Does Studying Music and Sound Design Enhance Academic Abilities in Undergraduate Non-Music

601 Pages·2016·3.35 MB·English

by  Evans, Kathryn C

DOES STUDYING MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN ENHANCE

ACADEMIC ABILITIES IN UNDERGRADUATE NON-MUSIC MAJORS?

A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH

by

Kathryn Christensen Evans

APPROVED BY DISSERTATION COMMITTEE

_________________________________________
Roger Malina, Chair

_________________________________________
Frank Dufour

_________________________________________
Thomas E. Linehan

_________________________________________
Enric Madriguera
Copyright 2016

Kathryn Christensen Evans

All Rights Reserved
To my children, who have always been my greatest inspiration
DOES STUDYING MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN ENHANCE

ACADEMIC ABILITIES IN UNDERGRADUATE NON-MUSIC MAJORS?

A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH

by

KATHRYN CHRISTENSEN EVANS, BS, MA

DISSERTATION

Presented to the Faculty of
The University of Texas at Dallas
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN

ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS

December 2016
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, I would like to thank Tom Linehan, who started this journey with me six years ago. Many
of the concepts in this dissertation came from discussions we had in the very early stages. I am
most grateful for his help in focusing my work on something I am most passionate about, music,
and my curiosity about why students who do music excel academically. To Frank Dufour, who
encouraged me to use phenomenology as my research methodology and assisted with that
portion of the design. To Enric Madriguera, who has accompanied me on many musical
adventures and was willing to be involved in this one.

To Rosanna Guadagno, thank you for the assistance with the design of the survey and answering
my questions about how to analyze the data. And to Robert Root-Bernstein, whose work
features rather prominently in this dissertation, and who read my dissertation in its early stages.

To my chair, Roger Malina, who guided my steps for the last several years, encouraged me to be
rigorous in my research, afforded me many opportunities to talk about my work, both nationally
and internationally, and championed my cause when I needed it the most.

Finally, to the students who took the survey and volunteered to do interviews: this work is your

voice. Your passion, dedication and intelligence shines through every page.

October 2016
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DOES STUDYING MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN ENHANCE

ACADEMIC ABILITIES IN UNDERGRADUATE NON-MUSIC MAJORS?

A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH

Kathryn Christensen Evans, PhD
The University of Texas at Dallas, 2016

Supervising Professor: Roger Malina

Numerous studies show a correlational relationship between the study of music and academic
achievement, but what principles of music study enhance the higher order learning skills required
for academic excellence? This research study looked at the experiences of students at UT Dallas
taking music and sound design classes who are not music majors, through a Qualtrics survey and
follow-up interviews. The data from the survey and interviews was analyzed using
phenomenological methods. Additionally, three cohort comparisons were conducted: music and
sound design students; STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) majors and
non-STEM majors; and ATEC (Arts, Technology and Emerging Media) majors and other STEM
majors. From the analyses, we conclude students who have taken music and sound design
courses feel that those experiences enhance their lives in many ways, and the majority of them
feel it enhances their academic abilities.

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Students benefit by the nature of their experiences in music and sound design, but they benefit
the most from the more analytical aspects of music and sound design courses. Those that had
taken music theory saw a great benefit from those experiences. They benefit from the experience
of listening to aural streams for extended periods of time with attentiveness to detail. Students
experience “flow” during music or sound design experiences, which may transfer to other
subjects. Students benefit from the two-dimensional nature of both music and sound design by
the requirement of analyzing a score or sound design project in both the vertical and horizontal
directions.

The results of this work can lead to future research projects, and use the specific skills that were
reported by students as a testing ground for evidence-based research. Further, the study has
pedagogical implications for curriculum in both music and sound design. Courses should place
more emphasis on the analytical skills that transfer to other academic subjects. While study in
music and sound design gives students many psychological benefits, the educational benefits
should be studied more and in a controlled environment, in order to significantly add to the body
of evidence that courses in the arts can lead to higher academic achievement.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v

ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... vi

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY ..............................................................................35

CHAPTER THREE: OBSERVATIONS ...........................................................................81

CHAPTER FOUR: NARRATIVE SUMMARIES OF INTERVIEW ...........................189

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS ...............................................................................240

CHAPTER SIX: PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH ....294

APPENDICES
A. Institutional Review Board Approval .............................................................305
B. Qualtrics Survey ..............................................................................................306
C. Transcriptions of Interviews ............................................................................312
D. Results and Analysis of Survey Text Responses, Full Sample .......................362
E. Results, Cohort Comparison: Music Versus Sound Design Students .............421
F. Results, Cohort Comparison: STEM Versus non-STEM Students .................487
G. Results, Cohort Comparison: ATEC/EMAC Students Versus STEM Students
..............................................................................................................................514
H. National Endowment for the Arts Research Labs Grant Proposal..................541

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................560

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...........................................................................................572

CURRICULUM VITAE

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LIST OF TABLES

3.1. Comparison of majors of students in the survey vs. UT .............................................82

3.2 Gender of respondents, cohort comparison ...............................................................117

3.3 Ethnicity by cohort .....................................................................................................118

3.4 Majors of respondents by school and cohort .............................................................119

3.5 Students with STEM majors by cohort ......................................................................120

3.6 Music minors by cohort .............................................................................................121

3.7. Previous experience in music, cohort comparison ....................................................122

3.8 Average number of years of formal experience, cohort comparison .........................122

3.9 Years and areas of informal experience for cohorts ..................................................124

3.10 Music courses taken by category, cohort ................................................................126

3.11 Courses taken in sound design, cohort comparison .................................................127

3.12. Was music taken prior to UT Dallas, cohort comparison .......................................128

3.13 Average years of prior musical experience, cohort comparison ..............................129

3.14 Was sound design studied prior to UT Dallas, cohort comparison ..........................130

3.15 Years of sound design experience prior to UT Dallas, cohort comparison .............132

3.16 Responses to “Does music/sound design enhance academic skills?”, cohort
comparison .......................................................................................................................132

3.17 Keyword responses for “Does music/sound design enhance skills?”, cohort
comparison .......................................................................................................................134

3.18 Flow in music or sound design activities, cohort comparison .................................136

3.19 Description of the flow experience in music or sound design, cohort comparison .136

3.20 Responses to “Did you experience flow in other activities?”, cohort comparison ..137
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3.21 Flow activities in other areas, cohort comparison ...................................................137

3.22 Response to “Have you studied form?”, cohort comparison ...................................138

3.23 Responses to “Does studying form enhance academic skills?”, cohort comparison .....
..........................................................................................................................................139

3.24 Experiences where form affected academic skill, cohort comparison .....................140

3.25 Subjects listed where form affects skills, cohort comparison ..................................140

3.26 Response to “Have you ever used rubato in a musical piece?”, cohort comparison141

3.27 Experience of using rubato, cohort comparison ......................................................142

3.28 Responses to “Have you ever studied music theory?”, cohort comparison .............142

3.29 Do you agree with “Studying music theory enhanced my academic skills in other
courses”, cohort comparison ............................................................................................143

3.30 Describe how studying music theory has affected academic skills, cohort
comparison .......................................................................................................................144

3.31Subject affected by music theory study, cohort comparison ....................................145

3.32 Responses to: Studying music or sound design has enhanced by skills as concerned
time management and discipline, cohort comparison ......................................................146

3.33 Describe an experience where music or sound design affected other academic skills
in discipline and time management, cohort comparison ..................................................146

3.34Responses to “Do you agree that music or sound design requires one to maintain
attention?”, cohort comparison ........................................................................................148

3.35 Responses to “Has the need to maintain attention affected your academic skills?.
cohort comparison ............................................................................................................148

3.36 Maintaining attention skills, cohort comparison ......................................................148

3.37 Responses to “Have you experienced segmenting in music or sound design?”,
cohort comparison ............................................................................................................149

3.38 Segmenting experiences, cohort comparison ...........................................................150
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