The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of vibrato on the pitch-matching accuracy of certain and uncertain singers. Subjects were in kindergarten through Grade 3 ( N = 200). They responded to three different models singing a descending minor third from G to E above middle C: (1) a child model with 100% pitch accuracy; (2) an adult female model singing with vibrato and 79.53% pitch accuracy; and (3) the same adult female model singing nonvibrato and with 100% pitch accuracy. Results demonstrated significant differences between percentages of correct responses by certain (M = 78.48%) and uncertain singers (M = 40.89%) and among correct responses to the three models. There were more correct responses to the nonvibrato model than to either the vibrato or child model Further analyses demonstrated that certain singers seemed to produce a high percentage of correct responses regardless of sex, grade level or model presented. In contrast, uncertain singers responded most correctly to the nonvibrato model and least correctly to the child model. In addition, responses to the child model presented first were less accurate than those to either the second or third presentations. Accurate responses to the vibrato model seemed to be greater in third position than in second and greater in second position than in first. Responses to the nonvibrato model were the most consistent across the three positions as well as more accurate than responses to the other two models.

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The purpose of this study was to examine and empirically test the pedagogical claim that playing the piano while listening to choral singers impedes error detection ability. In a within-subjects design, participants (N = 55 preservice teachers) either listened to four excerpts of choral hymns or played a single part (soprano/bass) on the piano while listening. They were asked to locate the errors that occurred in these excerpts. Each excerpt contained a pitch and a rhythm error, in the soprano and bass voice parts. Results of an analysis of covariance (with years of piano study as the covariate) indicated significant main effects for condition and voicing. There were more errors detected in the soprano voicing than in the bass voicing, and more errors detected in the listen condition than in the playing condition. Implications for music teacher education are discussed, including adding practice in error detection activities to methods and conducting courses.

The following article, although a bit unusual is pertinent to this journal. It is not a review of research literature, nor is it a study about a single aspect of teaching music. It is, rather, a study about the application of research knowledge to teaching skills and values by experienced teachers. Update is based on the idea that if teachers are informed about the results of research, they will apply these results to their teaching. We all hope that this is true, and the results of this study seem to support the notion. Indeed, in this study, the researchers systematically examined how teachers' attitudes and skills changed as a result of being informed about research in a specific area: sequential patterns of instruction. The teachers chose to change without any contingencies operating to encourage or discourage this change. Work in understanding the sequential patterns of instruction in musk: is based on an ongoing line of research It is apparent that many music teachers and ensemble directors believe this concept is relevant, comprehensible, and easily applied.-H.E.P.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of sequential patterns of instruction and individual pattern components (including task presentation, student response, and teacher feedback) to the overall teacher effectiveness of music lessons taught by elementary education majors. Subjects were enrolled in three sections of a music methods course for elementary education majors ( n = 20; n = 21; n = 20). All groups received similar instruction, and additionally, Experimental Groups 1 (passively) and 2 (actively) received instruction in sequential patterns. Groups completed four teaching tasks, which served as training for the presentation and analysis of a fifth music-concept lesson that provided data for the study. Music-concept lessons were evaluated by a master teacher for overall teacher effectiveness. Additionally, lessons were analyzed for time spent in and frequency of patterns and components. Results indicated no differences in teacher effectiveness scores. However, groups differed in amount of time spent in individual pattern components. Experimental groups spent more time in student response and less time in task presentation, while the contact control group did the reverse. Examination of pattern-usage frequency indicated that the contact control group implemented more complete patterns than did experimental groups. When subdividing complete patterns into specific and nonspecific feedback patterns, however, both experimental groups used more specific feedback, and the contact control group used more nonspecific feedback. Some correlations between teacher effectiveness scores and pattern usage were low to moderate, and implications are discussed. All groups completed a posttest to ascertain that teaching skill instruction did not interfere with required academic content, and no differences in achievement were noted.