Pitch Perception Accuracy of Band, Orchestra, and Choir Students Shakila Swain Aberdeen Central High School PURPOSE DATA DATA ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE AND EVALUATION RESULTS Participant Q1^ Grade Q4~ Q5 Q6* Q7* Evaluation Results (?/30) Octave* Recurring Notes* Close Notes* 1 11 6 2 7 3 4 5 1, 2 10 8 9 1, 3 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 2, 3 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 1, 2, 3 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 -- 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 One-way ANOVA: BAND, ORCHESTRA, CHOIR, NO MUSIC (no outlier)   Source DF SS MS F P Factor 3 73.72 24.57 3.15 0.026 Error 262 2046.77 7.81 Total 265 2120.50 S = 2.795 R-Sq = 3.48% R-Sq(adj) = 2.37% Individual 95% CIs For Mean Based on Pooled StDev Level N Mean StDev -----+---------+---------+---------+---- BAND 80 6.450 3.113 (------*-----) ORCHESTRA 56 6.018 2.590 (------*-------) CHOIR 104 5.817 2.879 (----*-----) NO MUSIC 26 4.538 1.529 (---------*----------) -----+---------+---------+---------+---- 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 Pooled StDev = 2.795 One-way ANOVA: Grade 9, Grade 10, Grade 11, Grade 12 Factor 3 51.00 17.00 1.71 0.167 Error 176 1750.98 9.95 Total 179 1801.98  S = 3.154 R-Sq = 2.83% R-Sq(adj) = 1.17% Level N Mean StDev +---------+---------+---------+--------- Grade 9 35 5.057 2.531 (----------*---------) Grade 10 55 5.891 2.833 (-------*-------) Grade 11 47 6.532 4.010 (--------*--------) Grade 12 43 6.372 2.928 (---------*--------) +---------+---------+---------+--------- Pooled StDev = 3.154 One-way ANOVA: Years in Music Factor 11 144.91 13.17 1.45 0.153 Error 193 1750.67 9.07 Total 204 1895.58 S = 3.012 R-Sq = 7.64% R-Sq(adj) = 2.38% Level N Mean StDev +---------+---------+---------+--------- 0 19 4.474 1.611 (-----*----) 1 6 4.500 1.517 (---------*---------) 2 5 3.400 1.949 (----------*---------) 3 3 3.333 1.528 (------------*-------------) 4 19 5.316 2.626 (----*-----) 5 11 5.636 1.748 (-------*------) 6 34 6.765 4.279 (---*---) 7 37 6.351 2.908 (---*---) 8 27 5.741 2.823 (----*----) 9 8 6.250 3.536 (-------*-------) 10 7 6.571 2.936 (--------*--------) Over 10 29 5.966 3.065 (----*---) 0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 Pooled StDev = 3.012 One-way ANOVA: MALE, FEMALE Factor 1 24.47 24.47 2.64 0.106 Error 205 1903.18 9.28 Total 206 1927.65 S = 3.047 R-Sq = 1.27% R-Sq(adj) = 0.79% MALE 85 6.224 3.610 (------------*-------------) FEMALE 122 5.525 2.585 (---------*----------) 5.00 5.50 6.00 6.50 Pooled StDev = 3.047 Are high school band, orchestra, or choir students better at identifying the pitch of notes in several different tunes, given the first note of each tune and concluding what the following notes are, from only their sense of hearing and their sense of pitch? HYPOTHESIS If high school band, orchestra, and choir students attempt to identify notes/pitches in a tune, then band students will do the best because with their instruments they are more likely to be in the correct pitch while playing their instrument. Thus, they are more used to listening to the correct pitch and it will be easier for them to identify the correct notes when hearing a tune. I also expect that those in higher grades will have higher scores because they have been trained longer. If they play a lower instrument I expect they will have better scores on a lower note tune (and higher instrument means better score on higher note tune). I also hypothesize that gender will not have any significant impact on how good sense of pitch is. (Null Hypothesis: The variance of music class, years in music, grade, and gender will not have any significant effect on pitch perception accuracy.) MATERIALS Evaluations and Questionnaires Pens/Pencils Computer (with music playback) Recorder/Microphone Stereo system METHODS Create five easy tunes (made up of only natural notes, no sharps or flats, and seven notes long) (one tune in the lowest fourth of the piano, one in the lower-middle fourth of the piano, two in the upper-middle fourth of the piano, and one in the upper fourth of the piano) in which the notes can be easily distinguished. Play them on the piano with each note being the same length and record them so they can be clearly heard onto a computer so they can be easily played back for the participants. Create a corresponding test to the tunes, providing the first note in each tune as a reference note and leaving blank spaces for the following notes. Also include the information about the person (band/orchestra/choir, instrument/voice, grade, gender, how many years they have been a music student, if they are currently in a music class, and whether they believe they have absolute pitch). Do not include name or any other personally identifying information. Test students from each grade of band, orchestra, and choir as well as an approximately equal number of non-music students. Gather random volunteer students in a group of about 5-10 in a secluded (preferably sound-proof) room. Have the small group of volunteers listen to the first tune twice and have them record their answers in the provided spaces on the test. Repeat step 5 with all of the tunes. Make sure the students have answered all questions and filled in the information. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all of the volunteers have been tested. Grade each test individually and record the score. Group the tests by the type of music they are in (band vs. orchestra vs. choir vs. non-music students) and average their scores. Then compare to decide which music group is best at identifying pitch. Repeat step 10, grouping the tests by instrument/voice, clef, grade, and gender (and other groupings from information section). CONCLUSION My hypothesis is supported by the ANOVA test from the data in the section with the difference between music classes. The band students did score the highest on average. Orchestra was next, with choir having the lowest average score of the music classes. Non-music students scored the lowest, proving to be a reliable control for this experiment. The null hypothesis was supported by the ANOVA test from the data in the grade section and the years in music section. Neither of these variants had any significant impact on the evaluation results in this data. My hypothesis and the null hypothesis were both supported in the gender section, showing that gender did not have a significant impact on the evaluation results in this data. About half of the subjects were able to identify a note that recurred in a series. Few people were able to identify notes when they were within a few steps of each other, and even fewer people identified the octave. 6.30 5.81 1.90 1.48 1.82 ^ 1=band, 2=orchestra, 3=choir, 4=no music ~ 1=male, 2=female * 1=yes, 2=no Average