Predictors of Form Perception in Preservice Music Education Majors

Thirty-four undergraduate music education majors in a general music methods class created and present kinesthetic analogues (bodily movements) of recorded music (Cohen, 1997), which were then scored for quality of representation of pitch, rhythm, and form. Students' ACT scores and composite GPAs in music history, theory, and aural skills were used in the data analysis. Significant correlations were between form and pitch, form and rhythm, form and ACT and form and GPA. A regression analysis for ACT with form perception as the dependent variable showed that ACT scores explained 16% of the variance [F(1, 33) = 6445, p < .02]; analysis for GPA with form as the dependent variable showed the GPA explained 13% of the variance [F(1, 33) = 5.066, p < .03] The implications of the results for music education and directions for further research are discussed.