Affiliation:
1. University of Sydney, New South Wales
Abstract
Recent advances in computer-controlled devices combined with the advent of audio compact discs have opened wide ranging possibilities for applications in music education. Students from an undergraduate music literature class were chosen to participate in a study (n=34). Students in the experimental group (n=17) utilised a computer-driven listening station while students in a control group utilised a typical repeated-hearing strategy. A Likert-scale questionnaire served as a pretest and assessed the students' knowledge of composers and works with no significant difference being found between the experimental and control groups. At the conclusion of the study, a recognition test was administered. Subjects in the experimental group had a significantly higher score (p >.001) on the posttest than the control group. The results suggest that listening station use improves the ability of undergraduate music majors to develop a recognition ability for basic music repertoire.