The effective use of manipulatives and color coding in the achievement and application of music reading skills of third grade recorder students

<p>The purpose of this study was to discover the positive effect on sight-reading ability of 100 third grade recorder students reading music notation when color-coding was applied to notes and manipulatives were used in note value instruction.</p> <p>The problem was to compare effects on the learning and application of music reading skills between color-coded notes and monochromatics when students sight-read music playing their recorders.</p> <p>The classes were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The researcher, also the music teacher, taught each class once a week for 50 minutes. The treatment extended approximately 23 weeks. The experimental classes were instructed with color-coded materials and made manipulatives representing duration of note values. The control group was instructed with traditional monochromatics.</p> <p>At the conclusion of the treatment, each student was tested on his sight-reading skills by chanting rhythms and playing their recorder. Each student was tape-recorded for tonal and rhythm and evaluated by two independent judges. A Pearson correlation of <.05 was used to determine the inter-judge reliability.</p> <p>The statistics to be evaluated were organized into three one-dimensional designs for differences and were used to determine the effect on the control versus experimental group. A t-test was calculated for each design to determine the difference between the control and experimental treatments. No statistically significant differences were found for any of these designs.</p> <p>Although previous research has shown a positive effect in the use of color-coding and manipulatives, the current study failed to prove these aids advantageous in the music reading skills or transfer of knowledge.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. in Music Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math Education

Year dc:date.available

2005

Author dc:creator

• Gunsallus-Donachy, Kathy J.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Levinowitz, Lili

• Music--Instruction and study; Sight-reading (Music)
• Elementary Education and Teaching

Repository record dc:identifier

https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/1006

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rdw.rowan.edu:etd-2006