The efficacy of pre-1965 and post-1965 musical aptitude and achievement tests for use with diverse groups.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to replicate the 1963 landmark study by Rainbow. Additional demographic variables, which reflected the changes in ethnic and cultural diversity in the United States in the thirty years since Rainbow reported his results, were examined. The pre-1965 musical aptitude and achievement tests used by Rainbow were compared to similar tests authored after 1965 to determine if the newer tests were superior to the earlier tests in their ability to measure student musical ability in 1995. The relationships between teacher ratings of student musical ability and 24 other variables were investigated. The examined variables included: academic achievement; family participation in music; musical training; interest in music; home enrichment; socioeconomic background; AFDC school status; ethnicity; home language; LEP status; and 11 subtest scores from selected musical aptitude and achievement tests: Musical Aptitude Profile (Gordon, 1965), Music Achievement Tests (Colwell, 1968), Seashore Measures of Musical Talents (Seashore, Lewis & Saetveit, 1939), Drake Musical Memory Test (Drake, 1934), and the Kwalwasser-Ruch Test of Musical Accomplishment (Kwalwasser & Ruch, 1927).;Subjects were 594 ethnically and culturally diverse students in grades 4 through 12. Subjects were drawn from selected music classes and regular classrooms within a large metropolitan school district in California.;Data were examined using correlational analysis, chi-square, multiple regression, and analysis of variance. Major findings include: (1) Students from economically disadvantaged homes had lower scores on the published music tests. (2) Relationships between the music scores and student demographic variables strengthened. (3) Students with musical training did better on the published music tests than students without training. (4) Music tests based on tonal memory or imagery are the best predictors of teacher-rated student musical ability. (5) Ethnicity and the language spoken at home are both related to students' scores on the published music tests. (6) Teacher ratings of students' musical ability were unreliable and not strongly correlated to student scores on the musical aptitude and achievement tests.