Predicting Music Majors' Overall Ratings of Wind Band Performances: Elements of Music

• Autores: Christopher M. Johnson, John M. Geringer
• Localización: Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, ISSN 0010-9894, Nº 173, 2007, págs. 25-38
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The purpose of this research was to explore possible influences of specific music elements on the prediction of overall musical evaluation of band pieces. We studied whether there would be patterns in evaluators' assessments of particular music elements including balance/blend, dynamics, tone/intonation, rhythm/tempo, or musical expression that would relate to prediction of their overall assessment of wind band performances. Music major students (N = 84) enrolled in music degree programs in one of three large state universities served as participants. Listeners heard four wind band excerpts performed by different ensembles at three levels of performance experience; recordings by high school, university, and professional level ensembles were used. Responses indicated that listeners differentiated between the various performances. In most cases, the specific evaluation of a music element that best predicted overall assessment was the rating for music expression, followed by the tone/intonation rating. For the less experienced groups, tone/intonation was the aspect most in need of improvement in their performances. For the more experienced ensembles, aspects cited as needing improvement changed from excerpt to excerpt, implying that problem areas were more piece specific. We also compared overall musical evaluations and acoustical measures of dynamic range and rhythmic variation of performances. Little association was found between performed dynamic or rhythmic variations and overall ratings.