An Investigation of the Effect of Formal and Informal Training on Elementary School Students’ Ability to Recognize Major, Minor, and Pentatonic Tonality
摘要：
The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which students in elementary schools of Taiwan can recognize the melodies and compare the degree to which various kinds of formal training may influence that ability.The subjects included three different groups of 11/12-year-old elementary students from one city and three counties in Taiwan. A total of 570 students participated in this study, including 280 indigenous students(Group A), 140 Chinese instrument players(Group B), and 150 students who did not have experiences of Chinese music and background of indigenous culture(Group C). Subjects'recognition of major,minor,and pentatonic tonalities was measured using an instrument developed by J.L. Shiu(2004). This test contained 30 aural items, based on music used in general music textbooks and required students to listen to short excerpts played on an electronic keyboard and respond by circling one of four identifiers on an answer sheet.The means of Group A were 4.74(SD=2.44)in minor key melody identification, 4.72(SD-2.44) in major key melody identification, and 3.60(SD=2.18) in pentatonic music identification. The means of Group B were 7.43(SD=2.45) in major key melody identification,8.39(SD=2.27) in minor key melody identification, and 7.44(SD=2.75) in pentatonic music identification. The means of Group C were 4.61(SD=2.04) in major key melody identification,4.87(SD=2.48) in minor key melody identification, and 4.13(SD=2.07) in pentatonic music identification. The participants of Group A and C had lower scores in identifying pentatonic music melodies than in major and minor key melodies.
