THE EFFECT OF VIOLIN, KEYBOARD, AND SINGING INSTRUCTION ON THE SPATIAL ABILITY ... PDF
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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE EFFECT OF VIOLIN, KEYBOARD, AND SINGING INSTRUCTION ON THE SPATIAL ABILITY AND MUSIC APTITUDE OF YOUNG CHILDREN Tzu-Ching Tai, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Directed By: Professor Janet Montgomery School of Music Professor Michael Hewitt School of Music The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of violin, keyboard, and singing instruction on spatial ability and music aptitude of children ages four to seven years. Specifically, this research attempted to determine: (a) whether formal music learning in the violin, keyboard and singing conditions enhanced children’s spatial ability and music aptitude, and (b) whether children’s spatial ability and music aptitude differed among these learning conditions. In addition, this study sought to examine the relationships among children’s age, their development of spatial ability, and music aptitude in the given music instruction. A pretest-posttest two by three factorial design was employed in the study. Children (N=88) ages four to seven years were randomly assigned to one of three instructional groups (violin, keyboard, or singing) and received 45 minutes of music instruction four times a week for 16 days. Spatial reasoning skills were measured using two subtests, the Object Assembly and the Block Design of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-III, while music aptitude was measured using the Primary Measures of Music Audiation or the Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation. An ANOVA with repeated measures was used to analyze children’s mean scores on spatial abilities and music aptitude. Using an alpha level of .05, results indicated that the violin and keyboard groups significantly improved on spatial-temporal reasoning over four weeks of music instruction. The spatial-temporal reasoning scores of 4-5 year olds significantly increased from the pretest to posttest while the scores of 6-7 year olds remained statistically constant. Regarding music aptitude, the tonal aptitude scores of 4-5 year olds singing group significantly increased over four weeks of music instruction. No statistically significant differences were found on the spatial recognition and rhythm aptitude scores among the three instructional groups for either age level. The study concluded that (a) violin and keyboard instruction might influence the spatial-temporal reasoning of young children, (b) younger children’s spatial-temporal reasoning ability might be more enhanced by music instruction than those of older children, and (c) singing instruction appears to help young children develop their tonal aptitude. Pedagogical implications for music education were discussed. THE EFFECT OF VIOLIN, KEYBOARD, AND SINGING INSTRUCTION ON THE SPATIAL ABILITY AND MUSIC APTITUDE OF YOUNG CHILDREN By Tzu-Ching Tai Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Professor Janet Montgomery, Co-Chair Professor Michel Hewitt, Co-Chair Professor Bruce Carter Professor Mariam Jean Dreher Professor William Strein © Copyright by Tzu-Ching Tai 2010 Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my husband and parents. ii Acknowledgements Writing this dissertation has been an exciting and fruitful learning experience for me. The completion of this dissertation was only possible because of many individuals. I wish to express gratitude to the people who have supported me in the journey of conducting this research project. Special appreciation is directed to my advisor, Dr. Janet Montgomery, for her guidance and encouragement throughout this research project and the journey of my doctoral study. Her professional expertise, commitments to teaching and academic excellence, and dedication to success of students will always be a source of inspiration to me. Sincere thanks go to Dr. Michael Hewitt, the co-chair of this dissertation, for his knowledge and insights into this research project. The design and execution of this research could not have been accomplished without his guidance and help. Appreciation is extended to the rest of dissertation committee: Dr. Bruce Carter for his support and encouragement, Dr. Mariam Jean Dreher, for her knowledge and wisdom, and Dr. William Strein for his expertise on the measurement tools. Special gratitude is expressed to my husband, Chung-En Chu for his unfailing love, support, and understanding throughout the process. I am also grateful to my parents Ye-Li Tai and Ting-Yi Hsiao for their unconditional support and encouragement in all my endeavors. Finally, I would like to thank the music teachers, Sarah Lee, Ha Eun Yoo, and Lauren Young for their participation, patience, and teaching excellence in this research project. iii Table of Contents Dedication...........................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................iii List of Tables...................................................................................................................viii List of Figures....................................................................................................................ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1 Background of the Study................................................................................................1 Music Learning and Spatial Ability............................................................................3 Music Aptitude of Children........................................................................................7 Statement of the Problem..............................................................................................10 Purpose of the Study.....................................................................................................12 Research Questions.......................................................................................................12 Null Hypotheses............................................................................................................12 Spatial Ability...........................................................................................................12 Music Aptitude..........................................................................................................13 Definition of Terms.......................................................................................................15 Limitations of the Study................................................................................................16 Overview of Remaining Chapters.................................................................................17 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE.....................................................................18 Music Learning in the Cognitive Development of Young Children.............................18 Music and Language Ability.....................................................................................22 Music Listening and Spatial-Temporal Reasoning...................................................28 Music Learning and Spatial-Temporal Reasoning...................................................35 Summary...................................................................................................................42 iv Musical Development of Young Children....................................................................46 Development of Music Aptitude...............................................................................46 Auditory Discrimination...........................................................................................50 Tonal and Melodic Perception..................................................................................52 Rhythmic Development............................................................................................55 Summary...................................................................................................................58 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................61 Restatement of Purpose.................................................................................................61 Selection of Sample......................................................................................................61 Research Design............................................................................................................63 Internal Validity........................................................................................................64 External Validity.......................................................................................................66 Independent Variables..................................................................................................66 Dependent Variables and Measurement.......................................................................68 Spatial Ability...........................................................................................................68 Music Aptitude..........................................................................................................71 Experimental Procedures..............................................................................................73 Pilot Testing..............................................................................................................73 Instructor Training....................................................................................................74 Pre-testing Stage.......................................................................................................75 Treatment Stage........................................................................................................76 Post-testing Stage......................................................................................................79 Methods for Data Analysis...........................................................................................79 Summary.......................................................................................................................81 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS...................................................................................................83 v Research Question One: Effects of Music Instruction on Spatial Ability....................83 Spatial-Temporal Reasoning.....................................................................................84 Spatial Recognition...................................................................................................86 Summary for Spatial Ability.....................................................................................90 Research Question Two: Effects of Music Instruction on Music Aptitude..................91 Tonal Aptitude..........................................................................................................91 Rhythm Aptitude.......................................................................................................94 Null Hypotheses of Music Aptitude.........................................................................95 Summary for Music Aptitude...................................................................................98 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS..............................99 Summary of the Study..................................................................................................99 Discussion of the Findings..........................................................................................100 Spatial-Temporal Reasoning...................................................................................100 Spatial Recognition.................................................................................................103 Music Aptitude........................................................................................................105 Tonal aptitude.........................................................................................................106 Rhythm aptitude......................................................................................................107 Implications for Music Education...............................................................................108 Recommendations for Future Research......................................................................111 Conclusions.................................................................................................................117 APPENDICES................................................................................................................120 Appendix A Letter to Parents.....................................................................................120 Appendix B Parental Consent Form...........................................................................121 Appendix C Assent Form for Children.......................................................................123 Appendix D Sample Lesson Plan for Violin Instruction............................................124 vi Appendix E Sample Lesson Plan for Keyboard Instruction.......................................125 Appendix F Sample Lesson Plan for Singing Instruction...........................................126 REFERENCES...............................................................................................................127 vii
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