The relationship of a choral music curriculum to the development of singing ability in secondary students with Down Syndrome

Author(s): Hughes, J. E.

Journal/Book: Music Therapy Perspectives. 1991; 9: Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. National Association for Music Therapy. 52-55.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the singing ability of secondary students with Down syndrome. An author-constructed evaluation instrument was developed to assess singing ability in five categories: articulation, melodic rhythm, melodic contour, steady beat and pitch. A total of 22 students were evaluated. Students in Group 1 (n=13) were enrolled in a school that contained an established choral music education curriculum; students in Group 2 had no such curriculum. Analysis of group mean scores on the Singing Assessment revealed consistently higher scores for Group 1 students; however differences between groups were not statistically significant. When IQ was correlated with component scores of the Singing Assessment, negatively low correlations were found. Implications for music therapists and educators are discussed.

Keyword(s): choral-music, choral-singing, curriculum, Down's-syndrome, developmental-disabilities, singing, singing-ability, high-school.

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