The first content standard of the National Standards for Music Education requires that students sing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. Although state and district elementary music curricula vary widely, many are based on the National Standards for Music Education and therefore include singing as a primary content area and method of teaching and learning music. However, classroom assessments of singing voice achievement and development vary widely, and information about reliability and validity of these assessments is rarely reported. The purpose of this article was to identify and discuss measurements of singing voice achievement for elementary aged students that have been used in research studies from dissertations and refereed music education journals since the publication of the National Standards for Music Education in 1994. The author describes each measurement tool, discusses its validity and reliability, and evaluates the practicality of each measure for classroom use by elementary general music teachers. Finally, recommendations for how one of these measures might be used to improve instruction in an elementary music classroom have been made.
Brophy, T.S. ( 1997). Authentic assessment of vocal pitch accuracy in first through third grade children. Contributions to Music Education , 24(1), 57-70.
2.
Consortium of National Arts Education Associations. ( 1994). The National Standards for Arts Education. Reston, VA: MENC. Retrieved from http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/teach/standards/standards_k4.cfm#02
3.
Cooper, N.A. ( 1995). Children’s singing accuracy as a function of grade level, gender, and individual versus unison singing. Journal of Research in Music Education, 43, 222-231.
4.
Gault, B.M. ( 2000). The effects of pedagogical approach, presence/absence of text, and developmental music aptitude on the song performance accuracy of kindergarten and first-grade students (Unpublished doctoral dissertation)The Hartt School, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT.
5.
Green, G.A. ( 1994). Unison versus individual singing and elementary students’ vocal pitch accuracy. Journal of Research in Music Education , 42, 105-114.
6.
Guerrini, S.C. ( 2002). The acquisition and assessment of the developing singing voice among elementary students (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
7.
Guilbaut, D.M. ( 2004). The effect of harmonic accompaniment on the tonal achievement and tonal improvisations of children in kindergarten and first grade. Journal of Research in Music Education, 52, 64-77.
8.
Hepworth-Osiowy, K. ( 2004). Assessment in elementary music education: Perspectives and practices of teachers in Winnipeg public schools (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
9.
Hornbach, C., & Taggart, C. ( 2005). The relationship of developmental tonal aptitude and singing achievement among kindergarten, first-, second-, and third-grade students . Journal of Research in Music Education, 53, 322-331.
10.
Jaffurs, S.E. ( 2000). The relationship between singing achievement and tonal music aptitude (Unpublished master’s thesis). Michigan State University, East Lansing.
11.
Klinger, R., Campbell, P.S., & Goolsby, T. ( 1998). Approaches to children’s song acquisition: Immersion and phrase-by-phrase. Journal of Research in Music Education , 46(1), 24-34.
12.
Lange, D.M. ( 1999). The effect of the use of text in music instruction on the tonal aptitude, tonal accuracy, and tonal understanding of kindergarten students Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Michigan State University, East Lansing.
13.
Levinowitz, L.M., Barnes, P., Guerrini, S., Clement, M., D’April, P., & Morey, M.J. ( 1998). Measuring singing voice development in the elementary general music classroom. Journal of Research in Music Education , 46, 35-47.
14.
Mark, M.L., & Gary, C.L. ( 1992). A history of American music education. New York, NY: Schirmer Books.
15.
Marshall, H.D., III. (2002). Effects of song presentation method on pitch accuracy of third grade children (Unpublished doctoral dissertation) . Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
16.
Mathias, S.L. ( 1997). A teaching technique to aid the development of vocal accuracy in elementary students (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The Ohio State University, Columbus.
17.
Martinez-Castillo, P., & Sotillo, M. ( 2008). Singing abilities in Williams syndrome. Music Perception, 25, 449-469.
18.
McGraw, A.G.B. ( 1996). An assessment of the effectiveness of vocalizes in training elementary school children to sing using head voice (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
19.
Moore, R.S. ( 1994). Effects of age, sex, and melodic/harmonic patterns on vocal pitch-matching skills of talented 8-11 year olds. Journal of Research in Music Education, 42, 5-13.
20.
Moore, R.S., Fyk, J., Frega, A.L., & Brotons, M. ( 1995). Influences of culture, age, gender, and two-tone melodies on interval matching skills of children from Argentina, Poland, Spain, and the USA. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education , 127, 127-135.
21.
Muse, M.B. ( 1994). A comparison of two methods of teaching singing to primary children: An attempt to determine which of two approaches to teaching singing is more effective (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Louisville, Louisville, KY.
22.
Newlin, G.A. ( 2004). The effects of part-work instruction on first grade part-singing acquisition and achievement (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The Hartt School, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT.
23.
Performance Standards for Music Grades PreK-12: Strategies and Benchmarks for Assessing Progress Toward the National Standards. (1996 ). Reston, VA: MENC. Retrieved from http://www.menc.org/resources/view/performance-standards-for-music-assessment-strategies-for-music
24.
Pfordresher, P.Q., & Brown, S. ( 2007). Poor-pitch singing in the absence of "tone deafness."Music Perception, 25, 95-115.
25.
Phillips, K.H., & Aitchison, R.E. (1997a). Effects of psychomotor instruction on elementary general music students’ singing performance . Journal of Research in Music Education, 45, 185-196.
26.
Phillips, K.H., & Aitchison, R.E. (1997b). The relationship of singing accuracy to pitch discrimination and tonal aptitude among third-grade students . Contributions to Music Education, 24, 7-22.
27.
Phillips, K.H., Aitchison, R.E., & Nompula, Y.S. ( 2002). The relationships of music aptitude to singing achievement among fifth-grade students. Contributions to Music Education , 29(1), 47-58.
28.
Price, H.E., Yarbrough, C., Jones, M., & Moore, R. ( 1994). Effects of male timbre, falsetto, and sine-wave models on interval matching by inaccurate singers. Journal of Research in Music Education, 44, 353-368.
29.
Rutkowski, J. ( 1990). The measurement and evaluation of children’s singing voice development. The Quarterly, 1(1-2), 81-95.
30.
Rutkowski, J. ( 1996). The effectiveness of individual/small group singing activities on kindergarteners’ use of singing voice and developmental music aptitude . Journal of Research in Music Education, 44, 353-368.
31.
Rutkowski, J., & Miller, M.S. ( 1994). The longitudinal effectiveness of individual/small-group singing activities on children’s use of singing voice and developmental music aptitude. Bulletin of Research in Music Education, 20, 31-43.
32.
Rutkowski, J., & Miller, M.S. ( 2002). A longitudinal study of elementary children’s acquisition of their singing voices. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 22, 1-10.
33.
Rutkowski, J., & Miller, M.S. ( 2003). The effectiveness of frequency of instruction and individual/small group singing activities on first graders’ use of singing voice and developmental music aptitude. Bulletin of the Council of Research on Music Education, 30(1), 23-38.
34.
Shih, T.-T. ( 1997). Curriculum alignment of general music in central Texas: An investigation of the relationship between the essential elements, classroom instruction, and student assessment (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The University of Texas at Austin.
35.
Talley, K.E. ( 2005). An investigation of the frequency, methods, objectives, and applications of assessment in Michigan elementary general music classrooms (Unpublished master’s thesis). Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI.
36.
Welch, G.F., Sergeant, D.C., & White, P.J. ( 1995/1996). The singing competencies of five-year-old developing singers. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 127, 155-162.
37.
Welch, G.F., Sergeant, D.C., & White, P.J. ( 1997). Age, sex, and vocal task as factors in singing "in tune" during the first years of schooling. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 133, 153-160.
38.
Western, B.A.G. ( 2002). Fundamental frequency and pitch-matching accuracy characteristics of first grade general music students (Unpublished doctoral dissertation) . University of Iowa, Ames.
39.
Wurgler, P.S. ( 1990). A perceptual study of vocal registers in the singing voices of children (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The Ohio State University, Columbus.
