Date of Award

8-1996

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Music (MM)

Department

School of Music

First Advisor

James Byo

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to design and implement an approach to score study involving a digital synthsizer as a means to develop an aural image of the music. Specifically, the procedure entailed line by line recording of William Latham' s Three Chorale Preludes for band followed by a sequence of listening activities using the synthesized recording. Subjects (N = 23) were divided into 3 groups, assigned one of three preludes, and given a treatment specific to the assigned prelude. Subjects' pre- and posttest aural skills were measured by way of a test of pitch and rhythm performance error detection involving the prelude studied. The aural stimulus, developed by the investigator, utilized synthesized sounds.

The viability of this approach was demonstrated through its implementation by 3 groups of undergraduate music education majors across 3 contrasting preludes. The usefulness of the approach, which included a sequential procedure for listening to the score in various combinations of up to 15 lines, was validated by subjects' pre- to posttest improvement on a test of performance error detection.

A significant difference in gain from pre- to posttest was found between the first and third preludes and the second and third preludes, but not between the first and second preludes. There were significant main effects of error type (subjects were more accurate detecting pitch errors than rhythm errors) for the first prelude, but not the second or third; and voice location (subjects were most accurate detecting errors located in top voices and least accurate in the inner voices) for the first and third preludes, but not the second. Significant interactions were found among error type and voice location in the second prelude.

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