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THE EFFECT OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE LISTENING CONDITION ON YOUNG CHILDREN’S MUSICAL UNDERSTADING OF FAMILIAR AND UNFAMILAIR MELODY THROUGH RESEARCHER-INVENTED NOTATION by Jiwon Chang A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS (MUSIC EDUCATION) December 2009 Copyright 2009 Jiwon Chang ii DEDICATION I cherish being able to dedicate this dissertation to my beloved and remarkable family, mom, dad, parents-in-law, lovely sons, Junwoo and Sean, and especially my husband, Joungho Rha who has always supported and walked beside me through every challenge. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep appreciation for all the assistance received from the members of my committee, Dr. Sheila C. Woodward and Dr. Joel Timm. In particular, I would like to sincerely thank my advisor, Dr. Susan Helfter, for her guidance, encouragement, constant support, and sacrificing her valuable time in assisting me to complete this document. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES vi ABSTRACT vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Background 1 Need for the Study 3 Purpose of the Study 3 Research Questions 3 Statement of the Null Hypotheses 4 Definitions 4 Assumptions 4 Delimitations 4 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 6 Overview 6 Listening and Listening Condition 6 Young Children’s Movement 8 Young Children’s Musical Representation 10 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 13 Introduction 13 Restatement of Purpose 13 Sample 13 Dependent Variable 15 Independent Variable 16 Design 17 Internal Validity 17 External Validity 18 Procedure 18 Pilot study 18 Classroom set-up 19 Listening sessions 20 Control group 20 Treatment group 20 Pre- and posttests 21 Judging 22 Analysis 24 Time Table 24 Protection of Human Subjects 24 v CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 26 Overview 26 Restatement of Research Questions 26 Restatement of Null Hypotheses 26 Data Treatment: Descriptive Results 27 Results 29 Figure 1. Gain scores for the number of tempo changes 32 Summary 33 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 34 Introduction 34 Purpose 34 Overview 34 Conclusion 35 Discussion 37 Number of subjects 37 Examining scores with no exclusion criteria applied to subjects 38 Spontaneous and instructional body movement 38 Implications for Music Education 39 Suggestions for Future Research 39 REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES 50 Appendix A: Music Examples 50 Appendix B: Drawing Examples 56 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Descriptive Judges Scores for All Children (n=67) 23 Table 2: Inter- rater Reliability: Correlation in Matrix of Judge Scores. 23 Table 3: All Students’ Scores for the Number of Changes Indentified Correctly 27 Table 4: Included Students’ Scores for the Number of Tempo Changes Indentified Correctly 28 Table 5: The Gain Scores of Included Students for the Number of Tempo Changes 30 Table 6: The Difference of Gain Scores between Dependent Variables by two-way ANOVA 31 vii ABSTRACT This study examined the effect of active and passive listening conditions on young children’s musical understanding of familiar and unfamiliar melody through researcher-invented notation. All subjects in this study were Korean children from 3 to 5 years of age in a private prekindergarten in Seoul, Korea. A pre- and posttest experimental design guided this study, which was conducted for five consecutive weeks, including three treatment sessions between pre- and posttest sessions in summer of 2009. The following research questions for the study were posed: 1) Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions? and 2) Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody? Listening conditions (independent variable) in this study were the presence or absence of body movement while children listened to short musical examples. The children’s apparent musical understanding of tempo (dependent variable) was captured through children’s guided drawings that indicated where they understood tempo changes to occur in the music. The drawings were evaluated by three independent judges who scored the number of accurate tempo changes indicated in the drawings. Three judges scored four drawings for each child: for familiar and unfamiliar melodies in both the pre- and posttest. A two-way ANOVA was used to analyze the scores. The results revealed that there is no statistically significant difference between treatment and control groups, between familiar and unfamiliar melody, and no difference with the interaction of group and melody familiarity. Therefore, the null hypotheses for this study were accepted. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background Listening is a primary factor for all people who experience music through their lifetime, and it is also critically important for all musical activities, such as making, enjoying, learning and playing. In other words, to learn and to enjoy music begins with a foundation of listening. Campbell (2005) states that when students become fully aware of the sounds around them, they can build musical understanding and performance skills through listening. In addition to the importance of listening in musical interaction in general, this underlines the importance of listening in music education. Learning to listen begins in infancy and prior to birth, when babies naturally begin listening for the voices of their mother, father, or caregivers. Their listening ability starts to develop from this very early period. Research indicates that, in the womb, a fetus is able to hear environmental sounds including music (Woodward 1992a, 1992b). Due to these reasons, music educators and researchers suggest that formal music education, including the development of listening skills, can be effective for young children, especially to children from 3 and 4 years of age (McPherson, 2005; Sims, 1988, 2002, 2005, Suzuki, 1973; Young, 2003). Music listening has been emphasized in music curricula across the world, informing content and teaching strategies. In the USA, it is included as one of the nine standards for a comprehensive music education in the National Standards for Art Education K-12 (MENC, 1994). Nevertheless, the author suggests that curriculum of music appreciation courses might often not include listening skill associated with the student’s listening ability but rather with the study of music fundamentals, historical background, musical style and musical form. 2 Even though music listening has been identified as a very significant component of music education, it is considered to be sometimes overlooked in school music classes (Campbell, 2005). This is also suggested to be true, especially with music instruction for young children where there may not be many programs for music listening, and efficient listening conditions may not be readily provided. Sims (1991) states that music listening is used mostly as a supportive tool for other activities to assist young children’s physical development or as background music for naptime or playtime. It is much less common to include singing or music listening with music education being the primary goal of the activity. Moreover, Cusano (2005) states that there is considerably less research on listening and listening ability for young children, in elementary school or earlier. Music listening is utilized as a subsidiary tool for other activities, but it is also true that other activities, such as movement and visual art, can be used as subsidiary tools for the development of music listening. Dalcroze (1921) is known for incorporating body movement to acquire knowledge and experience with various musical elements, such as rhythm, beat and tempo. Dalcroze stresses the importance of body for rhythm through his Eurhythmics methodology, and he insists that the body should be the child’s first instrument through which each child can interpret and respond to the aspects of the music (1921). To a lesser extent, movement is a part of the Orff and Kodály music education approaches as well. With younger children, movement can be incorporated to increase the duration of children’s attention to music listening (Sims, 1986, 1988). With this common association of movement as a tool for young children’s music learning, it is worthy to consider aspects of movement as they relate to music listening skills in young children. Cusano (2005) states that a prevalence in the music listening research of upper elementary aged subjects may be attributed to difficulties in measurement techniques with 3 younger children. In particular, children in the primary grades or younger have limited verbal and written competencies when in the primary grades (K-3) and younger. Given this challenge, researchers have attempted to measure the musical understanding and learning of young children using means other than verbal or written tests. Instead, children’s invented notation has been used in a systematic way to communicate the children’s understanding (Bamberger, 1980, 1982; Davison & Colley, 1987; Davison & Scripp, 1988; Upitis, 1987a, 1987b, 1990). Agreement on the accuracy of this measurement technique will require more use and analysis, but the results of the studies to date reveal that, when young children experience music, they can create invented notation that represents what they hear and experience (McCusker, 2001; Fung, 2001; Gromko & Poorman, 1998a; Gromko, & Russell, 2002). Need for the Study Although the importance of listening in music has been emphasized in many studies, there is a need for further investigation of listening skills for young children. Researchers agree that listening skills can and must be developed in young children, but differ in approaches and measurement of musical understanding. A key step in developing young children’s listening skills is to further identify effective listening conditions and accurate measurement to evaluate children’s musical understanding. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of active and passive listening conditions on young children’s musical understanding of familiar and unfamiliar melody through researcher-invented notation. Research Questions The research questions for this study are the following. 4 1. Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions? 2. Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent musical understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody? Statement of the Null Hypotheses The null hypotheses for this study are the following: 1. There will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions. 2. There will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody. Definitions Researcher-Invented Notation - notation created by the researcher that allows children to depict their understanding of musical attributes while listening to musical examples. Passive Listening Condition - a listening condition in which children listen to music while sitting or lying on the floor without any activity. Active Listening Condition - a listening condition in which children listen to music with activity such as body movement, with or without props. Assumptions All subjects have similar music and art education backgrounds. Prekindergarten music programs experienced by the subjects are likely to have focused on activities of movement with background music rather than on listening to music. All students have the ability to express their thinking through drawing, and they are able to draw movement of the line. Delimitations This study was conducted with young children ranging in age from 3 to 5 years, the 5 majority of subjects being 3 or 4 years of age. Subjects attended a prekindergarten located at the Mok-Dong district in Seoul, Korea, and the socio-economic status of these children was similar amongst the group. This specific prekindergarten was primarily chosen for its geographical location which was accessible to the researcher and for its availability, as established in preliminary communications. The measurement for musical understanding was inferred through children’s drawings according to the instructions given. 6 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Overview This study presents a review of literature related to listening and listening condition, young children’s musical movement, and young children’s musical representation. Secondary sources, such as review articles that summarize the research findings of various authors as well as primary sources, such as articles, papers, dissertations, theses, and books on the topic, are utilized. Literature in this review addresses the role of listening in musical understanding, effective listening conditions, and the relationship between movement and the development of musical ability in young children. Lastly, literature has been included that explores children’s ability to demonstrate their musical understanding through various representations or notation systems. Listening and Listening Condition Listening is an essential part in music learning and enjoyment throughout a person’s lifetime, but it has often been overlooked in music education research in comparison to other research areas, such as music preference or music attitude. Some researchers have asserted that music listening is an aspect of music education that has received minimal attention from researchers (Baldridge, 1984; Cusano, 2005; Haack, 1992). Campbell (2005) states that listening is sometimes an underrated activity in school classes and ensembles, although it should be the heart and soul of music education, and she notes that students who learn to listen well are then led by their ears into a refined musicianship that is the basis of their growth as performers, composers, and analytical thinkers. 7 Sims (1987, 1991, 2005) shows that children have a critical window of time for learning to listen to music with attention and understanding, and for building the foundation for ongoing music learning and enjoyment. Numerous studies have emphasized that young children’s attentive and perceptive listening ability can and must be developed and practiced from early in life (Abeles, Hoffer, & Klotman, 1984, Arnoff, 1968; Brand & Fernie, 1983; Ernst & Gary, 1965; Sims, 1986, 2005; Smith, 1970; Swanson, 1981; Zimmerman, 1971). These studies have chiefly emphasized the importance of ability development in young children. At the same time, the results of these studies have revealed that listening abilities can be improved through education and learning. Nevertheless, Haack (1992) notes that there has been relatively little research aimed at determining how and when skills and attitudes related to music listening develop. Sims (2005) insists that one of the reasons for this gap in research is that ‘listening’ cannot be observed directly, and this problem is magnified when working with young children. In several studies, effective listening conditions for young children have been investigated (Alvarez, 1982; Gromko & Russell, 2002; Scott, 1991; Sims, 2002, 2005), and some have revealed that active listening, including movement or the use of visual aids, leads to greater levels of on-task behavior during group listening experiences when compared with passive listening (Cassidy & Geringer, 1999; Carper, 2001; Cohen, 1987; Fung 2001; Sims,1986). Mack (1995) investigates the effects of using story book pictures during group listening activities for preschool children on children’s listening duration and attention. The results of the study show that when children follow along with one of these visual aids, some of the children listen for longer durations than those in groups with no visuals. Sims (1986, 2005) finds that active listening, including small hand movements in response to specified 8 characteristics of the music during listening, achieves higher levels of attention than more passive listening. The results of these studies indicate that the active listening condition might provide more efficient listening environments for young children than passive listening conditions. Sims (2002) emphasizes that many music listening opportunities including exposure to diverse musical genres are needed by young children. These children should be given the opportunity to express what they hear in the music through movement, graphic representations, and conversations about the music. In summary, the author suggests that music educators need to know what young children are hearing when they listen to music, and to understand how they express what they are hearing, since listening is a vital aspect of music education. Furthermore, it is suggested that investigations on student listening conditions may assist music educators in improving listening abilities in young children. Young Children’s Movement In the listening condition, activities, such as singing, moving, visual aids usage, or playing are considered significant attention honing factors. The results of many studies have shown that activities requiring active participation are associated with higher levels of attention compared to more passive types of activities, such as solely listening to music or verbal instruction (Barclay & Newell, 1980; Bowles, 1998; Cohen 1997; Fox, 1991; Fung, 2001; Sims, 1986, 2005). Movement can be an effective component of active participation in listening, especially in young children. The importance of movement for young children’s physical and cognitive development has also been suggested in the theories of Piaget (1962), Vygotsky (1978), and Dalcroze (1921). Dalcroze (1921) says that the body should be the first instrument through 9 which to reflect and interpret movement and nuances in music. Hedden and Woods (1992) state that the source of musical rhythm is the natural loco-motor rhythm of the human body. However, is this also relevant to young children? Indeed, the ideas that music is related to natural loco-motor rhythms of the body and that movement may be the source of children’s perception of nuance and pattern in music have also been referenced in numerous studies (Fung, 2001; Hedden & Woods, 1992; Jaques-Dalcroze, 1921; Lewis, 1998; Metz, 1989; Sims, 1986; Vygotsky, 1978). In a study with 29 elementary children, ages 7 to 12 years, Gromko and Russell (2002) examine whether children’s active involvement during listening improves their ability to perceive the form of Gershwin’s Prelude No.3. Fourteen children of the more active movement group in this study mirrored the teacher in performance of movements that corresponded to the characteristics of the music and assembled the graphic notation map from its parts. After listening, all children were asked to color code the twelve sections of the Prelude during one final listening, using the same color sticker for sections that sounded the same. The results show that children in the more active movement group performed significantly better at the sticker task, which was designed to measure the children’s perception of form. As stated above in the listening condition section, Sims (1986) investigates the effect of active listening on young children’s (age 3 to 5 years) attention, music preference, time spent listening, and piece recognition. Active listeners are instructed to perform hand movements that correspond to the characteristics of the music while listening to piano pieces by Mussorgsky and Bizet. Passive listeners are requested to hold their hands in their laps while listening to the piano pieces. She finds that children are more attentive during music listening activities when they perform hand movements that correspond to the characteristics of the music listening. However, the results do not mention the relationship between active listening condition and young children’s musical understanding or perception 10 during listening, reporting measurement problems in investigating young children’s musical understanding. Nevertheless, some studies in music education have emphasized the importance of the relationship between young children’s musical perception and their movements during listening and have provided empirical support for this (Lewis, 1998; Metz, 1989; Mueller, 1993). Fung (2001) examines the effects of active versus passive listening condition on music perception of children, ages 7 to 12 years. In the study, thirty- five elementary-level children are divided into two groups, active and passive, where active listeners move spontaneously while listening and passive listeners sit quietly during listening. The results of the study show that children’s spontaneous movement in the active group enhanced their perception of rhythm and phrasing, as reflected in the quality of the children’s invented notation. Although Fung’s study does not deal with young children (under 6 years of age), or the effect of listening condition on young children’s musical understanding, it provides a basis for researchers who are interested in the measurement of young children’s musical understanding. Young Children’s Musical Representation Several studies indicate that children have a rich and various repertoire of symbols and strategies for notating rhythm and melody. They use words, icons, lines, marks, color, and a number of other methods to represent the melodies they hear (Bamberger, 1982, 1994; Gromko, 1976, 1994; Davidson & Colley, 1987; Fung, 2001; Korzenik, 1972; Smith, 1970; Upitis, 1987a, 1987b, 1990). Upitis (1990) describes various symbols that fifty children, ages from 6 to 9 years, use to notate two melodies. She finds the information they most frequently choose to record is pitch, rhythm, duration, and less often mood and dynamics. Children demonstrate in a variety of ways, as previously listed (e.g. icons, symbols, words, or 11 discrete mark) to creatively denote the melody. Fung (2001) investigates the effect active versus passive listening has on the quality of children’s invented notation. Children, ages 7 to 12 years, participated in this study, and the results show significant differences between two groups of children regarding their referencing of certain parameters, such as in their invented notation. Davidson and Scripp (1988) describe the importance of children’s graphic representations this way “…for a more complete knowledge of children’s understanding of music, their representations of music are critical ‘windows’ for viewing their musical cognitive development” (p.196). According to Davidson and Colley (1987), activities where children can create musical representations using invented notations offer greater evidence of musical understanding. They also state that children can convey their comprehension of music events through a symbolic representation. However, it is the responsibility of researchers to develop more child-centered measures. This idea of ‘child -centered measures’ is based on previous studies by Bamberger (1980, 1982), where she observes children’s invented notations after listening to simple rhythmic sequences. She finds that children can express through their invented notation the differences among various rhythm sequences that they perceive. Several studies in music education investigate the nature of children’s invented visual representations or musical notations in order to gain insight into children’s development of musical perception and use of symbols. Numerous studies also suggest that as children develop their skills in perception of music’s characteristics, such as pitch, dynamics, and timbre, their invented notations make reference to more of these musical dimensions in much greater detail (Bamberger, 1991; Barrett, 1997; Davidson & Colley, 1987; Davidson & Scripp, 1988; Fung, 2001; Gromko, 1994, 1998; Gromko & Poorman, 1998a, 1998b; Upitis, 1987a, 1987b, 1990). In Gromko’s 12 (1994) empirical study involving sixty children, ages 4 to 8 years, the quality of children’s invented notation is seen to be related to their in-tune singing and accurate playing of the song notated, as well as to their discrimination of short and rhythmic patterns. Gromko and Poorman (1998a) also investigate the relationship among children’s aural perception of tonal patterns, children’s symbol use in their drawing, and selection tasks based on tonal information. Sixty-four children, ages 4 to 12 years, participated in this study, and the results show that their ability to use musical symbols is related to their aural perception of musical sound. These abilities follow a developmental progression within and across perception, selection, and drawing tasks. This result supports the ideas of Gromko’s previous research that invented notations reflect children’s musical understandings, and that, as children’s perceptions grow in musical detail, their notation grows in sophistication (1994). As described above, numerous studies in music education show that young children’s musical understanding during listening can be measured through their invented notation. Furthermore, young children’s musical representations can be improved, based on their physical ability and development of musical cognition and perception. Bamberger (1982) claims that, in young children’s musical drawing, there is a typology of drawings (notations) for simple rhythms, each associated with specific strategies that not only have developmental implications, but also point to significant and contrasting structural aspects inherent in the rhythms themselves. Clearly, young children’s visual representations can provide us with an indication of their musical perception and can serve as a valuable tool for researching listening. 13 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY Introduction This chapter presents the research methodology utilized for the study. It includes a restatement of the purpose of the study, discusses the overall research design, and explains sampling, procedures, data collection, and the method of data analysis. Restatement of Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of active and passive listening conditions on young children’s musical understanding of familiar and unfamiliar melody through researcher-invented notation. Sample There were 70 (n=70) research subjects ranging from 3 to 5 years of age, each attending a private prekindergarten located in Mok-Dong, a southwestern region of Seoul, Korea in this study. Seoul consists of twenty-five autonomous districts. One of these districts is called Yangcheon-gu, or ‘Gu’, and the Mok-Dong area is a part of this district. According to the 2009 official information of the Yangcheon-district office (http://www.yangchon.seoul.kr), the Mok-Dong area consists mostly of residential apartments that have been built since 1980 for this somewhat new community of middle class families. The area of Mok Dong is 5,340 square kilometers (the total area of Seoul is 605, 520 square kilometers) and has a population of 163,586 (Seoul has a population of 10,456,095). The average age of the residents ranges from persons in their mid-30s to 40s (http://www.yangchon.seoul.kr), and most families of the research subjects are middle class Korean. The families send their young children to private prekindergarten with a monthly tuition equivalent to over US$900 because there is no public 14 prekindergarten in Korea. Families who do not send their children to private prekindergarten are able to use free government-provided day-care centers typically frequented by children from low income families. One of the significant features of Mok-Dong parents is that they tend to have ambitious educational goals for their children. Due to being active and vocal about school systems and educational opportunities for their children, parents have influenced the sustenance of these high achieving schools. According to the statistics from Seoul Metropolitan Government (http://stat-app.seoul.go.kr) for 2005, there were 1,300 private educational institutes registered with the Gangseo District Office of Education, which includes the Mok-Dong area. This is the third highest number of institutes if the 11 District Offices of Education in Seoul. Of the 1.300 institutes, 392 are classified as art institutes, and this number of art institutes also represents the fourth highest number in the 11 District Offices of Education. For younger children, this arts focus includes a variety of activities, such as music, sports, visual arts, a second language, and so on. When children are 10 or 11 years of age, parents tend to stress the main school subjects, such as Math, Korean, and English, rather than the arts, discontinuing enrollment in these art-related activities. A sample of convenience was selected for this study due to the geographical proximity of the population to the researcher. The prekindergarten in this study was selected because of the generally consistent socioeconomic and educational backgrounds of the majority of the children. The principal and the music teacher in this school were contacted about the school’s possible participation in this study, and they ardently agreed to participate and to initiate the process of scheduling the treatment and pre- and posttests. There were a total of 120 students in this school ranging in age from 2 to 6 years. The children had a 50-minute general music class once a week with the music teacher 15 and assistant teacher. The music program consisted of singing, dancing, playing, and exploring sound in general, with Western music being used mostly frequently. Korean music was taught only to children from ages 5 to 6 years, and they typically learned to play ‘Jango’, a traditional Korean percussion instrument similar to Western drum. The music teacher of this school holds a certificate in Kindermusik from the United States, and had worked in this school for three years and other prekindergarten schools in Korea for six years. She was selected to lead the music classes for this study as she was familiar with the students and the school, and demonstrated a high level of capability. There were 70 children (n=70) participating at the onset of the study, and the children were assigned equally to control and treatment groups through a stratified random sampling process by age. Stratification was performed according to age in order to make both groups nearly equal in number. For example, the names of all 5-year-old children were randomly selected for control and treatment groups. The same process was used for the selection of the 4- and 3-year-old children. This process facilitated a nearly equal age distribution in the two groups. Due to attrition, the final number of participants was 67 (n=67), as three participants either did not take one of the tests or were absent from school during the course of the experiment. Of the three students who did not complete the study, two were from the treatment group, and one was from the control group, creating final participant numbers of 34 (n=34) in the treatment and 33 (n=33) in the control groups. The treatment group consisted of nine 3-year-old, eighteen 4-year-old, and seven 5-year-old children. The control group consisted of ten 3-year-old, seventeen 4-year-old, and six 5-year-old children. Dependent Variable The dependent variables were the pre- and posttest scores of the children’s drawings 16 which represented their apparent understanding of tempo as they listened to music. This system of measurement was adapted from a study by Fung (2001) in which children demonstrated their understanding of tempo by drawing on paper as they listened to music. The children were instructed to draw figures that corresponded to changes of tempo in music. For example, instructions were to draw continuous ‘z’ or ‘wave’ patterns, having dense intervals when the tempo was fast, and wider intervals when the music was slow. The children drew on light grid paper in order to assist the researcher in comparing the respective size s of ‘z’ patterns for each child. The children were videotaped as they drew. The videotapes allowed judges to identify changes in drawing with changes of musical element and evaluate student musical understanding without disrupting the child’s concentration during testing. Each musical example had four tempo changes and three judges assigned a numeric value reflecting the number of accurate changes as indicated in the student’s drawing: 0 – No accurate changes or student didn’t understand instructions 1 – One distinct change corresponding with one musical change 2 – Two distinct changes corresponding with two musical changes. 3 – Three distinct changes corresponding with three musical changes. 4 - Four distinct changes corresponding with four musical changes. Independent Variable The independent variable was the listening condition for the young children, active or passive. The active condition included movement guided by the music teacher, which corresponded to changes in tempo while listening to music. Children assigned to this treatment condition participated with their teacher in moving arms, legs, and their bodies to represent musical characteristics they heard in the music. The movements also included 17 using props, such as colorful ribbons or chiffon scarves. In the passive listening condition, children listened without movement to guided instructions concerning changes in tempo. Children assigned to the control group listened to the music while comfortably sitting, lying down, or leaning against a wall, while the music teacher pointed out changes in the musical aspects of tempo. All subjects participated in a total of three listening sessions for this study. These sessions were incorporated into their general music classes once a week for three consecutive weeks. Each listening session lasted approximately 40 minutes. The music classes for the treatment groups and control groups contained 6 to10 children per class for a total of eight classes (four control and four treatment). Grouping children in these smaller classes of 8 to 10 students is consistent with the regular class structure at the school. Design The design of this study was a pre- and posttest experimental design. All subjects took a pretest, participated as members of the three listening sessions of either active or passive listening conditions, and then took a posttest. Internal Validity Subjects were selected from one private prekindergarten in order to reduce diversity in educational experience, situation, and program. The school music teacher led the treatment and control groups to eliminate intervention of the researcher in the experiment. This also provided a familiar environment in which the subjects could feel comfortable during the experiment. The treatment occurred at the same time and the same duration as regular music class in order to maintain consistency for subjects and uniformity in scheduling. Treatments were scheduled on every Monday in June, 2009. 18 The subjects of both control and treatment groups took pre- and posttests. While higher scores on the posttest may have resulted due to experience gained from taking the pretest, this factor influenced both groups equally. The desired number of subjects was 60 for the analysis of this study. Therefore, an additional 10 subjects were included in the study to make up for attrition due to student absence. Three independent judges scored the dependent variable. A blind process was used in the judging to shield the identity of the children. External Validity The school selected for this study was a typical prekindergarten in the Mok-Dong District as far as population distribution, economic status, general educational goals, and student achievement. Adults in the Mok-Dong District are 30-40 years on average and most hold professional jobs with high educational goals for their children. Procedure With the assistance of the school principal, participants were recruited from the school population, and permission forms were completed by their parents and the school principal. The music classes for this study were led by the music teacher, and the study was conducted over a five-week period on successive Mondays in June 2009. Week one included the pretest followed by three weekly music classes, with the posttest in week five. The following describes details regarding the pilot study, music classes, pre- and posttest procedures, analysis, and timeline. Pilot study A pilot study was conducted with a smaller sample (n=52) of similar students ranging from 3 to 5 years of age. The pilot study was conducted in two private pre-schools in Seoul in November, 2008. A total of four music examples consisting of eight measures were used 19 for the treatment sessions, the pre- and posttest. A pretest, one treatment session, and a posttest were administered consecutively on the same day for the pilot study. A digital piano was used to play the music examples live, and the piano player and other music teacher participated in judging the children’s drawings. Two judges evaluated the children’s drawings according to the number of tempo and dynamic changes depicted in their drawings. The data were collected after one treatment session. The current format for measurement and procedure for collecting data was modified after the pilot study. The procedures were formalized, adding two additional treatment sessions and extending the duration of each treatment session. The number and length of musical examples were altered to allow for greater changes in tempo. In addition, changes in dynamics were eliminated from the melodies so as to remove another variable. Finally, it was decided to lessen further variables by using recordings rather than live music during treatments and tests. The scoring system was adjusted in measuring the children’s apparent understanding of tempo changes in their drawings. The judging system was also adjusted, increasing the number of judges, participation of judges being restricted to evaluations only (without participation in treatment sessions or the pre- and posttests), and watching of videos while scoring, as every test session was video recorded for accurate matching points between real tempo changes in music and changes in children’s drawings. Classroom set-up The general music classroom in the school was used for the music classes in this study. This large room included a CD player, and two speakers for listening. The room was spacious enough for the subjects to move about freely while listening to music. Colorful tapes and chiffon scarves were available for the students to use in the treatment group. 20 Listening sessions Listening sessions occurred on three consecutive weeks for both the active and the passive listening groups. Each session lasted for 40 minutes. In the first and second session, recorded versions of two melodies were played for the subjects: one familiar melody (Twinkle, Twinkle for the first listening session and London Bridge for second session), and one unfamiliar melody. Each melody was played three times. The familiar melodies were selected from those previously taught to all of the children in their music class. The unfamiliar melodies were composed specifically for this study and were based on similar phrasing, length, melodic shape, and harmonic structure. The third listening session included recorded versions of three melodies for the subjects: two familiar melodies used already in the first and second session and one unfamiliar. Each melody contained four musical changes in tempo. Control group Participants (n=33) of the control group were divided into four small groups. Each of the four groups experienced the same content and instruction during the music listening classes. The control condition consisted of music teacher-guided listening activities. The teacher played recorded musical examples as the students sat quietly, relaxed, and listening. The teacher guided the students in understanding the musical concepts of tempo in the recorded examples. Tempo changes in the music were pointed out for students’ recognition and understanding. Treatment group Similar to the control group, participants (n=34) of the treatment group were also divided into four small groups. Each group experienced the same content and instruction in the music listening class. 21 The treatment condition consisted of the music teacher guiding listening activities with movement. The teacher played recorded musical examples and modeled movements that corresponded to the tempo of the music. The teacher used props with the children, such as colorful scarves and ribbons. When the music was faster, the teacher modeled faster gestures and encouraged the children to do the same to represent the tempo of the movement. Special attention was given to those who needed more encouragement to imitate the movements. Both familiar and unfamiliar melodies were included in each music class, introducing students to new music and allowing them to transfer skills in listening to unfamiliar music. Pre- and posttests The pre- and posttests followed the same procedures. The pretest was administered on week one, and the posttest on week five. Testing occurred during the regularly scheduled music classes, with each student being tested separately and consecutively. The individual tests lasted for 2 to 3 minutes duration, resulting in a period of 20 to 30 minutes for all students in one class to be tested. Each classroom contained children who had been assigned to the treatment and control groups. The classroom teachers, unaware of which children were assigned to the control and treatment group, sent the children for testing in an order that provided the least disturbance for the class. The test was administered to each student individually while the other students in the class played, read, snacked, or listened to story-telling by their classroom teacher. The result was that the children were tested in an order that interspersed children in the control group with those from the treatment groups. The order of children being tested was the same for the pre- and posttest. The testing procedure for each class began with instructions provided for all participants. Testing each student began with abbreviated instructions to clarify and help 22 children remember the instructions. In the directions, the music teacher demonstrated by drawing a continuous ‘z’-shaped figure representing changes in the tempo that were heard in the short, familiar musical example played. When the music was faster, the ‘z’-shape was to be drawn densely, and when the music was slower, the ‘z’-shape was to be drawn sparsely. The children were instructed to begin their drawing on a pre-drawn dot on the page and to continue drawing until the music stopped. For each test (pre- and posttests), two different short recorded melodies were played on a CD player: one familiar melody and one unfamiliar melody (Appendix A). Each of the two melodies was played once. The children selected a colored marker, listened to each melody played, and drew on a large piece of paper according to the instructions they had received. The entire process of the pre- and posttests was videotaped for evaluation by the judges at a later time. Judging Three judges with extensive experience in music education for young children evaluated the drawings. The judges underwent training, in order to ensure accurate calibration of the measurement system, and were trained separately on different days. The training was provided by the researcher and provided judges with information about assigning appropriate scores. The judges were trained to watch sample videos of the researcher drawing and to independently assign two scores to each drawing. Once the sample drawings were evaluated accurately by each of the judges, and the research was convinced that the judges clearly understood the system, evaluation of the study data commenced. The children’s drawings were judged in the same order in which the children took the pre- and posttests, with children from the control group interspersed with those from the 23 treatment group. The judges did not know the group affiliation of each child or if they were judging a pretest or posttest. See Appendix B for samples of children’s drawings. After collecting the raw scores, consistency among the three judges’ scores was determined through a correlation test. A threshold of r>=.60 indicating a substantial relationship (Best & Kahn, 2006), was established for inclusion of the scores. This demonstrates that the three judges evaluated the pre- and posttests consistently. A results of r<.60 would indicate less consistent scoring among the three judges and call into question the reliability of the measurement and the findings. The results of a Pearson Correlation test indicated that all of the judges’ scores met these criteria, and consequently all scores were included in the analysis. Table 1. Descriptive Judge Scores for All Children (n=67) M SD Range Judge 1 1.83 1.70 0 - 4 Judge 2 1.45 1.43 0 – 4 Judge 3 1.63 1.64 0 - 4 Table 2. Inter-rater reliability: Correlation Matrix of Judge Scores Judge 1 Judge 2 Judge 3 Judge 1 ______ ______ ______ Judge 2 r=.71* ______ ______ Judge 3 r=.73* r=.60* ______ *p<.001 24 Analysis The drawings of all subjects were collected to score the children’s apparent music understanding, according to the procedure described in the Dependent Variable section. The mean scores of all three judges’ scores were collected. The pretest scores were subtracted from the posttest scores, producing a gain score. The gain scores reflect the change in apparent student understanding after the treatments. Once calculated for each student, each gain score for the children in the treatment group (active listening group) based on the familiar and unfamiliar melodies were compared with the gain scores for the familiar and unfamiliar melodies in the control group (passive listening group) using the two-way ANOVA test. The result of the test indicated whether the treatment based on familiarity had had any effect. This analytical procedure was used to determine if the treatment had an effect on children’s musical understanding of tempo. Time Table This five-week study was conducted in June and July, 2009. Data for the pretest were collected in week one, and data for the posttest were collected in week five. Between pre-and posttests, three treatment sessions were processed on three consecutive Mondays in July, 2009. Judging was conducted in July of 2009, immediately after the experiment had concluded. Protection of Human Subjects This study was conducted in Seoul, Korea with 70 children ranging from 3 to 5 years of age. Children were assigned to a treatment group according to random stratification. The children were mostly right-handed, healthy, and from upper middle-class families. Agreement for participation in the experiment was obtained from the principals and parents. All had signed and returned letters of approval for their children to participate. The letters 25 indicated that the treatment session would last for approximately 40 minutes, and if the children (or parents) wished to discontinue participation in the study at any time, they could do so freely. This study was considered non-human subject research for the following reasons: 1) The experiment occurred during the children’s regularly scheduled music class, and 2) the identities of all subjects participating in this study were secured by the music teacher. Each child was assigned a code that replaced his or her name. These codes were created and held by the music teacher who provided the researcher and judges with coded number identification only. The identities of the children were never revealed to the researcher or to the judges, as recommended by the Institutional Review of Board (IRB) at the University of Southern California (USC). The researcher received a “Non –Human Subjects Research” letter of approval from the IRB on May of 2009. 26 CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS Overview This study investigated young children’s apparent understanding of tempo in familiar and unfamiliar melodies when comparing active and passive listening conditions. Chapter 4 includes a restatement of the two research questions and related two null hypotheses that guided the study. Data treatment and results are then discussed and are followed by a chapter summary. For purposes of reporting, the limit for identifying statistical significance was set at p<.05. The software programs employed in the data analysis were Microsoft Excel 2007, and SPSS 16.0. Restatement of the Research Questions There were two research questions for this study related to young children’s musical understanding. One question asked if there is a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo (dependent variable) when comparing active and passive listening conditions (independent variable). The second question asked if there is a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody. Restatement of the Null Hypotheses There were two null hypotheses for the study. Hypothesis one states that there will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions. Hypothesis two states that there will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody. 27 Data Treatment: Descriptive Results As discussed earlier, for the testing sessions, the children each contributed two drawings which represented their apparent musical understanding of tempo: one drawing in response to a familiar melody and a second in response to an unfamiliar melody. Three independent judges evaluated the children’s drawings and provided scores that represented the number of accurate tempo changes reflected in their drawings. When considering the pre- and posttest sessions, this resulted in four drawings per child and a corresponding four scores from each judge. With sufficient inter-judge agreement, as outlined in Chapter 3, the mean of the judges’ scores was calculated for each drawing and included in the analysis. The results for all children who completed the study are included in Table 3 below. Table 3. All Students Scores for the Number of Tempo Changes Indentified Correctly n Range Mean SD Pretest Familiar melody 34 0.00-4.00 1.87 1.46 Treatment Unfamiliar 34 0.00-4.00 1.07 1.34 Posttest Familiar 34 0.00-4.00 2.76 1.33 Unfamiliar 34 0.00-4.00 2.18 1.24 Pretest Familiar melody 33 0.00-4.00 1.38 1.34 Control Unfamiliar 33 0.00-3.00 .84 .99 Posttest Familiar 33 0.00-4.00 1.64 1.38 Unfamiliar 33 0.00-3.67 1.32 1.28 Table 3 indicates that for the pretest, the scores for all children were between .84 and 28 1.87 and for the posttest, between 1.32 and 2.76. While all the scores are numerically higher for the posttest, many of these individual scores did not meet the inclusion criteria for the remaining analysis. The children’s scores had to meet the inclusion criteria of at least 1.00 on the pretest to be included in further analysis. A pretest score of less than 1.00 indicated that a student did not understand the drawing system of the experiment, and the score could not be included. Although 70 children participated in this study, three did not complete the study, and scores for an additional 27 children did not meet the inclusion criteria. The scores for these 30 children were excluded from further analysis. Scores from the 40 remaining students were included, and information about the scores is included in Table 4. Table 4. Included Students’ Scores for the Number of Tempo Changes Identified Correctly n Range Min. Max. M SD Pre Familiar 20 2.33 1.67 4.00 2.98 .71 Treatment Post Unfamiliar Familiar 12 20 2.67 4.00 1.33 .00 4.00 4.00 2.69 2.97 .90 1.35 Unfamiliar 12 4.00 .00 4.00 2.25 1.50 Pre Familiar 18 3.00 1.00 4.00 2.41 .95 Control Post Unfamiliar Familiar 13 18 2.00 4.00 1.00 .00 3.00 4.00 1.92 1.44 .64 1.19 Unfamiliar 13 3.67 .00 3.67 1.31 1.36 29 Table 4 shows descriptive statistics according to the children’s scores that met the inclusion criteria. In the treatment group, the scores from 20 children met the inclusion criteria. The scores from all 20 of these children met the inclusion criteria for the familiar melody and the scores from only 12 children met the criteria for the unfamiliar melody. In the control group, the scores from 20 children met the inclusion criteria. Of these 20 children, 18 earned scores that met the criteria for familiar melody and only 13 children met the criteria for unfamiliar melody. The results in Table 4 indicate that the pretest scores range from 1.92 to 2.98 and the posttest scores range from 1.31 to 2.97. These scores are higher in the pretest than the posttest, contrary to Table 3. Similar to Table 3, these scores are numerically higher for the familiar melody than for the unfamiliar melody. Only student scores meeting the inclusion criteria were used for the remaining analysis and results in this chapter. Results To identify changes in student understanding between the pre- to posttest, gain scores were calculated for the variables of familiar and unfamiliar melody. The gain scores were calculated by subtracting each child’s pretest scores from each posttest score. Prior to conducting tests of significance, descriptive data of the gain scores is shown in Table 5 for the helpful interpretation of further analysis. 30 Table 5. The Gain Scores of Included Students for the Number of Tempo Changes The mean gain scores indicated in Table 5 are less than zero with the exception of the familiar melody in the treatment group which is .02. The study was framed by two key research questions, and the results are presented in the same order as the research questions. Research question 1: Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing the active and passive listening conditions? The results were calculated with a two-way ANOVA using the student gain scores. According to Educational Research (Gall et al, 2003), “ANOVA is a procedure for determining whether the difference between the mean scores of two or more groups on a dependent variable is statistically significant” (p.618). A two-way ANOVA was selected for this study because of the two independent variables, listening conditions and familiarity of n Min Max Mean SD Treatment Familiar melody 20 -.68 .71 .02 1.62 Unfamiliar 12 -1.34 .45 -.44 1.77 Both Combined 32 -1.34 .71 -.16 1.67 Control Familiar melody 18 -1.70 -.23 -.96 1.38 Unfamiliar 13 -1.48 -.24 -.62 1.42 Both Combined 31 -1.70 .24 -.82 1.39 Treatment Total Familiar 38 -1.70 .71 -.45 1.57 & Control Total Unfamiliar 25 -1.48 .45 -.53 1.57 31 melody, and one dependent variable, musical understanding in melody. The two-way ANOVA compared the treatment and control groups, the familiar and unfamiliar melodies and the intercept of groups and familiarity, and the results are indicated below in Table 6. The results in Table 6 indicate that there is no significant difference (p=.15) between the results of the treatment and the control groups. Therefore, the listening condition did not have an effect on the young children’s apparent understanding of tempo. Whether active and passive listening, this did not affect the children’s understanding of tempo. The first null hypothesis for this study was the following: There will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions. This null hypothesis is accepted, based on the results of this study. Table 6. The Difference of Gain Scores between Dependent Variables by Two-way ANOVA Source Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig Corrected Model 9.40 3 3.14 1.31 .28 Intercept 15.09 1 15.09 6.32 .02 Group treat/cont 4.99 1 4.99 2.09 .15 Familiarity .05 1 .05 .02 .89 Group/Familiarity 2.47 1 2.47 1.03 .32 Error 140.76 59 2.39 Total 164.72 63 Corrected Total 150.17 62 32 Research question 2: Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody? A comparison of the gain scores for familiar and unfamiliar melodies also reveals no significant difference (p=.89), as shown in Table 6. The familiarity of the melody had no effect on the children’s apparent understanding of tempo. The second null hypothesis was as follows: There will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to the familiarity of the melody. The results of the study allow us to accept this null hypothesis. Figure1 shows, visually, the interaction of group and melody and is helpful in understanding this result. -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 Gain scores for the number of tempo changes Familiar Unfamiliar Figure 1. Gain Scores for the Number of Tempo Changes Treatment Control 33 Finally, when comparing the children’s apparent understanding of tempo in the case of familiar and unfamiliar melodies in related to active and passive listening conditions, there was no significant interaction effect. The treatment group gain scores were higher than those of the control group and, while getting close to intersection, the lines remained independent of each other. The interaction of group and melody familiarity resulted in no significant difference (p=.32). Summary This chapter has been concerned with data analysis and the results of that analysis. Statistically significant differences were not found among gain scores including groups and familiarity. All null hypotheses were accepted, and all research questions were answered in the negative. These results are discussed in Chapter 5. 34 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Introduction This chapter begins with a review of the purpose of the study, followed by a section with an overview of the entire study. The conclusions of the study follow, based on data analysis. Finally, a discussion on the results, suggestions for future research, and implications for Music Education conclude the chapter. Purpose The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of active and passive listening conditions (independent variable) on young children’s musical understanding (dependent variable) of familiar and unfamiliar melody through the researcher’s invented notation. Overview Numerous studies have emphasized the importance of young children’s music learning in improving their musical abilities, while also asserting the importance of developing listening ability from early years (Campbell, 2005; Cusano,2005; Sims, 1991, 2005; Suzuki, 1973; Young, 2003). In this line of thinking, body movement has been considered and used as one of the most efficient tools for music learning in young children (Dalcroze, 1921; Fung, 2001; Sims 1986, 1988). Nevertheless, there have been some difficulties in testing young children’s musical understanding in listening due to the problems of finding appropriate measurement systems. The effect of the listening condition, related to the presence or absence of body movement, on young children’s musical understanding was considered to possibly improve their musical ability, especially, as regards understanding tempo changes in familiar and 35 unfamiliar melodies, giving rise to this study. Young children’s notations, drawn after instruction on representation in specific design related to changes in tempo, were used with the assumption that this provides an adequate measurement for evaluating young children’s musical understanding. Children ranging from 3 to 5 years of age in a private prekindergarten in Seoul, Korea participated in the experiment for 5 weeks in the summer of 2009 for this study. The pre-and posttests were videotaped for later evaluation, and three judges scored the number of tempo changes identified correctly by the children. The gain scores were calculated for the children’s drawings that met the inclusion criteria. A two –way ANOVA was used to compare the scores of the control and treatment groups, and the familiar and unfamiliar melodies. The results obtained through the ANOVA test revealed that there is no statistically significant difference between groups, familiarity, or the interaction of groups and familiarity. Therefore, the null hypotheses were accepted, based on the results of this study. These results and acceptance of null hypotheses are examined more closely in relation to each of the two research questions in next section. Conclusion The results of this study indicate two primary conclusions which provide ideas for further research. In addition, the researcher offers a suggestion about a measurement system of young children’s musical understanding during listening based on the procedure used in this study. These conclusions are specifically explained below. Research question one: Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo changes when comparing active and passive listening conditions? 36 The most appropriate conclusion to be drawn from this question is that incorporating body movement into the musical instruction of children does not affect children’s understanding of tempo. No significant difference was found between the scores of the children in the treatment and the control groups with regard to the number of correct tempo changes identified in musical examples. Although studies have suggested that activities such as body movement during listening can be useful tools for young children to learn musical elements (Dalcroze, 1921; Fung, 2001; Gromko and Poorman, 1998b; Sims, 1986, 2002), the results in this study do not support this idea. Rather, the results of this study support the findings of Gromko (2002), who found that active listening using activities including body movement does not enhance young children’s perception of musical details. Research question two: is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody? The results in this study revealed no significant difference in the apparent understanding of tempo when comparing the results of the familiar melody with those of the unfamiliar melody. It did not matter if the children knew the melody previously or if it was new to them, their understanding of tempo appeared to be the same. Further results indicated that for melody familiarity, it did not matter if the children were in the treatment or the control group. Active listening did not appear to be an effect on children’s apparent understanding of tempo in relation to ether familiar or unfamiliar melodies. The conclusion drawn for this research question regarding melody familiarity mostly supports the findings of Fung (2001), who found that 7- to 12-year-old children’s musical perception during listening is affected more by specific musical features of melody, such as rhythm and phrasing significance, than melody familiarity. 37 Discussion The conclusions of this study suggest three topics for further discussion including the number of subjects, the measurement system, and spontaneous and guided body movement. Number of subjects The scoring system used in this study was adapted from previous studies and was further influenced by lessons learned in the pilot study. The scoring system was structured so that a score of zero would indicate either that the child’s drawing represented no correct tempo changes or that the drawing did not indicated that the child understood the directions for the system. If children scored less than one on their drawing for the pretest, the scores were excluded from further analysis. It is important to note that 27 children’s scores or 40% of the possible scores were excluded from the analysis because they did not meet the inclusion criteria. This reflects two issues that quite likely have influenced the results of the study. Firstly, the drawing system used to collect information about the children’s musical knowledge was not understood clearly by many students at the beginning of the study. It may have taken several classes of repeated instruction to ensure that most of the children understood the intended representations of the drawing styles. Secondly, the scoring system should account separately for the children’s understanding of the drawing system and of the tempo changes. Each of the two criteria might have been scored separately to provide more specificity. Inherently, there are challenges in the accurate measurement of young children’s musical understanding. Measurement systems used in a new context need testing to ensure reliability and validity. The application of the drawing system in the current study has provided a first step in this process. 38 Examining scores with no exclusion criteria applied to subjects The descriptive results in Chapter 4 indicate that when looking at all student scores (included and excluded), the numeric scores are higher for the posttest for every measurement. These scores include the students who scored zero on the pretest and for whom great improvement on the posttest was possible. While the reported increase in the posttest scores cannot be interpreted as an effect of the treatment, it does suggest that the children better understood the drawing system during the posttest. It appeared that, through practice, experience, and repeated instructions, the children were better able to represent their musical understanding through this drawing system for the final test. This finding is in agreement with the idea of Davison and Scripp (1988) that music educators need to know young children’s representations of music because this provides information about young children’s understanding of music. Their idea is also that children’s representations of music provide a “window” into the understanding that children can express as they listen to music. Although measuring young children’s musical understanding or perception during listening has been considered one of the most difficult areas in music education, some studies (Barrett 1997, 1999; Fung, 2001; Gromko, 1994) suggest that children from age 4 to 12 years can describe to their understanding or perception of musical characteristics through invented notations they listen to melody. The results of this study support and extend these earlier findings as the children in the current study were younger, ranging in age from 3 to 5 years. Spontaneous and instructional body movement During music classes for the control group, simple spontaneous movements were observed in many of the children. These occasional movements included tapping their fingers and feet, nodding their heads, or lightly moving their bodies to the rhythm of the music 39 from a seated or lying position. The children in the treatment group followed movements guided by their teacher for the majority of the class. The children and teacher kept moving with the music for the duration of the class even though the children became distracted by the movement or tired of the activity. It is possible that the light and spontaneous activity of the control group enhanced their concentration on the music, unlike the constant movement of the treatment group that seemed to over stimulate the children. The results inspire the consideration of an alternative approach to movement with regard to children’s musical understanding. The observations of movement in the treatment and control groups may inspire listening conditions that combine elements of both guided and spontaneous movement. Perhaps, in future studies, children’s natural movements could be examined and then integrated into a similar study. Implications for Music Education It is important to consider that the children participating in this study attend the same school, which is located in the community in which the researcher resides. Also, the number of students in the analysis was considerably lower than intended due to the number of students whose scores did not meet the inclusion criteria. With these limitations, the specific findings of this study will apply more to the local community in which the data were collected and less to the broader population. When the current study is placed alongside other related studies, the broader themes and valuable information gathered from the collective whole can inform the pedagogy of young children and the measurement of their musical understanding. Suggestions for the Future Research Three suggestions for future research that are directly related to the results of this study are explained below. 40 Firstly, a replication of this study is suggested with increased instruction and practice time with the drawing system for all of the children before the treatment sessions begin. It seems that most children were eventually able to understand the system but needed more initial practice. The effect of the treatment can be identified more accurately with this additional instruction for the children. Secondly, the number of listening sessions should be increased. The children participating in this study experienced three treatment sessions. If the number of sessions was increased to six or seven, the children could experience the movement as part of their music class and the novelty of the new activity would be minimized. Thirdly, the variables of age and previous experience of music were not included in this study, and should be considered for future research. The variance in musical understanding due to these factors is worthy of study, particularly with the current drawing system as a measurement of musical understanding. A study including these variables may reveal limitations in age for the current drawing system as a measurement of musical understanding. Three suggestions for future research that extend from the results of this study are described below. Firstly, a descriptive research design in a natural setting should be considered to explore children’s spontaneous light body movements to the music similar to those observed in the control group of the current study. 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Colwell (Ed.), Handbook of research on music teaching and learning, (pp.377-391). New York: Schirmer Books. Hedden, S,. & Woods, D. (1992). Student outcome of teaching systems for general music K-8. In R. Colwell (Ed.), Handbook of research on music teaching and learning, (pp. 669- 675). New York: Schirmer Books. Korzenik, D. (1972). Children’s drawings: Changes in representation between the ages of 5 and 7. Dissertation Abstracts International, 33(19 A), 5553. (University Microfilms No. AAG72-32625) LeBlanc, A., & Cassidy, J. W. (1997). Verbal and operant responses of young children to vocal versus instrumental song performances. Journal of Research in Music Education, 45 (2), 234-244. LeBlanc, A., Cassidy, J. W., Sims, W., Siivola, C., & Obert, M. (1996). Music style preferences of different age listeners. Journal of Research in Music Education, 44 (1), 49-59. Lewis, B. (1998). 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Documentary Report of the Ann Arbor Symposium. Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference, 28-35. Sims, L. W. (1986). The effect of high vs. low teacher affect and passive versus active student activity during music listening on preschool children’s attention, piece preference, time spent listening, for piece recognition. Journal of Research in Music Education, 34 (3), 173-191. 48 Sims, L. W. (1987). Effect of tempo on music preference of preschool through fourth- grade children. In C. K. Madsen & C. A. Prikett (Eds.), Application of Research in Music Behavior. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. Sims, L. W. (1988). Movement response of pre-school children, primary grade children, and pre-service teachers to characteristics of musical phrases. Psychology of Music, 16, 110- 127. Sims, L. W. (1991). Effect of instruction and task format on preschool children’s music concept discrimination. Journal of Research in Music Education, 39 (2), 202-225. Sims, L. W. (2002). Individual differences in music listening responses of kindergarten children. Journal of Research in Music Education, 50 (4), 292-300. Sims, L. W. (2005). Effects of free versus directed listening on duration of individual music listening by pre-kindergarten children. Journal of Research in Music Education, 53 (1), 78-86. Smith, R. B. (1970). Music in the child education. New York: Ronal Press. Suzuki, S. (1973). The Suzuki concept: An introduction to a successful method for early music education. E. Mills & T. C. Murphy (Ed.), Berkeley: Diablo Press. Swanson, B. R. (1981). Music in the education of children. Fourth Ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Upitis, R. (1987a). Children understanding of rhythm: the relationship between development and music training. Psychomusicology, 7(1), 41-60. Upitis, R. (1987b). Toward a model for rhythm development. In C. J. Peery, I. W. Peery, & T. W. Draper (Ed.), Music and child development (pp. 54-79). New York: Springer-Verlag. Upitis, R. (1990). Children’s invented notations of familiar and unfamiliar melodies. Psycho-musicology, 9 (1), 89-106. Van Zee, N. (1976). Response of kindergarten children to musical stimuli and terminology. Journal of Research in Music Education, 24 (1), 14-21. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Woodward, S. C. (1992a). The Transmission of Music into the Human Uterus and the Response to Music of the Human Fetus and Neonate. Unpublished doctoral thesis: University of Cape Town. Woodward, S. C. (1992b). Intrauterine rhythm and blues? British Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 99: 787-790. 49 Young, S. (2003). Music with the under- fours. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Zimmerman, M. P. (1971). Musical characteristics of children. Reston, V.A: Music Educators National Conference. 50 APPENDIX A Music Examples Familiar melody for pretest 51 Unfamiliar melody for pretest 52 Familiar melody for posttest 53 Unfamiliar melody for posttest 54 Familiar melody for treatments 55 Unfamiliar melody for treatments 56 APPENDIX B Drawing Examples fast-slow-fast-slow pattern Example 1 Example 2 57 slow-fast-slow-fast pattern Example 3 Example 4 58 excluded-score pattern Example 5 Example 6 Example 7
Object Description
Title | The effect of active and passive listening condition on young children's musical understanding of familiar and unfamiliar melody through researcher-invented notation |
Author | Chang, Jiwon |
Author email | jiwoncha@usc.edu; jiwonchang@yahoo.com |
Degree | Doctor of Musical Arts |
Document type | Dissertation |
Degree program | Music Education |
School | Thornton School of Music |
Date defended/completed | 2009-11-02 |
Date submitted | 2009 |
Restricted until | Unrestricted |
Date published | 2009-11-26 |
Advisor (committee chair) | Helfter, Susan |
Advisor (committee member) |
Woodward, Sheila C. Timm, Joel |
Abstract | This study examined the effect of active and passive listening conditions on young children’s musical understanding of familiar and unfamiliar melody through researcher-invented notation.; All subjects in this study were Korean children from 3 to 5 years of age in a private prekindergarten in Seoul, Korea. A pre- and posttest experimental design guided this study, which was conducted for five consecutive weeks, including three treatment sessions between pre- and posttest sessions in summer of 2009.; The following research questions for the study were posed: 1) Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions? and 2) Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody?; Listening conditions (independent variable) in this study were the presence or absence of body movement while children listened to short musical examples. The children’s apparent musical understanding of tempo (dependent variable) was captured through children’s guided drawings that indicated where they understood tempo changes to occur in the music. The drawings were evaluated by three independent judges who scored the number of accurate tempo changes indicated in the drawings. Three judges scored four drawings for each child: for familiar and unfamiliar melodies in both the pre- and posttest.; A two-way ANOVA was used to analyze the scores. The results revealed that there is no statistically significant difference between treatment and control groups, between familiar and unfamiliar melody, and no difference with the interaction of group and melody familiarity. Therefore, the null hypotheses for this study were accepted. |
Keyword | music education; understanding; young children; notation |
Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Seoul |
Geographic subject (country) | Korea |
Coverage date | 2009 |
Language | English |
Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
Type | texts |
Legacy record ID | usctheses-m2772 |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Rights | Chang, Jiwon |
Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
Filename | etd-chang-3371; jiwoncha_Chang-3371-1 |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
Full text | THE EFFECT OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE LISTENING CONDITION ON YOUNG CHILDREN’S MUSICAL UNDERSTADING OF FAMILIAR AND UNFAMILAIR MELODY THROUGH RESEARCHER-INVENTED NOTATION by Jiwon Chang A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS (MUSIC EDUCATION) December 2009 Copyright 2009 Jiwon Chang ii DEDICATION I cherish being able to dedicate this dissertation to my beloved and remarkable family, mom, dad, parents-in-law, lovely sons, Junwoo and Sean, and especially my husband, Joungho Rha who has always supported and walked beside me through every challenge. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep appreciation for all the assistance received from the members of my committee, Dr. Sheila C. Woodward and Dr. Joel Timm. In particular, I would like to sincerely thank my advisor, Dr. Susan Helfter, for her guidance, encouragement, constant support, and sacrificing her valuable time in assisting me to complete this document. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES vi ABSTRACT vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Background 1 Need for the Study 3 Purpose of the Study 3 Research Questions 3 Statement of the Null Hypotheses 4 Definitions 4 Assumptions 4 Delimitations 4 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 6 Overview 6 Listening and Listening Condition 6 Young Children’s Movement 8 Young Children’s Musical Representation 10 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 13 Introduction 13 Restatement of Purpose 13 Sample 13 Dependent Variable 15 Independent Variable 16 Design 17 Internal Validity 17 External Validity 18 Procedure 18 Pilot study 18 Classroom set-up 19 Listening sessions 20 Control group 20 Treatment group 20 Pre- and posttests 21 Judging 22 Analysis 24 Time Table 24 Protection of Human Subjects 24 v CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 26 Overview 26 Restatement of Research Questions 26 Restatement of Null Hypotheses 26 Data Treatment: Descriptive Results 27 Results 29 Figure 1. Gain scores for the number of tempo changes 32 Summary 33 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 34 Introduction 34 Purpose 34 Overview 34 Conclusion 35 Discussion 37 Number of subjects 37 Examining scores with no exclusion criteria applied to subjects 38 Spontaneous and instructional body movement 38 Implications for Music Education 39 Suggestions for Future Research 39 REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES 50 Appendix A: Music Examples 50 Appendix B: Drawing Examples 56 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Descriptive Judges Scores for All Children (n=67) 23 Table 2: Inter- rater Reliability: Correlation in Matrix of Judge Scores. 23 Table 3: All Students’ Scores for the Number of Changes Indentified Correctly 27 Table 4: Included Students’ Scores for the Number of Tempo Changes Indentified Correctly 28 Table 5: The Gain Scores of Included Students for the Number of Tempo Changes 30 Table 6: The Difference of Gain Scores between Dependent Variables by two-way ANOVA 31 vii ABSTRACT This study examined the effect of active and passive listening conditions on young children’s musical understanding of familiar and unfamiliar melody through researcher-invented notation. All subjects in this study were Korean children from 3 to 5 years of age in a private prekindergarten in Seoul, Korea. A pre- and posttest experimental design guided this study, which was conducted for five consecutive weeks, including three treatment sessions between pre- and posttest sessions in summer of 2009. The following research questions for the study were posed: 1) Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions? and 2) Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody? Listening conditions (independent variable) in this study were the presence or absence of body movement while children listened to short musical examples. The children’s apparent musical understanding of tempo (dependent variable) was captured through children’s guided drawings that indicated where they understood tempo changes to occur in the music. The drawings were evaluated by three independent judges who scored the number of accurate tempo changes indicated in the drawings. Three judges scored four drawings for each child: for familiar and unfamiliar melodies in both the pre- and posttest. A two-way ANOVA was used to analyze the scores. The results revealed that there is no statistically significant difference between treatment and control groups, between familiar and unfamiliar melody, and no difference with the interaction of group and melody familiarity. Therefore, the null hypotheses for this study were accepted. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background Listening is a primary factor for all people who experience music through their lifetime, and it is also critically important for all musical activities, such as making, enjoying, learning and playing. In other words, to learn and to enjoy music begins with a foundation of listening. Campbell (2005) states that when students become fully aware of the sounds around them, they can build musical understanding and performance skills through listening. In addition to the importance of listening in musical interaction in general, this underlines the importance of listening in music education. Learning to listen begins in infancy and prior to birth, when babies naturally begin listening for the voices of their mother, father, or caregivers. Their listening ability starts to develop from this very early period. Research indicates that, in the womb, a fetus is able to hear environmental sounds including music (Woodward 1992a, 1992b). Due to these reasons, music educators and researchers suggest that formal music education, including the development of listening skills, can be effective for young children, especially to children from 3 and 4 years of age (McPherson, 2005; Sims, 1988, 2002, 2005, Suzuki, 1973; Young, 2003). Music listening has been emphasized in music curricula across the world, informing content and teaching strategies. In the USA, it is included as one of the nine standards for a comprehensive music education in the National Standards for Art Education K-12 (MENC, 1994). Nevertheless, the author suggests that curriculum of music appreciation courses might often not include listening skill associated with the student’s listening ability but rather with the study of music fundamentals, historical background, musical style and musical form. 2 Even though music listening has been identified as a very significant component of music education, it is considered to be sometimes overlooked in school music classes (Campbell, 2005). This is also suggested to be true, especially with music instruction for young children where there may not be many programs for music listening, and efficient listening conditions may not be readily provided. Sims (1991) states that music listening is used mostly as a supportive tool for other activities to assist young children’s physical development or as background music for naptime or playtime. It is much less common to include singing or music listening with music education being the primary goal of the activity. Moreover, Cusano (2005) states that there is considerably less research on listening and listening ability for young children, in elementary school or earlier. Music listening is utilized as a subsidiary tool for other activities, but it is also true that other activities, such as movement and visual art, can be used as subsidiary tools for the development of music listening. Dalcroze (1921) is known for incorporating body movement to acquire knowledge and experience with various musical elements, such as rhythm, beat and tempo. Dalcroze stresses the importance of body for rhythm through his Eurhythmics methodology, and he insists that the body should be the child’s first instrument through which each child can interpret and respond to the aspects of the music (1921). To a lesser extent, movement is a part of the Orff and Kodály music education approaches as well. With younger children, movement can be incorporated to increase the duration of children’s attention to music listening (Sims, 1986, 1988). With this common association of movement as a tool for young children’s music learning, it is worthy to consider aspects of movement as they relate to music listening skills in young children. Cusano (2005) states that a prevalence in the music listening research of upper elementary aged subjects may be attributed to difficulties in measurement techniques with 3 younger children. In particular, children in the primary grades or younger have limited verbal and written competencies when in the primary grades (K-3) and younger. Given this challenge, researchers have attempted to measure the musical understanding and learning of young children using means other than verbal or written tests. Instead, children’s invented notation has been used in a systematic way to communicate the children’s understanding (Bamberger, 1980, 1982; Davison & Colley, 1987; Davison & Scripp, 1988; Upitis, 1987a, 1987b, 1990). Agreement on the accuracy of this measurement technique will require more use and analysis, but the results of the studies to date reveal that, when young children experience music, they can create invented notation that represents what they hear and experience (McCusker, 2001; Fung, 2001; Gromko & Poorman, 1998a; Gromko, & Russell, 2002). Need for the Study Although the importance of listening in music has been emphasized in many studies, there is a need for further investigation of listening skills for young children. Researchers agree that listening skills can and must be developed in young children, but differ in approaches and measurement of musical understanding. A key step in developing young children’s listening skills is to further identify effective listening conditions and accurate measurement to evaluate children’s musical understanding. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of active and passive listening conditions on young children’s musical understanding of familiar and unfamiliar melody through researcher-invented notation. Research Questions The research questions for this study are the following. 4 1. Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions? 2. Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent musical understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody? Statement of the Null Hypotheses The null hypotheses for this study are the following: 1. There will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions. 2. There will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody. Definitions Researcher-Invented Notation - notation created by the researcher that allows children to depict their understanding of musical attributes while listening to musical examples. Passive Listening Condition - a listening condition in which children listen to music while sitting or lying on the floor without any activity. Active Listening Condition - a listening condition in which children listen to music with activity such as body movement, with or without props. Assumptions All subjects have similar music and art education backgrounds. Prekindergarten music programs experienced by the subjects are likely to have focused on activities of movement with background music rather than on listening to music. All students have the ability to express their thinking through drawing, and they are able to draw movement of the line. Delimitations This study was conducted with young children ranging in age from 3 to 5 years, the 5 majority of subjects being 3 or 4 years of age. Subjects attended a prekindergarten located at the Mok-Dong district in Seoul, Korea, and the socio-economic status of these children was similar amongst the group. This specific prekindergarten was primarily chosen for its geographical location which was accessible to the researcher and for its availability, as established in preliminary communications. The measurement for musical understanding was inferred through children’s drawings according to the instructions given. 6 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Overview This study presents a review of literature related to listening and listening condition, young children’s musical movement, and young children’s musical representation. Secondary sources, such as review articles that summarize the research findings of various authors as well as primary sources, such as articles, papers, dissertations, theses, and books on the topic, are utilized. Literature in this review addresses the role of listening in musical understanding, effective listening conditions, and the relationship between movement and the development of musical ability in young children. Lastly, literature has been included that explores children’s ability to demonstrate their musical understanding through various representations or notation systems. Listening and Listening Condition Listening is an essential part in music learning and enjoyment throughout a person’s lifetime, but it has often been overlooked in music education research in comparison to other research areas, such as music preference or music attitude. Some researchers have asserted that music listening is an aspect of music education that has received minimal attention from researchers (Baldridge, 1984; Cusano, 2005; Haack, 1992). Campbell (2005) states that listening is sometimes an underrated activity in school classes and ensembles, although it should be the heart and soul of music education, and she notes that students who learn to listen well are then led by their ears into a refined musicianship that is the basis of their growth as performers, composers, and analytical thinkers. 7 Sims (1987, 1991, 2005) shows that children have a critical window of time for learning to listen to music with attention and understanding, and for building the foundation for ongoing music learning and enjoyment. Numerous studies have emphasized that young children’s attentive and perceptive listening ability can and must be developed and practiced from early in life (Abeles, Hoffer, & Klotman, 1984, Arnoff, 1968; Brand & Fernie, 1983; Ernst & Gary, 1965; Sims, 1986, 2005; Smith, 1970; Swanson, 1981; Zimmerman, 1971). These studies have chiefly emphasized the importance of ability development in young children. At the same time, the results of these studies have revealed that listening abilities can be improved through education and learning. Nevertheless, Haack (1992) notes that there has been relatively little research aimed at determining how and when skills and attitudes related to music listening develop. Sims (2005) insists that one of the reasons for this gap in research is that ‘listening’ cannot be observed directly, and this problem is magnified when working with young children. In several studies, effective listening conditions for young children have been investigated (Alvarez, 1982; Gromko & Russell, 2002; Scott, 1991; Sims, 2002, 2005), and some have revealed that active listening, including movement or the use of visual aids, leads to greater levels of on-task behavior during group listening experiences when compared with passive listening (Cassidy & Geringer, 1999; Carper, 2001; Cohen, 1987; Fung 2001; Sims,1986). Mack (1995) investigates the effects of using story book pictures during group listening activities for preschool children on children’s listening duration and attention. The results of the study show that when children follow along with one of these visual aids, some of the children listen for longer durations than those in groups with no visuals. Sims (1986, 2005) finds that active listening, including small hand movements in response to specified 8 characteristics of the music during listening, achieves higher levels of attention than more passive listening. The results of these studies indicate that the active listening condition might provide more efficient listening environments for young children than passive listening conditions. Sims (2002) emphasizes that many music listening opportunities including exposure to diverse musical genres are needed by young children. These children should be given the opportunity to express what they hear in the music through movement, graphic representations, and conversations about the music. In summary, the author suggests that music educators need to know what young children are hearing when they listen to music, and to understand how they express what they are hearing, since listening is a vital aspect of music education. Furthermore, it is suggested that investigations on student listening conditions may assist music educators in improving listening abilities in young children. Young Children’s Movement In the listening condition, activities, such as singing, moving, visual aids usage, or playing are considered significant attention honing factors. The results of many studies have shown that activities requiring active participation are associated with higher levels of attention compared to more passive types of activities, such as solely listening to music or verbal instruction (Barclay & Newell, 1980; Bowles, 1998; Cohen 1997; Fox, 1991; Fung, 2001; Sims, 1986, 2005). Movement can be an effective component of active participation in listening, especially in young children. The importance of movement for young children’s physical and cognitive development has also been suggested in the theories of Piaget (1962), Vygotsky (1978), and Dalcroze (1921). Dalcroze (1921) says that the body should be the first instrument through 9 which to reflect and interpret movement and nuances in music. Hedden and Woods (1992) state that the source of musical rhythm is the natural loco-motor rhythm of the human body. However, is this also relevant to young children? Indeed, the ideas that music is related to natural loco-motor rhythms of the body and that movement may be the source of children’s perception of nuance and pattern in music have also been referenced in numerous studies (Fung, 2001; Hedden & Woods, 1992; Jaques-Dalcroze, 1921; Lewis, 1998; Metz, 1989; Sims, 1986; Vygotsky, 1978). In a study with 29 elementary children, ages 7 to 12 years, Gromko and Russell (2002) examine whether children’s active involvement during listening improves their ability to perceive the form of Gershwin’s Prelude No.3. Fourteen children of the more active movement group in this study mirrored the teacher in performance of movements that corresponded to the characteristics of the music and assembled the graphic notation map from its parts. After listening, all children were asked to color code the twelve sections of the Prelude during one final listening, using the same color sticker for sections that sounded the same. The results show that children in the more active movement group performed significantly better at the sticker task, which was designed to measure the children’s perception of form. As stated above in the listening condition section, Sims (1986) investigates the effect of active listening on young children’s (age 3 to 5 years) attention, music preference, time spent listening, and piece recognition. Active listeners are instructed to perform hand movements that correspond to the characteristics of the music while listening to piano pieces by Mussorgsky and Bizet. Passive listeners are requested to hold their hands in their laps while listening to the piano pieces. She finds that children are more attentive during music listening activities when they perform hand movements that correspond to the characteristics of the music listening. However, the results do not mention the relationship between active listening condition and young children’s musical understanding or perception 10 during listening, reporting measurement problems in investigating young children’s musical understanding. Nevertheless, some studies in music education have emphasized the importance of the relationship between young children’s musical perception and their movements during listening and have provided empirical support for this (Lewis, 1998; Metz, 1989; Mueller, 1993). Fung (2001) examines the effects of active versus passive listening condition on music perception of children, ages 7 to 12 years. In the study, thirty- five elementary-level children are divided into two groups, active and passive, where active listeners move spontaneously while listening and passive listeners sit quietly during listening. The results of the study show that children’s spontaneous movement in the active group enhanced their perception of rhythm and phrasing, as reflected in the quality of the children’s invented notation. Although Fung’s study does not deal with young children (under 6 years of age), or the effect of listening condition on young children’s musical understanding, it provides a basis for researchers who are interested in the measurement of young children’s musical understanding. Young Children’s Musical Representation Several studies indicate that children have a rich and various repertoire of symbols and strategies for notating rhythm and melody. They use words, icons, lines, marks, color, and a number of other methods to represent the melodies they hear (Bamberger, 1982, 1994; Gromko, 1976, 1994; Davidson & Colley, 1987; Fung, 2001; Korzenik, 1972; Smith, 1970; Upitis, 1987a, 1987b, 1990). Upitis (1990) describes various symbols that fifty children, ages from 6 to 9 years, use to notate two melodies. She finds the information they most frequently choose to record is pitch, rhythm, duration, and less often mood and dynamics. Children demonstrate in a variety of ways, as previously listed (e.g. icons, symbols, words, or 11 discrete mark) to creatively denote the melody. Fung (2001) investigates the effect active versus passive listening has on the quality of children’s invented notation. Children, ages 7 to 12 years, participated in this study, and the results show significant differences between two groups of children regarding their referencing of certain parameters, such as in their invented notation. Davidson and Scripp (1988) describe the importance of children’s graphic representations this way “…for a more complete knowledge of children’s understanding of music, their representations of music are critical ‘windows’ for viewing their musical cognitive development” (p.196). According to Davidson and Colley (1987), activities where children can create musical representations using invented notations offer greater evidence of musical understanding. They also state that children can convey their comprehension of music events through a symbolic representation. However, it is the responsibility of researchers to develop more child-centered measures. This idea of ‘child -centered measures’ is based on previous studies by Bamberger (1980, 1982), where she observes children’s invented notations after listening to simple rhythmic sequences. She finds that children can express through their invented notation the differences among various rhythm sequences that they perceive. Several studies in music education investigate the nature of children’s invented visual representations or musical notations in order to gain insight into children’s development of musical perception and use of symbols. Numerous studies also suggest that as children develop their skills in perception of music’s characteristics, such as pitch, dynamics, and timbre, their invented notations make reference to more of these musical dimensions in much greater detail (Bamberger, 1991; Barrett, 1997; Davidson & Colley, 1987; Davidson & Scripp, 1988; Fung, 2001; Gromko, 1994, 1998; Gromko & Poorman, 1998a, 1998b; Upitis, 1987a, 1987b, 1990). In Gromko’s 12 (1994) empirical study involving sixty children, ages 4 to 8 years, the quality of children’s invented notation is seen to be related to their in-tune singing and accurate playing of the song notated, as well as to their discrimination of short and rhythmic patterns. Gromko and Poorman (1998a) also investigate the relationship among children’s aural perception of tonal patterns, children’s symbol use in their drawing, and selection tasks based on tonal information. Sixty-four children, ages 4 to 12 years, participated in this study, and the results show that their ability to use musical symbols is related to their aural perception of musical sound. These abilities follow a developmental progression within and across perception, selection, and drawing tasks. This result supports the ideas of Gromko’s previous research that invented notations reflect children’s musical understandings, and that, as children’s perceptions grow in musical detail, their notation grows in sophistication (1994). As described above, numerous studies in music education show that young children’s musical understanding during listening can be measured through their invented notation. Furthermore, young children’s musical representations can be improved, based on their physical ability and development of musical cognition and perception. Bamberger (1982) claims that, in young children’s musical drawing, there is a typology of drawings (notations) for simple rhythms, each associated with specific strategies that not only have developmental implications, but also point to significant and contrasting structural aspects inherent in the rhythms themselves. Clearly, young children’s visual representations can provide us with an indication of their musical perception and can serve as a valuable tool for researching listening. 13 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY Introduction This chapter presents the research methodology utilized for the study. It includes a restatement of the purpose of the study, discusses the overall research design, and explains sampling, procedures, data collection, and the method of data analysis. Restatement of Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of active and passive listening conditions on young children’s musical understanding of familiar and unfamiliar melody through researcher-invented notation. Sample There were 70 (n=70) research subjects ranging from 3 to 5 years of age, each attending a private prekindergarten located in Mok-Dong, a southwestern region of Seoul, Korea in this study. Seoul consists of twenty-five autonomous districts. One of these districts is called Yangcheon-gu, or ‘Gu’, and the Mok-Dong area is a part of this district. According to the 2009 official information of the Yangcheon-district office (http://www.yangchon.seoul.kr), the Mok-Dong area consists mostly of residential apartments that have been built since 1980 for this somewhat new community of middle class families. The area of Mok Dong is 5,340 square kilometers (the total area of Seoul is 605, 520 square kilometers) and has a population of 163,586 (Seoul has a population of 10,456,095). The average age of the residents ranges from persons in their mid-30s to 40s (http://www.yangchon.seoul.kr), and most families of the research subjects are middle class Korean. The families send their young children to private prekindergarten with a monthly tuition equivalent to over US$900 because there is no public 14 prekindergarten in Korea. Families who do not send their children to private prekindergarten are able to use free government-provided day-care centers typically frequented by children from low income families. One of the significant features of Mok-Dong parents is that they tend to have ambitious educational goals for their children. Due to being active and vocal about school systems and educational opportunities for their children, parents have influenced the sustenance of these high achieving schools. According to the statistics from Seoul Metropolitan Government (http://stat-app.seoul.go.kr) for 2005, there were 1,300 private educational institutes registered with the Gangseo District Office of Education, which includes the Mok-Dong area. This is the third highest number of institutes if the 11 District Offices of Education in Seoul. Of the 1.300 institutes, 392 are classified as art institutes, and this number of art institutes also represents the fourth highest number in the 11 District Offices of Education. For younger children, this arts focus includes a variety of activities, such as music, sports, visual arts, a second language, and so on. When children are 10 or 11 years of age, parents tend to stress the main school subjects, such as Math, Korean, and English, rather than the arts, discontinuing enrollment in these art-related activities. A sample of convenience was selected for this study due to the geographical proximity of the population to the researcher. The prekindergarten in this study was selected because of the generally consistent socioeconomic and educational backgrounds of the majority of the children. The principal and the music teacher in this school were contacted about the school’s possible participation in this study, and they ardently agreed to participate and to initiate the process of scheduling the treatment and pre- and posttests. There were a total of 120 students in this school ranging in age from 2 to 6 years. The children had a 50-minute general music class once a week with the music teacher 15 and assistant teacher. The music program consisted of singing, dancing, playing, and exploring sound in general, with Western music being used mostly frequently. Korean music was taught only to children from ages 5 to 6 years, and they typically learned to play ‘Jango’, a traditional Korean percussion instrument similar to Western drum. The music teacher of this school holds a certificate in Kindermusik from the United States, and had worked in this school for three years and other prekindergarten schools in Korea for six years. She was selected to lead the music classes for this study as she was familiar with the students and the school, and demonstrated a high level of capability. There were 70 children (n=70) participating at the onset of the study, and the children were assigned equally to control and treatment groups through a stratified random sampling process by age. Stratification was performed according to age in order to make both groups nearly equal in number. For example, the names of all 5-year-old children were randomly selected for control and treatment groups. The same process was used for the selection of the 4- and 3-year-old children. This process facilitated a nearly equal age distribution in the two groups. Due to attrition, the final number of participants was 67 (n=67), as three participants either did not take one of the tests or were absent from school during the course of the experiment. Of the three students who did not complete the study, two were from the treatment group, and one was from the control group, creating final participant numbers of 34 (n=34) in the treatment and 33 (n=33) in the control groups. The treatment group consisted of nine 3-year-old, eighteen 4-year-old, and seven 5-year-old children. The control group consisted of ten 3-year-old, seventeen 4-year-old, and six 5-year-old children. Dependent Variable The dependent variables were the pre- and posttest scores of the children’s drawings 16 which represented their apparent understanding of tempo as they listened to music. This system of measurement was adapted from a study by Fung (2001) in which children demonstrated their understanding of tempo by drawing on paper as they listened to music. The children were instructed to draw figures that corresponded to changes of tempo in music. For example, instructions were to draw continuous ‘z’ or ‘wave’ patterns, having dense intervals when the tempo was fast, and wider intervals when the music was slow. The children drew on light grid paper in order to assist the researcher in comparing the respective size s of ‘z’ patterns for each child. The children were videotaped as they drew. The videotapes allowed judges to identify changes in drawing with changes of musical element and evaluate student musical understanding without disrupting the child’s concentration during testing. Each musical example had four tempo changes and three judges assigned a numeric value reflecting the number of accurate changes as indicated in the student’s drawing: 0 – No accurate changes or student didn’t understand instructions 1 – One distinct change corresponding with one musical change 2 – Two distinct changes corresponding with two musical changes. 3 – Three distinct changes corresponding with three musical changes. 4 - Four distinct changes corresponding with four musical changes. Independent Variable The independent variable was the listening condition for the young children, active or passive. The active condition included movement guided by the music teacher, which corresponded to changes in tempo while listening to music. Children assigned to this treatment condition participated with their teacher in moving arms, legs, and their bodies to represent musical characteristics they heard in the music. The movements also included 17 using props, such as colorful ribbons or chiffon scarves. In the passive listening condition, children listened without movement to guided instructions concerning changes in tempo. Children assigned to the control group listened to the music while comfortably sitting, lying down, or leaning against a wall, while the music teacher pointed out changes in the musical aspects of tempo. All subjects participated in a total of three listening sessions for this study. These sessions were incorporated into their general music classes once a week for three consecutive weeks. Each listening session lasted approximately 40 minutes. The music classes for the treatment groups and control groups contained 6 to10 children per class for a total of eight classes (four control and four treatment). Grouping children in these smaller classes of 8 to 10 students is consistent with the regular class structure at the school. Design The design of this study was a pre- and posttest experimental design. All subjects took a pretest, participated as members of the three listening sessions of either active or passive listening conditions, and then took a posttest. Internal Validity Subjects were selected from one private prekindergarten in order to reduce diversity in educational experience, situation, and program. The school music teacher led the treatment and control groups to eliminate intervention of the researcher in the experiment. This also provided a familiar environment in which the subjects could feel comfortable during the experiment. The treatment occurred at the same time and the same duration as regular music class in order to maintain consistency for subjects and uniformity in scheduling. Treatments were scheduled on every Monday in June, 2009. 18 The subjects of both control and treatment groups took pre- and posttests. While higher scores on the posttest may have resulted due to experience gained from taking the pretest, this factor influenced both groups equally. The desired number of subjects was 60 for the analysis of this study. Therefore, an additional 10 subjects were included in the study to make up for attrition due to student absence. Three independent judges scored the dependent variable. A blind process was used in the judging to shield the identity of the children. External Validity The school selected for this study was a typical prekindergarten in the Mok-Dong District as far as population distribution, economic status, general educational goals, and student achievement. Adults in the Mok-Dong District are 30-40 years on average and most hold professional jobs with high educational goals for their children. Procedure With the assistance of the school principal, participants were recruited from the school population, and permission forms were completed by their parents and the school principal. The music classes for this study were led by the music teacher, and the study was conducted over a five-week period on successive Mondays in June 2009. Week one included the pretest followed by three weekly music classes, with the posttest in week five. The following describes details regarding the pilot study, music classes, pre- and posttest procedures, analysis, and timeline. Pilot study A pilot study was conducted with a smaller sample (n=52) of similar students ranging from 3 to 5 years of age. The pilot study was conducted in two private pre-schools in Seoul in November, 2008. A total of four music examples consisting of eight measures were used 19 for the treatment sessions, the pre- and posttest. A pretest, one treatment session, and a posttest were administered consecutively on the same day for the pilot study. A digital piano was used to play the music examples live, and the piano player and other music teacher participated in judging the children’s drawings. Two judges evaluated the children’s drawings according to the number of tempo and dynamic changes depicted in their drawings. The data were collected after one treatment session. The current format for measurement and procedure for collecting data was modified after the pilot study. The procedures were formalized, adding two additional treatment sessions and extending the duration of each treatment session. The number and length of musical examples were altered to allow for greater changes in tempo. In addition, changes in dynamics were eliminated from the melodies so as to remove another variable. Finally, it was decided to lessen further variables by using recordings rather than live music during treatments and tests. The scoring system was adjusted in measuring the children’s apparent understanding of tempo changes in their drawings. The judging system was also adjusted, increasing the number of judges, participation of judges being restricted to evaluations only (without participation in treatment sessions or the pre- and posttests), and watching of videos while scoring, as every test session was video recorded for accurate matching points between real tempo changes in music and changes in children’s drawings. Classroom set-up The general music classroom in the school was used for the music classes in this study. This large room included a CD player, and two speakers for listening. The room was spacious enough for the subjects to move about freely while listening to music. Colorful tapes and chiffon scarves were available for the students to use in the treatment group. 20 Listening sessions Listening sessions occurred on three consecutive weeks for both the active and the passive listening groups. Each session lasted for 40 minutes. In the first and second session, recorded versions of two melodies were played for the subjects: one familiar melody (Twinkle, Twinkle for the first listening session and London Bridge for second session), and one unfamiliar melody. Each melody was played three times. The familiar melodies were selected from those previously taught to all of the children in their music class. The unfamiliar melodies were composed specifically for this study and were based on similar phrasing, length, melodic shape, and harmonic structure. The third listening session included recorded versions of three melodies for the subjects: two familiar melodies used already in the first and second session and one unfamiliar. Each melody contained four musical changes in tempo. Control group Participants (n=33) of the control group were divided into four small groups. Each of the four groups experienced the same content and instruction during the music listening classes. The control condition consisted of music teacher-guided listening activities. The teacher played recorded musical examples as the students sat quietly, relaxed, and listening. The teacher guided the students in understanding the musical concepts of tempo in the recorded examples. Tempo changes in the music were pointed out for students’ recognition and understanding. Treatment group Similar to the control group, participants (n=34) of the treatment group were also divided into four small groups. Each group experienced the same content and instruction in the music listening class. 21 The treatment condition consisted of the music teacher guiding listening activities with movement. The teacher played recorded musical examples and modeled movements that corresponded to the tempo of the music. The teacher used props with the children, such as colorful scarves and ribbons. When the music was faster, the teacher modeled faster gestures and encouraged the children to do the same to represent the tempo of the movement. Special attention was given to those who needed more encouragement to imitate the movements. Both familiar and unfamiliar melodies were included in each music class, introducing students to new music and allowing them to transfer skills in listening to unfamiliar music. Pre- and posttests The pre- and posttests followed the same procedures. The pretest was administered on week one, and the posttest on week five. Testing occurred during the regularly scheduled music classes, with each student being tested separately and consecutively. The individual tests lasted for 2 to 3 minutes duration, resulting in a period of 20 to 30 minutes for all students in one class to be tested. Each classroom contained children who had been assigned to the treatment and control groups. The classroom teachers, unaware of which children were assigned to the control and treatment group, sent the children for testing in an order that provided the least disturbance for the class. The test was administered to each student individually while the other students in the class played, read, snacked, or listened to story-telling by their classroom teacher. The result was that the children were tested in an order that interspersed children in the control group with those from the treatment groups. The order of children being tested was the same for the pre- and posttest. The testing procedure for each class began with instructions provided for all participants. Testing each student began with abbreviated instructions to clarify and help 22 children remember the instructions. In the directions, the music teacher demonstrated by drawing a continuous ‘z’-shaped figure representing changes in the tempo that were heard in the short, familiar musical example played. When the music was faster, the ‘z’-shape was to be drawn densely, and when the music was slower, the ‘z’-shape was to be drawn sparsely. The children were instructed to begin their drawing on a pre-drawn dot on the page and to continue drawing until the music stopped. For each test (pre- and posttests), two different short recorded melodies were played on a CD player: one familiar melody and one unfamiliar melody (Appendix A). Each of the two melodies was played once. The children selected a colored marker, listened to each melody played, and drew on a large piece of paper according to the instructions they had received. The entire process of the pre- and posttests was videotaped for evaluation by the judges at a later time. Judging Three judges with extensive experience in music education for young children evaluated the drawings. The judges underwent training, in order to ensure accurate calibration of the measurement system, and were trained separately on different days. The training was provided by the researcher and provided judges with information about assigning appropriate scores. The judges were trained to watch sample videos of the researcher drawing and to independently assign two scores to each drawing. Once the sample drawings were evaluated accurately by each of the judges, and the research was convinced that the judges clearly understood the system, evaluation of the study data commenced. The children’s drawings were judged in the same order in which the children took the pre- and posttests, with children from the control group interspersed with those from the 23 treatment group. The judges did not know the group affiliation of each child or if they were judging a pretest or posttest. See Appendix B for samples of children’s drawings. After collecting the raw scores, consistency among the three judges’ scores was determined through a correlation test. A threshold of r>=.60 indicating a substantial relationship (Best & Kahn, 2006), was established for inclusion of the scores. This demonstrates that the three judges evaluated the pre- and posttests consistently. A results of r<.60 would indicate less consistent scoring among the three judges and call into question the reliability of the measurement and the findings. The results of a Pearson Correlation test indicated that all of the judges’ scores met these criteria, and consequently all scores were included in the analysis. Table 1. Descriptive Judge Scores for All Children (n=67) M SD Range Judge 1 1.83 1.70 0 - 4 Judge 2 1.45 1.43 0 – 4 Judge 3 1.63 1.64 0 - 4 Table 2. Inter-rater reliability: Correlation Matrix of Judge Scores Judge 1 Judge 2 Judge 3 Judge 1 ______ ______ ______ Judge 2 r=.71* ______ ______ Judge 3 r=.73* r=.60* ______ *p<.001 24 Analysis The drawings of all subjects were collected to score the children’s apparent music understanding, according to the procedure described in the Dependent Variable section. The mean scores of all three judges’ scores were collected. The pretest scores were subtracted from the posttest scores, producing a gain score. The gain scores reflect the change in apparent student understanding after the treatments. Once calculated for each student, each gain score for the children in the treatment group (active listening group) based on the familiar and unfamiliar melodies were compared with the gain scores for the familiar and unfamiliar melodies in the control group (passive listening group) using the two-way ANOVA test. The result of the test indicated whether the treatment based on familiarity had had any effect. This analytical procedure was used to determine if the treatment had an effect on children’s musical understanding of tempo. Time Table This five-week study was conducted in June and July, 2009. Data for the pretest were collected in week one, and data for the posttest were collected in week five. Between pre-and posttests, three treatment sessions were processed on three consecutive Mondays in July, 2009. Judging was conducted in July of 2009, immediately after the experiment had concluded. Protection of Human Subjects This study was conducted in Seoul, Korea with 70 children ranging from 3 to 5 years of age. Children were assigned to a treatment group according to random stratification. The children were mostly right-handed, healthy, and from upper middle-class families. Agreement for participation in the experiment was obtained from the principals and parents. All had signed and returned letters of approval for their children to participate. The letters 25 indicated that the treatment session would last for approximately 40 minutes, and if the children (or parents) wished to discontinue participation in the study at any time, they could do so freely. This study was considered non-human subject research for the following reasons: 1) The experiment occurred during the children’s regularly scheduled music class, and 2) the identities of all subjects participating in this study were secured by the music teacher. Each child was assigned a code that replaced his or her name. These codes were created and held by the music teacher who provided the researcher and judges with coded number identification only. The identities of the children were never revealed to the researcher or to the judges, as recommended by the Institutional Review of Board (IRB) at the University of Southern California (USC). The researcher received a “Non –Human Subjects Research” letter of approval from the IRB on May of 2009. 26 CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS Overview This study investigated young children’s apparent understanding of tempo in familiar and unfamiliar melodies when comparing active and passive listening conditions. Chapter 4 includes a restatement of the two research questions and related two null hypotheses that guided the study. Data treatment and results are then discussed and are followed by a chapter summary. For purposes of reporting, the limit for identifying statistical significance was set at p<.05. The software programs employed in the data analysis were Microsoft Excel 2007, and SPSS 16.0. Restatement of the Research Questions There were two research questions for this study related to young children’s musical understanding. One question asked if there is a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo (dependent variable) when comparing active and passive listening conditions (independent variable). The second question asked if there is a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody. Restatement of the Null Hypotheses There were two null hypotheses for the study. Hypothesis one states that there will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions. Hypothesis two states that there will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody. 27 Data Treatment: Descriptive Results As discussed earlier, for the testing sessions, the children each contributed two drawings which represented their apparent musical understanding of tempo: one drawing in response to a familiar melody and a second in response to an unfamiliar melody. Three independent judges evaluated the children’s drawings and provided scores that represented the number of accurate tempo changes reflected in their drawings. When considering the pre- and posttest sessions, this resulted in four drawings per child and a corresponding four scores from each judge. With sufficient inter-judge agreement, as outlined in Chapter 3, the mean of the judges’ scores was calculated for each drawing and included in the analysis. The results for all children who completed the study are included in Table 3 below. Table 3. All Students Scores for the Number of Tempo Changes Indentified Correctly n Range Mean SD Pretest Familiar melody 34 0.00-4.00 1.87 1.46 Treatment Unfamiliar 34 0.00-4.00 1.07 1.34 Posttest Familiar 34 0.00-4.00 2.76 1.33 Unfamiliar 34 0.00-4.00 2.18 1.24 Pretest Familiar melody 33 0.00-4.00 1.38 1.34 Control Unfamiliar 33 0.00-3.00 .84 .99 Posttest Familiar 33 0.00-4.00 1.64 1.38 Unfamiliar 33 0.00-3.67 1.32 1.28 Table 3 indicates that for the pretest, the scores for all children were between .84 and 28 1.87 and for the posttest, between 1.32 and 2.76. While all the scores are numerically higher for the posttest, many of these individual scores did not meet the inclusion criteria for the remaining analysis. The children’s scores had to meet the inclusion criteria of at least 1.00 on the pretest to be included in further analysis. A pretest score of less than 1.00 indicated that a student did not understand the drawing system of the experiment, and the score could not be included. Although 70 children participated in this study, three did not complete the study, and scores for an additional 27 children did not meet the inclusion criteria. The scores for these 30 children were excluded from further analysis. Scores from the 40 remaining students were included, and information about the scores is included in Table 4. Table 4. Included Students’ Scores for the Number of Tempo Changes Identified Correctly n Range Min. Max. M SD Pre Familiar 20 2.33 1.67 4.00 2.98 .71 Treatment Post Unfamiliar Familiar 12 20 2.67 4.00 1.33 .00 4.00 4.00 2.69 2.97 .90 1.35 Unfamiliar 12 4.00 .00 4.00 2.25 1.50 Pre Familiar 18 3.00 1.00 4.00 2.41 .95 Control Post Unfamiliar Familiar 13 18 2.00 4.00 1.00 .00 3.00 4.00 1.92 1.44 .64 1.19 Unfamiliar 13 3.67 .00 3.67 1.31 1.36 29 Table 4 shows descriptive statistics according to the children’s scores that met the inclusion criteria. In the treatment group, the scores from 20 children met the inclusion criteria. The scores from all 20 of these children met the inclusion criteria for the familiar melody and the scores from only 12 children met the criteria for the unfamiliar melody. In the control group, the scores from 20 children met the inclusion criteria. Of these 20 children, 18 earned scores that met the criteria for familiar melody and only 13 children met the criteria for unfamiliar melody. The results in Table 4 indicate that the pretest scores range from 1.92 to 2.98 and the posttest scores range from 1.31 to 2.97. These scores are higher in the pretest than the posttest, contrary to Table 3. Similar to Table 3, these scores are numerically higher for the familiar melody than for the unfamiliar melody. Only student scores meeting the inclusion criteria were used for the remaining analysis and results in this chapter. Results To identify changes in student understanding between the pre- to posttest, gain scores were calculated for the variables of familiar and unfamiliar melody. The gain scores were calculated by subtracting each child’s pretest scores from each posttest score. Prior to conducting tests of significance, descriptive data of the gain scores is shown in Table 5 for the helpful interpretation of further analysis. 30 Table 5. The Gain Scores of Included Students for the Number of Tempo Changes The mean gain scores indicated in Table 5 are less than zero with the exception of the familiar melody in the treatment group which is .02. The study was framed by two key research questions, and the results are presented in the same order as the research questions. Research question 1: Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing the active and passive listening conditions? The results were calculated with a two-way ANOVA using the student gain scores. According to Educational Research (Gall et al, 2003), “ANOVA is a procedure for determining whether the difference between the mean scores of two or more groups on a dependent variable is statistically significant” (p.618). A two-way ANOVA was selected for this study because of the two independent variables, listening conditions and familiarity of n Min Max Mean SD Treatment Familiar melody 20 -.68 .71 .02 1.62 Unfamiliar 12 -1.34 .45 -.44 1.77 Both Combined 32 -1.34 .71 -.16 1.67 Control Familiar melody 18 -1.70 -.23 -.96 1.38 Unfamiliar 13 -1.48 -.24 -.62 1.42 Both Combined 31 -1.70 .24 -.82 1.39 Treatment Total Familiar 38 -1.70 .71 -.45 1.57 & Control Total Unfamiliar 25 -1.48 .45 -.53 1.57 31 melody, and one dependent variable, musical understanding in melody. The two-way ANOVA compared the treatment and control groups, the familiar and unfamiliar melodies and the intercept of groups and familiarity, and the results are indicated below in Table 6. The results in Table 6 indicate that there is no significant difference (p=.15) between the results of the treatment and the control groups. Therefore, the listening condition did not have an effect on the young children’s apparent understanding of tempo. Whether active and passive listening, this did not affect the children’s understanding of tempo. The first null hypothesis for this study was the following: There will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo when comparing active and passive listening conditions. This null hypothesis is accepted, based on the results of this study. Table 6. The Difference of Gain Scores between Dependent Variables by Two-way ANOVA Source Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig Corrected Model 9.40 3 3.14 1.31 .28 Intercept 15.09 1 15.09 6.32 .02 Group treat/cont 4.99 1 4.99 2.09 .15 Familiarity .05 1 .05 .02 .89 Group/Familiarity 2.47 1 2.47 1.03 .32 Error 140.76 59 2.39 Total 164.72 63 Corrected Total 150.17 62 32 Research question 2: Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody? A comparison of the gain scores for familiar and unfamiliar melodies also reveals no significant difference (p=.89), as shown in Table 6. The familiarity of the melody had no effect on the children’s apparent understanding of tempo. The second null hypothesis was as follows: There will be no statistically significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to the familiarity of the melody. The results of the study allow us to accept this null hypothesis. Figure1 shows, visually, the interaction of group and melody and is helpful in understanding this result. -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 Gain scores for the number of tempo changes Familiar Unfamiliar Figure 1. Gain Scores for the Number of Tempo Changes Treatment Control 33 Finally, when comparing the children’s apparent understanding of tempo in the case of familiar and unfamiliar melodies in related to active and passive listening conditions, there was no significant interaction effect. The treatment group gain scores were higher than those of the control group and, while getting close to intersection, the lines remained independent of each other. The interaction of group and melody familiarity resulted in no significant difference (p=.32). Summary This chapter has been concerned with data analysis and the results of that analysis. Statistically significant differences were not found among gain scores including groups and familiarity. All null hypotheses were accepted, and all research questions were answered in the negative. These results are discussed in Chapter 5. 34 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Introduction This chapter begins with a review of the purpose of the study, followed by a section with an overview of the entire study. The conclusions of the study follow, based on data analysis. Finally, a discussion on the results, suggestions for future research, and implications for Music Education conclude the chapter. Purpose The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of active and passive listening conditions (independent variable) on young children’s musical understanding (dependent variable) of familiar and unfamiliar melody through the researcher’s invented notation. Overview Numerous studies have emphasized the importance of young children’s music learning in improving their musical abilities, while also asserting the importance of developing listening ability from early years (Campbell, 2005; Cusano,2005; Sims, 1991, 2005; Suzuki, 1973; Young, 2003). In this line of thinking, body movement has been considered and used as one of the most efficient tools for music learning in young children (Dalcroze, 1921; Fung, 2001; Sims 1986, 1988). Nevertheless, there have been some difficulties in testing young children’s musical understanding in listening due to the problems of finding appropriate measurement systems. The effect of the listening condition, related to the presence or absence of body movement, on young children’s musical understanding was considered to possibly improve their musical ability, especially, as regards understanding tempo changes in familiar and 35 unfamiliar melodies, giving rise to this study. Young children’s notations, drawn after instruction on representation in specific design related to changes in tempo, were used with the assumption that this provides an adequate measurement for evaluating young children’s musical understanding. Children ranging from 3 to 5 years of age in a private prekindergarten in Seoul, Korea participated in the experiment for 5 weeks in the summer of 2009 for this study. The pre-and posttests were videotaped for later evaluation, and three judges scored the number of tempo changes identified correctly by the children. The gain scores were calculated for the children’s drawings that met the inclusion criteria. A two –way ANOVA was used to compare the scores of the control and treatment groups, and the familiar and unfamiliar melodies. The results obtained through the ANOVA test revealed that there is no statistically significant difference between groups, familiarity, or the interaction of groups and familiarity. Therefore, the null hypotheses were accepted, based on the results of this study. These results and acceptance of null hypotheses are examined more closely in relation to each of the two research questions in next section. Conclusion The results of this study indicate two primary conclusions which provide ideas for further research. In addition, the researcher offers a suggestion about a measurement system of young children’s musical understanding during listening based on the procedure used in this study. These conclusions are specifically explained below. Research question one: Is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo changes when comparing active and passive listening conditions? 36 The most appropriate conclusion to be drawn from this question is that incorporating body movement into the musical instruction of children does not affect children’s understanding of tempo. No significant difference was found between the scores of the children in the treatment and the control groups with regard to the number of correct tempo changes identified in musical examples. Although studies have suggested that activities such as body movement during listening can be useful tools for young children to learn musical elements (Dalcroze, 1921; Fung, 2001; Gromko and Poorman, 1998b; Sims, 1986, 2002), the results in this study do not support this idea. Rather, the results of this study support the findings of Gromko (2002), who found that active listening using activities including body movement does not enhance young children’s perception of musical details. Research question two: is there a significant difference in young children’s apparent understanding of tempo according to familiarity of the melody? The results in this study revealed no significant difference in the apparent understanding of tempo when comparing the results of the familiar melody with those of the unfamiliar melody. It did not matter if the children knew the melody previously or if it was new to them, their understanding of tempo appeared to be the same. Further results indicated that for melody familiarity, it did not matter if the children were in the treatment or the control group. Active listening did not appear to be an effect on children’s apparent understanding of tempo in relation to ether familiar or unfamiliar melodies. The conclusion drawn for this research question regarding melody familiarity mostly supports the findings of Fung (2001), who found that 7- to 12-year-old children’s musical perception during listening is affected more by specific musical features of melody, such as rhythm and phrasing significance, than melody familiarity. 37 Discussion The conclusions of this study suggest three topics for further discussion including the number of subjects, the measurement system, and spontaneous and guided body movement. Number of subjects The scoring system used in this study was adapted from previous studies and was further influenced by lessons learned in the pilot study. The scoring system was structured so that a score of zero would indicate either that the child’s drawing represented no correct tempo changes or that the drawing did not indicated that the child understood the directions for the system. If children scored less than one on their drawing for the pretest, the scores were excluded from further analysis. It is important to note that 27 children’s scores or 40% of the possible scores were excluded from the analysis because they did not meet the inclusion criteria. This reflects two issues that quite likely have influenced the results of the study. Firstly, the drawing system used to collect information about the children’s musical knowledge was not understood clearly by many students at the beginning of the study. It may have taken several classes of repeated instruction to ensure that most of the children understood the intended representations of the drawing styles. Secondly, the scoring system should account separately for the children’s understanding of the drawing system and of the tempo changes. Each of the two criteria might have been scored separately to provide more specificity. Inherently, there are challenges in the accurate measurement of young children’s musical understanding. Measurement systems used in a new context need testing to ensure reliability and validity. The application of the drawing system in the current study has provided a first step in this process. 38 Examining scores with no exclusion criteria applied to subjects The descriptive results in Chapter 4 indicate that when looking at all student scores (included and excluded), the numeric scores are higher for the posttest for every measurement. These scores include the students who scored zero on the pretest and for whom great improvement on the posttest was possible. While the reported increase in the posttest scores cannot be interpreted as an effect of the treatment, it does suggest that the children better understood the drawing system during the posttest. It appeared that, through practice, experience, and repeated instructions, the children were better able to represent their musical understanding through this drawing system for the final test. This finding is in agreement with the idea of Davison and Scripp (1988) that music educators need to know young children’s representations of music because this provides information about young children’s understanding of music. Their idea is also that children’s representations of music provide a “window” into the understanding that children can express as they listen to music. Although measuring young children’s musical understanding or perception during listening has been considered one of the most difficult areas in music education, some studies (Barrett 1997, 1999; Fung, 2001; Gromko, 1994) suggest that children from age 4 to 12 years can describe to their understanding or perception of musical characteristics through invented notations they listen to melody. The results of this study support and extend these earlier findings as the children in the current study were younger, ranging in age from 3 to 5 years. Spontaneous and instructional body movement During music classes for the control group, simple spontaneous movements were observed in many of the children. These occasional movements included tapping their fingers and feet, nodding their heads, or lightly moving their bodies to the rhythm of the music 39 from a seated or lying position. The children in the treatment group followed movements guided by their teacher for the majority of the class. The children and teacher kept moving with the music for the duration of the class even though the children became distracted by the movement or tired of the activity. It is possible that the light and spontaneous activity of the control group enhanced their concentration on the music, unlike the constant movement of the treatment group that seemed to over stimulate the children. The results inspire the consideration of an alternative approach to movement with regard to children’s musical understanding. The observations of movement in the treatment and control groups may inspire listening conditions that combine elements of both guided and spontaneous movement. Perhaps, in future studies, children’s natural movements could be examined and then integrated into a similar study. Implications for Music Education It is important to consider that the children participating in this study attend the same school, which is located in the community in which the researcher resides. Also, the number of students in the analysis was considerably lower than intended due to the number of students whose scores did not meet the inclusion criteria. With these limitations, the specific findings of this study will apply more to the local community in which the data were collected and less to the broader population. When the current study is placed alongside other related studies, the broader themes and valuable information gathered from the collective whole can inform the pedagogy of young children and the measurement of their musical understanding. Suggestions for the Future Research Three suggestions for future research that are directly related to the results of this study are explained below. 40 Firstly, a replication of this study is suggested with increased instruction and practice time with the drawing system for all of the children before the treatment sessions begin. It seems that most children were eventually able to understand the system but needed more initial practice. The effect of the treatment can be identified more accurately with this additional instruction for the children. Secondly, the number of listening sessions should be increased. The children participating in this study experienced three treatment sessions. If the number of sessions was increased to six or seven, the children could experience the movement as part of their music class and the novelty of the new activity would be minimized. Thirdly, the variables of age and previous experience of music were not included in this study, and should be considered for future research. The variance in musical understanding due to these factors is worthy of study, particularly with the current drawing system as a measurement of musical understanding. A study including these variables may reveal limitations in age for the current drawing system as a measurement of musical understanding. Three suggestions for future research that extend from the results of this study are described below. Firstly, a descriptive research design in a natural setting should be considered to explore children’s spontaneous light body movements to the music similar to those observed in the control group of the current study. 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Reston, V.A: Music Educators National Conference. 50 APPENDIX A Music Examples Familiar melody for pretest 51 Unfamiliar melody for pretest 52 Familiar melody for posttest 53 Unfamiliar melody for posttest 54 Familiar melody for treatments 55 Unfamiliar melody for treatments 56 APPENDIX B Drawing Examples fast-slow-fast-slow pattern Example 1 Example 2 57 slow-fast-slow-fast pattern Example 3 Example 4 58 excluded-score pattern Example 5 Example 6 Example 7 |
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