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FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School

3-13-2003

The effects of rote and note teaching on the

performance of high school chorus
Radio Cremata

DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI14061541
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 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Miami, Florida

THE EFFECTS OF ROTE AND NOTE TEACHING ON

THE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE

MUSIC EDUCATION

by

Radio Cremata

2003
To: Dean Arthur W. Herriott
College of Arts and Sciences

This thesis, written by Radio Cremata, and entitled The Effects of Rote and Note
Teaching on the Performance of High School Chorus, having been approved in respect to
style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment.

We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved.

Dr. Dan Hardin

Dr. Joseph Rohm

Dr. Michael Wagner, Major Professor

Date of Defense: March 13,2003

The thesis of Radio Cremata is approved

Dean Arthur W. Herriott

C'.niiP.ae of Artc:! gflA ~f'tPnN•c:o

Dean Douglas Wartzok

University Graduate School

Florida International University, 2003

ll
 DEDICATION

I dedicate this thesis to my family: my mother Claire for her constant support and

unending love for my music; her parents Emile and Rose through whom I believe I was

given the gift of music; my father Radio Jr. for his immeasurable love and his simple

words of wisdom that always help me stay focused; his parents Radio Sr. and Araceli for

not only their unconditional love, but also for giving up their homeland and bringing my

father to the United States in search of freedom and prosperity; my sisters Michelle and

Denise for setting a standard of excellence that I can always look toward to help me

achieve my goals; to my father in-law Allan for his love of children and music and for

inspiring me to follow my dreams; and lastly to my incredible wife Mary for her

enchanting love, encouragement and tremendous ambition. Without my family, the

completion of this work would not have been possible.

Ill
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the faculty and staff of Florida International University for

their guidance, support and professional contribution to this work. Dr. Hardin has been

especially helpful in teaching me about research techniques. Thanks to him this report is

thorough and complete. Dr. Rohm helped me gain a greater appreciation for teaching

music. By observing his classes, I have learned many techniques of communicating

complicated musical ideas in a simple fashion. Studying with Dr. John Augenblick has

helped me gain a greater appreciation for achieving musical excellence from my own

students, even when circumstances are not favorable. His impeccable attention to detail,

organization and class discipline has inspired me to be a better educator. Many of the

professors in the Education department have both challenged and spiked my curiosity

concerning educational issues that I might otherwise have never considered. I thank

them, and my students are reaping the benefits of their priceless ideas. Lastly, I would

like to thank my major professor, Dr. Michael Wagner for helping me learn to love

school again. When we first met I had very different ideas about what classrooms were

really about. He has been much more than just a teacher; he has taught me to believe in

education and as a result, my current and future students will forever have a taste of his

educational legacy.

IV
 ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

THE EFFECTS OF ROTE AND NOTE TEACHING ON

THE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS

by

Radio Cremata

Florida International University, 2003

Miami, Florida

Professor Michael Wagner, Major Professor

The purpose of this research is to compare the effects two different teaching techniques-

rote and note--have upon high school chorus. Rote instruction involves teaching students

who do not have music in front of them. Note instruction involves teaching students who

do have music in front of them. The methodology counterbalanced two different high

school choirs. Rote and note taught groups were taught four of the same 3-part SAB

chorale settings type music. Two recordings were made of each song for each group -

once after 30 minutes of instruction and second 24 hours later to test retention.

Recordings were randomized and mastered onto CD and given to experts for evaluation.

Across the board results were that rote taught groups scored higher than note taught

groups on intonation, note accuracy and rhythm. This research does not recommend

doing away entirely with note instruction. Rather, this research gives credence to rote as

a valid music learning technique, often misunderstood because of the conflicting reports

found in the professional literature.

v
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. IN'IRODUCTION ........ ...... ....... .......... .... ...... ............ ..... .............. ....... ........ .. 1

II. LITERATURE REVIEW .... .... .... ..... ... ....... ... .............. .... ... ..... ...... .... ........ ..... 1
Vocal Rote Instruction ... .... .. .. ... ... .. ....... ........ .... .... .. .... .... .. ..... .... ...... ... ............ 1
Vocal Rote Opposed ........ .. ..... .. .. .. ... ... ... ..... ... .. .................... .. . ... 2
Vocal Rote Neutral .. .... .............................................. ..... ......... .. .......... .......... .. 3
Vocal Rote Supporting .. .. .. ... ........................ .... ............................................... 3
Instrumental Rote Instruction .. .... ... ..... ...... .. .... ..... .. ......... ...... ............... ...... .. ..7
Instrumental Rote Opposed ... ........ .. .......... .... ........... ............ .... .... .. ............. .... 8
Instrumental Rote Neutral .. .......... ............. ..... ......... ................... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 8
Instrumental Rote Supporting ... ... ....... ... ... ........... ... ....... ... .............. .... .......... .. 9

ill. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 12

Subjects and Setting .... ..... ...... ... .... ... ...... ...... ... .... ........ ... ...... .. ...... .. ..... .... .. .... 12
Data Collection Technique/Procedure ................................................ ........ .. 12

IV. RESULTS .... ......... ........................................................................................ 15

Mean Scores .................................................. ...... ........................ .................. 15
ANOVA .... .... ... .... ... ... ... ... ....... ........ ......... ..... .................. .... ........... ... .......... .. 16

V. DISCUSSION ....................... .......................... ....... ............................... ........ 17

Findings .. .. ... ... ....... ...... ..... ................... ................................. ......... .... .... .. .. .... 17
Summary ................ ...................... .. ....... .. ...................................................... 18
Recommendations ....... ...... ..... ......... .......... ...................... ......... .... .... ............. 18

LIST OF REFERENCES ...................... ...................... ...... ........ ..... .... ............. ....... .. 20

APPENDICES ........................... ............ .. .............................. ... ............................... 23

Vl
 Every music educator has the option of using standard music notation or rote

instruction as a basis for teaching or communicating a musical idea or composition to his

or her students. Should music teachers teach by rote or by notation? Is either form of

instruction preferable to the development of future musicians? Strict adherence to

standard music notation instruction may emphasize teaching students how to read music

so well that sight-reading a complicated score becomes a simple task. The alternative

would be strict adherence to rote instruction where sight-reading is not the emphasis but

rather where teacher-student echoing is emphasized. Rote instruction involves students

emulating a sound that their teacher makes. Although there is much music education

research concerning the issue of rote instruction, it appears that much of it is organized

into different categories. Some research concerns instrumental instruction; other research

examines vocal instruction. This makes it difficult to make any strong opinions about

rote instruction in general, since it would seem that it depends on the type of music being

taught- vocal or instrumental. This review will survey and organize the literature so that

we can better understand the overall advantages and disadvantages of rote instruction in

music education.

Literature Review

Vocal Rote Instruction

The bulk of the research concerning vocal rote instruction indicates that students

learn best when teachers incorporate rote instruction techniques into their lesson.

However, some studies indicate the contrary. This section begins with a discussion of the

literature opposed to vocal rote instruction. Next, the discussion focuses on the literature

1
with neutral findings neither opposing nor supporting vocal rote instruction. Finally, the

discussion reviews the literature in favor of vocal rote instruction.

Opposed:

Rote instruction tends to hinder the student's learning process (Moore, et al,

1997). This research entitled, "Effects of Culture, Age, Gender and Repeated Trials on

Rote Song Learning Skills of Children 6-9 Years Old from England, Panama, Poland,

Spain, and the United States," concluded that students taught by rote often repeated their

own mistakes rather than improving with repeated trials. The researchers concluded that

rote instruction has an inherent problem, arguing that repeated mistakes without concrete

notation to correct the error could lead a student to not learn his or her part well. Another

problem noted was that, since students learned the music in parts, they could not perform

the music seamlessly or entirely. Students did not understand the music as an entire

piece, but rather as many parts of a whole.

Sunderland ( 1994) examined the sight-reading skills of selected Ohio secondary

choral ensembles. The author found that all directors of the ensembles in the study used

rote-teaching techniques to teach rhythms and pitches. However, the better sight-reading

ensembles relied less on their directors and performed more varied repertoire. Better

sight-readers tended to watch the notes more than the text and enjoyed singing next to

singers in other sections of the ensemble. This research argues that students learning by

standard notation tend to be better readers. Furthermore, students who were less rote-

reliant had more instrumental experience than their poor sight-reading counterparts.

Flowers (1990) reported rote vs. note instruction and isolated two elementary

school singing groups. One group received direct standard notation instruction and

2
further dissected the music into rhythmic and melodic parts. The other group received

rote instruction without the dissected analysis. Results indicated that taught rhythmic and

melodic patterns were performed with greater accuracy by the group that received direct

standard notation instruction. In the researcher's pre- and post-test study, both groups

improved their transfer of rhythmic and melodic patterns to music.

Neutral:

In research entitled: "The Effects of Systematic Rhythm Reading Instruction

Versus Rote Rhythm Drill on the Pitch and Rhythm Sight-singing Performance of High

School Choral Ensemble Members," no significant differences between rote or note

instruction was found. (Egbert 1990) However, all students scored significantly higher

on rhythm reading than on pitch reading. This finding was anticipated. According to the

researcher, most high school students score higher on rhythm than pitch. Results also

found that both groups experienced substantial gains in ensemble sight-reading. In a

study involving several black gospel choirs in metropolitan New York, Allgood (1984)

stated, the basic technique used in teaching a Black gospel tune is rote memory. (Allgood

1984) The study was used to evaluate issues ofbreath control, attacks, releases, vibrato,

tone quality, and diction. However, conclusions showed no significant difference in

quality.

Supporting:

The vast majority of the literature points to supporting vocal rote instruction as a

viable technique in the classroom. This is a curious point since note instruction has been

the standard form of music education for years in the western world. There appears to be

3
a gap in the research where students of different levels and different age groups are

compared to see which form of instruction suits them best.

Kane ( 1994) studied the difference between traditional rote instruction of music to

kindergarten students and a different form of instruction called "tonal preparatory

audiation guidance" which involves several stages of a child's musical development

between ages 2-6. Results did not indicate that tonal preparatory audiation guidance was

any more effective at teaching students than the traditional rote instruction. Kazez (1992)

studied the effect of solfege drills on students trying to master melodies in sight-singing

texts. The research indicated that preparation for a complicated piece of music for sight-

singing was best done if students sang a "well-graded rote exercise" designed to correct

the potential errors in pitch. This use of the rote technique was only used for exercises.

Rote-style exercises develop pitch matching and ear training. (Kane 1994) Shehan ( 1987)

studied "Effect ofRote Versus Note Presentation ofRhythm Learning and Retention"

The study was linllted to second and sixth grade students; results indicated that by

accessing both pathways to the brain, auditory and visuaL better levels of learning and

retention were achieved. Visual stimulus would include reading standard music notation

while auditory stimulus would include rote instruction. This research favored the hybrid

approach to instruction, taking the best parts of both techniques and using them to help

nurture the student's development.

Waddell ' s (1989) research "Teaching a Rote Song" argues that rote song

instruction is fundamental to the classroom. Songs taught by rote should be of a wide

variety, including different tonalities, meters, styles and forms. (Wadde111989) The

researcher argues that rote songs should be taught with multiple repetitions involving

4
tonal preparatory sequences or cues to help guide the singers. Additionally,

accompaniments should be avoided because the rote song is best learned a cappella. The

argument continues that difficult phrases should be practiced on neutral syllables.

Waddell does not say that standard notation instruction should be removed from the

curriculum, but does say that rote technique has a place in the classroom. Jmjisian (1981)

studied rote-singing achievement in young children, concluding that young students

benefit more from both diatonic and pentatonic patterns of instruction through rote

technique than by diatonic-only or pentatonic-only patterns of instruction. Further

findings conclude that how well students rote sang was more influenced by instructional

content and tonal aptitude than by teacher, school environments or socioeconomic status.

Some foreign cultures emphasize rote-based instruction over standard notation. It

is also part of the tradition of much of the music in other cultures around the world that

music is taught by rote. The passing down of songs and ideas by oral tradition is a

foreign concept to westerners but is frequently practiced by other cultures. Research

done by Maim (1972) dealt with the issue of teaching rhythmic concepts in ethnic music

to students. Conclusions were that teaching rhythms in terms of bar lines is misleading.

The researcher prefers rote instruction where students copy rhythmic patterns. The

researcher goes on to argue that students learn better if they hear or perceive music not as

an event-to-event sequence but rather as a time continuum. Trirnillos (1983) analyzed the

teaching/learning systems in music traditions around the world and found that rote

instruction is an intercultural constant. One of Trimillos contentions is that by analyzing

the way a culture transmits musical ideas to other members of the same culture, we can

come to know how that culture thinks and we can hope to learn from their tradition. Rote

5
instruction is found in ancient Hawaiian chants, in hula and in Indian classical music.

Because learning has a vocal rather than instrumental basis, the voice is regarded as an

important part of the learning process. It may be that standard notation is not an option

for these foreign musicians, or it may be that the rote technique is favored. There did not

appear to be any research comparing music instruction techniques in these cultures. The

rote technique is the standard. Denny (1989) studied the music in liturgy and ritual of

Islamic cultures and discovered that the oral aspect of rote learning is emphasized when

teaching children, but that it is reinforced with training in writing. Denny noted that

students of the Islamic culture learn by rote but also develop the written aspect of music

through learning standard notation. This type of learning includes learning by rote and is

then reinforced with practice writing out notation. This is not the same technique as

students learning by rote while having the music in front them.

In terms of music instruction techniques in our western cultural heritage,

Osterhout (1986) researched the history of note reading and regular singing in 18th

Century New England. Findings were that the traditional definition of"regular singing"

has only included singing from written notation. However, his research indicates that

singing by rote was a major part of the music of the 18th century in New England.

Townsend (1996) studied "The Music Teaching and Learning Process in an

African-American Baptist Church." (1996) Discoveries revealed that much of the

learning choir members did was through oral transmission or rote. Choir members

copied or sang the same thing that the director sang to them. First the director would sing

the soprano part and then the sopranos would copy him. The director would sing all the

parts to all sections, one by one and eventually all sections learned the music. This

6
teaching technique, known as "lining out," normally occurs during rehearsal, though it

can be incorporated into performances. Townsend argues that this teaching method would

be appropriate in some classrooms if incorporated along with the African-American

religious music since the two go hand in hand.

Bush (1985) delved deeper into rote music techniques in her research comparing

two different ways of teaching a rote song - "Parrot" and "Reverse Chaining." Although

the researcher admits the research does not come to any valid conclusions, the idea that

rote instruction can be implemented by way of different techniques is an area for further

investigation. Anderson (1995) examined the link between ear training and sight-reading

skills in high school choral students. Much of the ear training significantly improved the

students' sight-reading skills scores on the Arizona State Sight-Reading Testing

Instrument.

Giles (1991) studied the use ofKodaly and Orfftechniques to develop choral

reading skills at the secondary level. These teaching techniques are a kind of rote

instruction involving singing, ear training, solfege, rhythmic movement and

improvisation. The researcher found that these techniques that are normally used with

elementary level students may be extended through high school. This is positive

evidence for rote instruction since some rote opponents might suggest that it is only good

for young students.

Instrumental Rote Instruction

There is not as much literature published concerning instrumental rote instruction

as there is on vocal rote instruction. However, the majority of the research in the

instrumental area advances the idea that when teachers implement rote instruction

7
techniques students benefit and in turn, learn quicker and better. First, the discussion will

focus on the literature opposed to instrumental rote instruction and it will move towards

the discussion of the literature taking a neutral stance on instrumental rote instruction,

followed by discussion supporting instrumental rote instruction.

Opposed:

Lee (1992) studied the Suzuki principles of violin, finding that the method relied

too heavily on rote teaching and that in turn students had less creativity and reading

skills. Additionally, the repertoire was limited and poorly chosen, although this may not

be attributable to the rote instruction. This study is not as comprehensive as Creider' s

(1989) research that will be discussed below in the "Supporting" section of the

instrumental review. Shockley (1980) tackles the issue of piano music reading and

memorization. The research here is built on the hypothesis that memory problems stem

from rote methods of practice. A student will memorize a piece and then continue to play

from memory. According to Shockley, this leads to a lesser understanding of the music

being prepared and does not help develop other musical skills.

Neutral:

Lorenz ( 1993) studied the difference in instructional treatment for rote learning,

improvisation and tonal conceptual development in a beginning guitar class. The

researcher admits that results were not conclusive although it seemed that rote learning

was just as effective as the other two instructional techniques. Grande (1989) compared

the "rote-to-note" approach and the traditional music reading approach in teaching

beginning instrumental music. The rote-to-note method that utilizes familiar rote songs

and solfege singing was taught to one group and not to the other. Results did not yield

8
sufficiently higher scores for either group to make significant conclusions on the merit of

either instructional technique. Hahn (1985) investigated the correlations between reading

music and reading language with implications for music instruction (notation). Students

were divided into two groups. One group learned about notation in a "vacuum" while the

other group learned about standard notation in the context of familiar musical patterns

taught by rote. No significant conclusions were reached. The researcher proposed an

alternate hypothesis that the rote instructional method was more effective than the

traditional method currently being used to teach music reading and sight-reading.

Supporting:

Creider (1989) discusses music education using the Suzuki method In Creider's

view both hearing and rote learning are vehicles students can use to free themselves from

the harmful and often counterproductive "music babble" that can confuse and discourage

students from music reading. Suzuki instruction can be an effective method of music

instruction if it is supplemented with a variety of musical experiences including concert

and recordings, a balanced repertoire and lessons that build on one another through

sequential activities. (Creider 1989) Glenn's (1999) research entitled "Rote vs. Note: The

Relationship of Working Memory Capacity to Performance and Continuation in

Beginning String Classes (sixth-grade, middle school)" concludes that significant

differences exist between students who receive rote instruction and students who receive

standard notation instruction. Performance scores were not different between the two

groups; however, continuation was 40% higher in the rote instructed group. Chen (1958)

investigated students in kindergarten and their initial keyboard learning process. The

research here indicated that the rote learning process allowed kindergarten students of

9
any level of developmental music aptitude to learn to play a keyboard instrument within a

short period of time.

Instrumental rote-based instruction may involve vocal techniques. Bloedel Beery

(1996) investigated the effects of singing instruction on beginning instrumental students.

Her findings concluded that using singing was an effective tool in developing musical

expression for instrumental students. Students who sang their part before they played it

mastered the music quicker and played with more expression.

When music gets more complicated, as in jazz improvisation, one might think that

rote-based instruction has no place; however, Bash (1983) examined the connection

between jazz improvisation skills and rote instruction. Three methods of instruction were

compared. Among the three was an aural perceptive treatment that supplemented the

scalar and chordal activities that students already received. The aural perceptive

treatment involved vocal responses to blues patterns, vocalization of blues improvisation

and instrumental echo response patterns using rote. Results suggested that this method of

instruction could be encouraged for use in general music curriculum since students

learned the improvisation technique rapidly and well.

A last bit of research here examines neither instrumental nor vocal music

students. Stockton (1982) analyzed aural meter discrimination among college students in

introductory music classes. Findings were that students who were taught by rote several

rhythm patterns in multiple meters showed significantly higher gains in aural meter

discrimination than did the control group that did not receive the rote instruction.

Students who are taught to perform and identify rhythm patterns in various meters will

achieve a higher level of rhythmic understanding than students who are taught to read, to

10
listen to, and to identify various types of meter presented in recorded musical excerpts.

(Stockton 1982)

Of the 31 studies in this review of literature 21 supported rote instruction while

only 5 opposed it. The remaining 5 studies reported neutral results.

Statement of the Problem

The majority of the research supports rote instruction, yet there exists a popular

belief among educators, especially at the secondary level and up, that rote instruction is

silly, non-academic or counterproductive to the student's learning process. Educators

and directors not supporting rote instruction may argue that although rote instruction may

be effective at teaching songs it is ineffective at making students better prepared for

future musical challenges. They may contend that serious music demands students who

can read music. Non-rote supporters may go on to say that a well-developed ear is

helpful and often necessary, but excellent reading skills are as important if not more so.

Supporters of rote, on the contrary, may argue that rote instruction helps teachers teach

their ensembles music they otherwise would not be able to perform if the ensembles were

to rely exclusively on note instruction. Supporters may use rote merely as reinforcement

for note instruction. All that said, educators and scholars seem to differ on their opinions

about the worthiness of rote instruction in the classroom. Curiously, the majority of the

research supporting rote instruction favors rote instruction for younger children.

Therefore, this study aimed to investigate if rote instruction is effective for music

students at the secondary level. By comparing rote and note instruction against one

another, this study highlights the relative strengths and weaknesses of each type of

11
instruction. The hypothesis of this research is that rote instruction will be more effective

than note instruction for high school chorus in a choir's overall note accuracy, intonation

and rhythm.

Methodology

Subjects

Two high school choirs from a private school in Southeastern Florida, of equal ability

and experience, each comprised of 24 singers ages 14-19 participated in the study.

Although students and parents were informed and signed consent/assent documents, none

of the students knew when experiment began. They participated in their music class and

all materials were related to their curriculum. The students in both groups did not know

of the other's participation.

Procedure

Each group of students met with the same music teacher at a different time of day, but

for the same amount of time. Each group of students, Choir A and Choir B, received

both Rote and Note instruction. A counterbalanced design was employed.

Rote instruction was defmed as having the students learn the song without having a

copy of the music in front of them. The teacher would sing short phrases of the music to

each section of the choir (call) and the students would sing back (response) to the teacher.

The students never saw a copy of the music. As each section learned their individual

parts, other sections would learn how the harmony fit by singing along with the other

sections. (Refer to Appendix 1 for musical examples.) The teacher maintained a steady

beat by snapping his fingers to the quarter note as the sections learned their music. The

12
teacher never allowed interruptions nor did he allow questions. The steady beat of the

finger-snap was maintained throughout the instructional time. When the singers sang

incorrectly, the teacher would sing correctly and the students would respond in the

traditional call and response fashion.

Note instruction was defined as giving students a clear copy of the music in SAB

form. The teacher distributed the music and the students sat silently until the teacher

called upon them to sight-read their parts. When students sang incorrectly the teacher

would interrupt the students and ask for a volunteer to correctly sing the line. When

intervals were incorrectly sung, students would be asked to stop and count the interval

using numbers or solfege. If rhythms were incorrectly sung, students were asked to sing

the numbers to the beats in time out loud If an individual section of the choir was having

trouble the teacher would work individually with that section. The teacher never sang the

music to the students. The learning was done exclusively through sight-reading. The

teacher only stopped them when mistakes were made, and mistakes were never corrected

using rote instruction.

It should be mentioned that, to some degree at least, there is no such thing as pure

note instruction. Some singers in a section may be stronger singers and therefore sing

louder with more confidence and as a result teach other singers in their section the music

by rote. Moreover, the repetition of singing in a rehearsal is in many ways a "rote-type"

learning method. However, the idea that copies of the music were in front of each singer

and that the teacher never sang nor played the music, certainly differentiates note from

rote techniques.

13
 A total of four songs were used (Appendix 1). The music selected for the study

was in chorale settings arranged in 3-part (SAB) functional and diatonic harmony. There

were no key changes and all the music was in major keys. Selections were no longer than

32 measures and no shorter than 16 measures in length. The songs were not longer than 1

minute in length. In order to avoid the problem of learning words, each note was sung on

the syllable "Ta." Each group of students was given the same 4 songs and 30 minutes of

instructional time on each song. Choir A and B were, in counterbalanced fashion, given

both rote and note instruction. The order and sequence of instruction is illustrated below

(figure La). Immediately after the 30 minutes expired, students were recorded onto a

digital hard disk recorder. The recording was saved and 24 hours later, the students were

again asked to sing the song without rehearsal. The results were also recorded onto the

digital hard disk recorder.

Figure l.a:

Day 1 Song 1 Day 2 Song2 Day 3 Song3 Day 4 Song4

Choir A Rote Note Rote Note

30 min instruction; record, 30 min instruction; record, 30 min instruction; record, 30 min instruction; record,

24 hr.1 later record 24 hr.~ Ia ter record 24 hr.~ later record 24 hr.1 later record

ChoirB Note Rote Note Rote

30 min instruction; record, 30 min instruction; record, 30 min instruction; record, 30 min instruction; record,

24 hrs later record 24 h r.~ later record 24 h r.~ later record 24 hr.1 later record

After all the recordings were made and the order randomized, the music was

mastered onto CD (Appendix 2) and given to a panel of over sixty different musicians

and music teachers for review. The experts consisted of four college professors, twenty-

14
two school music teachers, twenty-three graduate students in music school and eighteen

professional musicians. The panel of experts was also given a copy of the music and an

adjudication form that contained three questions with a Likert scale answer (Appendix 3).

The questions were the same for each of the 16 recordings (4 songs sung twice by two

groups). Judges rated each performance for its intonation, note accuracy and rhythm. The

data were collected and the results calculated.

Results

Mean scores for each of the three categories were calculated by first separating

the songs taught by rote from those taught by note. Next the scores from the four

different songs were compiled. Twelve mean scores (six for Rote, six for Note) were

calculated. Figure l.b below illustrates the mean scores.

Fi~re l.b:

4 ~----------------------------------------------~
3.5
3
2.5
•Rote
2
•Note
1.5
1
0.5
0
Note Intonation Rhythm Note Intonation Rhythm
Accuracy Accuracy (day 2) (day 2)
(day 2)

15
 By comparing mean scores it was found that in every case, judges rated rote

instruction (3.15) higher than they rated note instruction (2.33). Retention scores on day

2 were also dramatically greater on rote instruction (2.93) than on note instruction (2.00).

Although rote scored higher than note in all three categories, the gap between the two

was most dramatic over-all in the Note Accuracy category (Rote 3.30), (Note 2.25). The

Intonation category had the smallest gap (Rote 2. 70), (Note 2.35).

A series of ANOVAs were run on each variable for all songs to determine if

scores on rote songs were significantly different than note songs. Figure I.e below shows

the computed F value for each variable and the probability that the score could have been

obtained by chance alone. These F values were also compared to table values ofF

distributions. Any computed F value higher than the table value indicates significance

above the chance level (Hicks 1964 ).

Figure 1.c:

Note Accuracy Intonation Rhythm

Song 1 F = 56.19 F=29.29 F= 52.86

p < .0001 p < .0001 p < .0001

Soog2 F = 66.94 F = 28.09 F = 38.84

p < .0001 p < .0001 p < .0001

Soog3 F = 19.59 F = 1.94 F= 26.68

p < .0001 p = .17 p < .0001

Soog4 F = 33.25 F= 5.89 F = 28.63

p < .0001 p = .016 p < .0001

16
 As can be seen, all variables using rote methodology are significantly higher than

the scores for note, with the possible exception of intonation in song 3 where the

probability of the obtained score being by chance is noticeably higher.

Discussion

This study provides some current data in the complicated, yet unresolved area of

vocal rote instruction in music education research. These data indicate that groups taught

by rote out-perform those taught by note in intonation, note accuracy, rhythm and

retention of each of the previously mentioned categories. Although the findings were

supportive of rote over note instruction, it is not advised dispensing entirely with note

instruction. It is possible that the style of music used in this study may have been better

suited for rote instruction than other kinds of music. Furthermore, a music education

would not be complete without learning how to read. Ideally both types of instruction

can be used in high school music education. However, as can be seen by these results,

rote instruction is extremely important in preparing for performance. It would seem that

students benefit from being taught via rote. Not only is it more effective than note

instruction at bringing out the best in a high school choir's overall note accuracy,

intonation and rhythm, but the choir's overall retention of the music is also maximized.

Past research in music education has scrutinized both rote and note teaching techniques

and the students' response to being stimulated on different learning pathways. If music

teachers can access both the visual and aural senses of their students, using these

techniques in combination wilJ perhaps result in better and more accurate student

performances.

17
 It is also worth noting that many musicians who suffer from blindness are most

often limited to learning music via the rote method. Therefore in some cases, rote

instruction is more than just an alternative to note instruction. The rights and needs of the

handicapped must be addressed in schools. It would be interesting to see some research

on handicapped students and their level of musical proficiency. Perhaps learning via rote

is better at developing other, more sophisticated music skills.

Learning music via rote can be useful in situations where time is important. This

study set up circumstances where the song was learned and recorded all in 30 minutes. It

is handy in that regard because there is no intermediate step in the learning. There is no

symbol that needs defining and explaining. Rote instruction takes advantage of this issue

and bypasses that level of confusion. Therefore less time is spent translating and more

time is spent making music. Although intonation seemed to have less of a significant

difference between rote and note, intonation was still better in the rote songs. It may be

that by concentrating wholly on the music and not the paper, singers of equal level and

ability sing more in tune. As mentioned previously, this research does not recommend

doing away entirely with note instruction. Rather, this research gives support to rote as a

valid music-learning technique, often misunderstood because of the conflicting reports

found in the professional literature.

In general, it appears that rote instruction serves an important role in music

education. Results remain inconclusive; however, this study adds credence to the

hypothesis that rote learning can be beneficial, especially in conjunction with note

teaching. Rote instruction can -- and probably should -- be incorporated into note

instruction. It would seem, because of the findings reported here, that teachers can tell

18
their students to stop reading and listen. Experienced note teachers may find the strategy

of fusing rote into the note lesson more feasible than pure rote. Either way, rote

instruction is certainly something worth incorporating into a lesson. It is not just for

musicians who cannot read.

19
 References

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20
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22
 Appendix 1

"Sample" Adjudication Form

You will be listening to 16 short recordings of different yet equally balanced and
experienced choirs singing 4 songs. The music has been prepared by different teaching
strategies. As a result some of the music will sound better than others. Please circle a
number next to each category that best represents your impression of each recording in
that category.

#1

1= Poor 2=Fair 3=Good 4=Excellent

1. Note Accuracy 1 2 ~ 3 4

2. Intonation 1 2 3 4

3. Rhythm 1 2 3 4

#2

1=Poor 2=Fair 3=Good 4=Excellent

1. Note Accuracy 1 2 3 4

2. Intonation 1 2 3 4

3. Rhythm 1 2 3 4

#3

1= Poor 2=Fair 3=Good 4=Excellent

1. Note Accuracy 1 2 3 4

2. Intonation 1 2 3 4

3. Rhythm 1 2 3 4.

23
 Appendix 3

Number 1
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32