1. 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
Error
Total
S = R-Sq = 3.48% R-Sq(adj) = 2.37%
Individual 95% CIs For Mean Based on
Pooled StDev
Level N Mean StDev
BAND (------*-----)
ORCHESTRA (------* )
CHOIR (----*-----)
NO MUSIC ( * )
Pooled StDev = 2.795
One-way ANOVA: Grade 9, Grade 10, Grade 11, Grade 12
Factor
Error
Total
 S = R-Sq = 2.83% R-Sq(adj) = 1.17%
Level N Mean StDev
Grade ( * )
Grade ( * )
Grade ( * )
Grade ( * )
Pooled StDev = 3.154
One-way ANOVA: Years in Music
Factor
Error
Total
S = R-Sq = 7.64% R-Sq(adj) = 2.38%
Level N Mean StDev
(-----*----)
( * )
( * )
( * )
(----*-----)
( *------)
(---*---)
(---*---)
(----*----)
( * )
( * )
Over (----*---)
Pooled StDev = 3.012
One-way ANOVA: MALE, FEMALE
Factor
Error
Total
S = R-Sq = 1.27% R-Sq(adj) = 0.79%
MALE ( * )
FEMALE ( * )
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