The Effects of Musical Discrimination Training in Beginning Instrumental Music Classes

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine whether beginning instrumental music students who receive musical discrimination training that incorporates models/discriminator foils and modeling/imitation demonstrate higher levels of musical discrimination skill or instrumental music performance achievement than do students who do not receive this training. The author randomly assigned 43 fifth-grade beginning instrumental music students to experimental and control groups for 18 weeks. The experimental group underwent a tape-recorded discrimination training program that included (a) identification of aural music phenomena through use of models and discriminator foils (a variant of the model, differing in a single musical element), (b) discrimination exercises, and (c) student imitation of models. The findings of this study suggest that beginning instrumental music students can develop musical discrimination skills with systematic training procedures that incorporate models and discriminator foils as well as modeling and imitation.