In the field of education, experiences,
skills, and knowledge that are defined as meaningful frequently
are assessed in order to evaluate whether what was taught was
actually learned. National large-scale surveys of music participation,
preferences, attitudes, and experiences, as well as assessments
of students' skills and knowledge, provide some information
to answer questions related to transition—whether individuals
are participating in experiences that are valued by many music
educators and whether students have learned particular skills
and knowledge that may contribute to meaningful participation
now and in the future. Surveys and assessments are naturally
limited by their scope; however, in many cases, the experiences,
skills, and knowledge measured in these assessments have been
defined by many music educators as meaningful (e.g., listening
to live and recorded performances of classical music, playing
instruments, singing), thus making the data relevant to issues
of transition.
Data from several studies on attitudes
and music participation (primarily playing instruments) by adults
and family members are reported in "American
Attitudes towards Music 1997," an executive summary
of a survey of 1,740 individuals aged 12 and older, conducted
by the Gallup Organization on behalf of
NAMM.7 Since these
surveys were intended to serve the music industry by providing
information that could increase product sales, areas of study
were primarily limited to attitudes and experiences related
to instrumental music. Consider first the generally positive
attitudes towards music, music making, and music education found
in this report:
• A large proportion of individuals surveyed
agree that music is a very important part of life (84%); that
music is a good hobby (95%); that music brings the family
together (82%); that music is a part of a well-rounded education
(90%) and that the state should mandate music education in
schools (70%)
• A large proportion of individuals surveyed
agree that playing a musical instrument is fun (88%) and that
playing a musical instrument provides lifelong enjoyment (96%)
Now consider these findings from
the same report:
• The proportion of households with at
least one person aged 5 or older who currently plays a musical
instrument has declined from 1978 (51 %) to 1997 (38%).
• Only 25% percent of the individuals
over the age of 12 currently play some type of instrument,
and 28% of the population over the age of 12 were former players.
• Of the total number of former players,
55% stopped playing before the age of 18, and 24% stopped
before the age of 35. Of the total number who currently play,
33% are aged 15 to 17, 24% are aged 35 to 49, and 19% are
aged 50 and older. Piano and guitar are played by larger proportions
of children (ages 5 to 17) and adults than any other type
of instrument.
• A large majority (84%) of people who
play instruments or were former players first learned to play
between the ages of 5 and 14. Most first learned to play a
musical instrument at school (44%) or by taking private lessons
(35%). Fifty-seven percent of the respondents aged 65 and
older believe that they are too old to learn to play an instrument.
• Forty-one percent of all individuals
agree that it isn't worthwhile to invest in an instrument unless
the child has demonstrated some degree of musical talent (49%
of nonplayer households, 37% of player households, and 36% of
former player households).
• For all current or former
players, 33% report that a parent encouraged them to begin to
study an instrument, and 37% report they became interested on
their own. Only 14% report they were encouraged by a teacher.
The reported positive attitudes
about music along with a strong U.S. economy may, in part, be
responsible for the positive outcomes seen in product sales
(other than school instruments) for the music industry. The
growth of the music industry can be followed in Music USA,
a yearly publication that provides statistical data on shipments
and sales of music products (e.g., instruments, acoustic pianos/keyboards,
printed music, CDs).8
The annual retail value of shipments is reported to have grown
steadily since 1991 from 3.93 to "a whopping 6.10 billion
dollars!"9
Although this generally positive
report from the music industry may appear encouraging, consider
the following data from Music USA showing how consumers
are spending their money:10
• Several products show particularly
strong growth (percussion, synthesizers, acoustic pianos,
sound reinforcement), although in the school music market,
more brass, woodwind, and stringed instruments were shipped
than sold. Purchases of new instruments are said to be significantly
affected by the level of rental returns and the number of
used instruments on the market.11
• Although sales of recorded
music have shown an increase from $7.8 billion in 1991 to $
12.2 billion in 1997, shipments of classical recorded music
to music companies and retailers represented only 3.2% of music
shipments in 1991 and have continued to decrease across the
period to 2.8% in 1997. Rock, country, urban contemporary, pop,
and rap comprised 80% in 1991 and 78% in 1997. 12
It appears that adults are not
continuing to play the instruments they studied as students
in school, and they are not listening to the classical music
they may have heard in their music classrooms. The data also
suggest that they are not attending concerts of classical music
and opera, and comparisons of data from older and younger age
cohorts show an increasing number of nonparticipants. Consider
these findings from research reports by Peterson and Sherkat
13 and Balfe and
Meyersohn,14 which
appear in the National Endowment for the Arts document Age
and Arts Participation:
• A comparison of each age cohort
between 1982 and 1992 reveals a general decline in attendance
at live performances of classical music.
• The major predictor of arts participation
in 1992 was the respondent's level of education: in every
age cohort, those with more education participate at higher
rates. However, rank orders of participation for age groups
(beginning with those born in 1936 to those born between the
years 1966 and 1975) show a clear and disturbing decrease,
none that is attributable to education or income. Unlike older
cohorts, there is no evidence that younger cohorts increased
their participation as they matured.
• Many younger people
are substituting alternative forms of arts participation (television,
CDs, videotapes) for live arts participation.
The results for younger age cohorts
are inconsistent among different types of arts participation.
After discussing data showing high preferences among younger
cohorts for a narrow range of popular music, Balfe and Meyersohn
explain that these young adults "are reducing their participation
in core art forms that compete most directly with the popular
arts, given what is known of the constraints on their time and
economic pressures. With increased sophistication of performances
of most forms of popular music, as well as the general informality
of their venues, it is no wonder that it is classical music,
jazz, opera, musicals, and theater that have suffered the large
declines among baby boomers and the younger Generation X, while
ballet and art museums—both arts forms and venues having
less competition from those of popular music—have enjoyed
increases instead."15
The picture of increasing audiences
for the performing arts is not encouraging for those who value
adults' attendance at live performances of music other than
popular music. It is even less encouraging looking across generations,
considering that many of the adults who are nonparticipants
will be or are new parents. Parental encouragement has been
found to be one of the strongest influences on adults' interest
in attending concerts.16
In the absence of data showing
that adults are participating in experiences that are valued
by many in music education, we cannot assume that parental encouragement
of concert attendance, or any other meaningful music experience,
is present in children's lives. For a large majority of children,
teachers and school music programs may be the only influences
that will affect the children's current and future interest
in the variety of music experiences valued by music educators,
and the only opportunities for them to acquire the skills, knowledge,
and attitudes that lead to broadened choices concerning the
music participation in their lives.
Students who are in school now
will participate in future surveys of adult participation. Ideally,
they are learning the skills and knowledge that will lead to
their choosing to participate in a wide range of music experiences
now and in their adult lives. Perhaps one of the most visible
and current sources from which we can make some predictions
for the musical behavior of future adults is contained in The
NAEP 1997 Arts Report Card.17
The purpose of the National Assessment of Educational Progress
in the arts was to assess what eighth-grade students know and
can do in three areas of music, visual arts, theatre, and dance:
Creating, Performing, and Responding. Representative samples
of public and nonpublic school students participated in the
assessment.18
As with most educational research
reports, the NAEP report includes cautions regarding interpretation
of the data. Readers are to consider effects of other factors
on the results (e.g., socioeconomic, education, composition
of the student body in public and nonpublic schools, parents'
education levels, and parental involvement). Also, the report
identifies correlations between factors (e.g., specific scores
and characteristics of school programs), and the standard cautions
are given against causal interpretations. Even in light of these
cautions, the generally low scores, particularly in the areas
of creating and performing, are disconcerting. If the skills
and knowledge that were assessed are those that represent broad
areas valued by many in the music profession, then the results
show a disparity between what we think we're teaching and what
students are learning.
Average scores were low (Responding
= 150 or below on a scale of 0-300; Creating = 34 on a scale
of 0-100; Performing = 34 on a scale of 0-100). Performing scores
were even low for the 16% of the students whose teachers asked
them to play instruments every day (average score 53), and the
13% who were asked to sing every day (average score 40). Creating
and Responding scores were also low for students who reported
that teachers asked them to listen to music, write down music,
or make up their own music almost every day. Only 18% of the
students reported playing in a band, 3% playing in an orchestra,
and 22% singing in a chorus. But even scores for students who
participated in school ensembles were relatively low, with ranges
of 43 to 52 for Performing and 40 to 50 for Creating.
Scores were also low for students
who attended a school with a music program that included one
of the attributes that we tend to associate with good music
programs (i.e., full-time music specialist, music instruction
at least three or four times a week, a required district or
state music curriculum, visiting artists, artist-in-the-schools
programs, and a room dedicated to music teaching). The scores
for students who attended schools with music programs that included
all of the "good program indicators" were not identified
separately in the report, nor were they compared with scores
of students who attended schools without all of the indicators.
We can only assume that scores from students who attended schools
with all of the indicators would be considerably higher for
responding, creating, and performing.
The results include correlations
between students' scores and attributes of the music programs
in which students participated. With the exception of the 9%
of the students who received no music instruction, there were
no significant relationships between students' average scores
and program attributes. Factors that surprisingly were not positively
related to scores were frequency of instruction, having a district
or state arts curriculum requirement, visiting artist programs,
or whether a full-time specialist or part-time specialist was
teaching music. Interestingly, although perhaps not surprising
to some, students who attended schools where music was taught
in room(s) dedicated to music teaching had significantly higher
average scores in all three areas (Responding, Performing, and
Creating) than did students who attended schools where music
was taught on a stage or other space not dedicated to music
teaching. Perhaps this result is attributable to the fact that
dedicated music spaces are often associated with schools and
communities with greater financial resources.
Some of the lower scores are reported
in the area of Performing (e.g., singing the song "America"
with a full chorus accompaniment on audiotape and playing "Ode
to Joy" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" by
ear on the MIDI keyboard). The findings for singing, although
well-known in the music education community by now, bear repeating,
considering the absence of adult survey data on singing and
choral music. Many students were able to sing the song "America"
with generally acceptable rhythm (78%) and expression (51%).
Only 35% of the students sang almost all of the pitches of the
melody accurately, and only 24% sang with a tone quality that
was considered appropriate in most sections of the song. Only
small percentages of students were able to perform the pitches
of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (25%) and "Ode
to Joy" (21%) by ear on the keyboard at an adequate level
or above.
Any music assessment presents
challenges, particularly in the areas of performing and creating
music. Readers are encouraged to examine the complete NAEP report
for a deeper understanding of the process and to examine the
many results that are not discussed here. Some may raise good
questions about the assessment items, the number of items, or
the procedures, or may have other interpretations of the findings,19
but if we assume that the NAEP assessment is a measurement of
broad areas of skills and knowledge valued in music education,
then the results are disappointing.
The students in the survey are
a representative sample of eighth-grade students in the nation—they
represent what most eighth-grade students can do when responding
to, creating, and performing music. Considering the data from
these future adults, we cannot predict with any confidence that
this new generation will participate happily and successfully
in music experiences that require the kinds of skills and knowledge
reflected in the assessment.
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