A Nationwide Overview of Sight-Singing Requirements of Large-Group Choral Festivals

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine sight-singing requirements at junior and senior high school large-group ratings-based choral festivals throughout the United States. Responses to the following questions were sought from each state: (1) Are there ratings-based large-group choral festivals? (2) Is sight-singing a requirement? (3) Are there specific levels or classes of difficulty ? (4) Is musical content specified for each level or class ? (5) Is there an overall rating that includes both the performance and sight-singing ratings? Data revealed that less than half of all states require sight-singing at large-group festivals at both the junior high and high school levels. Fewer states delineate levels of difficulty, outline musical content to be assessed, and use the sight-singing rating in an overall final rating. Frequency of “yes” responses to all questions was consistently lower at the junior high level. The author suggested further analysis of the most evolved state sight-singing assessment systems to develop a more uniform, sequential system of content, materials, and assessment.

An Examination of the Reliabilities of Two Choral Festival Adjudication Forms

“…Each spring, students from more than 40 states of the United States are adjudicated in choral festivals (Norris, 2004), with judges most commonly using the traditional adjudication form. Although the music education profession purports the use of rating scales as beneficial for measuring performances, there is no research that explores the interrater reliability of an instrument that has a balanced combination of dimensions with descriptors-those beyond the vague &dquo;excellent, good, satisfactory, poor, and unsatisfactory.&dquo;…”

Sight-Singing: Ten Years of Published Research

“…In addition, teachers in Demorest's (2004) study indicated that they assessed students individually. When combined with Norris' (2004) results, it could indicate that teachers in up to half of states in the United States taught sight-singing on a regular basis, but that other teachers in at least half of states might not have taught sightsinging regularly. Based on the research, it appears teachers in Florida and Texas who attended state festival most likely also taught sight-singing; because research studies have identified sight-singing instruction patterns within those state populations (Henry, 2004;Killian & Henry, 2005;Kuehne, 2007), perhaps music educators should take note of resources and techniques that teachers use in those states.…”

The National School Orchestra Contests

“…82 Fewer than half of all state organizations currently mandate sight-reading at largegroup festivals, and even fewer include the sight-reading score in the overall final rating. 83 Reasons might include lack of space at some contest sites, the desire to increase participation, or philosophical perspectives against adjudicating this skill. Regardless, sight-reading at festivals today-even if unrated-will encourage directors to focus on learning goals beyond the contest repertoire and provide a measurement of this important musical ability.…”