Perception Of Choral Students Of The Music Contest (Book Review Sample)

PERCEPTION OF CHORAL STUDENTS OF THE MUSIC CONTEST
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“Choral Student Perceptions of the Music Contest Experience” is a research article that was published in 2005. The article was authored by Rick A. Stamer who is an assistant professor in music at the University of Texas. The article focusses of differences in perception of students towards the music contest experience. Every section of the article gives a stepwise illustration of the views of chorale students towards the music contest.
Summary of the article
The author starts by enlightening us on the different sides of the music contest. The music contest offers students a chance to showcase their music ensembles and receive constructive reactions regarding the quality of the performance. However, some experts believe that, “the music contest experience is more detrimental than helpful”(Stamer, 2005). Most of the research carried out in the past has focused on the perception of directors, administrators, parents and students towards the music contest experience. The results of these studies proved that “ students consistently rated the musical benefits as more important than the nonmusical benefits of contest”(Stamer, 2005).In spite of this, little research has been conducted to explore disparities in the perceptions of choral students towards the music contest. The researcher focuses on analyzing the music contest experience on the basis of; rating aspects, musical aspects, travel or social aspects, and an individual view of the advantages and disadvantages of the music experience.
The findings of the study reveal that different genders and grade levels have different perceptions towards the significance of the music contest experience. Sophomores view the contest experience as a means of encouraging teamwork, cultivating the art of practice and hard work, and improving musicianship. Additionally, the sophomores perceive the element of contest rating and the rewarding of hard work to be essential in the music contest. The sophomores also viewed the rating aspects of the contest to be a useful tool in evaluating choral performance. However, for the juniors and seniors, this is not the case. They place less value on the competitive and rating aspect of the contest and consider making music to be more valuable than achieving high ratings. Furthermore, on the basis of gender it is noted that females like the excitement aspect that is present during the preparation for a choral contest. On the other hand, the male students acquire their excitement from the competing with others and that their choral contest experiences cultivate hard work and motivation.
Evaluation of article
The author has structured the article in a manner that is easy to understand. The research topic was well introduced with the research problem being clearly stated . However, the author did not embrace the use of schematic diagrams, tables or graphs to represent the findings. Thus, making it difficult for the reader to quickly comprehend the results of the findings. Additionally, it makes th...