The Effect of Keyboard Learning Experiences on Middle School General Music Students' Music Achievement and Attitudes

Abstract

The study reports student achievement and attitude data for a study comparing the effects of a keyboard learning approach and a traditional general music approach on sixth-grade general music students' music achievement, attitudes toward music, and self-concept regarding music ability. Experimental subjects made significantly greater gains than the control group on the standardized measures of meter discrimination and major/minor mode discrimination. Control/experimental comparisons were not made on the investigator-constructed measures of performance skills and understanding of notation, but pre-post comparisons within the experimental group on these measures were significant beyond the .001 level of probablility. Pre-post changes in attitudes toward music were more positive for the experimental group than for the control group.