-
stricted access to student records, school
district confidentiality agreements, and insti-
tutional review board guidelines—make
these studies difficult to execute.
Action research, also known as practi-
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 44
tioner research (Zeichner and Noffke, 2001),
may facilitate data collection and be benefi-
cial for educators to undertake, since its
main purpose is improving a professional’s
own practice (Gall, Gall, and Borg, 2003).
Educators may use various data-collection
techniques, including interviews and surveys.
Conclusions that are grounded in the col-
lected data may help practitioners under-
stand possible SES influences on their teach-
ing context and help make informed deci-
sions that best serve their programs.
Conclusion
Taebel and Coker (1980) stated that
“the problem with low SES pupils does not
seem to be that they fail to learn at about the
same rate as others, but that they start so
much further back than others” (p. 261).
Factors that influence this conclusion include
societal prejudices, educational inequalities, and
pupils’ inability to access resources (Taebel &
Coker, p. 261). With improved awareness and
understanding of possible implications of these
influences on instrumental music, music edu-
cators have a better chance to make an in-
strumental music education possible for all
children.
Notes
1. The municipal music school (MMS), a
major part of the Swedish welfare system,
was created in the 1930s. Starting in the third
grade, students are offered the opportunity
to enroll in instrumental and/or singing les-
sons at the MMS. There is a nominal fee for
each child who participates, and instruction
may continue up to graduation from
“gymnasium”—the Swedish version of high
school. Major expansion took place in the
1960s and 1970s. By 1976, almost every mu-
nicipality had a school of voluntary music
education. In 1993–94, only two out of Swe-
den’s 286 cities and towns did not have a
music school.
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UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 45

 Changes in Choral Student Perceptions of the
Music Contest Experience
Rick A. Stamer
Coordinator of music education at the Northern Arizona University School of Music in Flagstaff.
E-mail: Rick.Stamer@nau.edu
very year, large-ensemble music contests
E for choral music students are held
throughout the United States. The benefits
and detriments of participating in these
events have been debated in the music edu-
cation profession for a number of years.
While the debate continues, the leading mu-
sic and education associations in each state
sponsor music contests—thus by their spon-
sorship evidently agreeing that contests are
both educationally and musically beneficial.
Since music contests are regarded as an im-
portant component in the musical develop-
ment of students, careful attention is war-
ranted to determine whether or not these
experiences actually facilitate students’ musi-
cal and educational growth.
Seeking student input is an effective way
to determine what contest experiences students
believe are or are not educationally and mu-
sically beneficial. Three questions should be
considered to determine the effectiveness or
ineffectiveness of contests in facilitating stu-
dent musical and educational growth: What
do students perceive as beneficial contest
experiences that facilitate growth? What do
students perceive as detrimental contest ex-
periences that do not facilitate growth? Do
student perceptions change over time? The
present study will seek answers to these ques-
tions through a review of literature relevant to
the topic and a survey of student perceptions of
the music contest experience as a follow-up to
research by Stamer (2004).
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 46
Related Literature
Several research studies have examined
the perceptions of students concerning the
instrumental music contest experience
(Brown, 1985; Burnsed, Sochinski, & Hinkle,
1983; Fleming, 1975; Hayslett, 1992; Head,
1983; Howard, 1994; LaRue, 1986; Linn,
1988; Mills, 1988; Rogers, 1983, 1984, 1985;
Rothlisberger, 1995; Sweeney, 1998; and
Werpy, 1995). Student responses from these
studies indicated that the most important
reasons for taking part in music contests
were that they provide a sense of achieve-
ment for students, help maintain high-quality
student performance and high standards for
music education, provide a means for evalu-
ation of the instrumental music program,
and assist in identifying a clear goal for mu-
sic instruction.
Additional studies have explored the
perceptions of students concerning the cho-
ral music contest experience (Battersby,
1994; Fett, 1987; Rittenhouse, 1989; Stamer,
2004). Students generally approach the
contest experience for the performance ex-
perience, growing musically as a group, and
singing high-quality music. Battersby (1994)
indicates that students perceived the primary
musical benefits of contest participation to
be the performance experience, motivation
to do their best musically, musical growth
for the group, and the opportunity to pre-
pare and perform high-quality repertoire.
The primary nonmusical benefits of contest
participation were that it promoted team-
work and was a social event. Generally, stu-
dents consistently rated the musical benefits
as more important than the nonmusical ben-
efits of contest participation. Stamer (2004)
found the following in his examination of
choral student perceptions of the music con-
test experience:
Sophomore students attach great impor-
tance to the music contest experience as
a means of motivating students to prac-
tice more, work together, and pay more
attention to musicianship. As a result,
the contest rating is an indication of the
accomplishment of the choir and serves
as a means of evaluating the effective-
ness of the choral program. In turn, the
success the choir feels stimulates enthu-
siasm for future contest participation
and makes choir more enjoyable because
the group has been rewarded for its hard
work. (p. 9)
The related literature reviewed helps to
identify some of the student views of the
benefits of the music contest experience;
however, the paucity of research in this area,
especially follow-up studies that measure
how student perceptions change, warrants
additional study of student observations of
the music contest experience.
To augment the quantity of music con-
test participation research, the present study
will undertake research mentioned by Stamer
(2004) in his suggestions for related research.
The purpose of the present study was to
survey the sophomore choral students in
Stamer’s study two years later to determine if
their views of the music contest experience
changed from their sophomore year to their
senior year. By surveying the students two
years later, the researcher desired to discover
changes in student perceptions of the impor-
tant aspects of the music contest experience.
This information may then be employed by
music educators to emphasize those signifi-
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 47
cant aspects when preparing their choral
students for music contest participation. It
may also be used to begin assessing the cur-
rent music contest format to determine if it
is meeting the educational and musical needs
of student participants. These research ques-
tions were asked:
• Are there differences in student percep-
tions in terms of the ratings aspects of
music contests for the individual? For
the ensemble?
• Are there differences in student percep-
tions in terms of the musical aspects of
music contests for the individual? For
the ensemble?
• Are there differences in student percep-
tions in terms of the individual perspec-
tive of the benefits and detriments of
the music contest experience? For the
ensemble?
• Are there differences in student percep-
tions in terms of the social/travel aspects
of music contests for the individual?
Method
To collect data for the current study, the
Choir Competition Survey, developed by
Stamer (2004), was employed by the re-
searcher to measure student perceptions in
response to a variety of statements about the
music contest experience. Survey statements
were developed from components of the
music contest experience the researcher dis-
covered through a review of related litera-
ture and surveys created by Battersby (1994);
Burnsed, Sochinski, and Hinkle (1983); Head
(1983); Howard (1994); LaRue (1986); Linn
(1988); Mills (1988); Rothlisberger (1995);
Sweeney (1998); and Werpy (1995). Areas of
the music contest experience addressed in
the Stamer survey include motivation, rat-
ings, musicianship, opportunity for construc-
tive criticism, development of group effort,
and enjoyment. The completed survey con-
tains 30 statements designed to measure stu-
dent perceptions regarding the ratings as- Results
pects of music contests for the individual Analysis of the data yielded results
and the ensemble, musical aspects of music outlined below, following the order of the
contests for the individual and the ensemble, research questions. Comparisons are made
the benefits and detriments of music contest between sophomore students in the initial
participation from the individual and ensem- study (Stamer, 2004) and senior students in
ble perspective, and the social/travel aspect the current study. The statements associated
of the music contest. A Likert-type scale with each survey statement number are listed
rating system is employed to allow students in the Appendix.
to respond to each statement. No significant differences were found in
A Cronbach’s alpha test of the survey student perceptions in terms of the ratings
was conducted to measure the reliability of aspects of music contests from the individ-
the instrument. The resulting reliability, which ual perspective across the grade-level groups.
is the variance of the true value divided by A review of mean scores revealed that the
the variance of the actual data, was .8885. opportunity to participate in choral contests
Subjects of the study were 62 senior in which there is one winner, rather than a
choral music students from the three senior contest where every choir receives a rating,
high schools who participated in the initial was strongly preferred by the seniors (see
study (Stamer, 2004). Student populations at Table 1, survey statement 24). Also, the
the three schools ranged from 1,000 to 2,000 pleasure experienced from a high rating at
students. Total choral student populations at choral contests was more important to soph-
the three schools ranged from 50 to 200 omores than to seniors (see Table 1, survey
students. The choral directors at each school statement 26).
were the same for both studies.
The researcher visited each school to
administer the Choir Competition Survey to
all participating senior students. Students
were asked to read each statement carefully
and to indicate how well it expressed their
feelings about choral music contests by cir-
cling one of the following responses: strong-
ly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, or
strongly agree. The researcher collected the
completed surveys and thanked the students
for their responses. The pertinent data set
from the initial study (Stamer, 2004)—93
sophomore choral students—was obtained
and compared to the newly collected data.
The obtained and collected data were ana-
lyzed using a univariate analysis of variance
to determine if differences existed among
groups of students based on their grade level
(sophomore in the initial study and senior in
the current study).

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 48

 Table 1. Differences in Student Perceptions
Related to Ratings—Individual Perspective

Survey Statement Mean Score Standard Deviation

Sophomore Senior Sophomore Senior
Statement 24 2.84 3.32 1.303 1.142
Statement 26 4.66 4.35 .599 .726

Significant differences were found in student perceptions in terms of the ratings aspects of
music contests from the ensemble perspective across the grade-level groups. Overall, the students
placed more emphasis on this aspect of the music contest as sophomores than they did two years
later as seniors. Specifically, sophomores, significantly more than seniors, believed that being
recognized as an award-winning organization was the ultimate goal of the ensemble (see Table 2,
survey statement 7), and receiving a Division I rating was the most important aspect of ensemble
competitions (see Table 2, survey statement 21).

Table 2. Differences in Student Perceptions

Related to Ratings—Ensemble Perspective

Survey Statement Mean Score Standard Deviation

Sophomore Senior Sophomore Senior
Statement 7 3.66 3.24 1.202 1.263
Statement 21 3.43 2.98 1.237 1.194

No significant differences were found in student perceptions in terms of the musical aspects
of music contests from the individual perspective across the grade-level groups. A review of mean
scores revealed that seniors found judges’ comments to be more important than the rating the
choir received (see Table 3, statement 8). Sophomores believed that competing against other
choirs could enhance student musicianship (see Table 3, statement 9).

Table 3. Differences in Student Perceptions Related to

Musical Aspects—Individual Perspective

Survey Statement Mean Score Standard Deviation

Sophomore Senior Sophomore Senior
Statement 8 3.47 3.66 1.202 .957
Statement 9 3.67 3.48 1.036 1.141

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 49

 No significant differences were found in student perceptions in terms of the musical aspects
of music contests from the ensemble perspective across the grade-level groups. A review of mean
scores revealed that seniors believed that making music was more important than the ratings the
choir received (see Table 4, survey statement 15).

Table 4. Differences in Student Perceptions Related to

Musical Aspects—Ensemble Perspective

Survey Statement Mean Score Standard Deviation

Sophomore Senior Sophomore Senior
Statement 15 3.73 3.94 .991 .990

Significant differences were found in student perceptions in terms of the benefits and
detriments of music contests from the individual perspective across the grade-level groups.
Overall, sophomores placed more emphasis on this aspect of music contests. Specifically,
sophomores, more than seniors, got excited about getting ready to participate in choral music
contests (see Table 5, survey statement 13). Seniors more than sophomores believed that too
much emphasis was placed on choral contest participation (see Table 5, survey statement 19).

Table 5. Differences in Student Perceptions Related to

Benefits/Detriments—Individual Perspective

Survey Statement Mean Score Standard Deviation

Sophomore Senior Sophomore Senior
Statement 13 3.86 3.56 .904 .934
Statement 19 2.81 3.11 .936 .994

No significant differences were found in student perceptions in terms of the benefits and
detriments of music contests from the ensemble perspective across the grade-level groups. A
review of mean scores revealed that sophomores believed that preparing for ensemble competi-
tions increased motivation for students to practice (see Table 6, survey statement 20) and
increased group spirit (see Table 6, survey statement 23).

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 50

 Table 6. Differences in Student Perceptions Related to
Benefits/Detriments—Ensemble Perspective

Survey Statement Mean Score Standard Deviation

Sophomore Senior Sophomore Senior
Statement 20 3.85 3.60 .765 .949
Statement 23 3.74 3.39 .846 1.030

Significant differences were found in student perceptions in terms of the social/travel aspects
of music contests from the individual perspective. Overall, sophomores placed more importance
on this aspect of music contest participation than seniors did. Specifically, sophomores stated that
choirs that attend music contests have more fun than choirs that do not attend music contests
(see Table 7, survey statement 16).

Table 7. Differences in Student Perceptions Related to

Social/Travel Aspects of Competition

Survey Statement Mean Score Standard Deviation

Sophomore Senior Sophomore Senior
Statement 16 3.53 3.13 1.038 .932

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 51

Summary of Findings
The results of this study indicate that
significant differences exist across grade lev-
els in the perception of the significance of
music contest participation. A summarized
review of these differences follows.
Participation categories and specific
situations in which students placed more
consequence as sophomores in the initial
study than as seniors in the follow-up study
were these:
Ratings Aspects of Contests for the Individual
• Receiving a high rating at ensemble
competitions makes students feel good.
Ratings Aspects of Contests for the Ensemble
• Being recognized as an award-winning
organization is the ultimate goal of the
ensemble.
• Receiving a Division I rating is the
most important aspect of ensemble
competitions.
Benefits/Detriments of Contests, Individual
Perception
• Students get excited about getting ready
to participate in ensemble competitions.
Benefits/Detriments of Contests, Ensemble
Perspective
• Preparing for ensemble competitions
increases group spirit.
Social/Travel Aspects of Contests
• Ensembles that attend competitions
have more fun.
A participation category and specific
situation in which seniors in the current
study placed more consequence than as
sophomores in the initial study was this:
Ratings Aspects of Contests for the
Individual
• Students would rather participate in
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 52
ensemble competitions in which there
is one winner rather than in
competitions where every ensemble
receives a rating.
Discussion
An examination of these findings re-
veals that changes in choral student percep-
tions of the music contest experience do
occur as students mature from their sopho-
more year to their senior year. Sophomores
in the initial study (Stamer, 2004) attached
great importance to the music contest expe-
rience as a tool to motivate students to par-
ticipate in choir, practice more, work
together, and pay more attention to musi-
cianship. As a consequence of these efforts,
the contest rating serves as an indication of
the choir’s achievement and as a means of
evaluating the choral program’s productive-
ness. In turn, the accomplishment the choir
feels stimulates eagerness for future contest
participation and makes choir more enjoy-
able because the group has been rewarded
for its effort. Seniors in the current study do
not get excited about getting ready to partici-
pate in choral contests, do not believe that
contests are fun and enhance group spirit,
and place significantly less emphasis on the
importance of contest ratings. In fact, senior
students would rather participate in choral
competitions in which there is one winner
rather than traditional contests where every
ensemble receives a rating.
These changes in beliefs about the
importance of the music contest experience
are in accord with previous studies in music
education (Fett, 1987; Fleming, 1975; Head,
1983; LaRue, 1986; Rogers, 1985; Stamer,
2004). One possible explanation for these
beliefs may be the development of a sense of
apathy regarding the contest experience.
Choral directors may have communicated to
their students through their actions that
contest participation is an important goal
(Howard, 1994; Stamer, 2004). However, it
appears that these actions are more effective
with sophomores who are motivated to
excel by the external rewards contests
provide rather than the internal rewards of
excellent music making. Sophomores see the
attainment of a positive contest rating as a
tool to stimulate motivation and cooper-
ation. In comparison, seniors place less
importance on the value and significance of
contest ratings and more importance on the
value of a high-quality music performance
(Battersby, 1994; Rittenhouse, 1989; Stamer,
2004). It appears that seniors are motivated
by other aspects of the choral ensemble
experience; in fact, they believe that less
emphasis should be placed on contests and
that competitions do not make choir more
enjoyable.
These findings seem to differ from
perceptions of students regarding the
instrumental music contest experience
(Burnsed, Sochinski, & Hinkle, 1983;
Howard, 1994; Mills, 1988; Sweeney, 1998;
Werpy, 1995), which suggests that important
reasons for participation in music contests
were that they aid in developing musician-
ship, help maintain high-quality student
performance, and provide a sense of
achieve-ment for students. The findings
from this study and Stamer (2004) do not
indicate that contest experiences benefit
senior choral students in meeting these
educational and musical goals.
Implications for Choral Music
Educators
The results of the current study and
related studies suggest the following implica-
tions for choral music educators who partici-
pate in music contests:
• As students advance through the choral
program, the emphasis on music con-
test as a tool to encourage development
of musicianship, stimulate participation
in choir, focus student learning, create
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 53
an ambience of cooperation, and pro-
mote group spirit needs to be replaced
with other motivating factors for devel-
oping the same goals.
• As students advance through the choral
program, they place less importance on
contest ratings as a means of evaluating
the quality of the choir and the effec-
tiveness of the choral program. The
music educator will need to help the
students discover a new paradigm to
evaluate the quality of musical ensem-
bles and musical performances.
• As students advance through the choral
program, they may begin to lack enthu-
siasm for the contest experience. If
contest participation is necessary and is
used by directors and administrators to
measure the effectiveness of the choral
program, students will need to be moti-
vated to perform their best as a means
of validating the quality of the program.
Recommendations for Future
Research
Recommendations for related research
first suggested by Stamer (2004) and sup-
ported by the findings of this study include:
• Replication of the study through sur-
veys of additional students and com-
parison of data based on the criteria
used in this study. The paucity of re-
search related to the choral music con-
test experience compared with instru-
mental music contest experiences war-
rants further study to more effectively
measure similarities and differences be-
tween choral and instrumental students.
• Replication of the study through sur-
veys of additional students and com-
parison of data based on other criteria,
such as school demographics, school
location, school size, choral program
size, director’s experience, and contest
location.
• Examination of music contest formats
to determine if changes in activities
may better meet educational needs and
stimulate the interest of senior students
who participate.
Conclusion
Each year students across the country
attend music contests sponsored by the
leading music and education associations in
each state. Since contests are viewed by
these associations as both educationally and
musically beneficial for the students who
participate, it is important that the experi-
ence be designed to provide students with a
meaningful experience. Seeking student
input is critical for determining what contest
experiences students believe are and are not
educationally and musically beneficial. This
study explored how student perceptions
changed over time regarding the benefits
and detriments of the contest experience.
Continued music contest research is war-
ranted to ensure that contest experiences
meet the educational and musical needs
of the students who participate in these
events.
References
Battersby, S. (1994). The perceived benefits
of competitions/contests for choral
directors and students in the tri-state
area (Doctoral dissertation, Columbia
University Teachers College, 1994).
Dissertation Abstracts International, 55, (11),
3344A.
Burnsed, V., Sochinski, J., & Hinkle, D.
(1983). The attitude of college band
students toward high school marching
band competition. Journal of Band
Research, 19, 11–17.
Fett, D. (1987). The influence of contest ratings on
student and director attitudes toward state large
group choral competition. Unpublished
master’s thesis, Drake University, Des
Moines, IA.
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 54
Fleming. R. C. (1975). Instrumental music
contests and festivals: Perceptions of
selected educational personnel. Disser-
tation Abstracts International, 37, 3491A.
(UMI No. 7626942)
Hayslett, D. J. (1992). The effect of band
contest participation upon band mem-
bers’ perception of contest rating
importance, musical, achievement, and
self-worth. [CD-ROM]. Dialogue in
Instrumental Music Education, 16(2), 12–18.
Head, J. (1983). Attitudes towards musical
activities among North Carolina high
school band students with directors
using varying teaching emphases.
Dissertation Abstracts International, 44,
2400A. (UMI No. 8328455)
Howard, K. K. (1994). A survey of Iowa
high school band students’ self-
perceptions and attitudes toward types
of music contests (Doctoral dissertation,
University of Iowa, 1994). Dissertation
Abstracts International, 55 (08), 2201A.
LaRue, P. J. (1986). A study to determine the
degree of consensus regarding outcomes
of band participation and the competi-
tive elements in band programs among
band directors, band members of parent
booster groups. Dissertation Abstracts
International, 47 (07), 2497A.
Linn, M. A. (1988). Attitudes of Wyoming
AAAA high school students regarding the use
of competition in their band programs.
Unpublished master’s thesis, University
of Wyoming, Laramie.
Mills, D. L. (1988). The meaning of the high
school band experience and its relation-
ship to band activities (Doctoral disser-
tation, University of Miami, 1988).
Dissertation Abstracts International, 50 (03),
643A.
Rittenhouse, J. H. (1989). Competitive and
noncompetitive choral festivals at the
secondary level (Doctoral dissertation,
Arizona State University, 1989). Disser-
tation Abstracts International, 50 (06), 1477A.
Rogers, G. L. (1983). Attitudes of high
school band directors, band members,
parents, and principals toward marching
band contests (Doctoral dissertation,
Indiana University, 1982). Dissertation
Abstracts International, 43, 3534A.
Rogers, G. L. (1984). Attitudes of high
school band directors, band members,
parents, and principals toward marching
contests. Update: Applications of Research in
Music Education, 2(4), 11–15.
Rogers, G. L. (1985). Attitudes of high
school band directors and principals
toward marching band contests. Journal
of Research in Music Education, 33(4),
259–267.
Rothlisberger, D. J. (1995). The impact of
high school band on student education
as perceived by band students, band
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directors, and building level adminis-
trators (Doctoral dissertation, East
Texas State University, 1995). Dissertation
Abstracts International, 56 (09), 3403A.
Stamer, R. A. (2004). Choral student percep-
tions of the music contest experience.
Update: Applications of Research in Music
Education, 22(2), 5–12.
Sweeney, C. R. (1998). A description of student
and band director attitudes toward concert band
competition. Unpublished master’s thesis,
University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL.
Werpy, S. F. (1995). Relationship between
selected factors of motivation for parti-
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 Appendix. Survey Statements Listed in Tables 1–7

Survey Statement Survey Statement

Number
Statement 7 Being recognized as an award-winning organization is the ultimate goal
of our choir.
Statement 8 Judges’ comments are more important than the rating the choir
receives.
Statement 9 I feel that competing against other choirs makes the students better
musicians.
Statement 13 I get excited about getting ready to participate in choral competitions.
Statement 15 When we compete, making music is more important than the ratings.
Statement 16 Choirs that attend competitions have more fun.
Statement 19 Too much emphasis is placed on choral competition participation.
Statement 20 Entering choral competitions motivates students to practice.
Statement 21 Receiving a Division I rating is the most important aspect of choral
competitions.
Statement 23 Preparing for choral competitions increases group spirit.
Statement 24 I would rather participate in choral competitions in which there is one
winner rather than a competition where every choir receives a rating.
Statement 26 Receiving a high rating at choral competitions makes me feel good.

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 56

 Reflection on Practice: A Study of Five Choral
Educators' Reflective Journeys
Marla Ann Butke
Assistant professor of music at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.
E-mail: musicmarla@columbus.rr.com
teaching life involves such enormity of
A scope that the music educator needs to
seek continual growth in mind and spirit.
Through reflection, a teacher can find new
ways to understand and face the challenges
both inside and outside the classroom. The
current study grew out of my own reflec-
tions concerning my past teaching practice,
reflections that revealed areas where my teach-
ing needed to be revitalized and restructured.
The impetus lay in the possibilities of aware-
ness, change, and growth for all teachers when
they engage in a reflective process.
The purpose of this study is to under-
stand how a reflective process affects teach-
ing in the choral classroom. Major elements
of the study examine how choral teachers
use the reflective process to understand and
shape their practice, and how they reflect.
The format of the study involves two dimen-
sions: descriptive and generative. As a de-
scriptive study, the intention was to describe
the ways in which teachers engage in a re-
flective process. As a generative study, the
goal was to bring to the surface issues that
arise in teaching, new ideas for pedagogy and
curriculum, and new approaches of reflection.
The word reflection is derived from the
Latin word reflectere, which means “to bend
back.” Similarly, a reflective person is one
who thinks back on what is seen or heard,
thus becoming a purposeful thinker (Valli,
1997). For teachers, reflection involves look-
ing at the teaching and learning that has oc-
curred and then reconstructing, reenacting,
or recapturing the events, emotions, and
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 57
accomplishments of that teaching episode. It
is through these processes that a profes-
sional learns from experience (Schulman,
1987). Reflection can thereby enable the
teacher to transform practice.
On the other hand, reflexive teaching con-
notes an involuntary action (Valli, 1997), and
is related to terms such as routine and habit. A
course of habit will ritualize teaching so that
it requires progressively less independent
thought to execute a teaching action (Snow,
1998). The relationship between reflexivity
and reflection is noted in Dewey’s belief
(1933) that reflection is in direct opposition
to routine thought. According to Dewey, rou-
tine thought is transferred through outside
forces and is guided by tradition, authority, and
parameters set by a social reality. Mindlessly
conforming to tradition and authority are in
opposition to being a reflective thinker. Reflex-
ive teaching avoids the complexities of the
classroom by placing the teacher’s pedagogy
into a repetitive and linear motion. The teacher
is essentially on automatic pilot.
Theorists in the past three decades have
assembled working models, each containing
various categories of reflection, to define and
understand the reflective process (Grimmett,
MacKinnon, Erickson, & Riecken, 1990;
Taggert & Wilson, 1998; Valli, 1992; Van
Manen, 1977; Wellington & Austin, 1996). The
following matrix breaks down each theoretical
model by meshing the reflective categories
defined by earlier theorists with the categories
used in this study: pedagogical, curricular,
personal/professional, and critical.
 Theorists Pedagogical
Van Manen (1977) Technical
Grimmett, Technical
MacKinnon,
Erickson, & Riecken
(1990)
Valli (1992) Technical
Reflection-in-
action
Wellington & Austin Imm ediate
(1996) Technical
Taggert & Wilson Technical
(1998)
The term pedagogical focuses on instruc-
tional methodologies used in teaching prac-
tice. Pedagogical reflection involves intro-
spection on practical matters. With respect
to the choral classroom, areas such as class-
room management, rehearsal procedures,
choir seating formations, and learning se-
quences are examples of pedagogical issues
on which a teacher might reflect. Curricular
reflection concentrates on concepts being
taught. In the choral realm, repertoire serves
as the vehicle for learning the specific objec-
tives of the curriculum, which include vocal
technique, music theory, music history,
sight-reading, and ear-training. Personal reflec-
tion centers on attributes of a teacher’s per-
sonality and life situations outside the class-
room that influence practice. Connected to
the personal category are reflections on pro-
fessional aspects of a teacher’s life that are
linked to the teaching environment. These
points of professional reflection include in-
teractions with colleagues and administra-
tors, as well as opportunities for extended
learning throughout the teacher’s career.
The label of critical reflection is used to
understand the transformation of a teacher’s
practice to reflect the contextual reality of
the teacher and students, and it requires
evaluation of educational goals in light of
social, moral, and political dimensions. A
critically reflective process will affect
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 58
Curricular Personal Critical
Curricular Critical
Deliberative
Critical
Reflection-in- Personalistic Deliberative
action Critical
Transpersonal Deliberative
Dialectic
Contextual
Dialectical
teaching in a number of ways: teachers will
be able to realize the ideological basis to
teaching, teachers will see themselves as
being in continual formation, and teachers
will try to create more democratic
classrooms (Brookfield, 1995). The nature of
large-group dynamics commonly found in a
choral ensemble lends itself to teaching
democratic and responsible ways of living in
the world.
Historical Foundations
Dewey is generally acknowledged to
have set the foundation for reflection in
teaching (Goodman, 1984; Gore, 1987;
Kruse, 1997; Ross & Hannay, 1986; Smyth,
1992; Valli, 1997). In How We Think (1933),
Dewey described attributes of the ideal
teacher. According to Dewey, teachers
should acquire a habit of ongoing thought-
fulness and examination of beliefs and theo-
ries they use to inform their instruction of
students. This process of reflection helps
teachers develop specific orientations, such
as open-mindedness, responsibility, and
wholeheartedness. Reflection can, therefore,
lead into acting in a “deliberate and inten-
tional fashion” (1933, p. 78), which pro-
motes purposeful teaching.
Schon draws from the writings of
Dewey in The Reflective Practitioner (1983).
Schon views teaching as an activity filled
with uncertainty. Schon describes two types
of reflection: reflection-on-action and
reflection-in-action. Reflection-on-action
involves the systematic and deliberate think-
ing about a teaching episode after it has oc-
curred (Schon, 1983). This concept of reflec-
tion is the one most commonly referred to in
educational discourse. Reflection-in-action
refers to what happens when the practitioner
suddenly comes upon a problematic situa-
tion and must resolve it (Schon, 1983). Dur-
ing this procedure the teacher consciously
interacts with a problematic situation and
experiments with it.
Eleven studies have been conducted
that are situated in the reflective discourse
(Bailey, 2000; Burrack, 2001; Coleman, 1999;
Dolloff, 1994; Hamlin, 1995; McDonald,
2001; Neelly, 2000; Nightingale, 1993; Raiber,
2001; Snow, 1998; Stegman, 1996). Stegman’s
research is most closely related to the philo-
sophical and pragmatic tenets of this study.
Stegman investigated six choral-music student
teachers’ perceptions of successes and prob-
lems as they reflected on their music teaching.
Engaging in mutual reflection served as an
external motivator, and dialogue with an expe-
rienced teacher was considered a critical ingre-
dient for facilitating reflection.
The importance of this research rests in
its application of reflective practice to choral
teaching. The rationale for this study
stemmed from the premise that choral edu-
cators need to find a vehicle for growth and
improvement. While effective teachers often
think about their practice, the purposes,
goals, and methodologies involved in a re-
flective process can work together to create
a new world of educational imperatives for a
choral teacher and his or her students. The
unique factors of a choral teacher’s isolation,
the product-oriented nature of a choral pro-
gram, and the perpetuation of choral dis-
course help justify adapting a reflective pro-
cess to strengthen a teacher’s professional
and personal life.
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 59
Research Design
The study involved five middle or high
school choral teachers who agreed to engage
in a reflective process for nine weeks. The
teachers selected for this study exhibited the
following characteristics: a passion for teach-
ing and learning, interest in developing re-
flective habits, and commitment to lifelong
learning. The study began with the question,
“How does engaging in a reflective process
over time affect choral teachers?” The re-
lated subquestions were:
• How does engaging in a reflective pro-
cess affect a teacher’s consideration of
new pedagogical, curricular, personal/
professional, or critical approaches?
• How does the notion of problematizing
a person’s practice affect each teacher?
• What are the unique factors that affect the
reflective process in a choral classroom?
• How does a teacher’s life history, cur-
rent phase of development, and specific
teaching assignment affect the reflective
process?
• How are teachers empowered to act
upon their reflections?
The five participants were asked to keep
daily reflective journals, write an autobio-
graphical narrative, and complete reflective
narrative exercises. The daily reflective jour-
nals could be unstructured, where the writ-
ing consisted of retelling daily events, usually
with emotional reactions; or structured, us-
ing a predetermined set of questions. The
two structured reflective tools made avail-
able to the teachers were Brookfield’s Criti-
cal Incident Questionnaire (1995), which
asks for the most engaging, the most disap-
pointing, and the most puzzling teaching
moments of the class period, day, or week;
and Smyth’s three key questions (1992),
which address issues of teacher practice that
perplex, confuse, or frustrate. The three
questions are: (1) describe—what do I do?
(2) confront—how did I come to be like
this? and (3) reconstruct—how might I do
things differently? The autobiographical nar-
rative consisted of questions concerning the
teachers’ personal, educational, and profes-
sional lives, and the three reflective narrative
exercises focused on the participants’ choral
experiences as singers, the social and politi-
cal context of the communities where they
work, and a reflective inventory about their
perceptions as educators.
The researcher attended a weekly re-
hearsal for each of the participants over the
course of the nine weeks. Following each of
those rehearsals, the teacher and the re-
searcher reflected upon what occurred, con-
sidered changes for the future, and discussed
other pertinent topics using constructive
dialogue. Constructive dialogue is an inten-
tional conversation to which two or more
parties consent for the purpose of bringing
to light any aspects of a teacher’s practice.
On two occasions the five participants met
as a group employing constructive dialogue
to examine samples of reflective writing
(Holly, 1989), discuss the study’s progres-
sion, and share stories of emergent issues
related to their teaching.
The students of these five teachers also
participated in the research. Students were to
write a journal entry at the end of the nine
weeks in which they discussed aspects of the
choral programs, provided information
about the choral teachers, and noted any
changes they had observed. The teachers
and the researcher together designed specific
questions to ask the students. Teachers used
feedback from the students to stimulate re-
flection about their teaching practices.
Presentation of the Data: The Five
Choral Teachers’ Reflective Journeys
Each teacher’s story included back-
ground information, description of the re-
hearsal setting, snapshots of several rehears-
als with the following interviews, and all
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 60
related reflective materials. The narrative in
this study followed the particular description
style (Erickson, 1986), which consists of par-
ticipant quotes and narrative vignettes of
everyday life, with sights and sounds of what
was being said and done described in their
natural sequence. The writing’s disjointed
nature represents the unique character of
reflection: it can occur at any given moment
and is often precipitated by a perplexing
event. The model for this style of narrative
presentation was Troubling the Angels by Patti
Lather and Chris Smithies (1997). Each story
depicted the intricacies, histories, and philos-
ophies of the teacher in an intimate and re-
vealing fashion. The benefits and barriers of
engaging in a reflective process came to the
forefront in the stories.
The Teachers’ Stories
The following excerpts are taken from
interviews following my observation of a re-
hearsal for each teacher (each teacher chose
a pseudonym). They are representative ex-
amples of the many observations, construc-
tive dialogues, and reflections that occurred
during the study. My reflections as I noted
them in real time are provided in smaller
print, marked with an arrow.
Madeline Owens
Madeline Owens is a young choral
teacher with three years of teaching experi-
ence. Madeline teaches at a private school
with approximately 600 students (grades
K–12). The student population is rich in
diversity based upon ethnicity, religion, and
economic status.
I ask Madeline to rate today’s rehearsal
on a scale of 1–10 (10 being the highest),
and she rated it a 5/6. She concludes
that the students were chatty and not
focused. She believes that the fact that it
is Friday was somewhat the culprit.
Madeline expresses some frustration in
 the amount of learning that took place.
“Sometimes I think I need to buckle down
and really be on them. But I am like, wait,
if I do that, it almost feeds them.”
| Trying to balance how hard to push—but
her instinctive reaction was that the rehearsal
needed to be more productive.
Madeline shares with me the luxury she
enjoys by participating in a college choir
after school hours. She acknowledges
the benefits of bringing in new vocal
exercises and being rejuvenated as a
choral singer.
| Taking on the role of learner; under-
standing the challenges of being a choral
singer by being one.
“I would hate to be stuck in a full-time
teaching position and not take classes. I
did that for two years and I was falling in
the same path, doing the same thing.”
| Avoiding routine teaching; constantly
being restimulated.
Jacob Hamilton
Jacob Hamilton has eight years of
teaching experience. His current position is
in a large public school system located out-
side a major metropolitan city. The middle
school has approximately 800 students, of
which 250 are involved in some facet of the
music program. The school community is
lower middle-class, mostly Caucasian, and
predominantly Christian.
The pace of the warm-up exercises is
quick. Jacob is clear and deliberate in his
explanation and modeling of the exer-
cises. The choir’s execution of the vocal-
ise is breathy, so Jacob calls on a student
for a possible explanation. The student
replies with a comment that perhaps
they are not breathing deeply enough.
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 61
Jacob agrees and commends the student
for her good thinking.
| Displays skills of master teaching—sets
appropriate pacing, presents material clearly,
poses problems for students to solve, and
gives positive reinforcement.
During the interview, Jacob begins to
talk about all the details for which he is
responsible as a choral director. Last
term he had an assistant to help him
with taking attendance, collecting
money, and dealing with student ques-
tions unrelated to the rehearsal. Jacob
feels somewhat burnt out as he relates
that he is spread too thin, based on the
number of students he has and the
amount of class preparation. He admits
that he has not written a valid rehearsal
plan in two weeks.
| Feels overworked; physical and mental
stress is evident.
Jacqueline O’Keefe
Jacqueline O’Keefe has 24 years’ experi-
ence as a high school music educator. The
system in which she works is one of the larg-
est in the state. The parents of the student
population are considered middle-class, with
Caucasian being the dominant ethnicity. Ap-
proximately 10–15% of the student body is
African-American. There is a sizeable Somali
population, as well as a large group of Mor-
mon students.
Jacqueline continues with the vocal
exercises, addressing individual students
who are not focused, but does not let it
slow down the pace of the lesson. One
girl is combing her hair and Jacqueline
comments, “Don’t worry about your
hair—there are no boys in here.”
| Addressing the social needs of girls; she has a
playful air in her vocal delivery of the message.
 In the interview, Jacqueline states that
she sees the reflective process as a won-
derful way for teachers to become self-
disciplined and learn about their prac-
tice, even if one can reflect only period-
ically.
| Sees benefits for reflective process,
although is still concerned about time issues.
Kate Tyler
Kate Tyler, a first-year high school cho-
ral teacher, is part of a school community
located in a small, rural area 25 miles outside
a large metropolitan city. The residents are
low- to middle-income and mostly blue-col-
lar workers. It is a tight-knit community, with
Christianity being the predominant religion.
Kate has the students sit in chairs in a
circle to sing “Old Joe Clark.” She tells
them that they are going to work on im-
provisation. She first sings the piece for
them and they repeat it a cappella. It is a
little under tempo and sounds somewhat
unenergetic. She asks them to sit up
straight and be livelier. The students sing
it faster and with more energy. By the
looks on their faces, they seem to be
enjoying themselves. Kate then asks
them, “What’s a folk song?” One stu-
dent gives a response that is almost cor-
rect and Kate clarifies. Two sets of sticks
are then handed out and the students
improvise rhythmically on the refrain.
Almost every student has the opportu-
nity to improvise.
| Incorporating one of the National Stand-
ards that is often ignored in the choral
classroom: encouraging creativity through
improvisation.
During the interview, I turn to issues of
balance between her professional and per-
sonal lives, as this was an important item of
discussion during the previous interview. She
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 62
shares her thoughts on the subject:
I was complaining to a colleague this
morning because I was actually working
until 9:30 last night on my lesson plans
for this unit I am doing in the middle
school. If I had more time I would prob-
ably use it for planning my ensembles,
because they get put on the back burner
all the time. “Oh, it’s just the chorus re-
hearsal; I can wing it” [sarcastically].
Honestly, that is something I do—come
in the next day and we just pick up
where we left off. I don’t put the time
into planning these things that are im-
portant.
| Candid reflection; there is great frustra-
tion in her voice; the issue of time is affect-
ing her ability to teach effectively, in her
eyes.
I inquire about her feelings of not hav-
ing the time consistently to do effective
lesson planning. She expresses her feel-
ings of guilt, “It’s never good enough.”
Ashley Brooks
Ashley Brooks is a choral teacher with
20 years of experience. The middle school
where Ashley works is in an upper-class sub-
urb of a large metropolitan city. The parent
community is white-collar professional, with
high expectations for the school system.
I pursue how the reflective process is
working for Ashley. She has written two
reflections so far, and so I ask specifically
how she felt after writing them. She answers:
I felt guilt-ridden. I think I told you the
last time I think a lot but to have the
time to sit down and do it is the hard
part. When I get home at 9:30 at night,
I just don’t have the energy.
| Why is she consistently getting home at
9:30 at night? Does she have a choice con-
cerning the hours she is spending at work?
Journaling is time- and energy-consuming.
She shares with me that her husband is
frustrated with her not having time and
energy to spend with him.
| Professional life negatively affecting
personal life.
Discussion
The overarching research question for
this study asked, “How does engaging in a
reflective process over time affect choral
teachers?” The five research subquestions
served as the focus of the cross-case analysis
in this portion of the findings and addressed
the main research question. In response to
the first subquestion, “How does engaging
in a reflective process affect a teacher’s con-
sideration of new pedagogical, curricular,
personal/professional, or critical ap-
proaches?”, all five teachers considered and
employed new approaches in the pedagogi-
cal, curricular, personal/professional, or crit-
ical categories as a result of the reflective
process. This was made evident through the
reflective writings, constructive dialogues,
and observations of their rehearsals. For
example, Jacob initiated a sight-reading pro-
gram, and Ashley developed new assessment
tools as well as a vehicle for communication
with parents and students.
The second subquestion posed, “How
does the notion of problematizing a person’s
practice affect each teacher?” First of all, a
two-step process is necessary to initiate
change in a teaching practice. The teacher
must first identify and assess a problem area,
and then subsequently find possible strate-
gies to solve the problem. Four of the teach-
ers were able to complete step one. However,
the teachers encountered varying degrees of
success in step two. The structure of this
study served as a motivational vehicle for the
possibility of change, to which three of the
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 63
teachers responded and two of the teachers
resisted. Madeline and Ashley turned in sig-
nificantly less written reflective material than
the other participants. Nonetheless, both of
these teachers did reflect considerably during
the constructive dialogues, but in the end,
Madeline was unable to effect change in her
practice.
The next subquestion asked, “What are
the unique factors that affect reflective pro-
cess in a choral classroom?” The pedagogy
of choral teaching continually calls for prob-
lem solving, which lends itself to reflection-
in-action. However, engaging in a reflective
process often requires increased internal or
external motivation to achieve a deeper re-
flective state. Initially, the teachers in this
study were externally motivated when the
researcher encouraged them to engage in a
reflective process, and then they followed
individual paths of reflection utilizing inter-
nal stimuli as well. As these teachers began
to see the benefits of reflection, they became
self-motivated about conversing and writing
in more detail.
“How does a teacher’s life history, cur-
rent phase of development, and specific
teaching assignment affect the reflective pro-
cess?” was the fourth subquestion. Each
teacher’s reflective journey developed as a
result of many factors, including past experi-
ences and present teaching situation. The
latter was a formidable factor in the depth,
length, and substance of the reflections. The
richness of life experiences, the support or
lack thereof from influential people, and the
individual personality also contributed to
each teacher’s desire and ability to reflect.
The last subquestion asked, “How are
teachers empowered to act upon their reflec-
tions?” As a result of either external or inter-
nal forces, or a combination of the two, the
teachers achieved empowerment to become
more aware of themselves and their environ-
ments in a way that altered their perceptions
of what was possible (Zeichner & Liston,
1987). The study served as external motiva-
tion for the participants by providing oppor-
tunities for change in their practice. Internally,
the reflective process served to motivate three
of the teachers to seek change. Some issues
that arose in the four categories (pedagogical,
curricular, personal/professional, and critical)
found external resistance, thereby making facil-
itation for change difficult. The length of this
study may have also been too short to enact
change in some of the scenarios.
A New Model for Reflection
Based on the findings of this study, a
new theoretical model of reflection has been
developed. As an extension of the paradigm
created by Donald Schon (1983), which in-
corporated two types of reflection, reflec-
tion-in-action and reflection-on-action, a
new dimension, reflection-fore-action, is being
introduced. Reflection-fore-action incorpo-
rates all possibilities of reflection that tran-
spire before a teaching episode occurs. An
educator’s lesson plan forms the concrete,
tangible product of reflection-fore-action,
but there are other components as well. The
life history and educational philosophy of a
teacher, which can be analyzed through vari-
ous reflective methodologies, is always in-
cluded in the predetermination of what is to
be taught, thereby representing reflection-
fore-action.
Another aspect of the reflection-fore-
action dimension is its role as an extension
of reflection-on-action, where certain under-
standings have been reached concerning the
previous teaching episode and how the next
teaching episode will be affected. Therefore,
each dimension of reflection references the
dimension that occurs before it, creating a
cyclical flow to the reflective process.
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 64
This cyclical model of reflection delin-
eates when reflection takes place—before,
during, or after a teaching episode—and the
three modes describing how reflection can
occur—thinking, writing, and conversing.
The cyclical nature of reflection is revealed
through its interdependent dimensions. To
clarify, when a teacher reflects after a teach-
ing episode, the next teaching episode is
influenced by those reflections-on-action,
therefore influencing and channeling specific
reflections before the next teaching episode.
The reflections that occur during the teach-
ing episode may be related to the reflections
that have taken place before and after the
lesson is taught.
Reflection takes place through the three
modes of thinking, writing, and conversing.
Within the thinking mode, there may be ei-
ther a planned or unplanned stream of
thought focused on any aspect of a teacher’s
practice. Creative ideas, problem-solving
solutions, and emotional reactions are possi-
ble outcomes of the thinking mode. In the
writing mode of reflection, a teacher makes a
conscious decision to put down on paper
various aspects of a practice or a specific
teaching episode. The conversing mode is
the result of a conscious decision to partici-
pate in a dialogue focused on some aspect of
teaching practice.
The Cyclical Model of Reflection (see
figure 1) is a product of the understandings
gained from this study. The designation of
the proposed dimension—reflection-fore-
action—has not been delineated in this
inclusive format in any of the related
literature. This model presents the reflective
process as multidimensional, with
interrelated choices in which to engage and
facilitate change in teaching practice.
 Figure 1.

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 65

Noteworthy Findings
This study resulted in five noteworthy
findings regarding reflection. The philoso-
phy of qualitative research does not engage
in making generalizations; therefore, these
issues are presented as important points of
interest, rather than as conclusions or predic-
tions for future behavior (Denzin & Lincoln,
1994). These findings are based on phenom-
ena worthy of emphasis.
The value of constructive dialogues.
All five teachers found the constructive dia-
logues helpful in thinking about their prac-
tice. These dialogues also served as external
motivation tools for reflection (Stegman,
1996). The isolation of choral teaching may
have been an influential factor in teachers’
positive responses to the constructive dia-
logue methodology. It was found that reflec-
tions resulting from the conversing mode
represented more negativity about problem-
atic areas of teaching. This outpouring of
crisis points may have been due to the open
and positive relationships participants had
developed with the researcher, relationships
that allowed the teachers to unload frustra-
tions candidly and freely.
The influence of perfectionism. Four
of the five teachers displayed qualities of
perfectionism that tended to manifest
through frustration with their effectiveness
and level of efficiency. Jacob tended to be
highly self-critical, documenting this trait in
his reflective journals and autobiography.
His tendency to strive toward perfectionism
caused stress with physical consequences, as
he frequently complained of not feeling well.
Ashley frequently shared her strong convic-
tions and beliefs as well as her frustrations
and insecurities, which drove her to seek
continual improvement. Perfectionism
would often lead her to disappointment
when students were not able to meet the
challenges she set for them. The teachers
displaying perfectionist traits presented re-
flections with increased depth than the one
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 66
teacher who did not portray perfectionist
characteristics. This finding supports the
studies of LaBoskey (1993) and Stegman
(1996), who found that reflection was en-
hanced or restricted by certain personality
attributes.
The effects of time-related issues. All
the educators addressed time limitation in
some form of reflection, although the extent
to which each teacher reflected varied
greatly. All the teachers displayed some de-
gree of resistance to engaging in a reflective
process, particularly for the use of Smyth’s
key questions and the narrative exercises.
The teachers believed that the act of writing
in general was more time-consuming than
the constructive dialogues.
The feelings of pleasure and pain
associated with the reflective process. All
the teachers in this study made a reference to
one or both of those feelings in their reflec-
tions. This is associated with the personal
risk barrier (Brookfield, 1995), at which
teachers may or may not like what they dis-
cover about their teaching practice or about
who they are as people. Reflection is not
neutral, nor without emotional impact.
Reflection as an instrument for tangi-
ble change. Reflection encouraged many
observable changes among four of the teach-
ers in this study. For example, one of Kate’s
goals was to incorporate effective breathing
techniques with her choir. She did imple-
ment a variety of breath-control exercises
that the students executed with increased
effectiveness. In Ashley’s case, finding effec-
tive assessment tools was an important ob-
jective. Over the nine weeks, she imple-
mented two valuable assessment vehicles: a
student self-evaluation form used after view-
ing the video of the concert, and an authen-
tic assessment instrument in which students
sang individually during the rehearsal to test
problem spots. The reflective process also
enabled the teachers to understand the fluid
nature of their belief system by confirming,
denying, and challenging various pedagogi-
cal, curricular, personal/professional, and
critical topics.
This study revealed important benefits
from engaging in a reflective process. Just as
each choral teacher found individual advan-
tages to reflecting on teaching practice, the
potential value of reflection can be under-
stood through the examination of these
particularistic benefits. Constructive dia-
logues enabled teachers to share feelings of
frustration and joy, receive feedback, and
explore new pedagogical and curricular strat-
egies. Teachers used various modes of re-
flection to process important life decisions:
Jacob decided to move from the middle
school to the high school level, and Jacque-
line decided to reduce stress by cutting down
on her number of hours at school.
Implications for Professional
Development
The process implemented with these
choral educators serves as a model for the
professional development of teachers at all
levels of expertise. The steps used for engag-
ing practicing teachers in a reflective process
include:
• Introducing the teachers to the concept
and philosophy of reflection, and
explaining the Cyclical Model of
Reflection
• Preparing teachers for the time and
personal risk barriers they may en-
counter
• Providing structured written documen-
tation vehicles as a means for reflection
• Giving samples of reflective writing
• Allowing for constructive dialogue
opportunities
• Encouraging teachers to be open,
honest, and willing to challenge the
choral discourse, the school structure,
and themselves
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 67
Recommendations for Further
Research
More research is needed to solidify un-
derstanding of how the reflective process
works and of the various outcomes of en-
gaging in it. Qualitative research, which is
still developing in application to the music
education profession, has the potential to
provide rich data for gaining new knowledge
concerning the human phenomenon of
teaching. As demonstrated in this study, cho-
ral educators who engage in a reflective pro-
cess can better understand the individual
experience of teaching and can benefit from
the possibility of change and improvement.
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UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 69

 Teaching Strategies Related to Successful
Sight-Singing in Kentucky Choral Ensembles
Eva Floyd and Kelly D. Bradley
Eva Floyd is an instructor of chorus and music education at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.
E-mail: eva.floyd@wku.edu
Kelly D. Bradley is an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
E-mail: kdbrad2@uky.edu

n 2002, the Festival Commission of the possible score in the KMEA district choral
I Kentucky Music Educators Association
(KMEA) initiated a sight-singing compo-
performance evaluation.

nent to be included in the district choral Background

performance evaluation. This was instituted
in an effort to hold choral directors account-
able for teaching music literacy skills to their
choirs. Without such a measure, it would be
possible for a choir to sing difficult choral
literature with a polished sound, but to have
learned it all by rote. This measure also sup-
ports the National Standards for Arts Edu-
cation, which emphasize the importance of
sight-singing accurately and expressively
(Consortium of National Arts Education
Associations, 1994).
Sight-singing scores did not count to-
ward the total score in the first two years of
the festival, 2002 and 2003. Beginning in
2004, sight-singing scores were combined
with the prepared performance scores to
compute an overall score for the choir.
Choirs that received an overall distinguished
rating were eligible to advance to the state
performance evaluation.
Nationwide, 43 states provide a
statewide performance evaluation for choral
ensembles; of those states, 25 require
participation in adjudicated sight-singing
(Norris, 2004). The purpose of this study
was to determine common teaching
strategies of directors whose choirs are
successful at sight-singing. Successful sight-
singing was defined as receiving the highest
There are numerous pitch systems a
choral director can use in teaching sight-
singing skills. One system is movable do,
which means that do may change depending
upon the key of the piece. A similar system
utilizes numbers that correspond to the scale
degrees changing with the key of the piece.
A third system is fixed do, which always
keeps do on note C regardless of the key of
the piece. Other systems include singing
pitch letter names (A, B, C) or singing the
pitches on a neutral syllable (e.g., la) (Demo-
rest, 2001). The decision of which sight-sing-
ing system to use in teaching choral music is
often the result of the choral director’s per-
sonal preference and previous experience.
Research findings are varied as to which
systems produce better results. Henry and
Demorest (1994) found that there was no
significant difference in sight-singing perfor-
mance between groups that used movable do
and groups that used fixed do. The authors
conclude that both methods seem equally
effective in developing sight-singing skills. In
examining individual sight-singing skills,
Demorest and May (1995) found that stu-
dents using the movable do system scored
significantly higher than those using the
fixed do method. Even though the authors
point out that these findings may be affected

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 70

by other differences in the groups (e.g., pri-
vate lessons, consistency in early solfège
training, and sight-reading assessment proce-
dures used in each school district), their
study raises important questions regarding
the best method used for teaching this skill
to choirs.
Killian and Henry (2005) found the in-
structional method for sight-singing (mov-
able versus fixed do) was less a factor for
individual sight-singing performance than
were the specific strategies used during and
preceding a sight-singing task. Daniels’
(1986) study indicates that the choral direc-
tor’s attitude toward sight-singing plays an
important role in sight-singing success, while
the specific music curriculum is not a predic-
tor of success. Cutietta (1979) found that a
choral ensemble could learn to sight-sing by
devoting a portion of rehearsal time to orga-
nized sight-singing instruction. Directors
spent an average of 1.5 minutes on daily
sight-singing instruction (6% of their re-
hearsal). This research does not help deter-
mine if one system is more beneficial than
another; however, it does confirm that it
takes only minimal rehearsal time to develop
this skill, one that increases choir members’
singing confidence.
Interested in exploring the popularity of
sight-singing systems, McClung (2001) sur-
veyed all-state chorus participants in six
southeastern states (Alabama, Arkansas,
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennes-
see). Results indicate that the most common
system utilized was the scale-degree system
followed in order by movable do, neutral
syllables, other systems, and fixed do. Daniels
(1988) surveyed choral directors and found
the most popular method of teaching sight-
singing skills was a combination of clapping
rhythms and unison sight-singing. Thirty-five
percent of the respondents indicated they
used solfège syllables “frequently,” while
45% indicated they used solfège syllables
“sometimes.” This information assists choral
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 71
directors in gaining insight as to which sys-
tems are more popular, but does not provide
a basis for evaluating the effectiveness of the
particular systems.
Demorest’s (2004) national Web-based
survey of choral directors indicates that a
high number of directors (64%) use the
movable do system for pitch reading and the
counting method for rhythm reading (47%).
The survey indicates that most directors
(72%) rely on self-created materials to teach
sight-singing skills. Demorest also found that
including sight-singing evaluation in large-
group festivals has a possible influence on
the amount of rehearsal time directors de-
vote to teaching this skill, as well as how
directors weight sight-singing in their stu-
dents’ grades.
Factors identified that predict success in
students’ sight-singing include piano experi-
ence, choral experience, and harmonic con-
text. Studies by Henry and Demorest (1994)
and Demorest and May (1995) indicate the
amount of private piano study is a strong
predictor of success. Similarly, Daniels
(1986) reports that having a piano in the
home is a predictor. Demorest and May
point out that the amount of school choral
experience also predicts successful sight-
singing performance. Boyle and Lucas
(1990) indicate that individual sight-singing
performance can be improved by adding
harmonic context to the single melodic line.
While this information is useful in de-
termining the sight-singing success of an
individual, it does not necessarily help choral
directors improve group skills. There are
several reasons for this limitation: choral
directors do not have the means to give pri-
vate piano instruction to all of their students;
choral directors cannot control the amount
of choral experience of incoming students;
and choral directors cannot add harmony to
the ensemble’s sight-singing exercises at the
choral festival. Even though directors do not
have control over these factors, Demorest
suggests directors can improve individual
sight-singing skills by adding individual
sight-singing tests as well as group sight-
singing instruction (1998).
Both research and common sense sug-
gest that daily, organized sight-singing in-
struction, along with the director’s positive
attitude toward sight-singing tasks, is benefi-
cial. Even so, more research is needed to help
determine the effectiveness of specific sight-
singing systems and teaching strategies. This
information may assist new choir directors, as
well as experienced choral directors who are
just beginning to implement sight-singing in
their curriculum, when making decisions about
which systems to use in their teaching.
Methodology
Population and Sampling
The target population for this study was
choral directors who participated in Ken-
tucky Music Education Association (KMEA)
district choral performance evaluations, par-
ticularly those whose choirs received a dis-
tinguished score in sight-singing in 2004
district evaluations. KMEA holds choral
festivals in 11 regional locations in March
and April. KMEA adjudicators rate the
choirs’ sight-singing performance according
to the official KMEA rubric (see Appendix
A); a distinguished score indicates that choirs
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 72
were able to perform pitches and rhythms
accurately while maintaining tonality (see
Appendix B for KMEA sight-reading rules).
After obtaining University of Kentucky In-
stitutional Review Board (IRB) approval, a
list of directors was obtained from the
KMEA state office. Of the 46 choral direc-
tors whose choirs received a distinguished
score, 24 participated in this study, resulting
in a 52% targeted response rate. The sample
was deemed representative, resulting in sta-
ble estimates.
The survey was conducted by tele-
phone. Participants were notified that indi-
vidual names of directors and schools would
not be released; results would be released in
aggregate form only. Participants’ (N = 24)
total years of teaching experience was a mean
or average of 16 years, with a mean of 12
years at their current school. The average re-
hearsal length was 67 minutes, and the aver-
age number of students in the choirs was 43.
Ninety-five percent of the participants
taught in a public school; just over 54%
taught on a block schedule, with the remain-
ing respondents operating on a traditional
schedule. Fifty-eight percent of the partici-
pants indicated that voice was their major
instrument, 33% indicated piano, and the
remaining 9% majored on instruments other
than piano. The participants’ demographic
characteristics are shown in tables 1, 2, and 3.
 Table 1. Choral Directing Experience of Participants

Mean Median Standard

Deviation

Total years teaching experience 16.21 17.50 9.55

Years at current school 12.00 10.50 8.28

Rehearsal length (minutes) 67.42 57.50 20.26

Number of students in choir 43.36 42.00 18.32

Table 2. School Characteristics of Participants

School Public Private

95.65% 4.35%
Schedule Block Traditional
54.17% 45.83%

Table 3. Musical Background of Participants

Major Instrument Voice Piano Other instruments

58.33% 33.33% 8.34%

Instrumentation
The survey used in this study was developed by the lead author and based on personal
observations of district sight-singing evaluations as well as a thorough review of the literature.
Questions were designed to determine how sight-singing was structured in the rehearsal process,
which pitch systems were used, what kinds of materials were used, where and how choral directors
received training for teaching these skills, if and what other exercises were used to develop sight-
singing skills, and directors’ perceptions of the effects of preparing for sight-singing evaluation.
The questions are shown in figure 1.

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 73

 Figure 1. Survey Questions for Choral Directors Whose Ensembles
Received a Distinguished Score in Sight-Singing

1. What materials do you use for teaching sight-singing skills?

2. Where do you normally place sight-singing in the structure of the rehearsal?
3. What percentage of rehearsal time do you devote to sight-singing?
4. Which of the following best prepared you to teach sight-singing to your choir?
• KMEA professional development
• Undergraduate music education classes
• Undergraduate music education methods classes
• Undergraduate music education theory classes
• Self-taught

5. Did you teach sight-singing in a systematic way before KMEA required it at district
performance evaluation in 2002?
6. Does your choir continue to practice sight-singing after KMEA evaluation? If yes, is the
amount of time and attention devoted to sight-singing consistent with that prior to district
performance evaluation?
7. Which pitch system does your choir use for sight-singing?
8. Do you use Curwen hand signs as a teaching aid? If yes, how and/or when do you use
hand signs?
9. Do you require your students to use hand signs? If yes, when are they typically used?
10. What percentage of rehearsal time do your students use hand signs?
11. Do you use pitch activities (e.g., solfège ladder) other than sight-singing exercises?
12. Do you use dictation activities or games?
13. Do you give individual sight-singing performance tests to your students? If yes, how
frequently during the school year?
14. Do you believe that the process of preparing for sight-singing evaluation has helped
improve your choir’s music reading skills?
15. Do you believe that the process of preparing for sight-singing evaluation has helped to
improve your choir’s intonation?
16. Do you feel that the sight-singing score is an adequate assessment of a choir’s music literacy
skills?

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 74

Results
In response to Question 1 [What materi-
als do you use?], 50.00% of the responding
directors reported using a combination of
self-made exercises and method books or
series; 16.70% of the directors reported using
method books exclusively; 16.67% of the direc-
tors reported using a combination of self-made
exercises, method books, and examples in cho-
ral literature; 8.33% reported using a combina-
tion of method books and examples in choral
literature; and 4.17% reported using examples
from choral literature, with 4.13% choosing
another option or not responding.
As to Question 2 [Where do you place
sight-singing in the rehearsal?], 83.33% re-
ported at the beginning of the rehearsal,
12.5% throughout the rehearsal, and 4.17%
of the directors indicated the placement var-
ied according to the day. Analysis of the data
for Question 3 [What percentage of rehearsal
time do you devote?] indicated a mean of
18.18% and a median of 20.00%, with a stan-
dard deviation of 7.33%.
Regarding Question 4 [Which of the
following best prepared you to teach sight-
singing?], 29.17% of the directors chose
KMEA/professional development, 29.17%
indicated their skills to teach sight-singing
were self-taught, 8.33% indicated they were
self-taught and trained through
KMEA/professional development, 4.17%
chose undergraduate music education meth-
ods classes, 4.17% chose undergraduate mu-
sic theory classes, and 8.34% selected both
undergraduate music education methods and
theory classes. Another 4.17% chose under-
graduate music education classes and KMEA/
professional development, while 4.17% chose
undergraduate music theory classes and
KMEA/professional development, and 4.13%
chose another option or did not respond.
Responses to Question 5 [Did you teach
sight-singing in a systematic way before
KMEA required it?], resulted in a 54.17%
affirmative response rate, with 12.50% indi-
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 75
cating the question was not applicable due to
years of experience. Examination of the data
related to Question 6 [Does your choir con-
tinue to practice sight-singing after KMEA
evaluation? If yes, is the time and attention
devoted to sight-singing consistent with that
prior to evaluation?], indicated 79.17% of the
directors reported continued practice of
sight-singing skills after KMEA evaluation.
Of those directors, 78.95% reported the
amount of time and attention devoted to
sight-singing was consistent before and after
the district KMEA evaluation, while the re-
maining 21.05% indicated a reduction in time
after the evaluation.
As to Question 7 [Which pitch system
does your choir use?], 75% of the directors
reported using movable do, 8.33% numbers,
and 4.17% reported using a combination of
the two. The remaining 12.50% reported
using a combination of movable do, numbers,
and letter names.
In response to Question 8 [Do you use
Curwen hand signs? If yes, how and/or
when?], 45.83% of directors reported using
Curwen hand signs as a teaching aid. Of
those using the signs, 27.27% reported using
them during sight-singing instruction,
36.36% during sight-singing instruction and
warm-ups, and 36.36% during sight-singing
instruction, warm-ups, and while rehearsing
literature. Regarding Question 9 [Do you
require your students to use hand signs? If
yes, when?], 50.00% of the directors reported
requiring students to use hand signs. These
directors indicated that the hand signs were
used while sight-singing (58.33%), during
warm-ups (16.17%), and while rehearsing
literature (8.33%). As to Question 10, [What
percentage of rehearsal time do your students
use hand signs?], the average rehearsal time
reported was a mean of 8.90% and a median
of 5.00%, with a standard deviation of 7.00%.
With reference to Question 11 [Do you
use pitch activities other than sight-singing
exercises?], 66.67% of the directors reported
using other pitch activities. As to Question
12 [Do you use dictation activities or
games?], 39.13% of those responding said
yes. Of those, 80% used both pitch and
rhythm exercises, while 20% exclusively used
rhythmic dictation exercises.
In response to Question 13 [Do you give
individual sight-singing performance tests? If
yes, how frequently?], 79.17% of the direc-
tors reported giving individual sight-singing
performance tests to their students. Of those,
approximately 74% of the directors gave tests
more than twice per year, with the remaining
directors giving tests once a semester or
twice per year.
Every director in the sample responded
in the affirmative to Question 14 [Do you
believe that preparing for sight-singing evalu-
ation has helped improve your choir’s music
reading skills?]. As to question 15 [Do you
believe preparing for sight-singing evaluation
has helped to improve your choir’s intona-
tion?], 79.17% of the directors responded
yes. Over 90% of the sample felt the sight-
singing score is an adequate assessment of
music literacy skills by responding affirma-
tively to Question 16.
Discussion
The results of this study indicate that
most of the choral directors in this sample
use a combination of materials to teach sight-
singing skills. The most common combina-
tion was self-made exercises along with
method books. Examples in choral literature
were not commonly used. This is interesting
when compared to Demorest’s (2004) results,
in which many respondents used self-created
materials along with examples from choral
literature (octavos and hymnals). Eighty-three
percent of directors place sight-singing at the
beginning of rehearsals; this indicates that
many of the directors have a similar rehearsal
routine. Directors devote an average of 18%
of their rehearsal to sight-singing instruction.
It is of interest that the standard deviation
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 76
was 7.33%, which indicates significant vari-
ance among the responses. Directors were
asked to report their time in a percentage
form to take differing rehearsal lengths into
consideration. When given the opportunity
to openly comment at the end of the survey,
many of the directors indicated that since
their choir had improved sight-singing skills,
it now took less time to teach new music and
rehearsal time was more efficient.
Consistent with Demorest’s (2004) re-
sults, a large number of directors (75%) have
their choirs sight-sing using the movable do
pitch system. This is somewhat different
from McClung’s (2001) results, where the
most common system utilized was the scale-
degree number system, although these sys-
tems are the most similar. It is interesting
that none of the participants in this study
used fixed do, neutral syllables, or letter
names exclusively. This speaks to the popu-
larity of a musically functional pitch system.
These successful directors are using pitch
systems that have a specific musical function,
as opposed to neutral syllables and letter
names, which do not relate to the key or to-
nality of the music.
Sixty-six percent of the directors use
pitch activities other than reading sight-sing-
ing exercises. When asked to provide exam-
ples, most directors indicated they used some
form of a pitch ladder, where the director
would point randomly to solfège syllables
written on the board or presented as visuals
on the wall. This indicates that directors are
strengthening the aural relationships of these
pitch systems. These intervallic relationships
are fundamental when students have to sing
at sight. Students must first visually recognize
the pitches and then know how to produce
those pitch relationships vocally, which is the
critical link to being able sight-sing success-
fully.
It is also very interesting to find that
79% of the directors in this sample give indi-
vidual sight-singing performance tests to
their students. Of that number, 74% give
these tests more than twice a year. This indi-
cates that these directors not only want their
choirs to sight-sing as a group, but they also
hold each choir member responsible for
these skills. Demorest (1998) indicated that
individual testing along with group instruc-
tion would improve individual performance.
It would seem logical that improvement in
individual performance will ultimately help
the group’s sight-singing performance.
The results indicate that 54% of the di-
rectors in this sample were teaching sight-
singing before KMEA began to include it in
performance evaluation in 2002. Also, 79%
of the directors continue to teach sight-sing-
ing in their daily rehearsals after performance
evaluations held in March or April. This indi-
cates that these directors are committed to
teaching musical literacy. Sight-singing is an
important part of their curriculum, not sim-
ply the result of a new KMEA regulation.
Here, findings are similar to that of Daniels’
(1986) study, emphasizing the importance of
the choral director’s attitude. When given the
opportunity to elaborate on their feelings
about sight-singing instruction, a majority of
choral directors felt strongly about the im-
portance of sight-singing in both daily re-
hearsal and performance evaluation. This is
not surprising, but it does reinforce the im-
portance of the choral director’s positive at-
titude toward sight-singing.
All directors responding indicated that
they believe that the process of preparing for
sight-singing evaluation has helped to im-
prove their choirs’ music reading skills. This
confirms the goal of sight-singing instruction
and evaluation to improve musical literacy.
Seventy-nine percent of the participants be-
lieve this process has also helped to improve
their choirs’ intonation skills (singing in
tune). Most of the respondents commented
on how sight-singing has required their
choirs to listen more, resulting in better into-
nation. Other common responses were in
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 77
reference to the intervallic-relationships
solfège, which helped draw a choir’s atten-
tion to the whole and half-steps between the
syllables. Ninety percent of the participants
felt the KMEA sight-singing score is an ade-
quate representation of the choirs’ music
literacy skills. This supports KMEA’s goal of
improving musical literacy in choral ensem-
bles in Kentucky. How this is evaluated is of
constant debate, but it seems as if these di-
rectors are satisfied with the current evalua-
tion process. Responses indicate that these
directors believe the assessment to be a valid
measure of music literacy skills.
One of the critical findings of this study
is that the majority of music educators in this
sample felt their undergraduate training did
not prepare them to teach sight-singing skills
to their choirs. Instead, it appears that
KMEA’s professional development has
played a large role in helping prepare music
teachers for this task. These findings should
encourage KMEA, along with other state
music associations, to continue offering high-
quality professional development opportuni-
ties. KMEA has only recently required sight-
singing to be evaluated, and many of the
experienced teachers in the field rely on pro-
fessional development to offer training. The
study’s findings should also be of interest to
universities when planning their music edu-
cation curriculum so that more attention can
be given to this area.
Implications and Future Research
These findings are important to new
choral directors and to those experienced
choral directors just beginning to implement
sight-singing in their choral curriculum. The
choral directors in this study strongly believe
the development of musical literacy has
made rehearsal time more efficient and has
improved their choirs’ intonation. Strategies
common to the majority of the successful
directors in Kentucky could be beneficial for
any choral director in any situation. States
that do not currently require sight-singing at
their performance assessments should give
special consideration to these results.
This study also has important implica-
tions for those who plan and provide teacher
training. Undergraduate teacher training pro-
grams must prepare new teachers for this
task, and KMEA and professional develop-
ment organizers must also continue to pro-
vide training for teachers currently in the
field. Future research could continue to ana-
lyze teaching strategies and attitudes of direc-
tors with varied success in teaching sight-
singing skills to their choirs. Future surveys
should be designed to measure the relation-
ships between choirs’ sight-singing scores,
choir members’ attitudes regarding sight-
singing, and directors’ responses regarding
attitude toward sight-singing instruction and
evaluation. This will provide better insight
into the specific tools and strategies common
to the most successful directors, which
should ultimately help all directors with
teaching music literacy to their students.
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effect of context on sight-singing.
Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music
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Consortium of National Arts Education
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for arts education. Reston, VA: MENC.
Cutietta, R. (1979). The effects of including
systemized sight-singing drill in the
middle school choral rehearsal.
Contributions to Music Education, 7, 12–20.
Daniels, R. D. (1986). Relationships among
selected factors and the sight-reading
ability of high school mixed choirs. Jour-
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Daniels, R. D. (1988). Sight-reading instruc-
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Demorest, S. M. (1998). Improving sight-
singing performance in the choral
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Press.
Demorest, S. M. (2004). Choral sight-singing
practices: Revisiting a Web-based sur-
vey. International Journal of Research in
Choral Singing, 2(1), 3–10.
Demorest, S. M., & May, W. V. (1995).
Sight-singing instruction in the choral
ensemble: Factors related to individual
performance. Journal of Research in Music
Education, 43, 156–167.
Henry, M. L., & Demorest, S. M. (1994).
Individual sight-singing achievement in
successful choral ensembles. Update:
Applications of Research in Music Education,
13(1), 4–8.
Killian, J. N., & Henry, M. L. (2005). A
comparison of successful and
unsuccessful strategies in individual
sight-singing preparation and perform-
ance. Journal of Research in Music Educa-
tion, 53, 51–65.
McClung, A. C. (2001). Sight-singing
systems: Current practice and survey of
all-state choristers. Update: Applications of
Research in Music Education, 20(1), 3–8.
Norris, C. E. (2004). A nationwide overview
of sight-singing requirements of large-
group choral festivals. Journal of Research
in Music Education, 52, 16–28.
 Appendix A. KMEA Sight-Reading Judge Form

Name of School: _____________________________________ Director: _______________________

Type of Group (check two): ____ SSA ___TTBB ___SATB ___ Middle ____ HS
Selection 1: Title: ___________________________________ Reading Level: ____________________
Comments must deal with fundamental principles and be constructive.
SYSTEM (Solfège / Numbers / Others)
Quality (timbre)
Pitch Unity (within sections)
Balance (section to section)
Chosen System

ORGANIZATION
Prep Time
First Read
Final Read

PITCH
Key Signature
Integrity/Tonality
Accuracy (Accidentals,
Intervals)
Intonation

RHYTHM SYSTEM
Accuracy
Meter Signature
Tempo Consistency (Beat
Pulsation, etc.)

JUDGES' COMMENTS
Level of D ifficulty
Discipline
Stage Presence/Appearance

CIRCLE RATING OF THIS PERFORMANCE:

I Distinguished Represents a performance that is exceptional in every aspect. This group or

performance is of the very finest at the festival.

II Proficient Represents a performance that is outstanding in most aspects. This is one of the
finer performances presented during the festival.

(Continued)

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 79

III Apprentice Represents a performance that is very good in many aspects. This performance
lacks many of the qualities necessary to distinguish this performance from others
present.

IV Novice Represents performance that has some good qualities. This performance has areas
that are poor in quality and are in obvious need of improvement.

JUDGES' STATEMENTS SUSTAINING RATING (includes suggestions for improvement):

Evaluator’s Signature ________________________________________ Date: ___________________

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 80

 Appendix B. KMEA Choral Sight-Reading Rules
Perusal/Instruction
The director will have five minutes to discuss the music and instruct the ensemble. At any
time during the instruction period, the tonic chord may be played once in broken chord style, but
may not be reproduced by the students. The director may instruct the group by tapping out
rhythms and talking about any passage, but may not hum or sing any part or allow it to be played
on the piano. Students may chant rhythms and/or test and tap or clap the rhythms, but they may
not reproduce the music tonally.

First Reading
The tonic chord will be played in broken chord style, and the students may reproduce the
chord utilizing their preferred method of sight-reading (numbers, syllables, etc.). The starting
pitches may be played and each section may sing their pitch, again utilizing their preferred method.
The director may sing the starting pitch with each section. No further warm-up, instruction, or
communication of any kind is permitted by the director, except the use of verbal counting to
initiate the reading. The selection will then be sung without piano accompaniment and using the
groups’ preferred method of sight-reading. The director may choose to read the piece in the
printed key or any other key suitable for the group.

Instruction
Following the first reading, the director will have two minutes for instruction. The procedures
described above for the first instruction will apply.

Second Reading
The procedures for the first reading above will apply. The selection will be sung without
accompaniment, and ensembles may continue to use their preferred method of sight-reading or
may sing the words printed in the score. The director’s decision in this case will have no bearing
on the rating.

Audience
No audience, other than KMEA officials, will be permitted in the room during sight-reading.

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 81

 Engaging Elementary-Age Children with Opera

Frederick Burrack and Carla Maltas

Frederick Burrack is an assistant professor of music education at Kansas State Unviersity in Manhattan.
E-mail: fburrack@ksu.edu
Carla Maltas is an assistant professor of music education at Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg.
E-mail: maltas@cmsu.edu

an elementary-age children become en-
C gaged with opera? An examination of the
research about opera written for an audience
of children reveals that the use of opera as an
art form for the education of children is a re-
cent phenomenon. Prior to the 1950s, chil-
dren were not expected to participate as ob-
servers of opera, and children were not used
as actors in opera (Reel, 1981). Recent studies
about opera attendance and choice of opera as
a genre reveal that those who attend the opera
are more likely to attend if they have been
exposed to opera experiences at an early age
(Cherbo & Peters, 1995; Peterson & Sherkat,
1995). Familiarity is one issue related to atten-
dance preference of arts events, indicating a
need to attend live opera in order to under-
stand the genre of opera (Bergonzi & Smith,
1996).
Other research highlights the need for
children to participate in performing, hearing,
and observing genres of music in order to
improve their skills in analysis, evaluation, and
perception (Hewitt, 1993; Persky, Sandene, &
Askew, 1997; Sims, 1992). Research about
participation in the arts as a child and prefer-
ence for opera have indicated that children
should be provided experiences viewing live
performances in order to become adult patrons
and audience members. A study by Clary (1979)
reinforces the idea of using early performance
experiences to expose students to a variety of
genres and encourage later participation.
The purpose of this study was to explore
the influence of predesigned instructional ma-
terial upon students’ affective attitude toward
music as a genre. The opera program at a
midsized university started a touring program
highlighting operas written for children, to
enhance performance opportunities for under-
graduate and graduate vocal students. The
opera director, who had prior experience di-
recting children’s operas, believed that “per-
formance of operas arranged specifically for
children is an excellent way to prepare college
students for a career as opera professionals
while reaching out to the community.”
The music education department saw an
additional opportunity to provide valuable
curriculum development experiences for their
music teacher education students and to ex-
plore the teachers’ perceptions of elementary-
and middle-school-age children’s attitudes
toward opera. This collaborative project in-
volved university opera students, a community
children’s chorus, the university music educa-
tion department, and local public school dis-
tricts. Local elementary and middle school
classroom teachers received preperformance
instructional materials, including possible im-
plementation ideas for instruction in a variety
of curriculum areas.
Preparation
Project discussions began approximately
six months before the scheduled perfor-
mances. Jack in the Beanstalk was selected as the
story that was put to music by an area com-
poser, Denise Page Caraher. In the fall semes-
ter, undergraduate music majors from the Sec-

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 82

ondary General Music Education class were
assigned to develop instructional materials and
lesson plans to present general information
about opera and interdisciplinary strategies for
the academic areas of English, social studies,
music, art, and physical education (movement
activities). The music education faculty super-
vised and edited the instructional materials.
A video providing foundational informa-
tion about opera was also developed. Three
questions relating to the outreach opera pro-
ject provided the focus for the video:
• What should children know about
opera as a genre before attending the
outreach opera?
• How can we communicate the
necessary information to students in
ways that would be original and
involve active participation?
• What should children know about this
particular opera in order to understand
it better?
Children from an area youth choir partici-
pated in narrating the video, providing them
with a unique experience with opera. The
video script was developed in cooperation
with children from the youth choir. The chil-
dren asked questions of the opera company
cast members, whose verbal response was
heard over appropriate video clips. The com-
pleted video was reproduced and given to the
selected school sites.
Method
Participants included 2,750 students and
177 classroom teachers in eight elementary
and middle schools. Prior to the performance
of the children’s opera, four of the schools
received preperformance instructional materi-
als and the educational video about opera; the
other four schools saw the opera performance
with no preperformance instruction.
Each performance site was visited early in
the project to address concerns about the
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 83
physical space where the opera would be per-
formed. At the schools randomly selected to
receive the instructional material, the research-
ers provided training in its use to the school
administrators, music teachers, and support
personnel. The selected schools were also
invited to participate in preperformance stu-
dent workshops led by the researchers.
Due to the constraints of parental permis-
sion required for surveying children, the re-
searchers instead surveyed teachers on their
perception of students’ affective attitude to-
ward opera. All teachers in all schools were
surveyed prior to the delivery of preperform-
ance instructional materials. In addition, re-
searchers collected information on student
demographics, inclusion of opera in the music
curriculum, types of special programming pro-
vided for students, and student attitudes to-
ward various arts activities, including opera.
Teachers who received instructional ma-
terials were given a second survey to complete
following curricular integration of the instruc-
tional materials but prior to the opera perfor-
mance. Included on this survey were students’
existing experience with listening to or view-
ing opera as well as the students’ level of
knowledge about opera, as observed during
the integration of the instructional activities.
See figure 1 for a sample of questions from
both surveys.
During the performances, the researchers
took field notes as they observed the students’
level of engagement and the student responses
elicited. Following the performance, teachers
encouraged students in their respective classes
to share responses to the opera. The teachers
took notes on their students’ involvement
with group activities and organized discussion
immediately following the performance.
Finally, all teachers in all schools were
given a final survey two weeks following the
performance. All surveys along with teachers’
notes from student discussions were collected.
The teachers from the select schools also pro-
vided feedback about the usefulness of the
preperformance instructional material in pre-
paring the students for the performance.
Discussion
For the elementary school students, at-
tending a special event was not unusual since
some form of special programming was typical
as a curriculum enhancement. In each school,
music classes were offered to all students with
30–60 minutes of instruction per week. The
classroom teachers were uncertain whether
opera was included in the music curriculum,
but overwhelmingly confirmed that 90% or
more of the students in their class were enthu-
siastic about the arts. Responses from pre- and
postperformance surveys indicated that few
teachers had observed disinterest or reluctance
toward the arts in general. Those who indi-
cated a low level of interest in opera included
less than 5% of their student population. With
this information as a foundation, our observa-
tion focused more on children’s engagement
with this art form rather than on their changes
of attitude.
In the preperformance survey, classroom
teachers felt that a majority (95%) of their
students understood that opera was a music-
based art form comprising mostly singing, but
43% did not comprehend that operas told
stories through song. Eighty-five percent of
the teachers recognized that the children asso-
ciated strong singing voices with opera, but
27% were confident that the children did not
associate dancing with opera.
In class discussions following the perfor-
mances, teachers in the schools with preper-
formance instructional materials reported that
the students’ comments centered primarily on
singing, characterizations of the actors, and
costumes: “They liked the singing, loved the
Bessie, thought the beanstalk ladder was cool,
liked the tall giant, liked shaking the flowers at
the ogre, and liked the rapping old lady.” An-
other teacher explained: “The students really
were intrigued with the villain and his cos-
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 84
tume.” This observation reflects the students’
perception of story in opera.
Half of the schools received preparatory
materials while the others did not, in order to
identify any observable differences in student
response to opera during and following the
performance that could have been influenced
by the preparatory materials. Comments from
teachers who received instructional materials
prior to the opera performance focused on
students’ interaction with the story line. In the
opera, an ogre was added to the story line
primarily to assist the giant, who walked on
stilts under his costume, so he would not fall.
But in this addition, it became a concern that
the ogre would be too scary for the very
young children. As part of the preperformance
activities, the students created large flowers
and were told that if they became scared, they
could hold their flowers up and that would
repel the ogre. The students enthusiastically
used the flowers, which became an integral
part of the performance: “The lower grades
commented several times about how neat the
play was. They loved waving the flowers at the
ogre!” At the end of the opera, sample bags of
magic beans (jelly beans) were handed out to
the students.
These types of additions to the story line
increased the appeal of the fairy tale and ap-
peared to enhance student engagement: “My
class believed the jelly beans were real magic.
They were thrilled at the program.” The in-
structional materials were strongly associated
with the students’ perception of the relation-
ship of story to opera. Postperformance sur-
veys revealed that those schools without the
preperformance materials did not have student
responses associated with the story line.
Researcher notes taken during the perfor-
mances identified noticeable differences in
student participation and level of engagement,
depending on whether the elementary school
had received materials and/or in-service prior
to attending the performance. Teachers also
observed engagement from students involved
with the preperformance instruction:
The first graders enjoyed and benefited
from the pre-instructional time. I feel they
were better prepared and aware when the
opera came to the school. The students
enjoyed the costumes and characterization
guiding their engagement with the story.
They were very excited and listened atten-
tively.
Typical responses from the schools that
were offered the preperformance instructional
materials were generally positive: “The Jack
and the Beanstalk opera was a good experience.
The concept of opera was taught very well in
the pre-program activities. The dance coupled
with the variety of music was great.”
Teachers who used the preperformance
materials identified the video as the most valu-
able tool for student preparation. The instruc-
tional materials correlated to art, drama, and
music were identified as the next most valu-
able. The least valuable were the opera books
and worksheets. Unfortunately, the classroom
teachers did not use some of the instructional
materials. At some schools the preparation for
the opera performance remained in the music
classroom.
Comments from teachers who did not
receive the instructional materials were fo-
cused more on student enjoyment than on
specific elements in the opera: “They didn’t
make specific comments but totally enjoyed it
and thought the performance was wonderful.”
Other teachers in the same school identified a
transfer of engagement with the opera into
their other classroom activities: “We did fairy
tales in literature class and some of the stu-
dents fashioned their skits on the opera!” This
could indicate that the instructional materials
not only had impact upon student engagement
with elements of opera but could have been
instructional for the classroom teacher as well.
The students did not appear to be con-
cerned with opera as an unfamiliar musical
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 85
style, nor did this unfamiliarity with the genre
of opera appear to be a hindrance to their
engagement with the performance. A study by
Rose and Wagner (1995) indicated that stu-
dents disliked styles of performance based on
a lack of prior experience with that particular
style or genre. This study does not support
these findings. There does not appear to be a
developmental significance to the use of his-
toric, possibly unfamiliar, musical style or form
used for children’s opera: “Students loved the
music, character voices, and costumes. Some
indicate a desire to be part of a play/opera.
Many younger students were busy trying to
come up with ideas for your next production.”
Unfortunately, the primary difficulty with
the entire project was acoustical, due to the
gymnasium being the performance venue in all
cases: “I think the students’ interest would’ve
been higher but it was hard to hear. Under-
standing the singing dialogue was a little
hard.” A sound system was used to help am-
plify individual singers, but stand-held micro-
phones were not conducive to most of the
opera because of the movement and dance.
Performing in a gymnasium for so many chil-
dren requires an efficient sound system with
wireless microphones.
In the process of the study, additional
influences were observed. While developing
the preperformance materials for the outreach
program, a number of benefits were identified.
Music education students who participated in
the development of preparatory activities ex-
perienced the creative process required for
instructional development, explored the devel-
opmental level of elementary school students,
and came to understand elemental compo-
nents of opera necessary for student engage-
ment. The additional practice of creating a
unit of study to be used immediately by chil-
dren in the local schools added interest to
their learning. Some of the class members
volunteered to help with the videotape project
and attended the outreach opera during dress
rehearsals.
 When the youth choir was contacted
about helping with an opera project, they
weren’t sure what to expect: “We don’t know
very much about opera….” These children
learned aspects about opera from rehearsing
and participating as narrators of the opera
video. Even before the taping of the video,
although not issued formal invitations, some
of the children attended the performance of a
university opera production of Fledermaus:
“We wanted to learn more about opera before
making the video.” Later, youth choir mem-
bers became a dress rehearsal audience for
members of the opera outreach cast. Follow-
ing the completion of the project, parents
reported that some of the youth choir mem-
bers chose to create videos for homework
projects that occurred after the filming of the
project. Some parents volunteered to work as
backstage crew members for future operas.
Many choir members also indicated a willing-
ness to do “anything for opera” in the future.
Implications
Following this study, all of the schools
who participated during the 2003–2004 aca-
demic year participated again during
2004–2005, along with a number of additional
schools. Individuals from the participating
schools stated that they recognized the value
of having operas presented for the students in
their school. The implied value is that live
opera performance enhanced students’ en-
gagement with the opera experience in com-
parison to viewing opera videos or listening to
recorded portions of opera. Through
preperformance activities and video, observing
live opera performance, and activities gener-
ated by the teachers and students after the
opera, students learn more about opera as a
genre than through viewing the opera alone.
When including experiences with opera in
elementary music education programs, affec-
tive response can be enhanced through the
development of familiarity with the genre
through instruction.
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 86
As a result of participating in this cooper-
ative project, members of the university’s op-
era program believed that they had found a
unique niche for their opera performance ma-
jors. The outreach opera provided an opportu-
nity for students to perform a number of
times in front of a live audience. The level of
musical difficulty and the length of the perfor-
mance were ideal for the undergraduate singer,
and many of the students stated that they en-
joyed the outreach experience. An increasing
number of college students auditioning for a
role in the outreach opera over the previous
years and the number of people willing to be
members of the backstage crew also increased.
The director of the opera program found this
outlet to be a good experience for students
who wanted to explore a career in professional
opera.
Professional opera companies should
examine the results from this study and other
similar studies. As vocal performance majors
from major universities hone their perfor-
mance skills in preparation for a career in op-
era, established companies could use chil-
dren’s operas to provide emerging singers with
opportunities for professional growth. Many
companies are currently using young singers
for this purpose, but the benefits of preperfor-
mance instructional materials found in this
study could enhance existing programs.
Finally, music education programs should
actively seek opportunities to work with arts
organizations as a method of providing their
undergraduates with authentic lesson planning
skills. The experiences provided by working
with performing arts organizations can be
mutually beneficial. As students learn about
arts integration, they also experience an unfa-
miliar genre and sequential lesson planning.
Opera companies can save time and resources
if materials are developed by music education
students at local universities.
References
Bergonzi, L,. & Smith, J. (1996). Effects of arts
education on participation in the arts. Santa
Anna, CA: Research Division Report #36.
Washington, DC: National Endowment
for the Arts. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED409259)
Cherbo, J. M., & Peters, M. (1992). American
participation in opera and music theater, 1992.
Research Division Report #32. Carson, CA:
Seven Locks Press. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED406266)
Clary, R. M. (1979). The effect of rehearsal and
performance on high school choir students’
preference for choral music. Unpublished
master’s thesis, Kent State University,
Kent, OH.
Hewitt, C. B. (1993). Assessment of student
learning in fine arts. Columbia, SC: South
Carolina Center for Excellence in the
Assessment of School Learning. (ERIC
Document Reproduction Service No.
ED358166)
Persky, H. R., Sandene, B. A., & Askew, J. M.
(1997). The NAEP 1997 arts report card:
UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 87
Eighth-grade findings from the NAEP. Jessup,
MA: ED Pub. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED423213)
Peterson, R. A., & Sherkat, D. E. (1995). Age
factors in arts participation: 1982-1992.
Washington DC: National Endowment
for the Arts. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED390729)
Reel, J. V. (1981, December). Using opera in the
social studies classroom: The child in opera.
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of
the American Historical Association, Los
Angeles, CA. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED213630)
Rose, R. F., & Wagner, M. J. (1995). Eminence
choices in three musical genres and music
media preferences. Journal of Research in
Music Education, 43(3), 251–260.
Sims, W .L. (1992). Effects of attending an in-
school opera performance on attitudes of
fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students.
Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music
Education, 114, 47–58.
 Figure 1. Sample Questions from Surveys
Preperformance Questionnaire
1. Has your school participated in the outreach opera before?
_____Yes
_____No

2. How many of your students have attended an opera outside of school before?
_____None
_____Less than 25%
_____25-50%
_____More than 50%

3. In your discussions about opera, indicate on the scale below the level of knowledge your students
have about the conventions of opera.
Know a lot Know a little bit
Operas have music 1 2 3 4 5
Operas tell a story 1 2 3 4 5
Operas are mostly sung 1 2 3 4 5
Operas have acting 1 2 3 4 5
Operas have dancing 1 2 3 4 5
Opera singers have big voices 1 2 3 4 5

Comments:

4. Rate the list of preperformance activities in terms of usefulness and level of interest shown by
students.
Low High
Video 1 2 3 4 5
Opera books 1 2 3 4 5
Opera worksheets 1 2 3 4 5
Art correlation 1 2 3 4 5
Drama correlation 1 2 3 4 5
Literature correlation 1 2 3 4 5
Music correlation—Fauré 1 2 3 4 5
Music correlation—Opera 1 2 3 4 5
Music correlation—Text 1 2 3 4 5

Comments:

5. Judge the level of interest shown by students when talking about the upcoming performance.
Low High
1 2 3 4 5

Comments:

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 88

Postperformance Questionnaire
1. Student comments about the opera centered on the following elements (check all that apply):
_____Singing
_____Acting
_____Costumes
_____Staging
_____Props
_____Music
_____Story line
_____Other (please list)______________________________

Comments:

2. General level of student interest during the performance was (circle one):
Low Moderate High
1 2 3 4 5

3. General level of student interest after the performance was (circle one):
Low Moderate High
1 2 3 4 5

4. Assess the amount of impact the preperformance materials had in preparing the students for the
performance.
Low Moderate High
1 2 3 4 5

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 89

 Announcements
CALL FOR PAPERS

SDMENC/SCMEA Joint Conference Poster Session

February 8-10, 2007
Charleston, SC

The Southern Division of MENC and the South Carolina Music Educators Association will
sponsor a joint research poster session at their conference in Charleston, South Carolina, on
Saturday, February 10, 2007. We are accepting submissions of completed and in-progress studies
being conducted by undergraduate students, graduate students, university faculty, and practicing
teachers in public or private schools. This poster session is open to papers involving any aspect of
scholarly research in music, including those that are philosophical, theoretical, or historical in nature,
as well as reports that are qualitative or quantitative in design.

Deadline for submissions: December 1, 2006.

Submission procedures: All submissions should not have been published prior to the conference
and must meet the Code of Ethics published in the Journal of Research in Music Education. Electronic
submissions are encouraged (in MS Word or .pdf). E-mail the abstract and complete research report
(if complete) to Dr. Jeremy S. Lane, SCMEA Research Chair, at jlane@mozart.sc.edu. Please indicate
contact information—including name, title, affiliation (if applicable), address, e-mail, phone, and fax
numbers—on a separate title page. For those unable to send electronic copies, four copies of the
abstract and report (if complete) may be mailed to:

Dr. Jeremy S. Lane

SCMEA Research Chair
University of South Carolina School of Music
813 Assembly
Columbia, SC 29208
Telephone (803) 777-1501

Notification: Submitters will be notified on or before December 22, 2006. If accepted, the primary
or a listed co-researcher must register for and attend the conference to present the poster. If
accepted, presenters will be expected to bring 40 copies of their abstract and 5 copies of the
completed report to the session.

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 90

 CALL FOR PAPERS

Society for Research in Music Education

Research Symposium I
University of Kansas
July 5–7, 2007

The Society for Research in Music Education (SRME), with the cosponsorship of MENC:
The National Association for Music Education, is pleased to announce its first Research Symposium
to be held July 5–7, 2007, at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. This symposium is designed as a
forum for the dissemination and discussion of new scholarship relating to music teaching and
learning. Individuals are invited to submit proposals for presentation in which they may share new,
unpublished research in music education. Submissions are invited for either paper presentation or
poster presentation. Interested individuals are invited to attend the Symposium whether or not they
present. Please direct inquiries about the Symposium to Martin Bergee, Music Education Research
Council (MERC) Executive Committee Chair and Symposium Presider, at
mencpapers@missouri.edu.

Those who wish to submit a report for consideration should comply with the following:

For Paper Presentation

Research submitted for paper presentation must not have been presented at any other
conference or forum, regardless of size or type of audience. The paper may have been submitted for
publication but must not have appeared in print prior to the Symposium.

For Poster Presentation

Research submitted for poster presentation must conform to the Code of Ethics published
regularly in the Journal of Research in Music Education (and also available at www.menc.org), in that (a)
the paper should not have been presented at another major conference or other forum; and (b) the
paper may have been submitted for publication but must not have appeared in print in any forum
prior to the Symposium.
Papers presented at other conferences will be considered for poster presentation if the
audience was substantially different (e.g., a state meeting or a university symposium). A statement
specifying particulars of presentation must be included with the submission.

For All Presentations

1. The research may be of any type, but a simple review of literature will not be considered.
Manuscript style of articles representing descriptive or experimental studies must conform to the
most recent edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Authors of other
types of studies may submit manuscripts that conform to the most recent editions of either A Manual
for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian) or The Chicago Manual of Style.

2. Only electronic submissions will be considered. Submit one file containing the full copy of your
report, including an abstract not to exceed 250 words, with no title page. The full report should
contain no clues as to author identity or institutional affiliation. In the body of the e-mail, please
include the following information: (a) the author’s or authors’ names; (b) current position(s) and

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 91

institutional affiliation(s); (c) mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address (submitter only);
(d) the report’s title; (e) the abstract; and (f) specifications of prior presentation as per Items 1 and 2
above. Also, in the body of the e-mail, please specify whether you want your submission to be
considered for presentation only, poster session only, or either presentation or poster session.
The full report with abstract should not exceed 6,000 words in length. Send the file as an attachment
in Word Document (.doc) or Portable Document (.pdf) format. Other formats will not be accepted.
Incomplete submissions (e.g., projects in progress, reports without abstracts, requested information
not present in the body of the e-mail, etc.) will be rejected.

3. Correspondence will be sent only to the submitter, and only by e-mail. The submitter should
send the manuscript from the e-mail address he or she wishes to use for correspondence. You will be
notified of receipt of the manuscript and the reviewers’ decision exclusively by e-mail.

4. Send submissions to Martin Bergee at mencpapers@missouri.edu. Please use this e-mail address
for all correspondence. Hard-copy submissions will not be accepted.

5. Submissions must be received by 11:59 p.m. Central Daylight Savings Time, on January 2, 2007.
Extensions will not be granted. If you have not received confirmation of your manuscript by January
10, please notify Martin Bergee at the above e-mail address.

6. A panel of qualified reviewers will screen all submissions.

7. Submitters will be notified of the reviewers’ decision no later than February 15, 2007.

8. All presenters and attendees must be members of MENC and must register for the Symposium
online at http://people.ku.edu/~cmj/mencresearchsymposium.html. Information about Symposium
registration, lodging in the Lawrence area, and travel will appear on this site as the information is
finalized.

9. All participants are expected to attend all sessions on July 6 and 7, including dinner on July 7.

An informal reception will be held the evening of Thursday, July 5. In addition, all attendees
are encouraged to join the Organizing Committee for a breakfast on Sunday, July 8, at which
discussion regarding plans for future symposia will take place.

A copy of this call can be viewed on MENC’s Society for Research in Music Education page,
www.menc.org/research.html, under “Announcements.”

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 CALL FOR PAPERS, PANEL
DISCUSSIONS, AND PERFORMANCES

Keokuk II: Centennial Symposium for MENC:

The National Association for Music Education
May 31–June 2, 2007
Keokuk, Iowa

This symposium will commemorate the founding of MENC: The National Association for Music
Education in Keokuk, Iowa, in 1907. The symposium is being planned and administered by the
History Special Research Interest Group (SRIG) of the MENC Society for Research in Music
Education, with support from MENC and the City of Keokuk.

The symposium planning committee welcomes submissions for the following:

1. Scholarly papers suitable for reading (complete)

2. Panel discussions (an outline with names of participants)
3. Performances (musical content, names of performers, and any equipment needs)

All topics should relate in some way to music education in the United States during MENC’s first
century (1907–2007).

Materials must be submitted electronically in any standard style format. Accepted scholarly papers
will be considered for publication in the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, which follows
The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). Include the
following information in the body of the electronic mail message: Name, address, telephone,
affiliation, e-mail address for further communication, and title of the paper or proposal. Send all
information to Jere.Humphreys@asu.edu.

Complete papers and detailed proposals for other presentations must be received no later than
11:59 p.m., February 15, 2007. Acknowledgment and notification (by March 15) will be sent via
return e-mail.

Keokuk is accessible from airports in Burlington and Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Quincy, Illinois; and St.
Louis, Missouri. The City of Keokuk hopes to provide ground transportation from Burlington and
Quincy. The main housing and symposium venue will be the Holiday Inn Express in Keokuk.

The History SRIG, MENC, and City of Keokuk are planning several activities that should be of interest to
symposium attendees, including tours, concerts, and an address on the geographical area and period.

For further information, contact:

Jere T. Humphreys
School of Music
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-0405 USA
Jere.Humphreys@asu.edu

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 Code of Ethics
MENC Research Publication/Presentation Code of Ethics1

1. Multiple submissions. An author must not submit the same manuscript for simultaneous
consideration by two or more journals. If a manuscript is rejected by one journal, an author may then
submit it to another journal.

2. Duplicate publication. An author must not submit a manuscript published in whole or in

substantial part in another journal or published work. Exceptions may be made for previous
publication (a) in a periodical with limited circulation or availability (e.g., a government agency
report) or (b) in an abstracted form (e.g., a convention proceedings). Any prior publication should be
noted and referenced in the manuscript, and the author must inform the editor of the existence of
any similar manuscripts that have already been published or submitted for publication or that may be
submitted for concurrent consideration to the journal or elsewhere.

3. Piecemeal publication. Investigators who engage in systematic programs of research report

their results from time to time as significant portions of their programs are completed. This is both
legitimate and inevitable in research programs that are on very large scales or of several years’
duration. In contrast to this kind of publication, articles are received in which a single investigation
has been broken up into separate manuscripts submitted seriatim. Authors are obligated to present
work parsimoniously and as completely as possible. Data that can be meaningfully combined within a
single publication should be presented together. Authors who wish to divide reports of studies into
more than one article should inform the editor.

4. Authorship. Authorship is reserved to those who make major contributions to the research.
Credit is assigned to those who have contributed to a publication in proportion to their professional
contributions. Major contributions of a professional character made by several individuals to a
common project are recognized by joint authorship, with the individual who made the principal
contribution listed first. Minor contributions of a professional character and extensive clerical or
similar assistance may be acknowledged in endnotes or in an introductory statement. Acknowledg-
ment through specific citations is made for unpublished as well as published material that has directly
influenced the research or writing. Individuals who compile and edit material of others for publica-
tion publish the material in the name of the originating group, if appropriate, with their own names
appearing as chairperson or editor. All contributors are to be acknowledged and named.

5. Copyright. Once an article is accepted, an author transfers literary rights on the published article
to the publishing organization (in this case, MENC) so that the author and the association are
protected from misuse of copyrighted material. An article will not be published until the author’s
signed copyright transfer has been received by the national office of the publishing organization.
Contributors are responsible for obtaining copyright clearance on illustrations, figures, or lengthy
quotes that have been published elsewhere.

6. Conference presentation. Papers submitted for presentation via any format (e.g., posters,
paper-reading sessions) should not have been presented at another major conference. If the data
have been presented in whole or substantive part in any forum, in print, or at previous research

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 94

sessions, a statement specifying particulars of the above must be included with the submission.

7. Ethical conduct and institutional review compliance. Authors are expected to comply with
APA ethical standards (www.apa.org/ethics/code2002.html) and institutional and federal regulations
on the treatment of human subjects.

Note: Any violation of the Code of Ethics will result in immediate rejection of the manu-
script/paper, without further consideration.
_______
1. This version of the Code of Ethics was adopted in May 2006. This material is based on the
following sources: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. (Washington, DC:
APA, 2001); and “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct” (APA, 2000), found at
www.apa.org/ethics.

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 95

 Guidelines for Contributors

Update: Applications of Research in Music Education

Update: Applications of Research in Music Education brings research in music teaching and learning close to
everyday practice, enabling teachers to apply the results of research readily in music classrooms and rehearsal
halls. Authors submitting manuscripts should refer to the following guidelines:

1. Manuscripts must be research-based.

2. Manuscripts may present a single research study or a review of the literature.

3. Manuscripts must be comprehensible to music teachers untrained in research methodology and statistics.
Thus, writing should be as free of research jargon and statistical terminology as possible. A quantitative
manuscript that eliminates specialized jargon associated with statistics must be accompanied by a not-to-be-
published addendum that provides complete statistical information. Reviewers must have access to all relevant
data and analyses in order to assess appropriateness, accuracy, and interpretation.

4. Manuscripts must emphasize the interpretation of research and the application of research results in the
music classroom or rehearsal hall. Bringing the usefulness of research into the foreground for the reader must
be a high priority of the author. This applies also to reviews of literature, in which authors should make every
attempt to synthesize research results and avoid presenting simple study-by-study reports.

5. Manuscripts of research studies must report original data. In accordance with the Code of Ethics, submitting
a manuscript indicates that it has not been published previously and is not currently submitted for publication
elsewhere, either in its entirety or in part.

6. Authors should comply with APA ethical standards (www.apa.org.ethics/code2002.html) and institutional
and federal regulations in the treatment of human subjects.

7. Quantitative manuscripts must conform to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th
ed., 2001). Nonquantitative and historical studies may conform to APA style or to The Chicago Manual of Style
(15th ed., 2003). Authors may not mix styles within a m anuscript.

8. Authors should submit four copies of typed, double-spaced manuscripts, which normally should not exceed
20 pages. Type size should be no smaller than 12 points (double-spacing should include 28 points total for a line
of text and the following line). Figures and drawings should be camera ready.

9. To preserve the author’s anonymity in the review process, the manuscript should include no clues as to his or her
identity or institutional affiliation. The author’s name, address (including e-mail, if available), and institutional affiliation
should appear only on a separate cover sheet. Manuscripts not conforming to this stipulation will be returned.

10. Manuscripts should be addressed to:

Ruth V. Brittin, Update Editor

University of the Pacific
104 Buck Hall
3601 Pacific Ave.
Stockton, California 95211-0110

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 Announcement
Update Yearbook for Volume 24

Now available is the second print volume-year publication of the online journal, Update:
Applications of Research in Music Education. This edition contains both the fall–winter 2005 and the
spring–summer 2006 issues, including the following articles:

“Characteristics of Teacher-Directed Modeling in High School Choral Rehearsals,”

by Fredna Grimland

“Use of Classwide Peer Tutoring in the General Music Classroom,”

by Alice-Ann Darrow, Pamela Gibbs, and Sarah Wedel

“An Investigation of the Association between the Music Aptitude of Elementary Students
and Their Biological Parents,” by Susan C. Guerrini

“Instrumental Aptitude Versus Academic Ability as a Predictor of Beginning Instrumental

Music Achievement and Retention: Research and Implications,” by Kristyn Kuhlman

“Cognition and Motor Execution in Piano Sight-Reading: A Review of Literature,”

by Brenda Wristen

“Sight-Reading Ability in Wind and Percussion Students: A Review of Recent Literature,”

by S. Daniel Galyen

“Tension in the Life of the School Music Teacher: A Conflict of Ideologies,”

by John W. Scheib

“Training Teachers with Little or No Music Background: Too Little, Too Late?”
by Dennis Siebenaler

“Music Preference and Music Education: A Review of Literature,”

by Kevin Droe

“The Use of the Case Method to Promote Reflective Thinking in Music Teacher Education,”
by Ryan Hourigan

“A 30-Year Follow-up Study of Perceptions of Students’ Ratings of Former Instructors,”

by Clifford K. Madsen and Jessica Nápoles

“Clarifying the Terms ‘Multicultural,’ ‘Multiethnic,’ and ‘World Music Education’ through a Review
of Literature,” by Yiannis Miralis

To order through MENC’s copublisher, Rowman and Littlefield Education, visit www.rowman
education.com or call 800-462-6420.

UPD ATE, Fall-Winter 2006, 97