Effects of Guided Listening on Musical Enjoyment of Junior High School Students

Abstract

This study centered on whether greater liking of specific styles of music (Baroque and twentieth century) would result at the junior high school level in classes providing guided, analytical listening. The dependent variables, liking for Baroque and twentieth-century music, were measured by an investigator-developed test. The research design was pretest-training-post test with control groups. The training consisted of twelve tape-recorded listening lessons for each style of music. The manner of presentation was influenced by Leonard Bernstein's children's concerts.

Within the limits of the procedures of this investigation, the findings suggested that greater liking for a particular style of music did not result in classes where music of this style was presented with analytic commentary. The investigator concluded that, in the light of this and other studies, general music teachers should be cautious in their expectations of teaching junior high school students to increase their appreciation of particular styles of music.