Relative effectiveness of three diverse instructional conditions on seventh-grade wind band students' expressive musical performance

Abstract

In this study, the researcher examined the relative effectiveness of three diverse instructional conditions (aural model (AM), concrete musical instruction (CM), and verbal instruction using imagery/metaphor statements (MI)) on seventh-grade wind band students' expressive musical performance. This study was based, in part, on Woody's (2006a) research with adaptations to include developmentally appropriate instructional conditions for seventh-grade wind band students. In the AM condition, the aural model was recorded by an advanced pianist who synthesized elements from both the CM and MI conditions and exaggerated the expressive properties of loudness, tempo, and style/note duration. In the CM instructional condition, the researcher notated musical markings corresponding to the intended emotion on the printed score for three melodies. Finally, in the MI condition, high-quality examples of imagery/metaphor statements were gathered from experienced wind band instructors and the best-rated statement for each melody was utilized. Participants were enrolled in two seventh-grade wind band programs located in Cobb County, Georgia. Sixty randomly sampled, seventh-grade wind band musicians participated in an expressive performance procedure (EPP) consisting of a pretest recording, an instructional condition, and a posttest recording followed by computer analysis of the loudness, tempo and style/note duration expressive properties. Data were analyzed through matched pairs t-tests determining whether the instructional conditions affected statistically significant differences, from pretest to posttest scores (p < .05), on expressive music performance. Data were further analyzed using an ANCOVA and Tukey HSD post-hoc tests to examine statistically significant (p < .05) differences regarding the relative effectiveness of the three instructional conditions. The results of the matched pairs t-tests indicated the AM, CM, and MI instructional conditions affected the mean difference score sets with statistical significance. Furthermore, results suggested the AM and MI conditions were found to be significantly (p < .005) more effective in affecting the mean difference scores sets than the CM condition; however, the AM and MI conditions did not appear to be significantly more effective compared to one another. The analysis provided evidence supporting the notion that diverse instructional conditions may be effective alternatives for teaching expressive performance.