Article of Interest
The Effect of Excerpt Duration and Music Education Emphasis on Ratings of High Quality Children's Choral Performances
Published in No. 179, Winter 2009
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of excerpt length on music education majors' ratings of children's choral performances. A secondary purpose was to determine whether there were any differences in ratings between choral and instrumental music education majors. Participants (28 choral music education majors and 44 instrumental music education majors from a large western university) listened to 10 excerpts of high-quality children's choral performances and rated them on pitch accuracy, rhythmic accuracy, tone quality, expressiveness, and overall impression, using a 7-point Likert-type scale. Participants were assigned to one of two groups. The only difference between the groups was that, if Group 1 listened to an excerpt that was 20 seconds long, Group 2 listened to that same excerpt for 60 seconds, and vice versa. Results of a three-way ANOVA with repeated measures indicate there were significant interactions between major and excerpt length (F(1,64)=6.06, p=.01, partial ƞ2 =.08) and between piece and excerpt length (F(9,576)=2.39, p=.01, partial ƞ2=.03). Participants rated excerpts that were 60 seconds long slightly higher than excerpts that were 20 seconds long. There were no significant differences between the ratings of instrumental and choral music education majors, although instrumental majors tended to rate excerpts higher than choral majors.
