The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Yamaha
Junior Music Programme in developing pitch discrimination and rhythm
performance skills in five- and six-year old children over a six month period.
Specifically, it aimed to measure improvements in the ability to distinguish
between high and low-pitched tones, the ability to identify the pitch of tones,
the ability to imitate rhythms, and the ability to beat in time to music in four
groups of ten subjects. Two groups (Y1 and Y2) had been involved in the
Yamaha music programme, which aimed to improve the skills mentioned
above. The other two groups (K1 and K2) had attended Kindergarten but had
not been involved in any formal music programmes. Two of these groups (Y1
and K1) participated in pre-tests and post-tests. The other two groups (Y2
and K2) had participated in the post-tests only.
The two groups which were taught via the Yamaha method consisted of ten
students (male and female). The two other groups consisted of ten students in
each group. These groups comprised students randomly selected from two
Kindergarten classes at Fraser Primary school in the A.C.T.
All students were presented with three tests: one pitch test, and two rhythm
performance tests. Each test contained ten items. The three tests were trialled
in a pilot study, with only minimum changes to procedure being required.
The Yamaha groups were also given a pitch identification test at the
conclusion of the six-month period.
Each student's performance in the ten trials of the three tests was recorded on
audio tape. Three judges used these recorded responses to grade each
student's performance. The trials were also recorded digitally on an Apple II
Computer using a sequencing software package.
Detailed statistical analysis was carried out on both subjective and digital
scores.
The experimental design used in this research was the "Solomon's Four"
design, which was ideal in controlling for internal sources of invalidity.
A series of comparisons were drawn between the various groups involved, and
it was concluded that the six-month Yamaha aural training programme led to
the following outcomes:
* improvements in the ability of Yamaha students to determine pitch
height.
* a higher incidence of improvement for the experimental group in the
pitch pairs test (to determine pitch height) than for the control group.
* improvements in the ability of Yamaha students to identify the pitch
of notes.
* no statistically significant improvements for Yamaha students at the
end of six months for rhythm test A (rhythm imitation).
* no statistically significant improvements in the performance of
Yamaha students at the end of six months for rhythm test B (beating in
time to music).
* no statistically significant improvements in the performance of the
Kindergarten groups at the end of six months for rhythm test A.
* no statistically significant improvements in the performance of the
Kindergarten groups at the end of six months for rhythm test B.
A number of explanations were offered for the absence of improvement in the
two rhythm tests and recommendations were made for future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219474 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Woolcock, Pamela K., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Pamela K. Woolcock |
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