Table Of ContentSponsoring Committee: P rofessor Gordon E*
B ailey , P ro fesso r Vincent Jones, and
P ro fesso r H erbert A, Tonne
AN EXPERIMENT TO DETERMINE TEE VALUE OF
NOTATED THEMATIC EXCERPTS RELATIVE TO THE
RECOGNITION OF AURAL MUSICAL THEMES
EDGAR H. SI/IITH
S ubm itted in p a r tia l fu lfillm e n t of th e
req u ire m e n ts fo r th e degree of D octor of
P h ilo so p h y in th e School of E d u catio n of
New Y ork U n iv ersitv
l Thesis accepted _
1952
Dedicated to
GORDON E. BAILEY
Professor of Education
New York U niversity
ii
PREFACE
I wish to express my sin o e re thanks to P ro fesso r
Gordon E, B ailey beoause of h is generous g if ts o f tim e
and p atien ce. I t is w ith a deep sense of g ra titu d e th a t
I acknowledge h is s in c e rity and advice by d ed icatin g th is
research to him.
I also wish to thank D r. V incent Jones and D r.
H erbert A. Tonne fo r serv in g on my sponsoring com m ittee.
They always accepted my im p o sitio n s upon th e ir busy sched
ules w ith kindness and u n d erstan d in g .
Dr. B jornar B ergethon deserves sp e c ia l thanks
because, although he was not on my sponsoring com m ittee,
he gave me many hours of h e lp fu l guidance fo r w hich I am
sin cerely g ra te fu l.
For advice on th e s ta tis t ic a l asp ects of the
th e sis, I am indebted to D r. M aurice N adler, and Dr. John
J. S u lliv an .
I am g ra te fu l to th e m usic educators who helped
me se le c t the themes fo r the experim ent, and to a l l o th e rs
who added th e ir p art to the su ccess of the u n dertaking.
I want to th an k , e s p e c ia lly , the a d m in istra tio n ,
facu lty , and students of C entenary Junior C ollege fo r
cooperating so com pletely w itfr th e experim ent.
I am indebted to th e follow ing p u b lish ers fo r
giving me perm ission to use q u o ta tio n s from th e ir p u b li
cations: Crown P u b lish ers; G inn and Company; The M acm illan
Company; Radio C orporation o f A m erica; The P sychological
C orporation; Music E ducators N atio n al Conference; Simon
and S chuster, In c .; M cGraw-Hill Book Company In c .; Long
mans,Green & Co.; A sso ciated M usic P u b lish ers In c .; In
te rn a tio n al Music Co.; Edward B. Marks Music C orporation;
Ellcan-Vogel Co.; and Boosey and Hawkes,
H ackettstow n, N, J. E. IT. S.
September, 1952
i i i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Topic Page
I D efinition of the Problem . . . . . . . . . 1
General Statement 1
Specific Problems • . • . ........................... 1
D elim itations ....................... . . . . . . . . 2
D efinitions of Terms • .................................... 3
Basic Assumptions . . .................................... 4
I I Status of the P ro b le m ..................................... 5
Significance of the P ro b le m ........................... 5
Related Studies , . . , , ...................... 6
I I I Plan of the Experiment ............................ 9
IV Selection of Notated Thematic Excerpts . . . 11
Seleotion of Themes to be Seleoted • • . • 11
Selection of Jury .......................... 12
Selection of Themes Used • • • • • • • • • 13
V Matching Groups 16
Seashore Measures . . . .................................... 16
ICwalwasser-Ruoh • • • • .......................... 19
Arrangement of Groups .................................22
VI Preparation of M aterials Used In the Experi
ment ...........................................................35
Recordings . . .................. . . . . . . . . . 35
Notated Thematic Exoerpts . . . . . . . . 37
Answer Sheets ...................... 37
V II Procedure in Collecting and Tabulating Data, 40
Type of Student .................................40
Assignment into Groups ................................40
Prooedure in Presenting M a te ria l...........41
Method of s c o r in g ..........................................42
V III S ta tistic a l Procedures Used in Treating Data 45
C ritical Ratio (uncorrelated) . . . . . . 45
C ritica l Hatio (Correlated) ................................46
IX Immediate Recall ...................... . , 46
Specific Problem No. 1 . . . . . . . . . , 48
Specific Problem No. 4 . . . . . . . . . . 53
Specific Problem No. 5 .................................65
Summary • ............................... 118
iv
Table o f Contents (continued)
Chapter Topic Page
X R ecall A fter One W e e k .............................. 123
S p ecific Problem No* 2 . . . . . . . . . . 123
S p ecific Problem No• 4 • « • • • • • ♦ . . 127
S p ecific Problem No. 5 . • • • • • • • • • 156
S um m ary ....................................... 185
XI R ecall A fter One Month • • • • • • • • • • • 190
S peoifio Problem No• 3 • • • • • • • • • • 190
S p ecific Problem No. 4 • • • • • • • • • • 194
S peoifio Problem No . 5 . . • • • • . • • . 224
S um m ary.............................................................. 249
XII General summary and C onclusions • • • . . . 252
Immediate R e c a ll..........................................................253
R ecall a f te r One Week ......................... 255
R ecall a f te r One Month • • • • • • • • • • 256
R elation of Music A p titu d e to R e su lts. • • 257
R elation of Music Reading A b ility to Re
su lts • • • . . .....................................................260
G eneral C onclusions. • • • • • • • • • • • 265
XIII Closing Remarks ________________ .__ 268
Suggested Topics fo r F u rth e r R esearch • • 26B
Bibliography ..............................................................................2?0
Appendix ........................................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure T itle Page
1 Theme Q uestionnaire .....................................................274 - 279
2 Example of Notated Them atic E x c e rp ts, • • 280 - 281
3 Example of Answer Sheet ......................................, , , 2 8 2
A
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LIST OF TABlES
Table T itle Page
I V otes C ast By Jury of Musio Teachers for
Themes to be Used in the Experiment • • . 14
I I Themes Voted E asiest By Jury of Music Tea
c h e rs, A rranged in L ists as Used in the
Experim ent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
I I I A rrangem ent of L ist 1 For Presentation to
S tu d en ts ................................. . . . . . . . . 15
IV M eans, Standard Deviations, and Coefficients
-Of- R e lia b ility For the Revised Edition of
the Seashore Measures of Musical Talent , 17
V C onversion of Seashore Measures From Raw
S cores to Standard Scores • • . . • • • • 18
VI Conversion of Kwalvrasser-Ruch Raw Scores
To S tandard S c o r e s ..................................................21
V II A rrangem ent of Students in Group A and
Group B • . • • ................................................ 24
V III Means and Standard Deviations for Group A
On th e Seashore and Kwalwasser-Ruch Tests
U sing S tandard Scores • • ................................26
IX Means and Standard Deviations for Group B
On th e Seashore and Kwalwasser-Ruch Tests
U sing Standard Scores • « • « • • . . . . 27
X S ig n ific a n t D ifference as Expressed by Cri
t i c a l R atio Between Means of Group A and
Group B on th e Kwalwasser-Ruch Tests of
M usical Accomplishment .......................29
XI S ig n ific a n t D ifference as Expressed by Cri
tic a l R atio Between Means of Group A and
Group B on the Seashore Measures of Musi
c a l T alen t ....................................................................30
X II S ig n ific a n t D ifference as Expressed by C riti
c a l R atio Between Standard Deviations on the
Kwalwasser-Ruch Tests of Musical Accomplish
ment . . . . . . . . . 32
v ii
List of Tables (Continued)
Table T itle Page
X III Significant Difference as E xpressed by
C ritical Ratio Between S tan d ard D evia
tions for Group A and Group B on th e
Seashore Measures of M usical T alen t • • • 33
XIY Order of Thematic E xcerpts F or second Re
cording 36
XV Order of Thematic E xcerpts F or T hird Re
cording .....................................................38
XVI Order of Thematic E xcerpts fo r F ourth Re
cording .....................................................................................39
XVII C ritioal Ratio For Odd and Even Item s For
Group A . . . . . . . . . . . ......................A9
XVIII C ritical Ratio For Odd and Even Item s F or
Group B .................................... 49
XIX C ritical Ratio Between Group A and Group B
On Odd Items . . . . • • • • . . . • • • • 52
XX C ritical Ratio Between Group A and Group B
On Even Items ............................. 52
XXI Means and Standard D eviations fo r Groups A
And B, Subdivided in to H igher and Lower
Musical Aptitude, on Odd and Even Itam s • 55
XXII C ritical Ratio Between H igher and Lower
Groups Relative to M usical A p titu d e » • • 56
XXIII Comparison of Groups R e la tiv e ly High in
Musical Aptitude, YRien B oth Groups Had
The Notated Them tic E xcerpt ............................57
XXIV Comparison of Groups R e la tiv e ly Low in
Musical A ptitude, When Both Groups Had
The Notated Thematic E xcerpt To A id
L e a rn in g ........................................................................... 58
XXV Comparison of Groups R e la tiv e ly High in
Musical Aptitude VVhen N eith er Group Had
Notated Thematic Excerpts to Aid
L e a rn in g ........................................................................... 59
XXVI Comparison of Groups R e la tiv e ly Low in
Musical Aptitude When N eith er Group Had
Notated Thematic E xcerpts to Aid
Learning 60
v iii
L ist o f T ables (Continued)
T able T itle Page
XXVII Com parison o f R e la tiv e ly High and Low
G roups R e la tiv e to M usical Aptitude
When Both Groups Used N otated Thematic
E x cerp ts (AHO-ALO) . . . . . . . . . . . 61
XXVIII Same t i t l e (BHE-BBE) . . . ....................................62
XXZX Same t i t l e (AHO-BBE) . ..................... 62
XXX Same t i t l e (BHE-ABO) . ........................................63
XXXI Same t i t l e (AHOBHE-ALOBBE).....................................63
XXXII- Com parison o f R e la tiv e ly High and Low Groups
R e la tiv e to M usical A p titu de When Neither
G roup Used N otated Them atic Exoerpts
(A H E-A BS).............................................................................64
XXXIII Same t i t l e (BHO-BLO) ................................................. 65
XXXIV Same t i t l e (AHE-BLO) .............................65
XXXV Same t i t l e (BHO-ABE) .. . . . . . . . . . 66
XXXVI same t i t l e (AHEBHO-ABEBBO)......................................66
XXXVII C r itic a l R a tio Between a Group Which Used
a N o tated Them atic E x cerp t, and One Which
Did N ot Use th e V isu al A id, When Both Groups
Were R e la tiv e ly H igher R elative to Musical
A p titu d e (AHO-AHE) ....................................................68
XXXVIII Same t i t l e (BHS-BHO) .....................................................69
XXXIX Same t i t l e (AHO-BHO).....................................................69
XB Same t i t l e (BHE-AHE).....................................................70
XLI Same t i t l e (AHOBHE-AHEBHO)* .....................................70
X LII C r itic a l R atio Between a Group Which Used a
N o tated Them atic E x cerp t, and One Which Did
Not Use th e V isu al A id, When Both Groups
W ere R e la tiv e ly Lower in Music Aptitude
(ALO-BLO) ................................................... . . . . . 72
XLI 11 Same t i t l e (BBS-ABE).....................................................73
XLIV Same t i t l e (ALO-ABE) ................................................73
XLV Same t i t l e (BBE-BBO).....................................................74
XBVI Same t i t l e (ALOBBE-ALEBLO).....................................74
ix
