Music performance anxiety affects numerous musicians, with many of them reporting impairment of performance due to this problem. This exploratory study investigated the effects of virtual reality exposure training on students with music performance anxiety. Seventeen music students were randomly assigned to a control group (n=8) or a virtual training group (n=9). Participants were asked to play a musical piece by memory in two separate recitals within a 3-week interval. Anxiety was then measured with the Personal Report of Confidence as a Performer Scale and the S-Anxiety scale from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y). Between pre- and post-tests, the virtual training group took part in virtual reality exposure training consisting of six 1-hour long sessions of virtual exposure. The results indicate a significant decrease in performance anxiety for musicians in the treatment group for those with a high level of state anxiety, for those with a high level of trait anxiety, for women, and for musicians with high immersive tendencies. Finally, between the pre- and post-tests, we observed a significant increase in performance quality for the experimental group, but not for the control group.
This research aimed to identify, describe and categorize cognitive strategies related to sight-singing within aural skills education. Using a constant comparative method, we carried out a thematic content analysis using NVivo to categorize strategies in a broad range of sources, including six interviews, five scientific publications, two professional books, and two ear-training manuals. Findings revealed 72 cognitive strategies grouped into four main categories and 14 subcategories: reading mechanisms (pitch decoding, pattern building, validation), sight-singing (preparation, performance), reading skills acquisition (musical vocabulary enrichment, symbolic associations, internalization, rehearsal techniques) and learning support (self-regulation, attention, time management, motivation, stress). Our cognitive strategy inventory provides a new framework for the study of cognitive strategies in aural skills research, and offers new insights for teachers who implement explicit cognitive strategies within their sight-singing pedagogy.
Sight-singing is challenging for many music students, yet they can experience various difficulties with this task. To explore how cognitive load (CL) might differ among students, we combined two approaches: 1) a quantitative approach using pupil size diameter-a psychophysiological indicator of CL-to see whether CL differed as a function of sight-singing achievement and experience; 2) a qualitative approach to learn student's challenges when sight-singing and verify how such challenges reflect on sight-singing scores. We asked 56 post-secondary music students to complete a musical background questionnaire and to complete a sight-singing exercise, while an eye-tracker gathered data about their pupil size. After that, we interviewed them about the difficulties they experienced. The results revealed that CL did not vary between sight-singing performance and musical experience levels. However, we found a tendency suggesting that students with the highest intonation scores and lowest intonation scores both experienced a lower CL. On the contrary, CL was higher for students with average intonation scores. Interviews also revealed that many students experienced information overload while sight-singing, and students who shared such perception obtained, on average, lower sight-singing scores. Future studies should include qualitative data collection to deepen our understanding of learners' experiences.
Sight-singing is prevalent in aural skill classes, where learners differ in experience and cognitive abilities. In this research, we investigated whether musical experience, level of study, and working memory capacity (WMC) can predict sight-singing performance and if there is a correlation between WMC and performance among some subgroups of participants. We hypothesized that more experienced students and those with a higher WMC might sight-sing better than those with less experience and lesser WMC. We also hypothesized that the relationship between WMC and sight-singing performance would be more salient for less experienced and less proficient sight-singers. We surveyed 56 subjects about their experience with music, assessed their WMC, and evaluated their performance on a short sight-singing task. The results showed that the age when students began learning music could predict sight-singing performance independently from the number of years of experience and the educational level, suggesting a possible developmental component to sight-singing skill. We also found a negative relationship between WMC and pitch score in the low-performing group and between rhythm and pitch score, suggesting that pitch and rhythm are processed differently. Teachers should be aware of how students’ backgrounds might be related to performance and encourage them to develop strong automated skills, such as reading music or singing basic tonal patterns.
Sight-singing is an inescapable component of music training in higher education and is often challenging for students. However, some strategies could help students perform. Yet, the extent to which students can use strategies to improve their sight-singing performance remains unclear. This article asks two questions to fill this gap: (1) Which strategies do students use when sight-singing? (2) Does the application of some types of strategy predict performance? We recruited 56 postsecondary music students and asked them about their musical backgrounds. They then sight-sang a short melody while we recorded their eye movements. After that, we conducted semi-structured retrospective interviews, using eye-movement videos and attention distribution heatmaps to help participants remember the strategies they used. We analyzed the interview transcripts to identify the strategies students used and regrouped them into categories. We extracted seven categories and discovered that using body movements predicted rhythm scores, that using musical knowledge predicted pitch and combined scores, and that relying on automatic skills predicted all dimensions of sight-singing performance. We recommend that aural skills instructors teach strategies explicitly and help students develop robust musical knowledge, as they are required to build strong automatic skills.
Résumé de l'article En Amérique du Nord, la formation auditive (fa) est habituellement enseignée aux enfants durant les leçons instrumentales individuelles. La dictée musicale et la lecture à vue chantée peuvent causer des difficultés à certains apprenants, mais l'usage d'outils technologiques appropriés pourrait faciliter le processus. Par contre, l'utilisation des technologies de l'information et des communications (tic) par les professeurs de musique dans un contexte d'enseignement de la fa n'a pas encore été documentée. Un questionnaire en ligne a été distribué au Québec dans le but de répondre aux questions de recherche suivantes : 1) Dans quelle mesure les professeurs d'instrument utilisent-ils les tic lorsqu'ils enseignent la fa aux enfants de 6 à 12 ans ? ; 2) Existe-t-il un lien entre la fréquence d'utilisation des tic par les professeurs et leurs caractéristiques sociodémographiques, leur expérience d'apprentissage de la fa et leur perception de l'enseignement de la fa ? Les résultats suggèrent que l'usage des tic pour enseigner la fa est peu répandu. De plus, il est négativement corrélé avec l'âge, le sentiment de compétence vécu pendant l'apprentissage ainsi que le sentiment de compétence pour enseigner la fa. Enfin, les professeurs de piano et les femmes ont moins tendance à utiliser les tic et les utilisent moins souvent. Une meilleure compréhension de la perception que les professeurs ont des technologies sera utile afin de développer des ressources adaptées aux besoins de ces derniers. In North America, aural skills (as) are usually taught to children during the instrumental music lessons. While learning musical dictation and sight-singing can be difficult for some learners, the use of appropriate technological tools could facilitate the process. However, the use of information and communication technologies (ict) by music teachers in aural skills instruction to children have not been documented. An online survey was conducted in the Province of Quebec (Canada) in order to answer the following questions: 1) To what extent do instrumental music teachers use ict when teaching as to children between 6 and 12 years old?; 2) Are the teachers' socio-demographic characteristics, as training and perception of as teaching linked to the use and the frequency of use of ict? The results show that the use of ict to teach as is still relatively uncommon. Furthermore, it would be negatively correlated with age, competence felt during training and perceived competence to teach as. Finally, it appears that a smaller proportion of piano teachers and women use ict, or use them less often. A better understanding of the teachers' perception of technology could help develop more adapted resources.Keywords: aural skills; computer; ear training; smartphone; technology. RésuméEn Amérique du Nord, la formation auditive (fa) est habituellement enseignée aux enfants durant les leçons instrumentales individuelles. La dictée musicale et la lecture à vue chantée peuvent causer des difficultés à certains apprenants, mais l'usag...
This research investigates the main strategic approaches used by students for learning sight-singing in aural skills training. Using Q method, 41 college-level music students were invited to think about the importance of a wide range of strategies for their sight-singing acquisition. Factor analysis revealed three main strategic approaches: the pragmatic approach, the analytic approach, and the sound-first approach. Post hoc analyses indicated that these strategic approaches do not provide a valid typology of music students; rather, they reveal underlying conceptions about the purposes of sight-singing, which are likely to evolve according to an individual’s musical training. For sight-singing strategy instruction, these findings offer new insights for understanding better the influence of students’ prior musical knowledge on their use of sight-singing strategies. The discussion highlights the need for (re)establishing clear educational expectations that are capable of fulfilling teachers’ musical ideals.
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