Identifier

etd-07072009-204750

Degree

Master of Music (MM)

Department

Music

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Participants in this project included high school choral students (N = 54) from central Mississippi and their directors (N = 3). Participants were enrolled both in a mixed choir and either an all boy or all girl choir. A survey was constructed by the researcher to determine the attitudes of the participants toward singing and participation in choir. The 32 survey statements fell into one of four categories: perception of self as singer, attitude about gender in choir, others’ perception of self in choir, and attitude toward choir. In addition, participants were asked to provide demographic data about their gender, age, preference for mixed choir or gender specific choir, and favorite choir song. In order to examine possible differences in music selection that might impact students’ attitudes toward choir, teachers for all choirs responded to a questionnaire regarding philosophy of music teaching in choir. All pieces chosen as the favorite song of the students were analyzed for comparison among groups as well as to give some context to the survey responses. Results indicated singing no significant attitudinal differences between boys and girls in any of the categories, p > .05. Participants were highly positive in their responses to all four categories of statements. The majority of the participants preferred participating in the mixed choir, with the females (89.47%) indicating an even higher preference for the mixed choir setting than the males (75%). The most common reason offered for preferring the mixed was the sound of the ensemble (p < .05). Girls and boys had different preferences when it came to favorite songs, but reasons for preferring one piece over the other was predominantly related to musical elements (p < .05). The teachers had a common philosophy that guided their selection of music.

Date

2009

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Jane Cassidy

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.3235

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