Effects of Various Sightsinging Strategies on Nonmusic Majors' Pitch Accuracy

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to determine if different strategies used to practice sightsinging would aid nonmusic students in accurately performing such a task; if improvement in sightsinging would transfer to improved pitch accuracy while singing a familiar children's song; and if teacher-selected starting pitches and tessituras would raise the tessitura of subsequent performances by subjects. Pretest and posttest data compared among the five groups of elementary education majors (N = 91) the accuracy of notes and intervals sung and subject-selected starting pitches on a familiar children's song and four composed sightsinging exercises. Results indicated that improvement in sightsinging occurred in all experimental groups, with posttest scores of subjects using solfege coupled with Curwen hand signs and those using solfege alone scoring significantly better ( p < .05) than subjects using staff letter names and those using the neutral syllable “la. ” There was no significant difference among groups ( p > 5) on the accuracy of singing a familiar song on the posttest, with an average gain of 6.4 %, indicating that improvement of vocal accuracy while sightsinging did not transfer into recreational singing. Classwork in a higher tessitura than that selected by all subjects on the pretest had no effect on shifting starting pitches upward during the singing of a familiar song on the posttest.