Effects of teacher feedback to sung tonal patterns on the music self-concept of sixth and seventh grade students categorized by levels of general self-esteem

Purpose of the study. The purpose of this study was to determine if teacher feedback to sung tonal patterns affected the music self-concept of sixth and seventh grade students. General self-esteem was also tested for correlation with music self-concept.;Procedures. One hundred students in sixth and seventh grades from three middle schools in Columbia, Missouri participated in this study. Each student completed the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and the Self-Concept in Music scale in a large group setting. These two scores for each student were used to place students in one of four subgroups: high general self-esteem/high music self-concept, high general self-esteem/low music self-concept, low general self-esteem/high music self-concept, and low general self-esteem/low music self-concept.;The students were then randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (no feedback, appropriate feedback, positive feedback). The students, in a private session, attempted to echo-sing seven tonal patterns. The researcher responded to each attempt according to the assigned treatment and recorded the singing performance scores. Each student then completed the Self-Concept in Music scale once again.;Results. No significant main effects or interactions were found. A low positive significant correlation (r =.37) was found between the scores for sung tonal memory and the posttest scores for music self-concept. A low positive significant correlation (r =.28) was also found between the scores for the music self-concept pretest and the scores for general self-esteem.;Conclusions. Results of this study validate that students are able to determine their own perception of ability in music, that this perception is stable after a short-term intervention, and that this perception significantly relates to their general self-esteem.