Students’ strategy use is an assessment of their ability to assimilate, synthesize, and actualize knowledge shown to be directly related to success in sight-reading. The purpose of this exploratory, collective case study was to investigate the strategy use, and possible underlying cognitive music processes, of eighth grade middle school choral students when vocally sight-reading. More specifically, the objective of this research was to better understand the relationship between strategy use and accelerated learning in vocal music notation reading. To create a coalesced conceptual lens, I merged the construct of audiation and pertinent findings from cognitive science research, specifically music reading literature in cognitive psychology. Seeing students’ strategy use through this combined lens allowed me to concentrate on the role of cognitive processes (perception, attention, memory, audiation) in the vocal sight-reading process and begin to distill how participants’ strategies improved or reduced sight-reading performance. Fourteen eighth-grade middle school choral students participated (N = 14, 4 males, ages 13 to 14). Students participated in research activities individually, in one 30-minute session, in a nearby practice room at their middle school. I collected two types of quantitative data. First, I tallied scores from a sight-reading instrument, the Vocal Sight-Reading Inventory (Henry, 1999). Second, I categorized data from a researcher-designed Sophistication of Strategy Use Index (an accumulation of scores in five music cognition-based categories: looking behavior, chunking, long-term memory, auditory representations, and audiation). Furthermore, I gathered qualitative data through interviews, retrospective think-alouds (Ericsson & Simon, 1993), and video-stimulated recall interviews. All students employed strategies, both cognitive and non-cognitive, singularly and in combination. Three major findings emerged: 1. Students employed strategies in three domains of knowledge, visual-only (most frequent), aural-only (least frequent), and visual-aural, and two underlying systems, self-awareness and music vocabulary. 2. Those who scored in the highest 50% on the sight-reading indicator employed these strategies (two or three times) more frequently than those who scored in the lowest 50% • read in visual chunks and by analogy; • created and manipulated auditory representations; • paired singular pitches with discrete staff placement locations; • employed self-awareness in production and commission of errors; and • remained aurally grounded in the tonality. 3. There was a positive and strong correlation (r = .84, p < .00) between students’ sophistication of strategy use scores and vocal sight-reading scores. Results from the current study have implications for choral music educators in designing and implementing sight-reading curricula, especially with regards to content and pedagogy. Suggestions for sight-reading pedagogy include (a) scaffolding sight-reading instruction to guide sophisticated strategy use, (b) strengthening underlying musical cognitive processes, (c) emphasizing higher order relationships, especially chunking, and (d) increasing students’ meta-cognition surrounding vocal production and commission of errors.

Orientador: Ricardo Goldemberg / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T11:07:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_Ronaldoda_M.pdf: 808878 bytes, checksum: 6800d3965c9d9a3f8f855c245692dc32 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Essa pesquisa é um estudo exploratório de natureza qualitativa, e tem como objetivo, analisar a relevância da leitura cantada e da audiação na vida do músico profissional. Inicialmente, apresentam-se dois olhares possíveis para o estudo da leitura cantada: o histórico e o psicológico. O primeiro dirige-se a uma revisão sintética e histórica da sistematização da escrita musical tradicional (a partir do século XI), tendo em vista a preocupação dos principais educadores musicais em facilitar o aprendizado musical, utilizando como uma das ferramentas, a leitura cantada. O segundo olhar, o psicológico, discute aspectos relativos à audiação, que engloba o pensamento musical consciente, expresso, como uma de suas formas, na possibilidade de leitura da partitura de maneira mental e autônoma. Diante da fundamentação teórica, foram colhidos depoimentos de seis músicos profissionais (dois instrumentistas, dois regentes e dois compositores), por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas, com o objetivo de conhecer suas experiências no campo da leitura cantada e da audiação, no período de formação musical e vida profissional. O resultado da análise de conteúdo dos dados coletados gerou um discurso do sujeito coletivo dos principais temas da pesquisa, no qual se verificou o papel colaborador da leitura cantada no processo da construção da audiação. Constatou-se também a necessidade de conscientização, por parte dos alunos, docentes e instituições de ensino, sobre a importância de se estimular a aquisição das competências aurais no aprendizado musical, por meio de disciplinas integradas, com conteúdos instigantes à audiação, a fim de proporcionar aos alunos o desenvolvimento cada vez maior de suas habilidades musicais / Abstract: This research is an exploratory study of qualitative nature, and aims to examine the relevance of sight-singing and audiation in the life of a professional musician. Initially, two possible views are presented for the study of sight-singing: historical and psychological. The former comprises a summarized historical review of the systematization of traditional musical notation (beginning in the 11th century) and concerns of the main musical educators to facilitate music learning using, among other tools, sight-singing. The psychological view discusses aspects regarding audiation, which comprises conscious musical thought, expressed, under one of its forms, in the possibility of reading a musical score in a mental and autonomous manner. Drawing upon this theoretical basis, statements of six professional musicians (two instrument players, two conductors, and two composers) were gathered through semi-structured interviews in order to know their experiences in the field of sight-singing and audiation, during their period of musical formation and professional life. The result of the analysis of the content of the gathered data provided a discourse of the collective subject of the main themes of the research, in which the auxiliary role of sight-singing in the process of construction of audiation was confirmed, as well as the need of awareness, on the part of students, professors and teaching institutions, of the importance of acquisition of aural competencies on the part of the students, by means of integrated subjects, with interesting contents, so as to constantly improve their musical abilities / Mestrado / Fundamentos Teoricos / Mestre em Música

The original focus of this research paper was to ask the question, “Why are there so few versatile trombonists?” The research suggested that there were curriculum problems in higher education associated with the general lack of performance versatility amongst trombonists. In 2014 the Task Force for the Undergraduate Music Major (TFUMM) determined that the undergraduate curriculum was lacking improvisation and creativity. One of the core musical skills that is essential in improvising is audiation. After determining that audiation is one of the keys to performance versatility, I researched jazz pedagogy and how this area of higher education includes and utilizes audiation and improvisation in curriculum. I concluded that traditional conservatory-style pedagogy is lacking improvisation and audiation in its curriculum because of the bias towards the European music tradition and the institutional treatment of jazz as a legitimate art form that is not equal to the European music tradition.To address the issue of performance versatility amongst trombonists, I created the “Modern Trombonist Curriculum” in 2016. This was my first attempt to address undergraduate curriculum by exposing students to a three-studio model, literature versatility, and utilizing audiation as the foundation of their learning. I sent out this curriculum to ten educators and performers for critique and to provide their thoughts on the current landscape of performance versatility, audiation, and my curriculum. After the interviews and the insight of my dissertation committee, I created a new curriculum titled “The Versatile Trombonist” to address the constraints of time, colleague involvement, student engagement, mental health, fiscal concerns, and other issues that I did not originally consider. Although I plan to continually modify and adjust this curriculum, this current version can be used as a benchmark for future educators that desire to include audiation and performance versatility in their current or future trombone studios.

Beginning band directors appear to prioritize notation-based practices in their programs and rehearsals despite cognitive research indicating the necessity of audiation for musical comprehension and success. During rehearsals, directors oversee musical success and cognition suggesting the potentiality to improve upon traditional forms of teaching in order to prioritize audiation and encourage its systematic improvement. Using Edwin Gordon’s work on audiation and applications from cognitive research as my theoretical framework, I surveyed, observed, and interviewed beginning band directors regarding their prioritization of audiation during rehearsals. In this mixed methods study in which I used an explanatory sequential, multiple case study design, beginning band directors from select institutions and Gordon Institute of Music Learning certificate holders (N = 20) were asked to complete an online survey answering Likert-scaled and open-ended questions regarding rehearsal activities and students’ musical success. After survey completion, each volunteer director (n = 4) was observed twice, interviewed individually, and interviewed collectively in a focus group. Following the transcription of observations and interviews, open-ended survey responses, observations, and interviews were coded and major themes generated. Three implications for band directors and music educators included, first, valuing an unlimited pedagogy with a de-emphasis on decoding and repertoire and a reemphasis on ear playing and informal learning. Second, preparatory experiences are important for comprehensive success in beginning instrumental study. Third, a beginning band curriculum that is intentionally seeking to create comprehensive musicianship among beginners may be best achieved by balancing traditional pedagogy, Music Learning Theory, and informal music learning approaches. Future research might examine directors’ teaching inclusions and pedagogy over a more extensive period of time or as a single case study. Future research could also document audiation instruction from the student perspective.

Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich der Frage, ob musikalische Rhythmen Repräsentationen semantischer Konzepte aktivieren. In die Darstellung des theoretischen Hintergrundes werden u.a. Aspekte der linguistischen Semantik, der Neurolinguistik, der Neurokognition der Musik sowie der Semiotik und der Anthropologie einbezogen. Kernstück bildet ein am Max Planck Institut für Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften in Leipzig durchgeführtes EEG-Experiment zum semantischen Priming musikalischer Rhythmen. Die Ergebnisse des Experiments werden im Kontext des Audiationsbegriffs Edwin Gordons diskutiert und ausgewertet. Die in Gordons Begriff der Audiation enthaltene, vornehmlich intramusikalische Bedeutungskonstitution wird in Frage gestellt und eine aktualisierte Beschreibung der Bedeutungskonstitution musikalischer Rhythmen angeboten.

This mixed-method case study examined effects of high school musicians' participation in the jam session, a student-directed, extracurricular music activity. The single case study site was a rural British Columbia high school exceptional for its support of jamming. Forty-four subjects, including 21 who fully met stated criteria for jammers, and 13 non-jamming subjects, were studied over a period of four months. The general research question was: Does participation in a band room jam session benefit students cognitively and motivationally? Specific research questions were: Do students who informally jam on various forms of music enhance their music skills in the perception and meaningful manipulation of music elements, and if so, how? In what ways does Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory explain the continued participation of students in the jam session? Three quantitative instruments were administered to 13 jammers capable of playing a Bb Concert scale on a melody instrument as well as to a comparable group of 13 non-jammers. These instruments included Gordon's Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA), Froseth's Test of Melodic Ear-to-Hand Coordination (TMEHC), and a researcher-developed test of ear-to-hand coordination (SOR). An ANOVA test showed no significant difference between jammer and non-jammer groups on AMMA scores (p<0.05). ANOVA showed a notable but not significant difference (p<0.056) between groups on the TMEHC, while a Repeated Measures Analysis of pre/post test TMEHC scores showed no effect of jamming over a period of 10 weeks. ANOVA showed a very clear difference between groups on the SOR (p<0.001). Qualitative data collected via journaling, interviews, observation, and participant-observer tasks indicated that jammers were perceiving and manipulating music elements in meaningful ways, and also supported Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory as an explanation for jam session participation. In particular, flow characteristics including transformation of time, loss of self-consciousness, and challenge/skill balance were both observed and reported. The role of the teacher, the presence of a music subculture, and the pseudo-curricular nature of jamming were noted as possible topics for further research.

This mixed-method case study examined effects of high school musicians' participation in the jam session, a student-directed, extracurricular music activity. The single case study site was a rural British Columbia high school exceptional for its support of jamming. Forty-four subjects, including 21 who fully met stated criteria for jammers, and 13 non-jamming subjects, were studied over a period of four months. The general research question was: Does participation in a band room jam session benefit students cognitively and motivationally? Specific research questions were: Do students who informally jam on various forms of music enhance their music skills in the perception and meaningful manipulation of music elements, and if so, how? In what ways does Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory explain the continued participation of students in the jam session? Three quantitative instruments were administered to 13 jammers capable of playing a Bb Concert scale on a melody instrument as well as to a comparable group of 13 non-jammers. These instruments included Gordon's Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA), Froseth's Test of Melodic Ear-to-Hand Coordination (TMEHC), and a researcher-developed test of ear-to-hand coordination (SOR). An ANOVA test showed no significant difference between jammer and non-jammer groups on AMMA scores (p<0.05). ANOVA showed a notable but not significant difference (p<0.056) between groups on the TMEHC, while a Repeated Measures Analysis of pre/post test TMEHC scores showed no effect of jamming over a period of 10 weeks. ANOVA showed a very clear difference between groups on the SOR (p<0.001). Qualitative data collected via journaling, interviews, observation, and participant-observer tasks indicated that jammers were perceiving and manipulating music elements in meaningful ways, and also supported Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory as an explanation for jam session participation. In particular, flow characteristics including transformation of time, loss of self-consciousness, and challenge/skill balance were both observed and reported. The role of the teacher, the presence of a music subculture, and the pseudo-curricular nature of jamming were noted as possible topics for further research.

This mixed-method case study examined effects of high school musicians' participation in the jam session, a student-directed, extracurricular music activity. The single case study site was a rural British Columbia high school exceptional for its support of jamming. Forty-four subjects, including 21 who fully met stated criteria for jammers, and 13 non-jamming subjects, were studied over a period of four months. The general research question was: Does participation in a band room jam session benefit students cognitively and motivationally? Specific research questions were: Do students who informally jam on various forms of music enhance their music skills in the perception and meaningful manipulation of music elements, and if so, how? In what ways does Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory explain the continued participation of students in the jam session? Three quantitative instruments were administered to 13 jammers capable of playing a Bb Concert scale on a melody instrument as well as to a comparable group of 13 non-jammers. These instruments included Gordon's Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA), Froseth's Test of Melodic Ear-to-Hand Coordination (TMEHC), and a researcher-developed test of ear-to-hand coordination (SOR). An ANOVA test showed no significant difference between jammer and non-jammer groups on AMMA scores (p<0.05). ANOVA showed a notable but not significant difference (p<0.056) between groups on the TMEHC, while a Repeated Measures Analysis of pre/post test TMEHC scores showed no effect of jamming over a period of 10 weeks. ANOVA showed a very clear difference between groups on the SOR (p<0.001). Qualitative data collected via journaling, interviews, observation, and participant-observer tasks indicated that jammers were perceiving and manipulating music elements in meaningful ways, and also supported Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory as an explanation for jam session participation. In particular, flow characteristics including transformation of time, loss of self-consciousness, and challenge/skill balance were both observed and reported. The role of the teacher, the presence of a music subculture, and the pseudo-curricular nature of jamming were noted as possible topics for further research. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Cette version de la thèse a été tronquée des éléments de composition originale. Une version plus complète devrait être rendue disponible sous peu pour les membres de la communauté de l’Université de Montréal. / Abstractions musicales : Composer l'expérience à travers la mémoire auditive réfléchit au rôle que joue la mémoire auditive dans le processus de composition. Ma recherche explore les souvenirs auditifs de nature épisodique dans lesquels l'affect émotionnel, la répétition de la mémoire et, par conséquent, la distorsion de la mémoire jouent un rôle important. Cela conduit à une méthodologie d'abstraction, un processus de composition dont le but n'est pas seulement d'explorer le contenu des souvenirs, mais d'examiner les actes mêmes de se souvenir et d'imaginer le son et comment ceux-ci influencent le développement des formes et motifs musicaux. En présentant ma méthodologie d'abstraction, je cherche à extérioriser et à formaliser la relation largement intérieure et subconsciente que de nombreux compositeurs entretiennent avec leur mémoire auditive. Cela élargit délibérément la portée du processus de composition pour inclure et considérer l'influence de l'écoute profonde et de l'analyse perceptuelle d'œuvres préexistantes. La thèse est présentée en deux sections. Elle commence par une section théorique, composée d'un chapitre résumant mes recherches sur la mémoire auditive et l’imagination sonore, suivi d'un chapitre exposant la méthodologie qui en découle. Le reste de la thèse est consacré à l'analyse d’une sélection de huit œuvres composées pendant mon doctorat, chacune d'entre elles explorant une relation avec la mémoire auditive et/ou l'imagination. Les œuvres analysées sont organisées en trois catégories : (1) le dialogue et la narration, (2) l'espace (son excavé), (3) identité, culture et ancêtres. Le but ultime de la thèse est de mettre en lumière des façons dont les compositeurs utilisent la mémoire, l’imagination sonore et l'abstraction pour développer notre matériau musical. / Musical Abstractions: Composing experience through auditory memories reflects on the role that auditory memory plays in the compositional process. My research explores auditory memories of an episodic nature in which emotional affect, rehearsal of memory, and hence memory distortions play an important role. This leads to a methodology of abstraction, a compositional process whose goal is not solely to explore the content of memories, but to examine how the very acts of remembering and imagining sound translate to musical motivic development and form. In presenting my methodology of abstraction, I aim to exteriorize and formalize the mostly subconscious and interior relationship many composers have with their auditory memory. This deliberately broadens the scope of the compositional process to include and consider the influence of deep listening and perceptual analysis of pre-existing works. The thesis is presented in two sections. It begins with a theoretical section, consisting of a chapter summarizing my research into auditory memory and audiation followed by a chapter outlining the resulting methodology. The rest of the thesis is devoted to the analysis of eight selected works composed during my doctorate, each of which explores a relationship with auditory memory and/or imagination. The analyzed works are organized into three categories: (1) in dialogue and narrative, (2) in space (excavated sound), (3) in our identity, culture, and ancestors. The ultimate goal of the thesis is to shed light on some ways composers use memory, audiation, and abstraction to develop our musical material.