Effect of Sex Identification on Instrument Assignment by Band Directors

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of sex identification on the assignment of instruments to beginning band students. Participants were band directors solicited at music conferences and music education students solicited from major universities across the United States. Participants completed an online survey about instrument assignments. Half the participants were sent to a Web site that had full-head pictures of eight students and assigned them to one of six beginning band instruments. The other half of the participants were given a site address that had pictures of the same students, but only the lips and dental aspects of the students' faces were visible. Results indicated that the ability to identify the sex of subjects only had an effect on the assignment of an instrument for one of the eight students. Furthermore, when data were analyzed factoring in the sex of the respondent, one other difference became apparent. Since this difference was for the sole African-American stimulus, it is possible that this difference may have been related to the student s race. These findings show that, generally, differences in instrument assignment were not linked to the subjects' ability to identify the sex of the student.