The purpose of this study was to compare two types of teaching music, isolated and integrative, to determine their influence on achievements in music and academic subjects of pupils in two fourth-grade classes in a Fort Worth elementary school. Attention was directed to the values of music in the lives of individuals, to the two types of teaching music, and to the outcomes of instruction from both types of programs.

The purpose of this case study was to explore and understand the function of music in an infant community. By observing the musical behaviors of seven children under the age of two in both childcare and home settings, I sought to gain new insights that can inform parents, caregivers, and educators about the engagement with and possible functions of music for infants. The theories of Communicative Musicality and psychobiological needs informed this study and provided the lenses through which I observed infant musicality. Data collection comprised semi-structured interviews with parents at home, interviews with teachers, weekly infant room observation fieldnotes, weekly infant music class video observations, parent and teacher diary entries, and artifacts such as memos, videos, and photos from the childcare and home settings. Data analysis involved identifying infant musical behaviors and their possible functions with respect to the child’s musical experience, framed as episodes. Through the use of portraiture, the individual music making of each infant was described within the contexts of the home, school, field observation, and music class settings, and relationships that developed through musical interactions were highlighted within the infant community. Results indicate that vocal and movement behaviors were the most prominent behaviors identified overall, and communication had the highest frequency of all functions. In contrast to the school-based teacher and researcher field observation settings where vocal behaviors were high, movement behaviors were identified as most prevalent during music class. The child-centered emergent curriculum provided space for the infants to demonstrate choice and leadership by setting up musical toys, pointing to an instrument, moving to indicate direction in a song, bringing song books to adults, singing fragments of songs, participating on the periphery, and gesturing for more. Infants listened and engaged in music class by moving and playing instruments and displayed their attentiveness by later recalling and initiating these activities in other settings. Increased infant room vocalizations outside music time included those resulting from delayed imitation and extensions from music class. Music is a social endeavor wherein infants build community, motivating leadership, friendship, and kinship.

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors which can influence the emergence of high musical ability during the developmental process of musical talent achievement, comparing students in Seoul (Korea) and those in Sydney (Australia). The main focuses of the investigation concern the comparison of musical giftedness demonstrated in early childhood, the developmental process, and various factors, such as the environmental and intrapersonal, which can affect the emergence of talent, especially in those of different cultural backgrounds. For this purpose, Gagn????s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT, Gagn??, 2003) was adopted as an analytical tool for the present study, in particular for empirical research. A total number of 137 students and 88 parents participated in this research. Student participants consisted of two groups: young musicians aged below 10 who show high musical achievements; and teenage students who are musically superior. All students completed a questionnaire, and their parents also completed a questionnaire. Data showed some significant differences between students in the two countries. Three research instruments are employed based on Harnischmacher (1997). SCI (the Self-Concept Scale of Instrumental Abilities), GOP (Goal Orientation of Practice) and EAD (External Action Distraction) were included in the student questionnaire in order to examine intrapersonal catalysts (motivation) which can affect the developmental process of musical talent. A significant difference was found in SCI between countries. Self-concept of student groups in Sydney was significantly higher than that of students in Seoul among all age groups concerning musical abilities. However, there were no significant differences in GOP and EAD between students in Seoul and Sydney. Other differences emerged concerning the role of parents, expenditure on music lessons, time spent on practice, and environmental factors. In particular, cultural milieu was revealed as one of important environmental factors in the present study.

The increasing use of auditory graphs and sonifications in technology is leading to a wider variety of system users, which, in turn, suggests a need for research in how differences between individual listeners affect sound interpretation. As a first step in this arena, the current study investigates the question of whether or not cognitive abilities and musical experience predict frequency and tempo discrimination in individuals. Participants in the study were 30 undergraduate students from Georgia Institute of Technology and 20 adults from the Atlanta, Georgia community. In the cognitive ability session, participants completed the Operation Span (Ospan) task as a measure of working memory capacity and the Ravens Progressive Matrices task as a measure of spatial reasoning. In the auditory discrimination session, participants performed a tempo and a frequency discrimination task. Demographics on age, gender, handedness, years of playing a musical instrument, and years of formal musical training were also collected. A correlational analysis of all variables was performed. Paired-samples t-tests on the Weber fractions of the six threshold means were also performed to determine if there were any significant differences between the frequency thresholds and the tempo thresholds. Lastly, multiple hierarchical regressions were performed on each of the six dependent variables to identify significant predictors of frequency and tempo discrimination. The paired samples t-tests show a significant difference between 250 Hz and 840 Hz and between 250 Hz and 1600 Hz, a violation of Webers Law. However, this violation of Webers Law may be explained by the small sample size used in the study. The t-tests also show a significant difference between the means of 150 ms and 250 ms and between the means of 250 ms and 350 ms. The results of the regression analyses show that good performance on Ravens seems to predict lower thresholds at 1600 Hz. The results also show that good scores on Ospan appear to predict lower thresholds at 350 ms ICI. In addition to these significant predictors from the regression analyses, there are many significant correlations that provide further support that cognitive abilities are related to frequency and tempo discrimination.

No description available.

With the intent of learning more about the process of assessing music ability, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of music learning on music aptitude scores. The problem of this study is to determine if there is a difference between pretest-posttest tonal aptitude scores, as measured by AMMA, for students who possess high and low levels of tonal audiation ability and who either received specialized audiation training on computer or no specialized audiation training. Forty-eight Grade 11 and 12 music students were administered AMMA as a pretest. An intact music class of 24 students received 13 weeks of computer instruction. The experimental treatment consisted of a computer assisted software program, Tonal Syntax Tutorial, which provided audiation practice for high school and college students. A randomly selected group of 24 students received their normal classroom music instruction. Pretest AMMA scores were used as the criterion measure. At the end of 13 weeks, all students were re-administered AMMA as a posttest. AMMA pretest and posttest Tonal scores were organized into a multidimensional design. A covariate analysis of the AMMA scores was calculated and a MANOVA was employed to determine differences between the pretest and posttest AMMA Tonal scores. Main effects, interaction effects, and simple main effects were tested at the .05 level of significance. The researcher found no significant difference between the treatment and control group tonal aptitude scores, however, there was a significant difference between levels of aptitude. It was interpreted that the difference between the students who possessed high tonal aptitude and students who possess low tonal aptitude was not a real difference because the difference in student tonal aptitude levels actually existed before the study began. The researcher believes that AMMA can be a useful instrument in the assessment of music abilities of high school students. Also, based on our present knowledge of computer assisted music instruction, it seems that that type of instruction alone is not sufficient to affect a change in tonal audiation ability of high school students.

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors which can influence the emergence of high musical ability during the developmental process of musical talent achievement, comparing students in Seoul (Korea) and those in Sydney (Australia). The main focuses of the investigation concern the comparison of musical giftedness demonstrated in early childhood, the developmental process, and various factors, such as the environmental and intrapersonal, which can affect the emergence of talent, especially in those of different cultural backgrounds. For this purpose, Gagn????s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT, Gagn??, 2003) was adopted as an analytical tool for the present study, in particular for empirical research. A total number of 137 students and 88 parents participated in this research. Student participants consisted of two groups: young musicians aged below 10 who show high musical achievements; and teenage students who are musically superior. All students completed a questionnaire, and their parents also completed a questionnaire. Data showed some significant differences between students in the two countries. Three research instruments are employed based on Harnischmacher (1997). SCI (the Self-Concept Scale of Instrumental Abilities), GOP (Goal Orientation of Practice) and EAD (External Action Distraction) were included in the student questionnaire in order to examine intrapersonal catalysts (motivation) which can affect the developmental process of musical talent. A significant difference was found in SCI between countries. Self-concept of student groups in Sydney was significantly higher than that of students in Seoul among all age groups concerning musical abilities. However, there were no significant differences in GOP and EAD between students in Seoul and Sydney. Other differences emerged concerning the role of parents, expenditure on music lessons, time spent on practice, and environmental factors. In particular, cultural milieu was revealed as one of important environmental factors in the present study.

Thesis (M.M.E.)--Shenandoah University, 1998. / Typescript. Supervised by: Darla Hanley. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-88).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1996. / Includes tables. Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Leah Blumberg Lapidus. Dissertation Committee: Harold F. Abeles. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-113).

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 1, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Wendy Sims. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.