This experiment tested a treatment designed to improve choral students' expressiveness regarding keyword emphasis and phrase shaping. The treatment was founded upon the constructivist belief that students actively construct conceptual knowledge through problem solving. Participants were 46 university students randomly selected from a nonauditioned choir. A time-series design and backward-elimination ANOVA was used to produce and analyze the data. A treatment effect was found for both keyword emphasis and phrase shaping. Implications suggest that choral educators may increase students' ability and propensity to independently interpret music in terms of keyword emphasis and phrase shaping by providing problem-solving opportunities to students.
Bresin, R., & Friberg, A. (2000). Emotional coloring of computer controlled music performances. Computer Musical Journal, 24, 44-63.
2.
Broomhead, P. (2001). Individual expressive performance: Its relationship to ensemble achievement, technical achievement, and musical background. Journal of Research in Music Education, 49, 71-84.
3.
Carpenter, R.A. (1988). A descriptive analysis of relationships between verbal behaviors of teacher-conductors and rating of selected junior and senior high school band rehearsals. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 7, 37-40.
4.
Colwell, R. (1963). An investigation of musical achievement among vocal students, vocal-instrumental students, and instrumental students. Journal of Research in Music Education, 11, 123-130.
5.
Cooksey, J. (1977). A facet-factorial approach to rating high school choral music performance. Journal of Research in Music Education , 25, 100-113.
6.
Clarke, E., & Windsor, W. (2000). Real and stimulated expression: A listening study . Music Perception, 17(3), 277-313.
7.
Demorest, S.M., & May, W.V. (1995). Sight-singing instruction in the choral ensemble: Factors related to individual performance. Journal of Research in Music Education, 43, 156-167.
8.
Doherty, C.P. (1999). Discrimination of prosody and music by normal children. European Journal of Neurology, 2, 221-226.
9.
Elliott, D. (1987). Assessing musical performance. British Journal of Music Education, 4, 157-183.
10.
Gabrielsson, A. (1974). Performance of rhythmic patterns. Scandanavian Journal of Psychology, 15, 63-72.
11.
Gérard, C., & Auxiette, C. (1992). The processing of musical prosody by musical and nonmusical children. Music Perception, 1, 93-126.
12.
Henry, M., & Demorest, S.M. (1994). Individual sight-singing achievement in successful choral ensembles: A preliminary study. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 13(1), 4-8.
13.
Juslin, P., Friberg, A., & Bresin, R. (2002). Toward a computational model of expression in music performance: The GERM model. Musicae Scientiae, 63-122.
14.
Lawson, M.J. (1990). The case for instruction in the use of general problem-solving strategies in mathematics teaching: A comment of Owen and Sweller. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 5, 403-410.
15.
Lerdahl, F. (2003). The sounds of poetry viewed as music. In Isabelle Peretz (Ed.), Cognitive neuroscience of music (pp. 413-429). London: Oxford University Press.
16.
Marchand, D.J. (1970). A study of two approaches to the development of expressive performance within the context of a college music fundamentals class (Doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1970). Dissertation Abstracts International, 31, 5940.
17.
Menchaca, L.A. (1988). A descriptive analysis of secondary instrumental conductor rehearsal problem-solving approaches, addressed music elements and relationship to student attitude. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, Columbus.
18.
Music Educators National Conference.1994. National standards for arts education. Reston, VA: MENC.
19.
Povel, D. (1977). Temporal structure of performed music: Some preliminary observations. Acta Psychologica, 41, 309-320.
20.
Repp, B. (2000). Pattern typicality and dimensional interactions in pianists' imitation of expressive timing and dynamics. Music Perception, 18(2), 173-211.
21.
Rodriguez, C.X. (1998). Children perception, production and description of musical expression. Journal of Research in Music Education , 46, 48-61.
22.
Seashore, C.E. (1938). Psychology of music. New York : McGraw-Hill.
23.
Shaffer, L.H. (1981). Performances of Chopin, Bach, and Bartok: Studies in motor programming. Cognitive Psychology, 13, 326-376.
24.
Sharma, G.L. (2000). Effectiveness of problem-solving teaching technique on the evolvement of higher level learning outcomes. Psycho-Lingua , 2, 99-105.
25.
Shields, C. (2003). A problem-solving approach to teaching operant conditioning. Teaching of Psychology, 2, 114-116.
26.
Sidoti, V.J. (1990). The effects of expressive and nonexpressive conducting on the performance accuracy of selected expression marking by individual high school instrumentalists. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, Columbus.
27.
Steinberg, R., & Raith, L. (1985). II. Assessment of musical expression. Psychopathology, 18, 265-173.
28.
Sundberg, J., Askenfelt, A., & Fryden, L. (1983). Musical performance: A synthesis-by rule approach . Computer Music Journal, 7, 37-43.
29.
Thompson, W.F., Sundberg, J., Friberg, A., & Fryden, L. (1989). The use of rules for expression in the performance of melodies. Psychology of Music, 17(1), 63-82.
30.
Todd, N.P. (1992). The dynamics of dynamics: A model of musical expression . Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 91, 3540-3550.
31.
Thurman, V.L. (1977). A frequency and time description of selected rehearsal behaviors used by five choral conductors. Unpublished doctoral dissertation , University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana .
32.
Tucker, D.W. (1969). Factors related to musical reading ability of senior high school students participating in choral groups (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkley, 1969). Dissertation Abstracts International, 31, 2427A.
33.
Windsor, W.L., & Clarke, E.F. (1997). Expressive timing and dynamics in real and artificial musical performances: Using an algorithm as an analytical tool. Music Perception, 15, 127-152.
34.
Zimmerman, R.C. (1962). Relationship of musical environment to choral sight reading ability (Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon, 1962) . Dissertation Abstracts International, 24, 1198-1199.
