Author: Publisher:
ISBN: 9781109393835
Category : Improvisation (Music)
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of teaching a tonal vocabulary on the vocal improvisations of first and second grade students. Specific research questions addressed were (a) Are the vocal improvisations of first and second grade students who had pattern instruction on major and minor harmonic tonal patterns more tonally cohesive than the vocal improvisations of first and second grade students who did not have such instruction? (b) Does the inclusion of pattern instruction on major and minor harmonic tonal patterns have an effect on developmental tonal music aptitude as measured by Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation (IMMA) (Gordon, 1986)? and (c) Is there a relationship between developmental tonal music aptitude and the tonal cohesiveness of students' vocal improvisations? Eighty-two first grade students from four intact classes and 100 second grade students from four intact classes participated in this study. Two classes of first grade students and two classes of second grade students were randomly selected to be the treatment groups. Before formal instruction, IMMA was administered as a pretest. Over 22 weeks of formal instruction for first grade and 24 weeks of formal instruction for second grade, the same activities within each grade, including audiation of resting tone, development of beat competency, stylistic and formal movement, and correct use of singing voice, were taught to all treatment and control groups. The treatment groups received tonal pattern instruction consisting of major and minor tonic and dominant harmonic patterns. IMMA was administered as a midtest during the 17 th week of formal instruction and as a posttest. After formal instruction, students were audio-recorded improvising endings to unfamiliar major tonality/duple meter, minor tonality/triple meter, major tonality/triple meter, and minor tonality/duple meter songs. The students also created their own song without words. The improvisations were rated by two independent judges using continuous rating scales to measure the students' ability to maintain the dimensions of (a) keyality, (b) tonality, and (c) implications of harmonic function. For the vocal improvisation tasks, the treatment groups scored higher than the control groups. The treatment group in first grade scored significantly higher (p
