This study was designed to address the need for research examining the sight-singing backgrounds and behaviors of students who had finished a secondary school education, but had not yet begun a college curriculum. Sample subjects (N=40) were self-selected from the population of first-year undergraduate students who auditioned for a choral ensemble at a large Midwestern university. Data were gathered from questionnaire responses, video observations and audio recorded evaluations of a sight-singing task.
A large majority (97.4%) of students entering college choral ensembles had participated in a variety of choral ensembles throughout their high school (M=3.36 years) and middle school (M=1.92 years) educations. Many students (43.5%) had also participated in a variety of instrumental ensembles (M=2.9 years). Most students (84.6%) reported receiving some type of sight singing instruction and 77% reported receiving instruction in a specific sight-singing system with a large majority (75%) receiving instruction in movable tonic systems. A majority (59%) of students reported that they had been instructed regarding specific strategies to prepare for sight-singing performance.
Students were asked to sight sing a newly constructed melody written in common time and in the key of F major. Students spent an average of six minutes and thirty-two seconds preparing for sight-singing performance. Students spent the most time singing (M=320.23 seconds) and also spent time tonicizing (M=25.13), in silent study (M=30.51), writing (M=26.38) and keeping an external beat (M=25.62). Students also played the starting pitch (M=10.91 occurrences), made error detections (M=9.54) and started again (M=10.79).
Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis showed years of high school choral participation to be the strongest predictor of sight-singing success, with years of instrumental ensemble participation also found to be a significant predictor. Analysis of high and low scorers showed that high scorers spent less total time than low scorers in preparing for sight-singing, and a larger proportion of preparation time in non-singing behaviors, including writing, silent study and external beat keeping. Low scorers restarted the example significantly more often than high scorers. Analysis of sight-singing instruction showed that students who had received sight-singing instruction, especially in regard to specific preparatory strategies, were more successful sight-singers. Varied musical experiences and the inclusion of sight-singing instruction were shown to be the best predictors of sight-singing success.