The Effect of Programmed Materials on the Vocal Development of Selected Children's Choruses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of programmed materials with adjunct listening examples on the vocal development of children's choruses. A programmed text was designed, tested, and revised in several pilot studies that constituted Phase 1. The text, developed by means of the systems approach model, was effective as measured by pretest-to-posttest gains by all subjects in summative and formative pilot testings. Phase 2 of the study was an experimental design to determine the amount of methods and materials presented in the text that could be implemented by practicing teachers. Forty music teachers and their respective choruses served as subjects and were divided into two groups: a no-contact control and an experimental group. Judges' ratings of the performances were used as the main variable to match groups; other variables included length of rehearsal, grade levels, and size of the chorus. All choruses were tape recorded singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Teachers in the experimental group were given copies of the programmed materials and allotted a 10-week interval to implement materials of their choice during rehearsals. The posttest taping utilized the same song and another of the teacher's choice. Results of data analysis indicated that there was no significant difference in the overall choral sound between groups. Written posttests did indicate a significant gain by teachers in the experimental group of knowledge contained in the text. It was concluded that the lack of significance may have been attributed to an inability to transfer concepts from the text to the rehearsal setting.