This study examined the relationship between pitch-discrimination and vocal pitch-matching abilities of preschool and fourth-grade children. One hundred forty-four students were selected randomly and tested individually on both ability measures. Scores on the pitch-discrimination test served as the basis for three ability-level groups within each age group. Analysis of pitch-matching scores indicated a significant difference between the age groups, but not for the pitch-discrimination based ability groups; nor was there a significant age-by-ability group interaction. Rank-order correlations between the two measures were generally low, with the exception of the high-ability group of fourth-graders, where r = 61.
The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the performance of intonation and the perception of intonation regarding ascending scalar patterns. Ninety-six undergraduate and graduate music students from four instrumental groups were placed in one of four experimental conditions. Following differential verbal feedback, subjects either performed a second time or listened to their individual performances and retuned them using a variable-speed tape recorder. Results indicated a tendency toward sharp intonation throughout the study, relative to the standard of equal temperament. Differences between performance and perception were not independent of accompaniment and scale degree. Intonational perception of unaccompanied scales was less accurate than both accompanied scale perception and performance conditions of unaccompanied and accompanied scales.
We investigated vibrato performance of university student and high school string players. Forty violinists and cellists performed an eight-measure passage both with and without vibrato. Analyses indicated that the mean rate of vibrato was approximately 5.5 Hz, with no significant differences between instruments or performer experience level. The mean width of violin vibratos was larger than cello vibratos. Violinists' mean pitch levels were sharper than cellists' in both vibrato and nonvibrato performances. Analysis of intonation patterns within the duration of tones showed that performers were more stable when using vibrato. University players tended to become sharper during both vibrated and nonvibrated tones compared to the younger players. Pitch oscillations during vibrato were alternations both above and below conceived pitch, rather than oscillations only above or only below the conceived pitch.
We investigated the effects of variations in tone quality on listeners' perception of both tone quality and intonation. University music and nonmusic major instrumentalists and high school students participating in instrumental ensembles served as listeners (N = 116). High-quality digital samples of clarinet, trumpet, and trombone tones were used. The original tone quality of each instrument was manipulated to produce experimental stimuli of "bright" and "dark" relative to the unaltered tone quality. Results indicated that the more inexperienced instrumentalists rated stimuli that were relatively "brighter" in tone quality as sharper in intonation, and conversely, stimuli of relatively "darker" tone quality were judged to beflatter in intonation. For the brass instruments, listeners judged the unaltered and bright tones as better in tone quality than tones that were relatively dark. However, for the clarinet tones, the bright tone quality was judged to be worse than unaltered or dark-quality stimuli.
The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate possible effects of visual information on nonmusic students' affective and cognitive responses to music. Excerpts were selected firm compositions by Bach (abstract example) and Dukas (programmatic example) used in the movie Fantasia. One group of university nonmusic students viewed the video while hearing the music excerpts; a second group was presented the music only. All students (N = 103) completed cognitive listening tests based upon the excerpts, rated the music on Likert-type affective scales, and responded to two open-ended affective questions. Results indicated that there were no significant differences between presentations on the more abstract (Bach) excerpt. On the programmatic (Dukas) excerpt, mean scores of the musicplus-video group were higher than the music-only group on both cognitive and affective measures. However; effect sizes were not robust, and differences in cognitive scores were not independent of presentation order Significantly more subjects in the music-only group used analytical descriptions of music elements for both pieces of music than did the video-group subjects.
Music educators who are concerned with the development of listen-ing skills generally describe the listening experience with primary emphasis on aural stimuli. When a listener focuses on recorded music, the sensory stimulation received is primarily aural. However, listening experience also frequently includes visual stimuli, particularly in livemusic performances such as an orchestral concert. The role of simultaneous presentation of aural and visual elements seems even greater John M. Geringer is a professor of music in the School of Music, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1208. Jane W. Cassidy is an associate professor of music education and James L. Byo is an associate professor of music education in the
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