ABSTRACT

The purposes of this study were: (1) to get basic information on the level of music aptitude of Korean elementary students; (2) to determine whether there are differences in the music aptitude scores by grade; (3) to determine whether there are differences in the music aptitude scores by sex; (4) to determine the relationship among sub-scores of the IMMA; and (5) to compare the scores of the sample getup (Korean students) to the scores of the norming group (United States). The whole student body (n=950) enrolled in an elementary school in Seould participated in this study. All the participating students took the music aptitude test (IMMA by Gordon) in December 1996. The results of this test were analyzed according to the following categories: 1) overall scores; 2) grade; 3) sex; and 4) country. Based on the anlysis of the statistical data, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) the level of music aptitude of the sample group was relatively high, considering the mean percentile score of each sub-test (tonal-69.59; and rhythm-63.12); (2) there was the tendency of gradual improvement of music aptitude from grade one through grade three. However, there were no differences among the music aptitude levels of grade three through grade six; (3) the mean of the tonal sub-test scores of female students was significantly higher than male students; (4) the relationship between the scores of the rhythm sub-test and the total score was stronger than the relationship between the scores of the tonal sub-test and the total score; and (5) the scores of the sample group (Korean students) were higher than the scores of the norming group (students in the United States).