Junior high students' aural perception ability and musical preference are of vital importance to music educators. Effective curriculum development is dependent upon knowledge of the students' perceptual competency and openness to different types of music. While many research studies are available on children and adults' musical perception, none exist which deal with junior high students' aural perception of tonality in avant garde music and its relationship to preference for that music. The purpose of this study was to (a) examine junior high students' perception of tonality by use of information theory in quantifying the strength of tonality (perception of tonal centers) in selected avant garde compositions, (b) determine differences between junior high students' and adults' perception of tonality, (c) examine the relationship between perception and preference, and (d) examine junior high students' preference for electronic and nonelectronic music. / Eighty-six subjects participated in this study: 56 were junior high students at Casa Grande Junior High School in Casa Grande, Arizona, and 30 were undergraduate music majors at Florida State University. Subjects were selected to participate on the basis of their ability to vocalize a mentally held pitch which was determined by Taylor's (1971) melodic perception test, part II, thinking melodies. / Materials used in the experiment consisted of two perception and preference test tapes, one primary and one randomized order of musical selections, and a preference response sheet. Music recorded on tape consisted of nine electronic and nine nonelectronic 20 second excerpts of avant garde music. Each excerpt was presented in the following sequence: Example 1 (20 seconds music, 6 seconds silence); example 1 repeated (20 seconds music, 6 seconds silence). Students were randomly assigned to the tapes and an equal number of students heard each tape. / The task consisted of listening to each excerpt twice. After the first hearing subjects sang the pitch perceived as the tonal center; after the second hearing, subjects indicated their preferences on a rating scale from 1 to 5 (1 = strongly like). All vocal responses were tape recorded, stroboscopically analyzed and assigned a pitch name. / A formula based on information theory, TS = (SIGMA)p log 1/p, was used to calculate tonal strength for each selection and Chi Square analysis was used to compare tonal strength responses. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was chosen to test the relationship between tonal strength response and preference. The Mann Whitney U Test served to determine preference for electronic and nonelectronic music and a t Test was selected to test differences between tonal strength values of junior high students and adults. / On the basis of results of this study, it was concluded that (1) there are significant differences in perception of tonality (tonal strength) among the avant garde pieces used in this study as perceived by junior high students ((alpha) = .05); (2) no significant relationship exists between perception of tonality (tonal strength) in avant garde music and preference for avant garde music expressed by junior high students; (3) no significant difference exists in the preference responses for electronic music as compared to preference responses for nonelectronic music expressed by junior high students; (4) there is significant difference in perception of tonality in avant garde music by junior high students and the adult undergraduate college music majors ((alpha) = .05). / Preference for the compositions used in this study seemed to be based on musical parameters other than tonality and electronic versus nonelectronic structure. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 2986. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74219 |
| Contributors | BURNS, MARY MARGUERITE TEACHEY., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 110 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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