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Pitch Accuracy in the Singing of Secondary School Students

The objective of the study was to determine the pitch accuracy in the singing of secondary students, in various tonal pattern setting via quantitative approach. In order to determine whether certain tonal patterns predict greater pitch accuracy in contrasting song material, this study analyses th...

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Main Author: Su, Lih Huey
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: 2008
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/6108/1/FEM_2008_11a.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/6108/
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spelling my.upm.eprints.61082013-05-27T07:27:13Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/6108/ Pitch Accuracy in the Singing of Secondary School Students Su, Lih Huey The objective of the study was to determine the pitch accuracy in the singing of secondary students, in various tonal pattern setting via quantitative approach. In order to determine whether certain tonal patterns predict greater pitch accuracy in contrasting song material, this study analyses the sung pitch fundamental frequencies of the secondary school students. The tonal patterns covered in this study are phrases form national anthem Negaraku, Rasa Sayang, and Auld Lang Syne; put in the progression of ascending, and descending; and are derived from music materials that are familiar to the respondents. The subjects for the study (N = 92) were secondary students of Chong Hwa Independent High School, where 45 (aged 16-18) were upper form students and another 47 (aged 13- 15) were lower form students. A pitch model in PowerPoint instructions was prepared. Respondents were asked to sing four test patterns guided by the PowerPoint instructions. Test patterns consist of combination of the four variables of diatonic major, pentatonic, ascending, and descending, constructed into 19 pitches in total. Therefore, 1748 sung pitches would be subjected to quantitative evaluation. Recording of singing was edited using Adobe Audition audio editing software, and pitches was analysed according to the Target Pitch Frequency, based on equal temperament. For measurement analysis, the Praat software was used to determine the fundamental frequencies from the waveforms of the recorded data. Research result reveals that upper form students sang with lesser pitch accuracy compared to lower form students. The junior high male and female, and senior high male students sang average accurately on all the test patterns except senior high female was unable to sing the pitches in tune. Besides, students sang with greater pitch accuracy when they sang an ascending pattern in diatonic scale. Result also revealed that the descending patterns in diatonic scale were less accurate than in pentatonic scale. 63% of the respondents were found with an average pitch deviation of 25 cents and below, categorized as accurate singers while 17% of the respondents were with an average pitch deviation of 100 cents (one semitone) and above and were categorized as inaccurate singers. Future studies may look into the relationship of vocal parameters and pitch accuracy through quantitative evaluation. 2008-10 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/6108/1/FEM_2008_11a.pdf Su, Lih Huey (2008) Pitch Accuracy in the Singing of Secondary School Students. Masters thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia. English
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
English
description The objective of the study was to determine the pitch accuracy in the singing of secondary students, in various tonal pattern setting via quantitative approach. In order to determine whether certain tonal patterns predict greater pitch accuracy in contrasting song material, this study analyses the sung pitch fundamental frequencies of the secondary school students. The tonal patterns covered in this study are phrases form national anthem Negaraku, Rasa Sayang, and Auld Lang Syne; put in the progression of ascending, and descending; and are derived from music materials that are familiar to the respondents. The subjects for the study (N = 92) were secondary students of Chong Hwa Independent High School, where 45 (aged 16-18) were upper form students and another 47 (aged 13- 15) were lower form students. A pitch model in PowerPoint instructions was prepared. Respondents were asked to sing four test patterns guided by the PowerPoint instructions. Test patterns consist of combination of the four variables of diatonic major, pentatonic, ascending, and descending, constructed into 19 pitches in total. Therefore, 1748 sung pitches would be subjected to quantitative evaluation. Recording of singing was edited using Adobe Audition audio editing software, and pitches was analysed according to the Target Pitch Frequency, based on equal temperament. For measurement analysis, the Praat software was used to determine the fundamental frequencies from the waveforms of the recorded data. Research result reveals that upper form students sang with lesser pitch accuracy compared to lower form students. The junior high male and female, and senior high male students sang average accurately on all the test patterns except senior high female was unable to sing the pitches in tune. Besides, students sang with greater pitch accuracy when they sang an ascending pattern in diatonic scale. Result also revealed that the descending patterns in diatonic scale were less accurate than in pentatonic scale. 63% of the respondents were found with an average pitch deviation of 25 cents and below, categorized as accurate singers while 17% of the respondents were with an average pitch deviation of 100 cents (one semitone) and above and were categorized as inaccurate singers. Future studies may look into the relationship of vocal parameters and pitch accuracy through quantitative evaluation.
format Thesis
author Su, Lih Huey
spellingShingle Su, Lih Huey
Pitch Accuracy in the Singing of Secondary School Students
author_facet Su, Lih Huey
author_sort Su, Lih Huey
title Pitch Accuracy in the Singing of Secondary School Students
title_short Pitch Accuracy in the Singing of Secondary School Students
title_full Pitch Accuracy in the Singing of Secondary School Students
title_fullStr Pitch Accuracy in the Singing of Secondary School Students
title_full_unstemmed Pitch Accuracy in the Singing of Secondary School Students
title_sort pitch accuracy in the singing of secondary school students
publishDate 2008
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/6108/1/FEM_2008_11a.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/6108/
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score 13.211869

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