The purpose of this study was to prepare music theory textbook-workbooks for students of elementary school grades four through eight who are taking private music lessons in voice, piano, or other instruments. The study was prompted by the action taken first by Texas Music Teachers Association and later by Music Teachers National Association which made the passing of comprehensive music theory examinations a prerequisite for entering all student performance and contest events sponsored by these associations.

The purpose of the study was to indicate procedures leading to meaningful learning experiences through music for the educable mentally retarded child. Four areas of a music curriculum were considered: performing, composition, listening and dancing. Based upon known characteristics of the educable mentally retarded and professional writings of authorities in the fields of both music education and special education, objectives and specific approaches to musical experiences were determined, Twelve performing, eight composition, ten listening and ten dancing experiences are outlined with objective, previous experience, materials, room arrangement, song material, procedure and related activities included in each.

Although much has been written on the subject of conducting, it is generally recognized that a great deal can be learned through discussion with and observation of successful conductors. Direct contact with master conductors is an excellent learning tool, but seldom do high school or college choral conductors have the opportunity for direct individual study of the experts in their normal situations. This study provided the opportunity for one practitioner to work with two expert choral conductors. The report was written with the hope that other practitioners might also benefit from the results of the investigation. The purpose of this study was to identify and compare preparations and experiences, philosophies of music, and observable choral concepts which may have contributed to the superior choral achievements of B. R. Henson and Lloyd Pfautsch.

The purpose of this study was to compare major theories of laryngeal vibration. The basic hypothesis of the study was that the differences and similarities between the major theories of laryngeal vibration could be made evident and clear through a comparative study. It was assumed that there are two or more theories of laryngeal vibration and that all the major theories of laryngeal vibration from 1945 to the present have been described in written form in English.

The purpose of this study was to identify certain aspects related to sight singing which tend to cause difficulty in teaching junior high school students and to suggest exercises that might be used to aid in overcoming these difficulties, Data included a questionnaire to junior high school teachers in three states. Subjects researched and discussed were the physical, intellectual, and emotional development of the adolescent; the changing voice and the range and vocal limitations of junior high singers; and rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, and other aspects of sight singing. Included were vocal procedures to be used with young voices, suggestions for choosing and/or arranging appropriate music, and original compositions designed to meet the needs and interests of junior high school students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of choral blend through acoustical analysis of individual vocal sounds. One aspect of the study involved identifying and comparing the acoustical qualities of sounds produced in the usual solo manner and sounds produced by the same singers attempting to blend with a unison ensemble. Another aspect of the study involved identifying and comparing the acoustical qualities of vocal sounds identified as blending well and poorly with a unison ensemble. Singers attempting to blend adjust their overall intensity not only to affect the perceived loudness of their tones, but also to facilitate other acoustical changes which are helpful for achieving blend. Vocal blend apparently may be achieved more readily on vowels having few upper partials than on vowels having numerous upper partials. Where vibrato is employed, certain vocal sounds can achieve a good blend even though their fundamental frequencies only approximate the theoretically correct frequency. There apparently is an interaction between the vibrato of a vocal tone and its spectral features, making it advantageous for the singer to adopt mutually beneficial approaches to both factors in order to blend. Vowel modification effective for achieving vocal blend- -at least for sopranos-- appears …

The problem was to survey and collect ideas on the use of improvisation as a teaching and learning tool in elementary piano instruction and to prescribe activities and exercises for second through fourth grade piano classes. These areas were examined: philosophies and theories influencing traditional instruction, effects of creative keyboard activities on children's musical development, specific teaching strategies using improvisation, evaluative procedures, and suitability of materials for young children. Data collected from published and unpublished materials were classified, and presented concerning the feasibility of using keyboard improvisation with early elementary children. It was found that suitable improvisational exercises allow the child to organize his perceptions into the basic concepts of music. Recommendations for teachers and researchers were made.

The purpose of the study was to develop and evaluate a comprehensive first semester college jazz improvisation curriculum. Specific problems concerning the evaluation of the curriculum were, (a) to assess achievement in music theory fundamentals, (b) to assess achievement in jazz listening, (c) to assess improvement in jazz improvisation performance, (d) to assess student attitudes toward jazz improvisation and the curriculum. Based on the findings, the conclusions were as follows students benefited from the study of jazz improvisation, utilizing the developed curriculum, in the areas of, (1) knowledge of music fundamentals, namely, chord spelling, scale spelling and harmonic analysis; (2) identification of jazz tunes, composers, musical forms and prominent jazz performers; (3) improvisation performance in a jazz style, and (4) positive attitude toward improvement in jazz improvisation.

The purpose of the study was to design and evaluate materials for integrating musical concepts and stylistic concepts into the high school choral rehearsal. Need for the study was established by examining related literature and by means of a survey of Texas high school choral directors. A systems approach model of curriculum development, consisting of a ten-step procedural outline, was adopted for formulation of the study. The following criteria for the curriculum, called Integrated Musical Information for Choirs (IMIC), were set: (1) Materials should be in the hands of each student; (2) Materials would relate directly to music being performed by the choir; (3) Use of the materials should assist the teacher in organizing his/her work; (4) Teachers should be able to put materials into use without adaptation; (5) Teachers' out-of-class preparation should be minimal.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the multi-sensory responses of children to symbolizing musical sound through speech rhythm patterns. Speech rhythm patterns consist of the number of syllables and the stress/nonstress relationships of these syllables in a word or a phrase. The research problems were (1) to determine children's responses to speech rhythm patterns according to the differential sensory modes used; (2) to determine the children's responses to speech rhythm patterns by age, and (3) to compare children's responses to speech rhythm patterns by age and sensory modes.

This study's purpose was to investigate the phenomenon of hemispheric specialization for the pitch and rhythmic aspects of melody. Its research problems were to investigate the Influence of pitch, rhythm, and training on hemispheric specialization for pitch-plus-rhythm melodic fragments. A final problem was to examine the relationship between dlchotic ear scores and eye movements evidenced during melodic processing. Twenty musicians and twenty nonmuslcians, right-handed and equally divided as to gender, participated in the project. Accepted dlchotic testing and eye behavior indexing procedures were implemented to investigate each research problem. The dlchotic tape produced for the study contained five subtests In which pitch activity was variously greater than, less than, or equal to rhythmic activity.

The problem of this study was to determine the perceptions of music educators at selected United Negro College Fund colleges and universities concerning the importance of music teaching competencies and courses for prospective public school music teachers, it was further designed to (a) determine if the music educators were in agreement with the published competency recommendations of the National Association of Schools of Music and the Music Educators National Conference for preparing prospective public school music teachers and (b) to discover if there were significant differences in UNCF music educators' perceptions across selected independent variables concerning the importance of those competencies and courses.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an auditor's past musical training and experience on the intelligibility of selected vowel sounds at differential pitch levels. The specific problems of the study were to investigate the effects of extensive vocal music training, extensive non-vocal music training, and limited or no music training on an auditor's ability to discriminate accurately selected vowel sounds performed at various pitch levels. The effects of pitch and vowel sound on auditor recognition of vowel sounds in singing and the ability of each singer to be intelligible to auditors was also investigated.

The specific problems investigated involved identifying and describing the characteristics of fundamental frequency, overall intensity, and spectral content in unaccompanied and ensemble performance settings. Additionally, comparisons and descriptions of the relationships among these acoustical parameters were made. Fifteen trombonists were used as research subjects. Each subject recorded a selected musical excerpt in the following performance modes: high register unaccompanied, harmonic, and unison ensemble; and low register unaccompanied and unison ensemble. Tape recordings of these subjects were used in conjunction with certain electronic apparatus to obtain data on frequency, intensity, and spectral content. Based on these data, descriptions of these acoustical parameters and comparisons of unaccompanied and ensemble performance settings were made.

The study described through content analysis the general music course in the secondary school as perceived in selected curricular sources from the 1960's and 1970's. As various writers of curricular sources developed their own content and methodologies, a vast amount of data became available which seemed unmanageable because of the particular philosophical goals chosen for the course. The study organized in a systematic manner the content and methodologies of the.course by means of eighteen categories. Categories of high frequency inclusion in the general music sources were shown to be the elements of music, music vocabulary as a specific area for learning, the predominant choice of classical Western/art music, the use of listening and creative activities and the discussion of psychological learning principles.

The purpose of the study was to investigate conflicts in the perceptions of band directors, band parents, band students, and selected school personnel regarding the role and scope of their respective band programs. The problems were to examine the relationships among these four groups in terms of selective perception, perceptual constancy, and polarization. Questionnaires were developed in order to survey the senior public high schools in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In addition to demographic data, the questionnaires included perceptions about public performances, marching, concert, and jazz bands; contests and festivals; and other band related activities which might be desirable in a band program. The questionnaires concluded with opportunities for open-ended comments and suggestions about the survey instrument and the band program. Statistical computations included one-way analysis of variance, chi-square test, frequency counts, and cross-tabulations. Qualitative analyses and reports of interviews helped to clarify and interpret all statistical findings.

This study attempted to explore the strength and nature of relationships between specific intellectual information processing skills included in a multi-dimensional model conceived by Guilford, and measured by Meeker's Structure of Intellect - Learning Abilities Test, and specific musical aural discrimination skills as measured by Gordon's Musical Aptitude Profile. Three research questions were posed, which involved determining the strength and the nature of the relationship between MAP melodic, rhythmic, and aesthetic discrimination abilities and the intellectual information processing skills comprising the SOI - LA. Both instruments were administered to 387 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders from schools in the Dallas area. After a pilot study established the feasibility of the study and reliability estimates of the test instruments, multiple regression analysis determined that 10% to 15% of the variance between intellectual information-processing skills and the individual musical aural discrimination abilities was in common (r = +.32 to r = +.39). It was further determined that only six specific SOI intellectual dimensions, all involving the skills of "Cognition" and "Evaluation", were significantly related to the musical aural discrimination abilities. Through the use of the Coefficient of Partial Correlation, the strength of each individual information-processing skill's unique contribution to that covariance was …

The purpose of the study was to investigate the needs for music-related content in the Bible college pastoral curriculum as perceived by a selected group of pastors. The research problems were (1) to assess the extent of musical preparation of recent pastoral graduates from selected accredited Bible colleges in the United States, (2) to assess the music-related duties of those graduates in paid pastoral positions, (3) to assess the pastors' perceived needs for instructional preparation for the fulfillment of their musical duties, and (4) to determine the effect of selected factors on the perceived needs of those pastors.

Justifications for music education have been studied only by examining historical trends in statements of aesthetic versus utilitarian values, and not from the perspective of evaluating the justifications' usefulness. A number of prominent writers in the music education field, while supporting aesthetic values as important for music education, have expressed doubts about the effectiveness of aesthetic justifications when used for convincing outsiders of the importance of music in the public school curriculum. These doubts, along with a preponderance of aesthetic justifications in the recent music education literature, led to the present study, which conducted a theoretical examination of the usefulness of aesthetic justifications for music education. The study addressed three research problems, namely: (1) the attitudes of the clientele groups of the public schools in terms of their values toward music as a subject in the schools; (2) the attitudes of the groups within the music education profession in terms of their values for music in the public schools and for the profession itself; and 3) the likelihood that justifications based upon "aesthetics" as a system of values would be accepted by the groups both inside arid outside the music education profession. A philosophical-sociological perspective was chosen for the theoretical …

The purpose of this study was to investigate the curricular content of elementary music in China between 1912 and 1982. The questions addressed were: (1) What changes in elementary music resulted from China's becoming a republic in 1912? (2) What changes in elementary music resulted from China's becoming a socialist country in 1949? (3) What changes in elementary music in the People's Republic of China resulted from the Anti—Rightist Struggle Movement in 1957? (4) What changes in elementary music in the People's Republic of China resulted from the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)? (5) Have changes occurred in elementary music in the People's Republic of China since the beginning of the reform movement in 1978? (6) Did any of the changes affect curricular goals, contents, methods, required materials, and instruction time allotted in a like manner, or did some of these components remain the same while others changed? (7) Were the changes important enough to attribute them to a changed political ideology? After translating all pertinent documents, the goals, contents, methods, materials, and time allotted for the elementary music curricula between 1912 and 1982 were listed and identified. Subsequently, the areas of focus within those categories as well as changes in focus …

The study's purpose was to describe selected laryngeal activity of brass-wind players during the performance of selected musical exercises. Research problems included the observation and description of three internal areas of activity of ten trumpeters as they performed each exercise. Specific areas of observation were 1) movement of the epiglottis during the performance of each exercise, 2) movement of the vocal folds/arytenoid cartilage which includes changes in the size of the glottis during the performance of each prescribed exercise, and 3) movement of the thyroid cartilage during the performance of each prescribed exercise. Musical exercises performed by each of the subjects included a sound volume change, use of vibrato, single-tonguing, step-wise descending and ascending slurs, descending and ascending lip slurs, register change, and a descending chromatic scale. In addition, each subject performed an excerpt from the second movement of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto. Data were collected through direct observation of subject performances and then described using three different means. Data analyses revealed a prominent amount of highly individual, non-patterned laryngeal activity which played an integral role in the performance of each subject. Individuals including Law (1960), Cramer (1955), Jacobs (Stewart, 1987), and Noble (1964) have advocated an unrestricted airway during …

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The purpose of this study was to develop and test systematically a theoretical model that delineated the constructs and subsumed variables of jazz improvisation performance. The specific research questions were; what specific performance variables are related to single line jazz solo improvisation performance? and; what is the most cogent groupings of variables into underlying constructs which characterize single line jazz solo improvisation performances for all performers, student performers, and professional performers?

The reasons given by thirty-three junior high school band directors for success and failure at the University Interscholastic League Concert/Sightreading Contest were studied using the methodology of Attribution Theory. All of the subjects attended the same contest and were members of a region which included urban and suburban schools. The subjects responded to a questionnaire which evaluated their attitudes towards the contest, allowed them to make judgments about other directors in hypothetical contest situations, and finally asked them to list the five most important reasons for their success or failure at the contest in an open-response format.