The effect of the use of text in music instruction on the tonal aptitude, tonal accuracy, and tonal understanding of kindergarten students.

摘要

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of the use of text in the performance of songs and the development of tonal understanding. The problems were: (a) to determine whether kindergarten students who are taught songs without text win perform with better intonation than students who are taught songs with text, (b) to determine whether kindergarten students who are taught songs without text can identify the resting tone through performance (audiate the tonic) of an unfamiliar song better than students who are taught with text, (c) to determine whether or not the use of text in song instruction has an effect on developmental tonal aptitude, (d) to determine whether or not developmental tonal aptitude has an effect on the intonation performance and ability to identify resting tone of kindergarten students who are taught songs without text and with text.;Four intact kindergarten classes (N = 58) from two elementary schools were randomly assigned to two groups. Experimental group one received music instruction primarily with text. Experimental group two received music instruction primarily without text. All subjects were pre- and posttested using the Tonal subtest of Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA).;Instruction occurred for 24 weeks and consisted of two 30-minute class periods per week for all students. At the end of the instructional period, the students were audiotaped performing two criterion songs and performing the resting tone of two unfamiliar songs. Their performances were rated by three independent judges using a Tonal Accuracy and Resting Tone rating scale.;Results indicated that students who received instruction with no text tended to have greater gains in their tonal aptitude than students who received instruction using only text. Also, there was no significant difference between the text group and the no text group after 24 weeks of instruction, and on the performance of resting tone. However, there was significant difference for developmental tonal aptitude. Students with low aptitude had greater gains in aptitude after instruction than students with high aptitude. Due to inclusive findings, song instruction should include songs with and without text.