The Equity and Effectiveness of *Policies and Procedures Instrumental Music Instructors Deem Essential to Program Development for Beginning Percussionists

149 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.The principal purpose of this study was to compare and contrast policies and procedures that samples of public school instrumental music instructors (n = 5) brought to their own programs which impacted student participation (n = 24) in beginning band as a percussionist, and to address issues of equity. Specifically, did piano experience yield significant differences in rhythmic performance abilities of students in participating school districts? Policies and procedures investigated included the time-lines band directors used to disseminate information regarding recruitment. Piano instruction was the independent variable. Data was collected from the instructors regarding policies and procedures specific to their programs using a Band Directors Policies and Procedures Survey, and from participating beginning percussionists using a Musical Background and Interest Questionnaire regarding piano experience, family participation in musical activities, instrument preference, and motivation. To assess differences in music aptitude between groups, the Musical Aptitude Profile (Gordon, 1965) (MAP) (subtests R1, and R2) was administered to all participants. Pre- and post-treatment instrumental rhythmic sight-reading ability was measured using a modified version of the Watkins-Farnum Performance Scale (Watkins & Farnum, 1954) (MWFPS). A one-way ANOVA was used to measure variation in MAP scores, revealing no significant differences. MAP composite scores were used as covariate in ANCOVA, with the MWFPS pre- and posttests as dependant variable. Statistically significant differences (p < .05) in means were found between groups on the posttest. The data collected suggest that the policy of requiring beginning percussionists to have prior piano experience is effective in that they begin instruction with a considerable degree of music aptitude and rhythmic performance skill. Students with two years of instruction entered the program with a higher music aptitude and more competent rhythmic performance skills. The question of equity for students in regard to equal notification of the piano requirement policy prior to instruction appeared for each sample to be fair and reasonable. Inequity in the enforcement of that policy occurred for two of the participating school districts. This is significant when considering recent educational reforms, which require equitable participation for all students.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD