THE EFFECTS OF INSTRUCTION ON THE SINGING ABILITY OF CHILDREN AGES 5 – 11: A META-ANALYSIS Christina L. Svec Dissertation Proposal Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2015 APPROVED: Debbie Rohwer, Major Professor and Chair of the Department of Music Education Don Taylor, Committee Member Robin Henson, Committee Member Benjamin Brand, Committee Member James C. Scott, Dean of the College of Music Costas Tsatsoulis, Interim Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Svec, Christina L. The Effects of Instruction on the Singing Ability of Children Ages 5-11: A Meta-Analysis. Doctor of Philosophy (Music Education), August 15 2015, 192 pp., 14 tables, reference list, 280 titles. The purpose of the meta-analysis was to address the varied and somewhat stratified study results within the area of singing ability and instruction by statistically summarizing the data of related studies. An analysis yielded a small overall mean effect size for instruction across 34 studies, 433 unique effects, and 5,497 participants ranging in age from 5- to 11-years old (g = 0.43). The largest overall study effect size across categorical variables included the effects of same and different discrimination techniques on mean score gains. The largest overall effect size across categorical moderator variables included research design: Pretest-posttest 1 group design. Overall mean effects by primary moderator variable ranged from trivial to moderate. Feedback yielded the largest effect regarding teaching condition, 8-year-old children yielded the largest effect regarding age, girls yielded the largest effect regarding gender, the Boardman assessment measure yielded the largest effect regarding measurement instrument, and song accuracy yielded the largest effect regarding measured task. Conclusions address implications for teaching, research pedagogy, and research practice within the field of music education. Copyright 2015 by Christina L. Svec ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful for the friends and family members who directly and indirectly provided support that led me through my doctoral journey. My mother and father taught me to be independent and ambitious; I am proud to be their reflection. My sisters, Jonathan Evans, Allie Evans, Dheeraj Chand, Kara Saldana, Chuck Pineda, and First Presbyterian Church of McKinney friends were always quick with a word of encouragement or evening of friendship. My former students filled my mind with memories that kept me passionate about music education. My fellow doctoral students pushed me to have clear support for my thoughts, especially Tom Burlin, Jordan Edmonson, and Ben Price. Jennifer Brimhall was and will always be my dearest friend who provided endless hours of support and love. Finally, George Nassar’s kindness, patience, unconditional emotional support, and statistical expertise were invaluable throughout the final months of this degree and dissertation process. I am forever grateful to my academic mentors who molded me into a young researcher and music educator. Warren Henry inspired and encouraged my love for early childhood music education as an undergraduate. Donna Emmanuel inspired me to live in the moment, and Nate Kruse inspired me to laugh in the moment. I owe deep gratitude to my dissertation committee: Robin Henson, Don Taylor, and Debbie Rohwer. Robin Henson opened my mind to the beauty of statistics, informed decision making, and conceptual thinking. Don Taylor has been an important source of kindness from when he first observed me as a student teacher until the moment he was a part of passing my dissertation. Debbie Rohwer has been an important source of encouragement and a model of strength. She led me to see the empowerment that exists behind research methodology. Finally, I am grateful to all of the researchers whose studies made my dissertation possible, especially Joanne Rutkowski and Graham Welch. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 Prologue ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Singing Ability Defined .............................................................................................................. 5 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................................ 5 Methodological Rationale ........................................................................................................... 8 Singing Ability Literature Reviews ...................................................................................... 11 Need and Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................... 20 History of Singing Ability in America...................................................................................... 20 Singing Voice Characteristics ................................................................................................... 28 Models of Vocal Development in Music Education ................................................................. 33 Empirical Research of Singing Ability ..................................................................................... 38 Instruction ............................................................................................................................. 38 Effect of Practice on Singing Ability ........................................................................................ 42 Age and Grade ...................................................................................................................... 42 Gender ................................................................................................................................... 43 Population ............................................................................................................................. 43 Measuring and Scoring Singing Ability ............................................................................... 44 Singing Task ......................................................................................................................... 47 Music-specific Meta-analyses ................................................................................................... 48 Cognition............................................................................................................................... 50 iv Music Therapy ...................................................................................................................... 53 Music Education ................................................................................................................... 58 CHAPTER III METHOD ............................................................................................................ 68 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria ............................................................................................... 68 Content Validity ........................................................................................................................ 70 Literature Search Strategies ...................................................................................................... 74 Reference Databases Searched ............................................................................................. 74 Coding Procedures .................................................................................................................... 74 Definitions of Coding Categories ......................................................................................... 75 Intracoder Reliability ............................................................................................................ 77 Study Quality ........................................................................................................................ 78 Statistical Methods .................................................................................................................... 79 Effect Size Calculations ........................................................................................................ 80 Pilot Study ................................................................................................................................. 86 CHAPTER IV RESULTS ............................................................................................................ 88 Publication Bias ...................................................................................................................... 107 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 112 Summary of Results ................................................................................................................ 113 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 114 Research Question One: Overall Effects ............................................................................ 114 Research Question Two: Primary Moderator Variables