The Influence of Textural and Timbral Factors on the Ability of Music Majors to Detect Performance Errors

This study was designed with three main purposes: (a) to investigate the effects of two listening conditions on error detection accuracy, (b) to compare error detection responses for rhythm errors and pitch errors, and (c) to examine the influences of texture on error detection accuracy. Undergraduate music education students (N = 18) listened to purposefully incorrect performances of band literature in two formats, on recordings and while conducting a live ensemble. Pitch and rhythm errors were inserted into the music excerpts to investigate responses to different types of errors. Half of the excerpts were played by the full ensemble and half by a single section. Participants served as their own controls by completing the error detection tasks under all conditions. Results indicated that participants were significantly more successful in identifying errors in the recording condition than in the conducting condition. A significant interaction existed between the error type (pitch or rhythm) and the ensemble texture (single section or full ensemble). Participants identified rhythm errors more accurately in the single section texture and diagnosed pitch errors more successfully in the full ensemble excerpts.Keywords error detection, score study, listening skills Error detection skills are vitally important for conductors. Over the past 40 years, researchers have published a wealth of literature indicating that these skills are necessary. Thirty years ago, practicing educators indicated that the ability to detect errors was the most

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 46%

Effects of Listening Conditions, Error Types, and Ensemble Textures on Error Detection Skills

Waggoner

2011

“…That error detection may not be a skill into which other peripheral competencies (such as ear training) may be easily transferred or synthesized (Brand & Bursed, 1981;Byo, 1993Byo, , 1997DeCarbo, 1982;Doane, 1989;Forsythe & Woods, 1983;Gonzo, 1971;Larson, 1977;Ramsey, 1979) suggests that when such instruction is given outside the context of conducting and error detection, its usefulness in these activities is not immediately apparent to the learner. These results might imply that a "peripheral activity" such as aural skills development or ear training, when addressed within instructional time allotted for conducting training using materials that are context-specific, might be more readily viewed as something that enhances accuracy in error detection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some have suggested that although it uses certain abilities that may have been cultivated through discrete and tangential activities (e.g., ear training, music theory, private instrumental instruction, ensemble participation), error detection may be a skill into which other peripheral competencies may not be easily transferred or synthesized (Brand & Bursed, 1981;Byo, 1993Byo, , 1997DeCarbo, 1982;Doane, 1989;Forsythe & Woods, 1983;Gonzo, 1971;Larson, 1977;Ramsey, 1979). Brand and Bursed (1981) argue that error-detection abilities must be addressed separately from ear training and theory venues and treated as a unique skill that should be taught with the specific goal of discriminate hearing.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Contextual Sight-Singing and Aural Skills Training on Error-Detection Abilities

Sheldon

1998

Effects of contextual sight-singing and ear training on pitch and rhythm error detection abilities among undergraduate instrumental music education majors were examined. Experimental (n1 = 15) and control (n2 = 15) groups received identical training in instrumental methods and conducting. Experimental subjects additionally received 50 minutes of sight-singing and ear trainingper week over 11 weeks using materials drawn from extant band repertoire. Subject responses to errors in one-, two-, and three-part homorhythmic and polyrhythmic examples were examined. Results showed significant differences in correct detection of rhythm and pitch errors. Experimental subjects were better at error detection compared to control subjects. Subjects were better at detecting rhythm errors compared to pitch errors. They were best with onepart, did less well with two-part, and least well with threepart examples. Differences attributable to texture were not sig nificant. Contextual sight-singing and aural skills training and practice may have contributed to short-term development of error-detection abilities. Conductors and teachers of instrumental conducting and rehearsaltechniques would likely agree that effective conducting requires a multitude of tasks that occur either simultaneously or in rapid succession. Such tasks include aural instruction, vocal modeling, gestural or nonverbal instruction, listening to the ensemble, assessing aural response (what the ensemble plays) against visual cues (notation of the score), assessing aural response against personal conceptualization of the music, evaluation of the assessment, development of conductor response, and delivery of response (feedback) and further instruction to the ensemble (DeCarbo, 1982; Forsythe & Woods, 1983). While this list may not be exhaustive, it represents the complexity of the conducting act. A conductor's effectiveness is somewhat dependent on the ability to listen to the ensemble and make qualitativejudgments against the written score. Conductors must acquire the aural diagnostic skills nec-Deborah A. Sheldon is an assistant professor of music education in the Downloaded from JRME 385 essary to accuratelyjudge when a performance concurs with or deviates from notation. A small yet significant body of research literature that addresses issues surrounding error-detection abilities among novice and experienced instrumental conductors is beginning to emerge.Although there is consensus that error detection is an essential skill for conductors (is little agreement on the most effective methods for such skill development. Programmed materials and computer-assisted instruction have been shown to be useful in teaching error detection (Costanza, 1971;Deal, 1985;DeCarbo, 1982;Dolbeer, 1969;Ramsey, 1979), but it has been suggested that podium-based instruction remains the optimal means for advancing skills in error detection (DeCarbo, 1982;Doane, 1989). Other research has demonstrated that the physical act of conducting may have little effect or may even inhibit error detecti...

“…Regression procedures were then performed for the significant variables. Four groups of predictor variables were identified, as related to the subjects' discrimination skills: The purpose of a study by Byo (1993) Correct four-line scores for each of the two excerpts were prepared. All subjects listened to the error detection audiotape while indicating on score copies the errors they perceived to have occurred.…”

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confidence: 99%

Aural-Diagnostic and Prescriptive Skills of Preservice and Expert Instrumental Music Teachers

Doerksen¹

1999

This study is an investigation of the aural-diagnostic and prescriptive skills of preservice and expert instrumental music teachers. Specifically, the researcher sought to determine how the two groups compared with respect to evaluations for band performances of different music-difficulty and performance-quality levels. Subjects listened to an audiotape recording that comprised four types of performances: Difficult Music and Excellent Performance, Difficult Music and Average Performance, Moderate Music and Excellent Performance, and Moderate Music and Average Performance. For each performance type, subjects responded tofour evaluative areas in the investigator-designed Aural-Diagnostic and Prescriptive Skills Test: performance-quality ratings of nine select music elements, rankings of the nine elements, diagnoses of performance problems associated with the weakest-ranked elements, and prescriptions of rehearsal solutions for the diagnosed performance problems. Results indicate that (a) regardless of performance types, preservice teachers rated Intonation lower than did expert teachers; (b) interactions exist among the fourperformance types for subjects'ratings of Tone Quality, Intonation, Articulation, and Dynamics; and (c) compared to preservice teachers, a higherproportion of expert teachers ranked Blend/ Balance and Musical Interpretation as the weakest-performed music elements.