| Description |
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of SmartMusic® on beginning sixth-grade string instrumentalists' practice time, practice motivation, attitudes toward SmartMusic®, and performance scores. Two convenience sample classes of beginning sixth-grade string students participated in the study. One class served as the control group (without SmartMusic®) and the other as the experimental group (with SmartMusic®). All participants (N = 25) were trained on how to use the Practice Strategies Guide (PSG), which included a list of effective practice strategies. The experimental group was given SmartMusic® to use while practicing during the six-week study. All participants were given a new piece of music each week. Weekly performance tests of the provided music were audio recorded. There were a total of seven performance tests, which were adjudicated by three independent string educators. All participants recorded their weekly practice minutes on the Weekly Practice Record (WPR). Everyone was given a pretest and posttest Practice Attitude Survey (PAS) regarding attitudes about and motivation for practicing. Additionally, the experimental group participants were asked questions about SmartMusic® in the posttest PAS. Results indicated that there was no significant difference (p < .05) between the groups for average weekly performance scores. The WPR data showed that the experimental group participants practiced more average minutes per week during the first three weeks of the study than the control group participants, but then they practiced about iv the same average number of minutes per week as the control group participants for the remainder of the study. The pretest and posttest PAS data suggest that the experimental group participants had more intrinsic motivation toward practicing, throughout the study, than did the control group participants. Finally, all but one of the experimental group participants indicated a desire to continue using SmartMusic®. |
