Comparing Methods of Teaching Middle School Students How to Sight Read
Elizaveta Sukhai
Kennesaw Mountain High School
Statement of the Problem According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for May 2016, about 40,110 people reported that they are musicians or singers (2017). Almost every one of these musicians can probably tell you they have encountered something called sight reading in their careers. Sight reading is when a musician or singer must read a piece or etude with limited or no time to study the music. Many consider sight reading to be one of the most important skills to have in a music career. In a study, Freeburne asked public school teachers and college professors in 19 states to rank keyboard skills (Lowder, 1983). The choices were accompanying, improvising accompaniments, keyboard harmony, sight reading, and transposition (Lowder, 1983). Overall, the teachers ranked sight reading as most important (Lowder, 1983). Although this study surveyed specifically about keyboard skills, sight reading is something all musicians have to do. Even in middle schools, students must sight read in their Large Group Performance Evaluation. Middle school students, and even professionals, struggle with sight reading. Rayner and
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In this research, the independent variable is the teaching approach used. This variable is qualitative and nominal because it is categorical, and each approach does not represent any sort of ranking. The dependent variable is the percentage difference for each approach. This variable is quantitative and a ratio variable because it is numerical data and scores can equal 0%. The data collected is the percentage of correct notes out of the total notes. The population is middle school percussionists and the sample is a convenience sample, taken at McClure Middle School with only 6th and 7th grade