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Journal of Research in Music

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DOI: 10.2307/33448831978 26: 90Journal of Research in Music Education

B. A. ChalmersStyle

The Development of a Measure of Attitude Toward Instrumental Music

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2/8

90/JRME

T H DEVELOPMENT

M E S U R E

O

TT ITUDE

T O W R D

INSTRUMENT L

M U S I S T Y L E

B.

A.

Chalmers

The

purpose

of

this

study

was

to

develop

the Music

Style

Attitude

Profile,

which is a measure of

attitude

toward

instrumental

music

style.

This measure

differs

from

other attitude tests

in that it

utilizes short musical excerpts

exclusively

to

procure

immediate

response

toward

particular

instrumental

styles.

Interval data on attitudes

provided

by

the

measure

permits

the

use

of

parametric procedures

in

analysis

and

hypothesis

testing.

The

test has

been

found

sufficiently

reliable

and

valid

to

permit

the

collection

of

data for

the

purposes

of standardization and

the

construction of

a

profile

chart.

Key

Words:audiovisual

ability,

attitudes,

historical

period,

test

development,

tests.

The

purpose

of

this

study

was

to

develop

a

measure

of

attitude toward

the Baroque, Classical,Romantic, early twentieth century, and experi-

mental music

styles,

and to

establish its

reliability,

validity,

and

prac-

ticality.

The

development

of

the measure involved

an

analysis

of

its

capacity

to

discern

those

who like and those

who

dislike

one

or all

of

the

styles,

the establishment of

norms

for

a

college

population,

and

the

construction

of an

attitude

profile

for

this

population.

The measure

is

known

as the Music

Style

Attitude Profile

(MSAP).

Although

measures

of

attitude toward music

in

general

have been

developed by

Hevner

(1934),

Wing

(1968),

and Crickmore

(1969),

and

music

attitude scales

are included

among

vocational interest

inven-

tories

(Kuder,

1960)

and

Strong

(1943),

quantifying

measures of atti-

tude toward music

are

not

yet

available.

No

published

standardized

This article is

based on

the

author's

doctoral

dissertation,

A Measure

of

Attitude

Toward

Music

Style (University

of

Kansas,

1976).

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3/8

Cha

mers/91

measure

of attitude toward the most

recent instrumental music

styles

and

those

of earlier Western art

music is

reported

in

the Seventh

Mental Measure-

ments

Yearbook

(Buros,

1972)

or

by

the

Comprehensive

Dissertation

Query

Service offered

by

Xerox.

There is

no

need

for a

quantifying

device

so that

additional evidence

of

attitudes toward music

style may

be

collected

and

studied

in association

with

the

empirical

observations

as can be

provided

by

the described

measures.

The MSAP

is

designed

to

provide

interval data.

Quantified

interval data on

attitude

toward instrumental music

styles

permits

the

testing

of

hypotheses

through

the

use of

parametric

statistical

procedures.

This

measure

possesses

the

qualities

of a

laboratory

instrument

in that the stimulus

object

is the same

for all subjects, permitting selected variables to be closely controlled. The

test

is

short,

the results

immediate,

and

the

seven-point

measurement

scale

sufficiently

calibrated to indicate

strength

and direction

of

attitude. Because

of the nonverbal

nature of the

stimulus

object

(music

excerpts),

semantic

problems

and

ambiguities

do not arise.

The

listening

items are

readily

under-

stood

and

responded

to

by

subjects,

whether

or

not

they

are

musically

trained

since the

measure does not

depend

on

formally

learned music

skills.

Description

of

the measure

The

attitude

measure

consists of

a

pencil

and

paper

test.

Subjects

are

asked

to

indicate

responses

to 50

tape-recorded

music

stimuli

on

seven-point

scales.

Five

groups

of

excerpts,

10

Baroque,

10

Classical,

10

Romantic,

10

early

twentieth

century,

and

10

experimental,

were

carefully

selected

to

re-

present

a

microcosm

of

each

style

and were recorded

in

random order

on

a

reel-to-reel

tape

for use

in the

test.

As each

excerpt

was

heard,

the

subject

indicated

response

to it on a

seven-point

like-dislike

continuum. The

highest

possible

score

on each submeasure was

70,

and

the

lowest

possible

score

was

10. For the

purpose

of. this

measure,

attitude is defined as

a

consistently

positive

or

negative

feeling

associated with

an

instrumental music

style.

In

order

to

gauge

the extent of

positive

or

negative

response

to a

particular

style,

the scores

on

the

seven-point

scale

for

each

excerpt

are

summed.

The attitude measure

consists of

50 short

music

excerpts,

each

approxi-

mately

25

seconds

in

duration. Several

reasons necessitate the

brief

excerpts.

The

measure

aims at

procuring

a

subject's

first reaction

to each

excerpt,

and

a

snap

decision

can

best

accomplish

this.

The

technique

is

analogous

to

what

Cronbach

(1970)

described

as

the

flash

test,

the

principal

value

being

that

its scores tend

to remain

stable.

A

subject's

second

thoughts, encouraged

fromlengthy excerpts, are not wanted for the purposes of this measure. Brevity

tends

to focus attention

on

texture,

timbre, instrumentation,

and the

idiomatic

use

of

rhythm, melody,

and

harmony,

unique

to

each

of

the

five

styles.

Brief

excerpts

are

less

likely

to draw a

subject's

attention

to form

or

programatic

content,

although

these

may

be

incidental

factors

influencing

attitude.

Brevity

enables

more

excerpts

to be

heard,

thereby improving

the test

reliability.

Brief

excerpts

also

reduce

the total time

required

to administer



4/8

92/JRME

the

measure.

This

is

advantageous

for

subjects

who are not

practiced

in

ex-

tended music listening and who tend to lose concentration due to fatigue

(Keston

and

Pinto, 1955),

particularly

among

the

final

items

of a

measure.

The

test-retest method was

used

to

determine

reliability.

One month

intervened

between administrations

of

the MSAP

to 20

graduate

and

under-

graduate

music and

nonmusic students.

The

Pearson

product-moment

cor-

relation

coefficient

for

the

whole

measure was

.89,

and for

the

submeasures

Baroque

.79,

Classical

.77,

Romantic

.62,

early

twentieth

century

.85,

and

experimental

.91.

Variance

indices showed

that individual

subjects

rated items

in

each

style

category consistently.

A

series

of

t-tests indicated

that

variance

on

pre-

test and posttestscoreswere not statisticallysignificant.Also, group variance

on each

style period

was

studied

by examining

the mean

variation

ratings

of

the

pilot

group

on each

submeasure.

Results indicated

insignificant

variation

between

pretest

and

posttest

mean scores.

To

examine

the internal

consistency

of

each

submeasure,

odd-even

scores

were summed

for

subjects

individually

and the

split-halves

were correlated

using

Pearson's

product-moment

formula

and

the

Spearman-Brown

prophecy

formula

for

split-halves

reliability.

This

resulted

in

the

following

correlations:

Baroque

.95,

Classical

.87,

Ro-

mantic

.91,

early

twentieth

century

.98,

and

experimental

.96.

An

item

analysis

examined the effectiveness

of

each

item

in

perceiving

those

who

possess

favorable

or unfavorable attitudes

toward

any

of

the

five

style

periods.

Single

items

in

each

style

submeasure

were

correlated

with

the

individual total score

given

by

the

subject

for

all 12

items

on

the

five sub-

measures.

The discrimination

criterion

was fixed at

r

=

.40.

A

coefficient

less

than

this

level was

considered to

have insufficient

capacity

to differen-

tiate

effectively

between

those

with

positive

or

negative

attitudes

toward a

style

period.

Two

items failed

to

reach

the criterion

level

and were

replaced.

Effects

of

familiarity

with

excerpts

on

scoring

were

studied

by

giving

the

MSAP

to music students

only,

who were asked

to indicate

if

they

had

heard an excerpt before,and to name the composerand title of the composi-

tion.

Thirteen

excerpts

were

familiar to the

subjects.

The difference

in

rating

given

to

excerpts

by subjects

who

said

they

were

familiar

with them

and those

who

were

unfamiliarwere

compared

using

a

t

ratio

with

an unbiased

estimate

of the

variance,

and found to

be

without

statistical

significance

in

every

case.

In a second

pilot study

the

MSAP was

administered

to 11

music students.

The totaled

raw

scores

of

each

subject

on

the

five

submeasures

were

arranged

in rank order to indicate

the relative

strength

of

attitude

toward

each

music

style.

A

series

of additional

measures

of attitude

was then

administered

to the

second pilot group using the method of paired comparisons (Hays, 1967),

a

self-report,

a

pretest-posttest,

a record

collection

survey,

and

a

videotape

observation

analysis.

Rank-ordered

attitudes

resulting

from these

procedures

were

compared

with

the rank order

resulting

from the

MSAP

to

test its

validity.

On

the basis

of

this

comparison

it

appears

that

the

MSAP

is

a valid

instrument

for

measuring

the

psychological

attitude

toward selected

music

styles.



5/8


6/8

94/JRME

The

raw

score

continuum on

the

left and

right

of

the

chart

(see

Figure

1)

enables the subject's total score in each style measure to be placed in its ap-

propriate position

on the

profile.

Taken in

conjunction

with the

norms,

the

raw

score

provides

a means of

comparing

an individual

subject's

attitude

toward

the five

instrumental

music

styles

with

those

of the

college popula-

tion

as

a whole. In

addition,

the

profile

furnishes

a visual

indication of the

strength

and

direction of a

subject's

attitude

toward

the

styles

measured.

The

norms

for

college

students

established

by

the

study

showed

the ex-

tent to

which

their attitudes differed toward

Baroque,

Classical,

Romantic,

early

twentieth

century,

and

experimental

music

styles.

The

positions

of

the

50th

percentile

in the

norms

for

Baroque,

Classical,

and

Romantic

music are

61,

58,

and

60,

respectively,

on the raw score

continuum,

the locations of

which

correspond

to the

sixth

point

on

the

seven-point

scale.

Using

the

verbal labels

attached to the

seven-point

scale,

the

norms

indicate that col-

lege

students

generally

have a

moderate

liking

for

these

three instrumental

styles.

The 50th

percentile

for

the

twentieth

century

norms

falls at a

posi-

tion that

corresponds

to

the

neutral

midpoint

on the

seven-point

scale,

sug-

gesting

that

college

students

as a

whole neither like nor dislike this

style

of

instrumental

music.

The

location

at which

the

50th

percentile

falls

for

experimental

music is

midway

between

the

second

and third

points

on

the

seven-point scale, indicating that the average college student has a moderate

to

mild dislike

of

this music

style.

To illustrate

how

the

profile

demonstrates

the extent

to which

college

stu-

dents' attitudes

differ towards each

instrumental music

style,

the

scores

of

S99

were demonstrated

on

an MSAP

chart:

52

Baroque,

56

Classical,

67

Romantic,

40

early

twentieth

century,

and

23

experimental

music. This

profile

is

presented

in

Figure

1.

It

can be seen

by

reference

to

the

shaded areas

that the

attitude

toward

Baroque

music,

positioned

between

the 10th

and

25th

percentiles,

was less

favorable

than

most

general

college

students.

Attitude toward Classical

music was about

average,

whereas that toward Romantic was much more

favorable

than

most,

the score

appearing

well

above

the

75th

percentile.

Attitude toward

early

twentieth

century

music

was on

par

with

most others

in

the norm

group

and

attitude

toward

experimental

music was

slightly

less

favorable

than

that

of the

average

general

college

student.

Discussion

The

MSAP is

designed

to

measure

attitudes

toward

five

separate

instru-

mental

music

styles.

The submeasures

are,

however,

independent

of each

other.

The MSAP

is not intended

to

be used as

a

battery

of tests to

gather

data

on attitudes

toward instrumental

music

in

general,

nor is it

designed

to

show

relationships among

attitudes

toward

the five

styles.

Although

the

measure

may

show

that a

subject possesses

extreme

liking

for

the

Baroque



7/8

Chalmers/95

style,

inferences

regarding

attitude toward other

styles

cannot

be

drawn

on

the basis of this data alone.

It

was

noted

when

classifying

data

from

pilot

studies,

that

music

majors

and

general

college

students

tended

to use the continuum

differently.

General

college

students made

frequent

use of

extreme

points

on

the

scale,

regularly

circling

one

and

seven. Music

students were

inclined

to

be

more

conservative,

generally

ranking

excerpts

between

six

and

two.

The

reasons

for

this

need

to

be

investigated.

It

may

be an

inevitable

result of

the

numbered

continuum

that

perhaps

directs

subjects'

scores

to

certain

points.

An

unmarked con-

tinuum

may

encourage

more

flexible

scoring,

allowing subjects

to mark

where

they

wish.

Distance from a

zero

point

could then be

measured

resulting

in

interval data as legitimately as a seven-point scale.

Comparison

of both

types

of

continua could

provide important

information for

improvement

of

the MSAP.

Although

item

analysis

indicates

that the

MSAP

is not

effective

as

a

measure

of

attitude toward

music in

general,

further validation of the

test

could be

attempted by

correlating

the

mean

MSAP

scores totaled over the

five

submeasures with

scores

on the

Hevner Test of

Attitude

Toward

Music

(1934)

and

Long's

revision

of

the

Oregon

Musical

Discrimination

Tests

(1965).

Correlation of

mean

MSAP

scores

with

mean

scores on

psychological

tests such as the

Strong Vocational InterestBlankforMen and Women (1943)

musician's

scale,

and the Kuder

Preference Record

(1960)

might

reveal

sig-

nificant

relationships

between

psychological

characteristics and

attitude

toward

music.

Furthermore,

correlation

between

scores

on

submeasures

of

the MSAP

and

psychological

measures of

personality

such as

the

Minnesota

Multiphasic

Personality

Inventory

could

disclose

associations between

atti-

tude

toward

particular

music

styles

and

selected

personality

factors.

The

measure

was

designed

primarily

to

objectify

attitudes and to

trans-

form

these

into

usable

numerical

data.

Attitudinal

norms

have

already

been

established for one

large

college

group.

Work

in

this direction will

be con-

tinued to expand norms so that they can apply to a majority of college stu-

dents. Further

administration of

the

measure will

serve to

establish

norms

for

other

populations

such as

high

school

students,

college

music

majors,

and so

on.

Currently

the

MSAP

is

being

administered

in five

universities

throughout

Australia

to

establish

norms

for

an

Australian

university

popula-

tion

and

for

the

populations

within

the

universities

themselves.

The

differences in

attitudes

toward

Baroque,

Classical,

Romantic,

early

twentieth

century,

and

experimental

music

between

culturally

advantaged

and

disadvantaged

groups

can

also be

measured

through

the

use

of

the

MSAP.

Its

use in

hypothesis

testing

is

apparent

in such

circumstances.

Since the initial motivation for the

development

of

the MSAP

originated

from a

concern

for

the

low

level

of

interest

in

contemporary

experimental

music

styles

exhibited

by

the

concert-going

public,

the

measure will

be utilized

in

a

series of

longitudinal

studies

among

selected

community

groups

in

order

to

detect

and

investigate

changes

in

attitudes toward the

most

recent

develop-

ments

in

instrumental

music.



8/8

96/JRME

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O.

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of

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n Music

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4

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1968),

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Cronbach,

L.

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1970.

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H. D. Methods

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Rand

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P. R. The Social

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