programming the basic materials of music

7/25/2019 programming the basic materials of music

1/9

MENC The National Association for Music Education

Programming the Basic Materials of Music for Self-Instructional Development of Aural SkillsAuthor(s): Charles L. SpohnSource: Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Autumn, 1963), pp. 91-98Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.on behalf of MENC: The National Association for MusicEducation

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2/9

ProgratnmingheBasic

Materialsf Music

forSelf-Instructionalevelopmentf AuralSkills

CHARLESL. SPOHN

I

MPROVED

RECORDING

echniqueswith

emphasison true

reproduction f

recordedound,

make he uses of

audio

devices

or the

instruction f musicob-

vious. The use of recordings as been

an established

method for

music in-

struction both in the

classroomand

for the

improvementf music

perform-

ance.

Disc and magnetic

recordings

have

been used by music

studentsand

teachers to

provide self-instructional

improvement

specially or developing

performance kills. It seems

strange,

however, hat recordedmaterials

have

not been widelyused to developaural

skills

that are neededby all

persons n

music.

The use of

recorded eachingmate-

rials

can assist nstructionn two

ways.

First,

therehas beena need to

improve

the

presentation f

materialsused to

develop tudents'

auralskills in

music.

Recordings ffer he advantages

f du-

plicating the presentationas

well as

the

possibilities of

programming or

self-presentation.

Second, a way is

needed

to study the problems

related

to the

developmentof these aural

skills. The use of

recordingsffer the

possibility of controlled

presentation

on an

individualbasis.

The

uses of

recorded eachingmate-

rial arewell

establishedn

foreign an-

guage instruction.In a reportpre-

pared by the

Councilof Chief State

School

Officers,

the statement was

made:

"The earning f a

language

er

se is

not so much

the learningof a

body

of content as it is the

develop-

ment

of a skill.... It is not

something

one

talks about,

it is somethingone

tiks."l

A paraphrase

o that the statement

is appropriateo musicfollows: "The

learning f music

per se is not

so much

the

learning f a body of

contentas it

is

the

development f skills. It is not

something he student earns

about, t

is

something e learns o do.

It is not

something

omeonetalks about, it is

something ne

does."The early devel-

opmentof music

students s directed

toward he acquisition f

various kills.

This involvestasks that students do.

This concept,

however,does

not mean

that

there are

not overallvalues that

cannot be generalized and

talked

about. This

concept does imply that

the values of

more advanced music

learning depend upon some

kind of

humanperformancen early

learning.

The teaching

of music

has been

challenged nd

improved y

the use of

listening

aboratories imilar

to those

widelyadopted or the

teaching f for-

eign

languages, n

which studentscan

use

recorded

materials n programs f

self-instruction.

With these kinds of

facilities t is

possible or collegemusic

students o

develop eeded kills. There

is

opportunity o

compare he effects

of different timuli

as skillsare

learned.

The elementalmaterialsof music can

be programmed

nd recorded or use

1

Council of Chief State School

Officers,Stand-

ards for Matcrials

and Equipment for the Im-

provement of

Instrxction, (Washington D. C.

1958),

p. 27.

91

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3/9

92

JOURNAL OF ESEARCH IN MUSIC EDUCATION

in listening aboratories. uestionspos-

sibly can be answered oncerninghe

speed with which students learn to

identify and use the elementalmate-

rials of music. The facilities of the

listening aboratorymake t possible o

obtaindata aboutthe interrelationsf

the variousmusicskills.

For all studentsof music, he study

of the fundamentals f music (often

referred o as music theory) is basic.

Understandinghe materials f music,

which include the rhythmicelement,

the melodic low, the harmonic truc-

ture, the general musical structure

(these may be referredo as the tech-

nical knowledge f music), is directly

related to the development f aural

skills.

The technical nowledge f the fun-

damentals f music ncludes wo close-

ly related tems. They are the symbols

for the notationof musicand the de-

scriptive terminologyand markings

which indicate the interpretation f

the notation.The symbolsused n no-

tatingmusicrepresent wo basic char-

acteristics rhythm ndpitch.

The descriptive terminology and

markingswhich aid in the interpreta-

tion of musicare additional acts that

are a part of the fundamentalsf mu-

sic. Iwhe se of both Englishand for-

eign wordsare an accepted nd essen-

tial part of music.Tempo, empovari-

ation,dynamics, rticulation,nd style

are indicated n this manner.

The developmentf skills n relation

to the fundamentalsf music ncludes

three pecific echniques: a) the man-

ual skill of notation, (b) the visual

perceptionof notation, and (c) the

auralcomprehensionf notation. The

three skills are believed o be closely

related o each other. Their very na-

ture indicatesthe need for a secure

backgroundn the technical spectsof

music.

The manual skill of notation means

the ability to write accurately the sym-

bols of music that represent rhythm

and pitch. Also included in this skill

is the accurate indication, through the

use of descriptive terminology and

markings, of tempo, tempo variations,

dynamics, articulation,and style.

The visual perception of the nota-

tion of music is called music reading.

The readint, of music as a means of

developing better musicianship or

knowledCe bout music was established

early as an objective of the teaching

of the fundamentals of music. The

need for adequacy in this area is as

important for music students as the

ability to read words is for all stu-

dents. The teaching of music reading

should be similar to the teaching of

reading in any language. Often how-

ever, music reading s neglected as stu-

dents "learn to play an instrument."

The aural comprehension of music

is a skill that is, in a sense, the reverse

of music reading. Aural comprehen-

sion means the abilty to notate music

after it is heard. The listener is able

to demonstrate the skill of aural com-

prehensionwhen he accurately identi-

fies the sounds or words that he has

heard. It is not the objective for the

training in fundamentals of music

classes to develop the phenomenon

known as "absolute pitch" but rather

to learn the association betweell sound

and symbels. This is often referred to

as "relative pitch."

Traditional 'fundamelltalsof music"

courses aim to develop the skills of

music reading and aural comprehen-

sion. The problemsstudents encounter

in learningto reproducemusic notation

vocally (music reading) or in learning

to notate music that has been per-

formed (aural comprehension)are be-

lieved to be similar. Music students

must develop skills so that they are



4/9

93

ROGRAMMINGTHE BASIC MATERIALS OF MUSIC

able to go fromsound to sound,nota-

tion to notation, symbol to symbol,

sound to notation, sound to symbol,

notation o sound,notation o symbol,

symbolto sound,and symbolto nota-

tion. All responses o musicshouldbe

at such a level that they may be con-

nectedto any relevantmusicstimulus.

The teachingmaterialsused in fun-

damentalsof music classes have been

developed roma predeterminedtand-

ard that has existed for many years.

The presentation f these materials s

generallystereotyped.The result has

been that the best students meet the

requirementswith apparentease and

seldom do more, while the students

with little pre-college background

strugglewith little or no success. The

resultsof this teaching ffortare often

frustratingo both teacher nd student.

PresentingFundamentals

In the traditional music funda-

mentals lassroom he studenthas been

dependent pon the teacher o present

the correctstimuli. The student also

has been dependentupon the teacher

for the reinforcement f the desired

responses. Good students often need

stimuli presented everal times before

the desiredbehavior s achieved.Poor

students need still more. The total

number f stimuli o be presented n a

music class multipliedby the number

of reiIlforcementseeded or each stu-

dent to achieve the desired criteria

would result in an astounding igure.

The methodsof the traditionalmusic

classroomprovide limited useful in-

formation for research purposes for

the followingreasons:

1. It is difficult o provideadequate

controls.

2. There is not equal opportunity

for all students o learn.

3. It is difficult o obtain desirable

data. This especially s truewhendata

are dependentupon student responses

to drill items.

New methodshave been developed

and used at The OhioState University

Schoolof Music for the self-presenta-

tion of the elementalmaterialsof mu-

sic. Thesemethods re similar o those

used for teaching foreign languages.

The facilitiesof foreign-languageab-

oratoriesare used for this instruction.

The methodshave involved he tech-

niques of programminghe elemental

materialsof music on magnetictape.

The first olf these methadswas de-

veloped from research n 1958 when

the author found that for an experi-

mentalgroupusing tape-recordedelf-

presentationmusic materials n com-

parison with a control group taught

traditionally, he average percentage

decrease n the number f errors that

is, the differencebetween the pretest

and posttestscoresdividedby the pre-

test score) madeby the controlgroup

was 57.68 percent, while the corre-

spondingdecrease in the numberof

errorsmadeby the experimentalroup

was 80.33 percent.2The difference n

favor of the experimental roup was

significant t the 5 percent evel.

Aural Interval Project

Refinementsn the methadof self-

presentationmusicmaterialswerepos-

sible when a similar study using one

of the elementalparts of music, nter-

vals, was done by the author,William

Poland,and CarolineArnold.

The questionwas asked, "Can mu-

sic students earn to identify melodic

ascending ntervalsby means of pro-

grammedmaterialsand self-presenta-

2

Charles L. Spohn, "An Exploration ill the

Use of Recorded Teaching to Develop Aural

Comprchension n College Music Classes," doc-

toral dissertation, (The Ohio State University,

l9S9; University Microfilms, Inc., tS9-S941.)



5/9

TABLE

PATTERN F TRAINING RILLS

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3

Set I P8, m2, M2, m3

M3, P4, T, m6 P5, M6, m7t

M7

Category 4 Category 5

Set II P8, m2, M2,

m3, M3, P4 T, m6, P5, M6, m7, M7

Category6

94

Set III P8, m2,

M2, m3, M3, P4, T, m6, P5, M6, m7, M7

15

JOURNAL OF

RESEARCH N MUSIC EDUCATION

tion methods?"The purposeof the

aural interval project was to: (a)

study the question for a reasonable

answer nd (b) develop

method hat

wouldmake an evaluation f

learning

possible. The seventy-seven

reshman

studentsenrolled n the 1960

funda-

mentalsof musiccoursewerethe sub-

jects for the study.

The intervals used for the study

were those which may be

found be-

tween degreesof a major

scale. The

stimulus or the studywas the

record-

ed performancef the intervals

ound-

ed by a piano. The response

or the

identificationf intervalswas

by their

symbolicnames. The complete

ist of

symbolsused in the study

was: m2,

M2, m3, M3, P4, T(Tritone),P5, m6,

M6, m7, Ml, P8.

On the basisof the previousesearch

done by Otto Ortmann3 nd

William

6 Otto Ortmann, "Problems in the

Elements

of Ear Dictation," ResearchStgdy in Mgsic ffo.

2 (Baltimore: Peabody Conservatoryof Music,

1934) .

Poland4 he intervalsweregrouped y

difficultyof recognition.

Each drill contained

orty-eight n-

tervals:Set I 4 intervals, ach

played

twelve times; Set II 6 intervals,

ach

played 8 times; Set III 12 intervals,

eachplayed4 times.

The pitch range of the

intervals

used in the study was from g to f#".

The presentation f the intervalswas

melodicascending.The twelveinter-

vals were divided into three

groups;

easy (P8, m2, M2, m3),

intermediate

(M3, P4, T, m6), and difficult P5,

M6, ml, Ml). The drills that

were

used for trainingwere based on this

division. The drills were constructed

into three sets and six

categoriesas

shown n Table 1.

The drills were recordedon mag-

netic tape. The tempo of each drill

was MM J 72.

'William Poland, "An Investigation of Some

Aural and Notational Elements in

Music

Theory," doctoral dissertation, (Ohio

State Uni-

versity, 1960;

UniversityMicrofilms,t60-2129).

(Phyed)

Fig- 1 Stimulus

Time for

(Spoken) P8 (Played)

student

response

Correct Reinfore

On to

next

stimulus

* s .

identi-

fication

ment

ce-



6/9

TABLE

THEMEAN

ERCENTAGECORESFSTUDENTS

WHOCOMPLETEDHETAPED RILLS

Melodic Intervals

Harmonic Intervals

Pretest Posttest Difference Pretest Posttest

Difference

x 71 88

17 58 75 17

s 15 13 20 22

N=47

TABLE

THE MEAN

PERCENTAGECORES FSTUDENTS

WHODD) NOT COMPLETEHETAPEDDRILLS

Melodic Intervals

Harmonic Intcrvals

Pretest Posttest Difference Pretest Posttest

Difference

x 54 71

17 42 50 8

s 16 20 13 23

N=30

95

PROGRAMMING

THE BASIC MATERIALSOF MUSIC

Figure 1 gives an exampleof the

procedure.

Each stimuluswas sounded or four

counts.The stimuluswas playedtwice.

After the first playing there

were six

countsat the sametempo n

which he

student could respond on the

work-

sheet by naming the interval.

After

the judgmentwas made, the

correct

answerwas given (the correctanswer

had been recorded n the

tape). The

intervalwas played again. If

the stu-

dents had made the correct

response,

in a set of boxes on the worksheet,

they were instructed o place a check

mark in the lower row of

boxes im-

mediatelyunder their answer.

If the

answer was incorrect, the

students

were instructed o put the

correctan-

swer n the lowerbos.

Here is a sampleof the way

a cor-

rect answer hould ook.

P8

test contained forty-eight intervals.

Half of the intervalswere

played in

the mannerknown as melodic

(two

tones sounded individuallyone after

the other). Ihe remaining

twenty-

four intervalswereplayed n the man-

ner known as harmonic (two

tones

soundedsimultaneously).

All the training on intervals

was

done outsideof the "fundamentalsf

music"class with the self-presentation

tapes. All studentswereinstructed o

do each of the six practice

tapes in-

cluded in the three sets. The pro-

cedure was as follows: If first

per-

formanceon the first practice tape

(categoryone of Set I) was to a cri-

terion of forty-sis out of forty-eight

intervals correct, then the

student

could proceedto the next drill

level.

(The next level was category

two of

Set I.) If the first performancewas

not to the criterion, hetaped-drillwas

repeated until the criterion

was

reached. When the criterion was

reached,an equivalent aped-drillwas

given. If the criterionwas reachedon

the first performance f this

tape, the

studentcouldproceed o the next evel.

If the criterionwas not reached,

hat

Here is a sampleof the way an in-

correctanswershouldIook.

PS

P8

A pretest and equivalent

posttest

were constructed nd recorded.

Each



7/9

96

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH N MUSIC EDUCATION

tape was practiceduntil the criterion

was achievedand an equivalent ape

was given.

From the sample of seventy-seven

students, forty-seven completed the

aural interval tudy. Thirty students

failed o complete he seriesdue to the

lack of time. (The trainingperiod

during he quarterwas only sis weeks

in length.) Table 2 shows the rela-

tionshipof scores for the group that

completed he taped drills. Table 3

shows he relationshipf scores or the

group hat did not complete he taped

drills.

A comparison f the scores of the

two groups will show that in each

case therewas an improvementn the

ability of the students o identify n-

tervals. The group hat completed the

tapes improved qually well on their

ability to identify both melodic and

harmonic ntervals. The differencen

improvements significant t the 1%

level. The groupof students hat did

not completehe tapesdue to timealso

startedat a lower evel (a meanscore

of 547^o n the pretest compared o

meanscore715fo or the othergroup).

This group of studentsdid, however,

show a marked mprovementn their

ability to identify melodic intervals

which is significant t the

lSo

level.

The ability of this group to identify

harmonicntervalswas not significant-

ly increased.An analysisof individual

errors howsthat even when students

had not achieved accuracy n their

identificationwhichwas necessary o

meet the criterion evel), there was

improvementn theirjudgments bout

the intervals.

Evaluation

The evidence ndicates hat through

self-presentation ethods he ability o

identifybothmelodic ndharmonicn-

tervals an be improved. n this study,

not only did the studentshave all the

advantages of self-presentation nd

machine teaching methods but the

teachers ad extraclass time normally

spent on interval training for other

teaching As a resultof the procedure

outlined n the study, it is possible o

establish ndividual asesso that prog-

ress may be observed.The new pro-

cedure provides an opportunityto

study studentproblems elated o the

development f the skills. There are

sufficient ata for an evaluation.The

advantages re as follows:

1. Adequate ontrolscan be exer-

cised.

2. There is equal opportunity or

all students to learn. It has been

shown that all studentswho are ad-

mitted to The Ohio State University

Schoolof Musiccan learn hese skills.

3. It is possible o obtainsuitable

data.

4. Reinforcement f the right an-

swer is immediate.

5. The entire class may be super-

vised while each studentworksat his

own rate.

6. After absence a student may

easily beginwherehe left off.

7. Material can be organizedso

that each problemwill dependupon

the preceding ne with the resultthat

progress o an eventualIy omplex ep-

ertoiremay be controlled.

8. Mistakes are recorded; there-

fore, drills may be modified s exper-

ience dictatesby substituting,modify-

ing, or adding asks or steps.

9. Flexibilityof time scheduleal-

lows each student o practice.

10. Consistentpresentation f ma-

terial is in skillfulhands.

11. Each studentcan progress n a

sequenceof learningwhich best fits

his particular eeds.



8/9

97

ROGRAMMING

HE

BASIC

MATERIALS

OF

MUSIC

12.

The

teacher

can

devote

more

class

ime

to

activity

of

non-drill

nature.

Continued

Research

Under

a

grant

supported

by

the

United

tates

Office

of

Education,

e-

search

n

music

earning

has

been

con-

tinued

nder

the

direction

of

the

au-

thor.

Music

educators

have

been

in

volved

with

teaching

the

recognition

of

he

various

sounds

and

symbols

of

music nd their relatedproblemsas

part

of

the

music

learning

process.

Many

methods

have

evolved

so

that

students

ould

earn

basic

materials

o

a

more

adequate

evel.

The

presenta-

tion

of

these

materials

has

been

pri-

marily

an

aural

or

visual

approach.

If

students

responded

vertly

to

these

materials,

hey

normally

erformed

he

required

asks

by

singing

or

by

writing

theirresponses.Littlehasbeenknown

as

to

the

learning

ffectiveness

f

any

of

the

several

possible

combinations

f

material

presentation

r

the

response

modes.

The

previously

reported

re-

search

provided

a

self-instructional

technique

hat

had

been

shown

to

be

a

more

effective

method

of

learning

o

perceive

music

than

similar

learning

taught

by

traditional

procedures.

In

addition,his technique fforded way

of

controlled

presentation

on

an

in-

dividual

basis.

It,

therefore,

was

pos-

sible

to

study

and

compare

he

effec-

tiveness

of

students

earning

basic

ele-

ments

of

music

presented

with

two

dif-

ferent

self-presentation

methods

and

two

different

kinds

of

response

modesX

Intervals,

rhythmst

nd

a

combina-

tion of two intervalsand a rhythm

called

tone

groups

were

the

basic

ele-

ments

of

music

presented

n

this

study.

The

academic

year

1961-62

was

spent

in

the

continued

preparation

f

materials

nd

the

further

stablishment

of

de

self-presentation

methods

as

standard

rocedure

n

The

Ohio

State

University

chool

of

Music.

The

stu-

dents

f

the

freshman

lass

of

the

1962-

63 cademicyear uponentry to Ihe

Ohio

tate

University

School

of

Music,

were

iven

a

battery

of

four

music

ests

in

ddition

to

the

tests

given

by

the

University.

three

ests

measured

om-

petencies

n

thirteen

ariables

skills

n

the

bility

to

conceptualize

he

elemen-

tal

materials

of

music).

The

fourth

test

measured

he

pattern

of

change

n

theperfolrmance

cores

on

variables

representing

lemental

parts of the

aural

and

notated

language

n

music,

which

are

measured

at

certain

points

in

the

basic

two-year

integrated

se-

quence

of

college

level

courses

n

the

fundamentals

f

music.

On

the

basis

of

all

of

the

test

data

the

students

were

assigned

o

four

matched

roups

t

the

beginning

f

each

training

eriod.

Onegroupof studentsearnedusing

taped

self-instructional

material

pro-

grammed

with

aural

music

sounds

and

made

paper

and

pencil

responses.

The

students

heard

a

recorded

music

timu-

lus

and

respanded

with

paper

and

pen-

cil,

then

were

given

the

correct

denti-

fication.

The

second

group

of

students

learned

using

self-instructional

music

otation

programmed

nd

presented

visually

and recorded heir voice re-

sponses

on

tape,

then

were

given

the

correct

dentification.

The

third

group

of

students

learned

using

taped

self-

instructional

material

programmed

with

aural

music

sounds

and

recorded

their

voice

responses

n

tape,

and

then

were

given

the

correct

answer.

The

fourth

group

of

students

earned

using

self-instructionalmusic notation

pro-

grammed

and

presented

visually

and

made

paper

and

pencil

responses

nd

then

were

given

the

correct

answer.

A

ten-week

period

was

allotted

for

the

students

o

learn

each

one

of

three

basic

elements.

Only

one

of

the

three



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Documents

programming the basic materials of music