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Research to “Real Life”: Implications of Recent Research for Elementary


General Music Heather Nelson Shouldice Many music teachers perceive research as be- ing wholly removed from education practice, something that only those in the “ivory tower” find interesting or meaningful and having little direct connection to teachers’ day-to-day lives in the classroom. Some teachers believe re- search is cumbersome to read and understand, littered with academic prose and jargon. Still others feel they have no time to read about current education research; they have to plan tomorrow’s lessons! However, it is worth it for music teachers to be aware of current research in music education because it can be invalu- able in informing teaching practice and guiding decision-making in the classroom. This article will summarize three recent research studies of relevance for elementary general music teach- ers and discuss their implications for teaching practice.


Similar to a bassline, “a root melody is the me- lodic line created by the fundamental pitches of the harmonic functions found in a song” (p. 84). Pitches in a root melody can be played/ sung and sustained once per chord change or repeated on each beat. The students in the treatment group experienced root melodies with approximately 80% of the songs included in each class period and during improvisation activities. These root melody accompaniments were either played on a pitched instrument (e.g., xylophone, piano), played by a voice recording, sung by the teacher/researcher as the students sang a song, sung by the students as the teacher/researcher sang a song, or sung by the student(s) as another student(s) sang a song. The students in the control group experienced all the same songs and improvisation activities as the treatment group but without any accom- paniment.


“The Effects of Harmonic Accompani- ment on the Tonal Improvisations of Students in First Through Sixth Grade”


What Did the Researcher Want to Know?


What are the effects of root melody (bassline) accompaniment on the tonal improvisations of elementary school students?


What Did the Researcher Do?


Guilbault (2009) studied 419 of her own stu- dents in grades one through six for almost an entire school year. These students were divid- ed into two groups, with approximately half of the classes (the “treatment” group) experienc- ing “root melody” accompaniments during mu- sic instruction and the other half (the “control” group) experiencing only a cappella singing.


23 What Did the Researcher Find?


At the end of the school year, Guilbault (2009) recorded each student vocally improvising an ending to an unfamiliar song without accom- paniment. Three music educators judged the recordings, rating the degree to which each student improvised a melodic ending that used clearly implied harmonic changes and good harmonic rhythm. Statistical analysis of these ratings revealed that the students in the treat- ment group (who had experienced root melody accompaniments throughout the school year) were able to vocally improvise song endings that made more harmonic sense than students in the control group (who had not experienced root melody accompaniments).


General Music


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