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A Survey of the Instruction of Sight-Reading Skills to Undergraduate Piano Majors in Selected NASM Colleges and Universities

One of the most important skills of a pianist is the ability to read at sight. Because there are so many areas of piano study to address, sight-reading is overlooked either out of frustration or simple neglect. However, if acquisition of this skill is neglected, it will be difficult for a pianist to ever attain his full potential. For a pianist, sight-reading is one area that strengthens all others. The purposes of this study were to secure data concerning teaching sight-reading to undergraduate piano majors, to identify methods and techniques in current use in the instruction of sight-reading, to determine the extent of keyboard and computer-assisted learning technology usage within sight-reading instruction, to identify more effective methods and techniques being used to teach sight-reading, and to search for ways to enhance sight-reading instruction, including the utilization of recent computer technology applications in education and learning. The method used was survey research with a questionnaire sent to 168 randomly selected NASM colleges and universities. Response rate was 49.4 percent. The questionnaire, designed by the researcher, sought to ascertain the status of sight-reading instruction in these colleges and universities and to endeavor to determine the extent, if any, keyboard and computer-assisted learning technology was being used. Respondents of the survey were requested to identify outstanding sight-reading instructors and prominent accompanists, seven of whom were then interviewed. Final conclusions and recommendations are based upon the summation of data from respondents and professionals. There were no emerging tendencies in the instruction of sight-reading, but there was a strong agreement among respondents that there is a need for the development of a program to enable the usage of CAI. There were ten recommendations, ranging from the addition of sight-reading skills classes to conferences among teachers and computer programmers, to devise suitable programs to assist in the instruction of sight-reading skills.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc278258
Date05 1900
CreatorsCraige, Mary Ann, 1940-
ContributorsMiller, William A., Harlos, Steven, 1953-, Baird, Edward A., Smith, Howard Wellington
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatvii, 166 leaves, Text
RightsPublic, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved., Craige, Mary Ann, 1940-

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