An Analysis of Tonal Patterns Used for Sight-Singing Instruction in Second-Grade General Music Class

Abstract

This research examined characteristics of a select group of tonal patterns to identify features that may affect the initial acquisition of skill in sight-singing pitch. Second graders ( N = 193) individually read and sang 25 tonal patterns on a sight-singing pretest, posttest, and retention test. Between the pre- and posttest, the students practiced 15 of the patterns during general music classes, with one new pattern introduced and all previously presented patterns reviewed each session.Ten patterns not included in the instruction were read and sung only during tests. No pattern practice occurred for 8 weeks between the posttest and retention test. Sight-singing performance was assessed for pitch accuracy and contour accuracy. Pattern difficulty indices and difficulty rankings were determined on the basis of the results. Specific pattern features are considered in relation to these data, with some characteristics affecting accuracy with pitch and contour differently.

The effects of instruction on the singing ability of children ages 5 to 11: A meta-analysis

“…Additionally, singers earned lower scores when matching the middle pitch of a chord than all other tasks. Reifinger (2009; found that singing accuracy scores were significantly higher when singing familiar patterns than when singing unfamiliar patterns.…”

“…Positive effects on singing ability have been found for feedback (Porter, 1977;Welch, Howard, & Rush, 1989), literature dissemination (Apfelstadt, 1984;Klinger et al, 1998), the presence and type of singing instruction (Apfelstadt, 1984;Miyamoto, 2005;Rutkowski, 1996), and pattern instruction (Jarjisian, 1983;Porter, 1977). Use of intervals and content familiarity has been found to have positive effects on singing ability (Fyk, 1985;Moore, 1994;Reifinger, 2009Reifinger, , 2012. Conflicting effects, however, on singing ability have been found for vocal model (Green, 1990;Small & McCachern, 1983;Yarbrough, Green, Benson, & Bowers, 1991;Yarbrough, Bowers, & Benson, 1992), use of singing voice (Persellin, 2006;Phillips, 2014), use of accompaniment (Atterbury & Silcox, 1993;Guibault, 2004), effect of repetitive practice (Paney & Kay, 2014;Reifinger, 2009;Small & McCachern, 1983;Welch et al, 1989), population (Moore et al, 1995(Moore et al, /1996Moore et al, 2004), performance context (Goetze & Horii, 1989;Moore et al, 2004;Yarbrough et al, 1991), and text Gault, 2002;Guerrini, 2006;Rutkowski, 1990).…”

“…Use of intervals and content familiarity has been found to have positive effects on singing ability (Fyk, 1985;Moore, 1994;Reifinger, 2009Reifinger, , 2012. Conflicting effects, however, on singing ability have been found for vocal model (Green, 1990;Small & McCachern, 1983;Yarbrough, Green, Benson, & Bowers, 1991;Yarbrough, Bowers, & Benson, 1992), use of singing voice (Persellin, 2006;Phillips, 2014), use of accompaniment (Atterbury & Silcox, 1993;Guibault, 2004), effect of repetitive practice (Paney & Kay, 2014;Reifinger, 2009;Small & McCachern, 1983;Welch et al, 1989), population (Moore et al, 1995(Moore et al, /1996Moore et al, 2004), performance context (Goetze & Horii, 1989;Moore et al, 2004;Yarbrough et al, 1991), and text Gault, 2002;Guerrini, 2006;Rutkowski, 1990). Age and grade have yielded conflicting results regarding singing ability across grade levels (Fyk et al, 1995(Fyk et al, /1996Gault, 2002;Goetze and Horii, 1989;Hornbach & Taggart, 2005;Miyamoto, 2005;Yarbrough et al, 1991;Yarbrough et al, 1992;Welch et al, 1998).…”

“…The variation of singing tasks assessed when measuring children's singing ability has been considered problematic in singing ability research (Goetze et al, 1990;Rutkowski, 1996;Salvador, 2010;Welch, 1994). Singing task has been shown to affect measurement outcomes of singing ability (Moore, 1994;Reifinger, 2009Reifinger, , 2012. Although research has indicated that children would be most successful in assessments that included small familiar phrases or patterns on a neutral syllable (Guerrini, 2006;Moore, 1994), several tasks have required children to sing entire songs (Rutkowski, 1996) with and without text.…”

The Acquisition of Sight-Singing Skills in Second-Grade General Music

“…Also, a new song was taught each week by rote using the song text, with two of the groups singing a related song (description follows) and two groups singing an unrelated song. An example of the patterns and the songs used in the study can be seen in Figure 1, and a complete list of the patterns may be found in Reifinger (2009). The students in the related-song groups were guided in recalling the related song when reviewing the patterns.…”