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An investigation into the development of pupils' rhythmic skills
Author
Toh, Shi Min
Supervisor
Stead, Peter
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to find out how Primary One students' rhythmic skills develop when they are taught with two different instructional methods - one that uses rhythm syllables, and one that uses clapping and movement. Four research questions were examined in this study, relating to the students' ability to differentiate fast and slow tempo, echo the clapping of 8-count rhythmic patterns, read and clap 8-count rhythmic patterns and create and write an 8-count rhythmic pattern. These four areas were selected with reference to the objectives of the textbook, Tune-In Music 1, and the primary music syllabus outlined by Singapore's Ministry of Education.
A pretest-posttest non-equivalent control-group research design was used. Two Primary One classes were selected as subjects of the study. The control group attended rhythm lessons using rhythm syllables while the experimental group attended rhythm lessons using clapping and movement. The pretest comprised of three items which tested students on their ability to move in time to music of different tempo, to echo an 8-count rhythmic pattern through clapping and to read and clap 8-count rhythmic patterns in the 4/4 beat. The posttest comprised of the three items in the pretest, as well as two additional items. The dotted minim was included in two of the 8-count rhythmic patterns to be clapped, and students had to create and write an 8-count rhythmic pattern. The students' performance in all the test items was assessed using a 3-point assessment scale and data was analysed using descriptive statistics and t-tests.
Results show that both instructional methods are effective in teaching rhythmic skills. The mean improvement in the posttest score for the control group is slightly higher than that for the experimental group and this could mean that teaching rhythm with rhythm syllables is slightly more effective than teaching rhythm with clapping and movement. A breakdown in the results for individual test items show that the method that uses clapping and movement is less effective than the method that uses rhythm syllables in the teaching of the ability to differentiate fast and slow tempo and to create and write an 8-count rhythmic pattern. However, the method that uses clapping and movement is more effective than the method that uses rhythm syllables in the teaching of the ability to echo the clapping of 8-count rhythmic patterns and to read and clap 8-count rhythmic patterns.
This study has a limited pool of subjects and therefore recommendations for future research have been made at the end of the study.
A pretest-posttest non-equivalent control-group research design was used. Two Primary One classes were selected as subjects of the study. The control group attended rhythm lessons using rhythm syllables while the experimental group attended rhythm lessons using clapping and movement. The pretest comprised of three items which tested students on their ability to move in time to music of different tempo, to echo an 8-count rhythmic pattern through clapping and to read and clap 8-count rhythmic patterns in the 4/4 beat. The posttest comprised of the three items in the pretest, as well as two additional items. The dotted minim was included in two of the 8-count rhythmic patterns to be clapped, and students had to create and write an 8-count rhythmic pattern. The students' performance in all the test items was assessed using a 3-point assessment scale and data was analysed using descriptive statistics and t-tests.
Results show that both instructional methods are effective in teaching rhythmic skills. The mean improvement in the posttest score for the control group is slightly higher than that for the experimental group and this could mean that teaching rhythm with rhythm syllables is slightly more effective than teaching rhythm with clapping and movement. A breakdown in the results for individual test items show that the method that uses clapping and movement is less effective than the method that uses rhythm syllables in the teaching of the ability to differentiate fast and slow tempo and to create and write an 8-count rhythmic pattern. However, the method that uses clapping and movement is more effective than the method that uses rhythm syllables in the teaching of the ability to echo the clapping of 8-count rhythmic patterns and to read and clap 8-count rhythmic patterns.
This study has a limited pool of subjects and therefore recommendations for future research have been made at the end of the study.
Date Issued
2008
Call Number
MT42 Toh
Date Submitted
2008