The application of music learning theory concepts to a notation-based piano method

The purpose of this research was to design the treatment for a projected experimental study to be used in future empirical research to examine the effects of note-reading and music-learning-theory-based curriculums on the audiation and keyboard performance skills of six to eight year old beginners. Chapters 1--2 provide the introduction and an exploration of the principles of music learning theory. The next chapter outlines the twenty-week treatment for the control and experimental groups. Treatment for the control group involves a note-reading-based learning process without singing and movement. With the music learning theory sequence as a model, subjects in the experimental group study the pieces from the same The Music Tree piano method as the control group. Students in the control group utilize the music score during home practice while students in the experimental group are only provided with the compact disks accompanying the method book series to practice, tonal and rhythm pattern compact disks, and a researcher-designed method book. Subjects in the experimental croup sing and move to their assigned pieces in classroom activities prior to playing them on the keyboard by rote. The first ten minutes of class time for the experimental group is used to the sing and chant tonal and rhythm patterns in learning sequence activities. Students in the control group utilize the first ten minutes of class time to practice. This treatment was written for the projected experimental study whose design and analysis appears in chapter 4. A summary and implications to piano instructors comprise chapter 5.