Ascertaining Attitudes in Music

Abstract

NOTE: In a general educational survey measurement program recently applied to the schools of the state of Florida one item which was included was a twenty minute music test for grades four to ten. Besides the four types of tests which purported to measure knowledge, there was a group of questions, not counted in making up the mark or score, which sought to ascertain the attitude of the children toward various aspects of music. The replies which were presented on the 324 papers turned in were studied by Mr. Rutledge and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for initiation into the professional fraternity Phi Delta Kappa in Teachers College, Columbia University, in the summer of 1928. His material, presented below, is valuable in itself and very suggestive of further studies which must be made before we shall be in possession of all the facts we need for revising our courses of study. That this study is only a beginning is evidenced by the fact that the entire music test, including the questions discussed herein, is being radically revised.—P. W. D.