Date of Award

1982

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Abstract

The main problem investigated in this study was: does the use of the tachistoscopic technique result in greater rhythmic sight-reading performance than conventional methods among junior high music students? A subordinate problem investigated was: does the location of the image in the visual field in the upper left hand corner result in greater rhythmic sight-reading performance than conventional image locations among junior high music students? Subjects for the study consisted of 86 sixth grade music students enrolled at Denham Springs Junior High School, Denham Springs, Louisiana. The Watkins-Farnum Performance Scale (Parts A and B) comprised the test instrument. The design of the study was a 2 x 2 factorial, with subjects randomly assigned to existing classes. After a pretest was administered, slides of rhythm patterns were shown to the four groups. Each group received a different treatment, in which both image duration and image location were varied. A posttest was administered and the results analyzed, using two computer analyses systems. The findings indicated that there was no significant difference in rhythmic sight-reading performance among any of the groups, whether duration was conventional or tachistoscopically presented, or whether image location was conventional or located in the upper left hand corner of the screen. ANOVA and ANCOVA were employed in data analysis, and none of the F-values was significant at the .05 level. All of the null hypotheses were accepted. Within the limitations of this study, the results were interpreted as an indication that, despite previous research, the use of the tachistoscopic technique, while effective in language-reading, is not significantly better than conventional means of rhythmic sight-reading instruction in music-reading.

Pages

85

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.3827

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