Aural reinforcement and kinesthetic reinforcement as variants of the response mode in computer-assisted harmonic aural skills training.

Abstract

The problems of this study were (1) to compare computer-assisted harmonic aural skills instruction in an ear-to-pencil mode to comparable instruction in a keyboard ear-to-hand mode, and (2) to investigate the relative importance of kinesthetic reinforcement and aural reinforcement in the keyboard ear-to-hand mode. An harmonic skills test, Identifying Harmonic Progressions in Major and Minor Tonality (IHP) by James O. Froseth, served as the pretest and posttest for this investigation. Three versions of this test were prepared by the investigator utilizing a Macintosh Plus computer connected via MIDI to an electronic piano: (1) notational, (2) auditory, and (3) keyboard ear-to-hand. The experimental treatment consisted of a computer-assisted practice and training program, Harmonic Aural Skills Experiment, that was developed by the investigator. Versions were prepared for each of four experimental groups, each differing in the role of aural and kinesthetic reinforcement within the response mode. Two groups responded on a piano keyboard in a listen-play mode, obtaining kinesthetic reinforcement; in one of these groups the sound of the keyboard was suppressed. Two other groups responded by identifying chords with the computer mouse (no kinesthetic reinforcement), one with, one without the sound of the chord reinforcing each mouse click. Seventeenth elementary education undergraduates from The University of Toledo served as subjects for a pilot study of the IHP pretests. The group means on the IHP:Notation test were significantly greater than those of either IHP:Auditory or IHP:Perform, and the group means on the IHP:Auditory test were significantly greater than those of IHP:Perform. Thirty-four elementary education undergraduates at The University of Toledo volunteered to participate in the main experiment. Only 21 subjects completed all aspects of the study, rendering an unsuitably small sample for a 2 x 2 experimental design. Nonetheless, it was concluded that little correlation exists between harmonic eye-to-pencil skills, harmonic ear-to-pencil skills, and harmonic keyboard ear-to-hand skills as measured by the IHP tests; subjects are far less likely to identify primary chords by sound than they are by sight. Additionally, aural reinforcement and kinesthetic reinforcement have a significant effect on the achievement of harmonic aural skills.