The interaction of repetition and difficulty for working memory in melodic dictation tasks

Abstract

This research examines the effect of repetition on melodic dictation tasks in an undergraduate ear-training class. A pilot group of freshman music majors (n = 17) were asked to notate four melodies, of which two were slightly more difficult since they contained more melodic leaps. Participants heard two melodies repeated three times and two other melodies six times. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) suggests that the number of repetitions had a significant effect on participants’ dictation accuracy, both for scores on pitch and on rhythm. In addition, dictation accuracy was significantly lower when the melodies contained more leaps (controlling for other factors). Overall, we found a statistical interaction between the number of repetitions and the number of leaps in the melody, both of which factors affect the working memory load in these dictation tasks. Given the similarity of the notated melodies, these findings suggest that ear-training pedagogues must carefully select melodic dictations appropriate for student ability and control the number of melodic leaps. Furthermore, we found evidence that the variance in working memory for music among this population is wider than Karpinski (2000) hypothesizes. These findings provide pedagogues with melodic characteristics well-suited for the average incoming freshman music major. Finally, this first empirical evidence of the dictation ability of incoming undergraduate music majors invites a long-term study on the extent to which working memory and/or chunking ability may increase during the multi-semester ear-training curriculum.