Although music education researchers often utilize music major status as a single-item proxy variable for musician status—and with this designation presume musical competencies or abilities of research participants—there is a lack of research demonstrating links between status as a music major and those assumed competencies. In this study, we compared undergraduate music majors and non-music majors (N = 237) at the group and individual levels using Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI), a well-established measure of multiple ways in which people report engaging with music. Comparing group means, we found that music majors scored higher than non-music majors on each Gold-MSI subscale. Moderate distribution overlap suggested that these results should be considered cautiously. A logistic regression analysis further suggested the complexity of using music major status as a single-item measure, given that music major status was only strongly predicted by the musical training subscale. Measures such as Gold-MSI may provide a viable and psychometrically sound way of determining musical sophistication that will allow more granular and refined analyses of studies relating to musical competencies.
AdlerN. E.EpelE. S.CastellazzoG.IckovicsJ. R. (2000). Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy white women. Health Psychology, 19(6), 586–592. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.19.6.586
2.
AustinP. C. (2010). Estimating multilevel logistic regression models when the number of clusters is low: A comparison of different statistical software procedures. International Journal of Biostatistics, 6(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.2202/1557-4679.1195
3.
BakerD. J.VenturaJ.CalamiaM.ShanahanD.ElliottE. M. (2020). Examining musical sophistication: A replication and theoretical commentary on the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index. Musicae Scientiae, 24(4), 411–429. https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864918811879
4.
BowlesC.DobbsT.JensenJ. (2014). Self-perceived influences on musically active nonmusic majors related to continued engagement. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 33(1), 11–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/8755123314540657
ChangJ.LinP.HoffmanE. (2021). Music major, affects, and positive music listening experience. Psychology of Music, 49(4), 841–854. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735619901151
DegraveP.DedonderJ. (2019). A French translation of the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index, an instrument to assess self-reported musical skills, abilities and behaviours. Journal of New Music Research, 48(2), 138–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2018.1499779
9.
DemorestS. M. (1995). Issues of ecological validity for perceptual research in music. Psychomusicology, 14, 173–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0094085
10.
DemorestS. M.MorrisonS. J.BekenM. N.JungbluthD. (2008). Lost in translation: An enculturation effect in music memory performance. Music Perception, 25(3), 213–223. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2008.25.3.213
11.
ElpusK. (2017). Just ask me: Convergent validity of self-reported measures of music participation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 65(2), 129–138. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429417713721
12.
FisherG. G.MatthewsR. A.GibbonsA. M. (2016). Developing and investigating the use of single-item measures in organizational research. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 21(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039139
13.
FredricksonW. E.CoggiolaJ. C. (2003). A comparison of music majors’ and nonmajors’ perceptions of tension for two selections of jazz music. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(3), 259–270. https://doi.org/10.2307/3345378
14.
GarzaJ. R.GlennB. A.MistryR. S.PonceN. A.ZimmermanF. J. (2017). Subjective social status and self-reported health among US-born and immigrant Latinos. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 19(1), 108–119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0346-x
15.
GordonE. E. (1979). Primary measures of music audiation. GIA.
16.
GordonE. E. (1982). Intermediate measures of music audiation. GIA.
17.
GordonE. E. (1989). Advanced measures of music audiation. GIA.
HancockC. B. (2008). Aesthetic responses of music and non-music majors to gradual pitch center changes. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 178, 85–94. http://www.jstor.com/stable/40319341
21.
HoningH. (Ed.). (2018). The origins of musicality. MIT Press.
LaneJ. S. (2006). Undergraduate instrumental music education majors’ approaches to score study in various musical contexts. Journal of Research in Music Education, 54(3), 215–230. https://doi.org/10.1177/002242940605400305
24.
LimaC. F.CorreiaA. I.MüllensiefenD.CastroS. L. (2018). Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI): Portuguese version and associations with socio-demographic factors, personality and music preferences. Psychology of Music, 48(3), 376–388. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735618801997
25.
LinH.KopiezR.MüllensiefenD.WolfA. (2019). The Chinese version of the Gold-MSI: Adaptation and validation of an inventory for the measurement of musical sophistication in a Taiwanese sample. Musicae Scientiae, 25(2), 226–251. https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864919871987
26.
MithenS. (2006). The singing Neanderthals. Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd.
27.
MoineddinR.MathesonF. I.GlazierR. H. (2007). A simulation study of sample size for multilevel logistic regression models. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 7, Article 34. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-7-34
28.
MontemayorM. (2016). Evaluation of intrarehearsal achievement by listeners of varying levels of expertise. Journal of Research in Music Education, 64(3), 294–308. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429416664898
29.
MorrisonS. J.PriceH. E.GeigerC. G.CornacchioR. A. (2009). The effect of conductor expressivity on ensemble performance evaluation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 57(1), 37–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429409332679
30.
MüllensiefenD.GingrasB.MusilJ.StewartL. (2014). The musicality of non-musicians: An index for assessing musical sophistication in the general population. PLoS One, 9(2), Article e89642. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089642
31.
MüllensiefenD.GingrasB.StewartL.MusilJ. J. (2013). Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) v1.0 technical report and documentation revision. https://shiny.gold-msi.org
32.
OllenJ. E. (2006). A criterion-related validity test of selected indicators of musical sophistication using expert ratings (Publication No. 305300660) [Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
33.
PastoreM.CalcagnìA. (2019). Measuring distribution similarities between samples: A distribution-free overlapping index. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 1089. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01089
34.
PetrovskyD.HamiltonR. H.CacchioneP. Z. (2017). Use of the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index in older American adults: A feasibility study. Innovation in Aging, 1(Suppl. 1), 466–467. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igx004.1663
35.
PriceH. E.MannA.MorrisonS. J. (2016). Effect of conductor expressivity on ensemble evaluations by nonmusic majors. International Journal of Music Education, 34(2), 135–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761415617925
36.
R Core Team. (2021). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. https://www.R-project.org/
37.
SadakataM.YamaguchiY.OhsawaC.MatsubaraM.TerasawaH.von SchnehenA.MüllensiefenD.SekiyamaK. (2022). The Japanese translation of the Gold-MSI: Adaptation and validation of the self-report questionnaire of musical sophistication. Musicae Scientiae. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649221110089
38.
SandersP. D.BrowneL. A. (1998). Music self-concept of non-music majors. Contributions to Music Education, 25(1), 74–86. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24127068
39.
SauerbreiW.Meier-HirmerC.BennerA.RoystonP. (2006). Multivariable regression model building by using fractional polynomials: Description of SAS, STATA and R programs. Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, 50, 3464–3485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csda.2005.07.015
40.
SchaalN.BauerA.MüllensiefenD. (2014). Der Gold-MSI: Replikation und Validierung eines Fragebogeninstrumentes zur Messung Musikalischer Erfahrenheit anhand einer deutschen Stichprobe [The Gold-MSI: Replication and validation of a questionnaire for measuring musical sophistication using a German sample]. Musicae Scientiae, 18(4), 423–447. https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864914541851
41.
SeashoreC. E.LewisL.SaetveitJ. G. (1960). Seashore measures of musical talents. The Psychological Corporation.
42.
SenaviratnaN. A. M. R.CoorayT. M. J. A. (2019). Diagnosing multicollinearity of logistic regression model. Asian Journal of Probability and Statistics, 5(2), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.9734/ajpas/2019/v5i230132
43.
SilveiraJ. M. (2014). The effect of body movement on listeners’ perceptions of musicality in trombone quartet performance. International Journal of Music Education, 32(3), 311–323. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761413491210
44.
Singh-ManouxA.AdlerN. E.MarmotM. G. (2003). Subjective social status: Its determinants and its association with measures of ill-health in the Whitehall II study. Social Science & Medicine, 56(6), 1321–1333. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00131-4
45.
Singh-ManouxA.MarmotM. G.AdlerN. E. (2005). Does subjective social status predict health and change in health status better than objective status?Psychosomatic Medicine, 67(6), 855–861. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.psy.0000188434.52941.a0
46.
SnijdersT. A. B.BoskerR. J. (2011). Multilevel analysis: An introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling. Sage.
47.
SpringerD. G.SchlegelA. L.NápolesJ. (2018). Effects of applause magnitude and musical style on listeners’ evaluations of choral performances. International Journal of Music Education, 36(3), 418–429. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761418771985
48.
YoungJ. A.HippleJ.CheskyK. (1999). Do music major clients present different problems than non-music major clients?Medical Problems of Performing Artists, 14(3), 150–153.
49.
ZhangJ. D.SchubertE. (2019). A single item measure for identifying musician and nonmusician categories based on measures of musical sophistication. Music Perception, 36(5), 457–467. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2019.36.5.457
50.
ZhangJ. D.SusinoM.McPhersonG. E.SchubertE. (2018). The definition of a musician in music psychology: A literature review and the six-year rule. Psychology of Music, 48(3), 389–409. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735618804038
51.
ZhangZ. (2016a). Model building strategy for logistic regression: Purposeful selection. Annals of Translational Medicine, 4(6), Article 111. https://doi.org/10.21037/atm.2016.02.15
52.
ZhangZ. (2016b). Multivariable fractional polynomial method for regression model. Annals of Translational Medicine, 4(9), Article 174. https://doi.org/10.21037/atm.2016.05.01
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
