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Dear SMT-talk,<BR>
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I am writing to correct something in my previous post about the AMMA and music aptitude testing. Edwin Gordon has published a number of different tests of music aptitude. I now realize that in my previous post I was describing his MAP test (Musical Aptitude Profile). The MAP test is for grades 5-12 and is the one with the “similar” and “different” items that I described before. The AMMA is shorter, takes about 20 minutes to administer, and it is a same-different test where some items differ in pitch and others in rhythm. Students get a rhythm score, a pitch score, and a composite score.<BR>
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One of my colleagues at Eastman, Richard Grunow (with two of his former students), just published a study in a journal called “AUDEA,” which is published by the Gordon Institute for Music Learning -- GIML. It compares students at three different institutions for AMMA scores, to compare their scores with published norms. Interestingly, at some of the institutions they find differences among students by instrument (e.g., higher aptitutes in keyboard and percussion (!) and lower in brass and string (!) players — not what you would expect). These results vary by institution, so they are not generalizable. The article also finds that at schools of music the averages for each AMMA measure are significantly higher than Gordon’s published norms. The published norms are, of course, for the general population — not for selective music schools — so this is what you might expect. I’m not sure how widely available AUDEA is — it seems you have to be a member of GIML to access it online.<BR>
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Best,<BR>
Betsy Marvin<BR>
Eastman School of Music<BR>
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