Varying Degrees of Difficulty in Melodic Dictation Examples According to Intervallic Content
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 8-2012 Varying Degrees of Difficulty in Melodic Dictation Examples According to Intervallic Content Michael Hines Robinson University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Cognition and Perception Commons, Music Pedagogy Commons, Music Theory Commons, and the Other Music Commons Recommended Citation Robinson, Michael Hines, "Varying Degrees of Difficulty in Melodic Dictation Examples According to Intervallic Content. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2012. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/1260 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Michael Hines Robinson entitled "Varying Degrees of Difficulty in Melodic Dictation Examples According to Intervallic Content." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Music, with a major in Music. Barbara Murphy, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Don Pederson, Brendan McConville Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Varying Degrees of Difficulty in Melodic Dictation Examples According to Intervallic Content A Thesis Presented for the Master of Music Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Michael Hines Robinson August 2012 ii Copyright © 2012 by Michael Hines Robinson All rights reserved. iii Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my father, John H. Robinson, for giving me the inspiration to be a musician and to my mother, Pamella M. Robinson, for giving me a unique appreciation for music. iv Acknowledgements I would like to express my thanks to Dr. Barbara Murphy for her insight into this topic and my gratitude for her tireless efforts in revising this document outside of normal business hours. I would like to extend my appreciation to Drew Schmidt and the OIT Research Computing Support Center for their valuable advice and invested time on this project. I would also like to thank Cynthia Aguilera and the Permissions Department at The McGraw-Hill Companies for her excellent customer service and attention to detail. v Abstract Melodic dictation has long been a daunting task for students in aural skills training. Past research has found that interval identification is a factor when taking melodic dictation and that some intervals are easier to identify than others. The goal of this thesis is to determine whether melodic dictation examples can be categorized by their intervallic content. A popular aural skills text, Ear Training: A Technique for Listening, 7th Edition, Revised by Benward and Kolosick (2010), was used as the source for the melodic dictation examples. Adjacent intervals in each melodic dictation example were counted and totaled by interval type. Rhythm was not observed. An analysis of the melodic dictation examples according to their intervallic content was then performed using an SPSS two-step cluster analysis. Two clusters emerged, indicating that there were natural groupings within the data. Cluster 1 examples contained mostly smaller motion, i.e., intervals of a minor second (m2) to Major third (M3), while cluster 2 examples were characterized by their larger intervallic content, i.e., intervals of a minor sixth (m6) to Major seventh (M7). Melodic dictation examples of both clusters were found to appear throughout the textbook organization, with the exception that no cluster 2 examples were found in the beginning units of the text. Other variables tracked were whether an example was composed (C) for the text or derived from music literature (L), the unit and melody number, and total number of intervals per melody. Cluster 2 examples were most frequently from literature (L). vi Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction and General Information ......................................................... 1 Chapter 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................... 3 Chapter 3 Materials and Methods ................................................................................... 14 Text ....................................................................................................................................................... 14 Procedure ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Data Collection ............................................................................................................................................. 15 Statistical Analysis Method ..................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 4 Results and Discussion ................................................................................... 22 Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations .......................................................... 39 List of References ................................................................................................................... 43 Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 47 Appendix A: Benward & Kolosick 2010 Table of Contents ............................................... 48 Vita .............................................................................................................................................. 56 vii List of Tables Table 4.1 Descriptive Statistics of Melodic Dictation Examples in Cluster 1 .................. 27 Table 4.2 Descriptive Statistics of Melodic Dictation Examples for Cluster 2 ................ 28 Table 4.3 Percentages of Intervals in Cluster 1 ................................................................ 32 Table 4.4 Percentages of Intervals in Cluster 2 ................................................................ 33 Table 4.5 Frequencies of Composed or Literature Examples in Cluster 1 ....................... 35 Table 4.6 Frequencies of Composed or Literature Examples in Cluster 2 ....................... 35 Table 4.7 Frequency of Examples in Cluster 1 by Unit .................................................... 36 Table 4.8 Frequency of Examples in Cluster 2 by Unit .................................................... 37 viii List of Figures Figure 3.1 Example of Melodic Dictation, Unit 2, Melody 1 .......................................... 15 Figure 3.2 Example of Excel Spreadsheet ........................................................................ 17 Figure 4.1 Plot of First Two Principal Components ........................................................ 22 Figure 4.2 Plot of the First Three Principal Components ................................................. 23 Figure 4.3 Two Step Cluster Model Summary and Quality ............................................. 24 Figure 4.4 Plot of First Two Principal Components by Cluster ....................................... 25 Figure 4.5 Plot of First Three Principal Components by Cluster ..................................... 26 ix Lists of Attachments File 1 Melodic Dictation Data Sheet (Excel File) 1 Chapter 1 Introduction and General Information Melodic dictation can be a difficult task for college music majors in aural skills training. Both undergraduate and graduate students have difficulties in basic pitch pattern identification and melodic dictation tasks. Students that have the most difficulty in melodic dictation usually have difficulty in interval identification. Interval identification is a basic task that affects students’ performance when taking melodic dictation. The purpose of this study is to determine if melodic dictation examples can be categorized based on their intervallic content. Past research has found that certain intervals are more difficult to identify than other intervals. The analysis of intervallic data within melodic dictation examples could identify degrees of difficulty in melodic dictation examples. Chapter 2 contains the literature review for this thesis. This chapter cites studies that have exemplified the facets of interval identification pertaining to aural skills training. The review of literature clearly shows that a hierarchy emerges in interval identification, which classifies certain intervals as being more difficult to identify than others. Research has shown that the identification of both isolated and melodic intervals are equally suspect to the hierarchy of interval difficulty. The consistency of the hierarchy is maintained across various studies and test subjects ranging from novice to expert musicians. 2 Chapter 3 contains a description of the materials used in the study and the methodology of the research in this thesis. This section describes the textbook from which the data was collected, Ear Training: A Technique for Listening, 7th Edition, Revised by Benward and Kolosick (2010), and outlines the