Effect of Sex and Race Identification on Instrument Assignment by Music Educators

Abstract

Erin E. Stewart is a graduate student at the same institution; e-mail: estewart@sunflower.com. Copyright © 2005 by MENC: The National Association for Music Education.The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of sex and race identification on the assignment of instruments to beginning band students. Participants (N = 201) were music educators solicited by university professors across the United States. Participants completed an online survey about instrument assignments. Half the participants were sent to a site that had full-head pictures of 14 students and assigned them to one of six beginning band instruments. The other half of the participants were sent to a site that had pictures of the same students, but only the lips and dental aspects of the students' faces were visible. Results indicated that the ability to identify the sex and race of students had an effect only on the assignment of an instrument for 2 of the 14 students. No clear reason for the few differences could be linked to any sex or race factors; therefore, the assessment decisions are thought to be artifacts of individual pictures/students. The authors conclude that, generally, differences in instrument assignment could not be linked to the participants' ability to identify the sex or race of the student.Every year, many music educators must guide prospective students through instrument selection. Aspects that influence this decision are ubiquitous: a student's attitude toward musical instruments, parental influence, peer influence, cost, availability, societal influences, perceived degree of playing difficulty, and teacher influence, to name but a few. It is the responsibility of music educators to understand these factors and the research regarding instrument selection, and to then facilitate an informed decision.

Orchestrated Sex: The Representation of Male and Female Musicians in World-Class Symphony Orchestras

“…The resulting order above accords well with an evidence of studies that have investigated variously: attitudes among pre-service and in-service teachers (Abeles and Porter, 1978; Griswold and Chroback, 1981; Tarnowski, 1993; Zervoudakes and Tanur, 1994; Bayley, 2000; Yoder and Kahn, 2003; Johnson and Stewart, 2005; Abeles, 2009), gender stereotyping (Crowther and Durkin, 1982; Lipton, 1987; Byo, 1991; Bruce and Kemp, 1993; Elliot and Yoder-White, 1997; Pickering and Repacholi, 2001; McKeage, 2004; Walker, 2004), and the perceptions of children (O’Neill and Boulton, 1996; O’Neill, 1997; Ryan et al, 2000; De Vous, 2011).…”

“…educational and training opportunities, attitudes of teachers and music directors, and lack of female role models in secondary and higher education (Bayley, 2000; Graham, 2005; Johnson and Stewart, 2005; Gould, 2008; Gathen, 2014);…”

The Effect of Selected Nonmusical Factors on Adjudicators’ Ratings of High School Solo Vocal Performances

“…Performers’ physical attributes have been linked with adjudicators’ initial impressions (Fredrickson, Johnson, & Robinson, 1998; Robinson, 2000) and assigned performance ratings (Ryan & Costa-Giomi, 2004; Siddell-Strebel, 2007; Wapnick, Darrow, Kovacs, & Dalrymple, 1997; Wapnick, Mazza, & Darrow, 1998, 2000) along with other visual factors including performer race (Elliott, 1995b; Goldin & Rouse, 2000; Johnson & Stewart, 2005; McCrary, 1993), perceived performance status (Duerksen, 1972), choral conductors’ body types (VanWeelden, 2002), and preference for performances with memorized versus nonmemorized music (Siddell-Strebel, 2007; Williamon, 1999). Findings from these studies indicate that visual and nonmusical factors influence adjudicators’ perceptions of performance quality.…”

Gender and Musical Instrument Stereotypes in Middle School Children

“…The distribution of children by grade and band membership is reported in Table 1 and represents approximately two third of the enrollment in the band program at this school. Demographic information was not collected directly from children, since previous research has found no significant effect of race/ethnicity on gender stereotypes (Johnson & Stewart, 2005). However, description of the school may be useful to other educators in determining the similarity of this school, and how likely our findings are to generalize to their own school.…”