| The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of hand levels or Kodaly hand signs on vocal accuracy and vocal range of fourth- and fifth-grade students. The interaction of spatial ability and encoding ability with the treatments was also investigated. Spatial ability was defined as the ability to imagine rotations of objects or their parts in three-dimensional space, and measured by the spatial subtest of the Developing Cognitive Abilities Test. Encoding ability was defined as the ability to make meaning of symbolic data, and measured by the reading comprehension scores from the Canadian Achievement Tests.;Vocal accuracy was measured by singing a test song. Two independent raters examined both the pretest and posttest, and correlations were generally high (r =.79 to r =.91). Vocal range was judged to be those pitches subjects could sing musically.;The results showed a significant difference (p ;Conclusions reached were (1) subjects using hand levels displayed better results for vocal accuracy, (2) spatial ability did not interact with any of the treatment groups, (3) there was no musical significance to the interaction of encoding ability with vocal range, and (4) no treatment demonstrated better results for vocal range.;Eight intact classes (N = 136) were randomly assigned to (a) Kodaly hand sign groups, (b) hand levels groups or (c) control groups (no spatial reinforcement). All groups received two 20-minute vocal instruction sessions for a 14-week period using a prescribed set of songs. |
